Woo Ming Jin’s MIFFest 2024 opening film, Indera, delves into a period horror drama that is rich in culture against a backdrop of political upheavals, bringing us into a session of grasping Malaysian terrors from a rare perspective.
Indera opened the 7th edition of the Malaysia International Film Festival, known as MIFFest, in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The film is the latest endeavor of filmmaker Woo Ming Jin, a leading figure in the Malaysian New Wave, with films screened at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Venice, and his previous work, Stone Turtle (2022), won the Fipresci Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival.
In Indera, Joe (Shaheizy Sam) has never been the same anymore after losing his wife (Azira Shafinaz) in a puzzling accident. He has a daughter, Sophia (Samara Kenzo), who is unable to speak due to the past trauma, while they are surrounded by the uproar of the 1985 Memali Incident in Malaysia. With his only focus being to treat his daughter, Joe meets a Javanese lady who he thinks might have a cure for his daughter’s condition. Both father and daughter are given a place to stay, and both father and daughter experience something unnerving and unusual that might just jumble their memories into playdough.
The popular concept of using a period time frame (Annabelle, The Conjuring) is incorporated, which promotes a distinguished presentation by facilitating horror fundamentals. Ming Jin conveys the crux of horror through his style of disclosing the Javanese and Malaysian culture, allowing the local community’s touch to be present as a communicative tool with the audience. Ming Jin’s 2022 science fiction film, Stone Turtle, also effectively showcased the essence of Southeast Asia, fostering a sense of appreciation for the beauty of culture in his films. There were scenes that exquisitely captured these traditions with a stroke of darkness in Indera as well, and the chilly cinematography by Saifuddin Musa was a standout feature.
The more Joe discovers, the heavier the mysteries become. Woo Ming Jin intends for the innumerable and inexplicable obscurities to serve as a catalyst for the film’s progression, accumulating as many examples of “crossed paths” algorithms as possible. The navigation of the film’s path, which muddles numerous ideas into various directions, greatly thickens the plot. Sophia’s personal quest to uncover hidden truths appears to take numerous turns too, focusing on horror from a child’s viewpoint.
Indera is rich in traditions and culture, offering a chance to discover horror from a political standpoint that makes it unique in its own way. Be it muddy waters covered in gold and shocks, or a ring of fire that surrounds a girl, the film warns us not to turn back when you hear your name being called out in the village. This time, it is more than just stones or turtles that whisper the mystery.
Our writer Niikhiil Akhiil is on the ground at the 7th Malaysia International Film Festival.
