Tuan Jim

Just got back from Indonesia via Singapore. Picked up a few DVDs from each place that I'll try and review in the next week or so.

First off, just wanted to say what a pleasure it was to finally be able to find some Indonesian movies on DVD with English subtitles no less -- never thought I'd see it happen. (of course out of the two Disc-tara stores I went to, I only found 3 different movies) -- some of the larger, more western-oriented stores in Jakarta may have more.

Picked up:
"Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307920/)
and
"Biola Tak Berdawai" (aka "The Stringless Violin") (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353240/)
as well as a VCD (even more surprisingly containing English subtitles -- but the production is clearly aimed at an international audience from the glimpse I've had so far) called "Tragedi Jakarta 1998" -- covering some of the ousting of Suharto.

In Singapore this time, I was just in the airport. I got lucky in a duty-free store (the main store didn't have these ones) and found:
"One Leg Kicking" (looks like JTKV already has a good review for this: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hlight=kicking)
"Homerun"
and a Singapore release of "Tears of the Black Tiger" (115 minutes + additional features not on the UK dvd).

For the heck of it, I also picked up Hero and 2009: Lost Memories while in Indonesia (nice and cheap and no shipping charges). Looking forward to checking them out too.

edit -- just remembered that the Singapore airport store also had a R3 version of Lagaan that had additional features not on the R1 disc -- does anyone happen to know of a good Singapore e-tailer for dvds?

jtkv

Mr Tim,
Sounds like you're from Indonesia....

I totally enjoy visiting SEAsia too, but the only thing is DVDs are not very prevalent yet (not in Malaysia or Singapore anyways).
I had lots of trouble finding much...

Homerun is supposed to be a very good movie. I'm looking forward to getting it myself... Enjoy!



JT

Tuan Jim

Nope, not from there, just visiting relatives. Last time I was there (2000), I don't even recall any Indonesian movies on VCD much less DVD. Now I clearly saw 3 different dvds (all widescreen with English subs!!!), and a few shelves of VCDs. Things are improving, but pretty slowly (not that there's a huge, quality domestic film industry, but there are some older "classics" that deserve DVD treatment too).

brombie

I bet the copy of Hero and 2009 that you got are bootlegs.

I know some people who keep shuttling back and forth between Chicago and Jakarta to build tv stations there. They always bring back a bunch of dvds - mostly bootlegs - and everyone brought back Hero and 2009

Some of the recent decent titles that I got, all legit, are "Ada apa dengan cinta", "Ca Bau Kan", and "Jailangkung". I can only really recommend "Jailangkung" - low budget horror with blair witch as its apparent inspiration. Dimension took an interest in a remake but I don't know if anything came out of that.

My wife graduated from the communications dept at university of indonesia so she knows a bunch of people who works in the entertainment industry there. She said there's a lot of movements on the independent film front right now so I'm hoping to see some good things in the near future.

Tuan Jim

Jailungkan was the only other Indonesian movie I saw on DVD -- didn't look like my kind of thing.

Hero and 2009 don't look like the normal Indonesian bootlegs (and since when do Indonesians buy dvds anyways when VCDs are so much cheaper and more prevalent) but who knows.

Djangoman

Hi, actually I'm Indonesian. I would like to share some situation here in Indonesia. If Tuan Jim bought the DVD from big stires like Disctarra, then the copy would likely be original not bootlegs. Bootlegs can be found in malls & shopping centres, though, but you can always see the difference. Bootlegs packaging usually show circular symbol stating DVD-9. And the printing is crude. Legit DVDs are always shrink-wrapped, got tax label within, as well as information about the studio representatives.

In Indonesia, VCD is still the main entertainment media but the movement towards DVD has been starting as well. The problem is, most Indonesian still concern merely on price and not copyright or intellectual property rights, thus, some of my friends even considered me nuts by collecting legit / original DVDs and VCDs. Bootlegs are still sought for heavily.

Based on those facts, unfortunately, most legit DVDs in Indonesia have to conform with the price to compete with bootleg copies, thus reducing some special features that we DVD collector love. Many prominent titles from Fox and MGM (the sole distributor is Magixeyes), or even Columbia (distr. Duta Mitra) are released in barebones form, or full screen (sigh).

Walt Disney, Buena Vista are represented by Vision video here and luckily most of them are presented in OAR, but due once again to the price, some special features are reduced.

There are still many things that can be discussed here - would be gald to answer questions. but definitely film collecting is on the way. More video stores are opening these years. And indeed, in general we're struggling hard to fight piracy.

Tuan Jim

Just a quick response....all of them were shrinkwrapped. The DVDs just like CDs or tapes or other media have the little tag inside -- weird looking thing (ie. not for sale outside the country, etc.).

Heck, they look more legit than a lot of HK imports. The Hero DVD is definitely Region 3 as well. Just checking out the 2009 DVD offhand (I'll watch it tomorrow) -- it's not quite as legit looking -- but looks like an official domestic release -- like the legal VCD releases it has the special screen when it first starts.

Djangoman

Well, in that case I'm sure Tuan Jim's DVDs are legit. More titles are released by domestic video companies representing major studios. As long as you buy those VCDs or DVDs in stores like Disctarra, I'm sure all are legit. For information: here's the list of Indonesian video company and the studios they are representing that I know of:

Magixeyes - MGM/UA & 20th Century Fox
Duta Mitra - Columbia Tristar
Vision - Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Buena Vista
Towermovie - Miramax
Blockbuster & Cinekom - Hong kong movies

One other thing about bootlegs in Indonesia especially on new titles: they are "theater" quality (illegally recorded from theater) and the special features listed on the back cover are nonexistent.

Tuan Jim

A quick note to add to this -- my Dad came back to the US on a short visit last month and brought me a copy of "Musa" -- 2 disc special edition dvd released by Blockbuster (Indonesian company). Not too shabby qualitywise either -- the same cut as my previous Korean dvd. Not too bad at a price of $6 locally either.

Still, what bugs me is that despite the fact that that movie and a few others I have are on DVD, Blockbuster's homepage (don't remember it offhand) -- doesn't list it or any of their other DVD releases (including a couple on Disctarra's homepage) -- aside from 2009 (for whatever reason it's alone there) -- next to all their VCD releases. I was hoping it might be possible to order some releases off their webpage, but the only listings there are VCDs, which doesn't really make sense.

storkbill

Plenty of DVDs in Singapore, there are a few chains with multiple branches across the island selling a wide variety of DVDs, especially cheap R3 imports from HK and China. Before going anywhere to shop, i find it useful to visit the 'local' forums and ask around. For Singapore, one of them is www.xtremeplace.com. Cheers

Tuan Jim

Thanks for the info, but I think what he's talking about -- and definitely what I'm talking about -- is trying to find original Singapore DVDs of Singaporean movies. As I said before, I got lucky in the airport, but I'd love to be able to order them online -- for instance the SE of I Not Stupid as opposed to the HK version which I already had.