Skip to main content
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts film image; rickety truck drives next to person on horse

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak

Leading Lights

This event has passed

Marlina (Marsha Timothy), a recently bereaved widow, is set upon by a group of men with rape on their minds—but she sure knows how to fight back. Emerging from the encounter with a severed head in her possession, our heroine sets off on a mission to seek legal justice. In her dealings with the police, she’ll face indifference and incompetence, and there are other obstacles thrown in her path. But she’s a dedicated woman, and, in addition to the head, she’s packing a machete…

I had the rare opportunity to watch this film with the writer-director, Mouly Surya, when I was taking part in the Asian Film Academy in Korea in 2019. It was a 9 am screening, and Mouly was the directing mentor for the program, and this was the first time I would get the chance to explore her work. I remember being entranced, as the hotel conference room the film was being projected in transformed into rural Indonesia, a place with wide expanses, rolling hills, and bloody vengeance. Mouly took the tropes of a spaghetti western, to tell a blazing feminist fable of heart-wrenching solidarity.

Her use of genre to drive home the nail-biting tension of our protagonist’s journey inspired me to dive headfirst into genre as both a political and cinematic tool. Etched into my mind, is the scene in which Marlina has to recount her harrowing ordeal to a bored cop. His listless attitude, and line of questioning, make it clear to Marlina that there is no justice for her here. The film finds solace and catharsis through community, and offers no easy answers. I’m thrilled to share the world’s first satay western with VIFF audiences—a pressure cooker of a film, that offers spectacular violence and deep reflection in equal measure.

Zarrar Khan, Leading Lights Curator

 

Supported by

Director
Cast

Marsha Timothy, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama, Egy Fedly, Yoga Pratama, Rita Matu

Credits
Country of Origin

Indonesia/France/Malaysia/
Thailand

Year

2017

Language

In Indonesian with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
93 min
Action & Suspense Cinemas of Asia Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Legendary Filmmakers Women Directors
Cinesurya, Kaninga Pictures, Shasha & Co. Production, Astro Shaw, Hooq Originals, Purin Pictures

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Rama Adi, Fauzan Zidni

Screenwriter

Mouly Surya, Rama Adi

Cinematography

Yunus Pasolang

Editor

Kelvin Nugroho

Original Music

Zeke Khaseli, Yudhi Arfani

Art Director

Frans Paat

Mouly Surya headshot; Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts director

Mouly Surya

Born in Jakarta in 1980, Mouly Surya is considered one of the most promising female filmmakers in Indonesia. Surya had a degree in media and literature before studying film in Australia. She directed her first feature film in 2008, Fiksi. It opened at Busan IFF and won numerous awards including Best Director at JIFFEST. Her second feature What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013) screened at various film festivals including Sundance, Karlovy Vary, and Rotterdam where it won the NETPAC Award. Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), Surya’s third film, premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Filmography: Fiksi (2008); What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love (2013)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Giant

Dir. George Stevens
198 min

This was the Yellowstone of its time: a big, sweeping modern Western built around an imposing ranch and family dynamics -- except Giant is much more subversive. James Dean strikes it rich as Jett Rink, much to the disgust of his former boss, Rock Hudson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Familiar Touch

Dir. Sarah Friedland
90 min

A loving portrait of an octogenarian transitioning into an assisted living facility, this award-winning first feature by choreographer Sarah Friedland has a simplicity and warmth that's exceptionally poignant.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Super Happy Forever

Dir. Kohei Igarashi
94 min

This beguiling film depicts a man’s return to the Japanese seaside town where he met his now-deceased wife five years earlier. He tries to relive the past, and in the film's final section -- a flashback to 2018 -- the audience is afforded that privilege.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Streetcar Named Desire

Dir. Elia Kazan
122 min

"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

While You Weren't Looking

Dir. Catherine Stewart
72 min

The changing landscape of South African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through a trio of artfully counter-pointed relationships.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre