‘Crocodile Tears’: London Review

Dir/scr: Tumpal Tampubolon. Indonesia/France/Singapore/Germany. 2024. 98mins

Mom all the time is aware of finest in Crocodile Tears. Tumpal Tampubolon’s low-key debut function charts the unhealthy relationship between a younger man and his overbearing mom, regularly shifting from household drama into extra supernatural territory. The central dynamic and the setting of a crocodile farm add intrigue to a slow-burning, generally cluttered combine that ought to entice consideration from festivals monitoring rising expertise from Indonesia following its Toronto Centrepiece debut and subsequent London berth.

Favours restraint over extra, atmospherics over explanations

Tampulbolon’s brief The Sea Calls For Me (2021), winner of Finest Asian Brief Movie at Busan, dealt partially with lonely boys and absent fathers. There are comparable themes in his first function, which is ready on a down-at-heel crocodile farm in West Java run by Mama (Marissa Anita) and her son Johan (Yusuf Mahardika). The slithering multitudes of crocodiles present loads of visible alternatives for cinematographer Teck Siang Lim who reveals them thrashing round, clambering over one another, mouths agape, earlier than gorging down the entire chickens hurled of their route.

Tampubolon appears enthralled by these crocodile eyes: close-ups present them  flicking open just like the shutter of a digicam lens and night time scenes gleam with dozens of eyes watching at the hours of darkness. It appears apparent that the crocodiles will play a vital half within the story however initially the main focus is on the uncomfortable bond between mom and son. Working collectively, the duo are all the things to one another. Mama showers her boy with kisses, calls for shoulder massages and holds him shut in her arms as they share a mattress. There are not any boundaries and no privateness. The query of what occurred to Johan’s father is one which runs all through the movie, sparking hypothesis and rumours.

Mahardika and Anita successfully seize that awkward mom/son bond by physique language and appears. Johan appears uncomfortable in his pores and skin; squirming, defensive, making an attempt to maintain calm within the face of exasperation and sexual frustration. Mama sports activities a glance of everlasting reproach, particularly when she washes Johan’s stained underwear.

The catalyst for change is Johan’s assembly with Arumi (Zulfa Maharani) and the candy romance that slowly develops between them. She is an orphan, working in an area karaoke bar and has not one of the shut household ties that bind Johan. Because the couple develop nearer, Mama begins to see the risk in Arumi. The viewer can solely ponder what attracts Arumi to maneuver to the crocodile farm when any wise soul may run a mile in the wrong way.

The symbolism of the crocodiles turns into ever extra apparent as we study that they’re vulnerable to consuming their very own eggs. The movie stays intriguing as we’re inspired to think about how Mama will reply to her son’s strikes in direction of independence, and to think about what half the highly effective jaws and gnashing tooth of the crocodiles will play in her response. Mama appears to have an inexplicable symbiotic reference to a cherished white crocodile that has an enclosure to itself. A rumble of distant thunder on the soundtrack is all it takes to sign occasions are coming to a head and, because the plot unfolds, the movie strays into the territory of Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). 

Crocodile Tears has all the weather for shlocky B-movie fare however Tampubolon retains his give attention to the central relationship, favouring restraint over extra, atmospherics over explanations.  The last word reveal concerning the true nature of the white crocodile should be a stretch too far for some viewers.