Umay Shahab directed this heartfelt and intimate drama-romance film, which Shahab and Alim Sudio wrote. Ketika Berhenti di Sini stars Prilly Latuconsina, Refal Hady, Bryan Domani, Lutesha, Sal Priadi, Widyawati and others. The film has a runtime of 102 minutes.
Dita, still reeling from the heartbreak of losing her father, is once more confronted with horrible grief when her long-term boyfriend Ed dies suddenly in a car accident after a fight one night. Lost and unable to move on, Dita finds herself utterly helpless as she tries to understand how to move on from this never-ending grief.
– The Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
In this romantic drama film, director Umay Shahab brings forth the heartbreak of losing your loved ones and the never-ending grief that seems to come out of it. Although we mostly see these moments of grief come out in cinema through different lenses, this movie has decided to take the sci-fi route and showcase what it’s like to hold on to grief and how hard it is to accept that the person who once had your whole heart is not there anymore to hold your hand as you walk through life.
Dita’s (played by Prilly Latuconsina) heartbreak is palpable in every scene. As we go from losing one family member to another, all the grief in her heart comes pouring out in every scene. Even when she looks happy, and she really is sometimes, it is clear that there is something weighing down on her. She is never at 100%, and even if you have never lost anyone close to you, you relate to her sadness and utter confusion and helplessness.
The happier moments in Dita’s life will haunt you as you see her going through these moments wherein she isn’t able to move on truly. The symbolism is quite apt as we see Dita losing herself to the idea of Ed (Bryan Domani) and straining her relationships with others. Said through the lens of sci-fi, it’s akin to real life wherein people shut themselves away from their loved ones and spiral down a rabbit hole of grief and remembering the good times with the deceased person.
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The film showcases these complicated feelings with light music in almost romantic settings, but the truth of the matter is that Dita’s interaction with Ed is not real. At times, you even wonder whether or not Dita is really seeing Ed in front of her eyes or whether she is imagining it all. Grief is very complex, and it is different for everyone, and people don’t always handle it in the best way.
Ketika Berhenti di Sini gets a lot of its beats right, there are several things that work in tandem to make Dita’s feelings very real and relatable. Her relationship with her father and Ed oftentimes merge together in multiple ways. However, the film never makes Dita’s anguish and heartbreak feel palpable; it goes there, but it never really takes it to another level. Her interactions with Ed never really affect anyone else in her life, which feels odd and a bit unrealistic. It faces that problem at a surface level and keeps the Ed problem at arm’s length for some reason.
Thanks to this, the storyline never reaches that stage wherein it gives you relief when Dita truly faces the ramifications of her decisions and comes to terms with what she has been wrongly believing for so long. The second half of the movie is not done that well, to be honest, and ends too quickly for it to truly capture the real downfall of this situation that Dita has found herself in. We spend too much time focusing on Dita and Ed’s relationship and not enough on this technology and the fallout of messing with it on Dita’s friends and family. We don’t truly see it affecting her and her loved ones; it’s a mild inconvenience for some time until it’s not, which is truly a disappointing turn.
Moreover, Ifan (Refal Hady), her current boyfriend, feels like a one-dimensional character whose life only revolves around Dita. He’s the perfect boyfriend who only wants what is good for her; it’s very odd that we don’t see his feelings in such a weird situation because normally, if you’re girlfriend is all but dating her dead ex, you’d have a bit more feelings than mild confusion and concern.
Prilly Latuconsina is very realistic in playing Dita, though and is very watchable as the grief-stricken woman who has never truly accepted that death doesn’t have to be anyone’s fault and has been able to grasp the concept of moving on. You feel for her plight as she repeats this self-destructive cycle over and over again.
Ketika Berhenti di Sini Review: Final Thoughts
For those who want a sweet love story with a twist, this Indonesian film will leave a mark. It’s hopeful and has moments of profound discussions on grief isn’t able to bring the thought home quite well. Moreover, it also feels like the movie doesn’t know what to do with the sci-fi aspect of it, and the stakes never reach the crescendo that you’d expect. Either way, it’s a calm and relatable movie and does scratch a very particular itch.
Ketika Berhenti di Sini is streaming on Netflix.
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