Movie Reviews
Film Review: After the Curfew (1954) by Usmar Ismail
A poignant cinematic exploration
By Adrian D. Mendizabal
Usmar Ismail’s recently restored “After the Curfew” revolves around a soldier returning to his former life in the bustling city of Bandung, Indonesia, only to find himself increasingly alienated by the American-influenced modernity prevalent there.
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Set in postwar Indonesia following the nation’s struggle for independence from Dutch colonizers (1945-1949), the film reflects the shaping of Indonesia’s contemporary historical and political landscape. This period also gave rise to significant global alliances, notably the Bandung Conference of 1955, uniting nations of the Global South against colonialism and neocolonialism, with the Philippines among the participating countries. Nationalist, democratic, and communist ideals proliferated in postwar Indonesian society, championed by figures like Sukarno, the leader of Indonesia’s anti-colonial movement against the Dutch. During this period, the sense of impending freedom was palpable, reflected in the mise-en-scene that portrays Indonesian society still steeped in revolutionary fervor but gradually embracing a more Westernized way of life.
At the heart of this societal shift is the protagonist/anti-hero, Iskandar, a former revolutionary soldier grappling with his newfound existence. Reuniting with his fiancée Norma, former comrades and acquaintances like the infrastructure developer Gafar, brothel owner Puja and his companion Laila, as well as his former military superior-turned-governor Gunawan, Iskandar navigates these encounters, attempting to reconcile his past with an uncertain future.
For Iskandar, the Indonesian nationalist revolution defines the true reality that everyone must experience. It constitutes the site of maximal change, the historical turning point of his nation that seemingly slips into ordinariness and oblivion when faced with Indonesian postwar contemporary life which seemingly forgets what happened to the struggle for independence.
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For Iskandar, the Indonesian nationalist revolution represents the ultimate reality that all must confront, a pivotal moment in his nation’s history. It constitutes the site of maximal change, the historical turning point of his nation that seemingly slips into ordinariness and oblivion when faced with Indonesian postwar contemporary life.
“After the Curfew” masterfully argues for the irreconcilability between the revolutions fought on the frontlines and the societal transformations that follow. Through Iskandar’s alienation and disillusionment, one sees the incomplete nature of such social revolutions. On a broader scale, it contends that true social revolution eludes postwar Indonesia, with the old order persisting and bourgeois values and feudal structure retaining their dominance. It subtly critiques American cultural imperialism, embodied in Laila’s aspiration for a more modern, Americanized lifestyle portrayed in magazines like LIFE.
In addition, the filmmaker posits that a revolution’s success hinges on its ability to fundamentally alter societal norms and behaviors, echoing Maoist principles in cultural revolution. In postwar Indonesia, as depicted in the motion picture, capitalism prevails, leaving revolutionaries like Iskandar disconnected from a society that fails to align with their ideals. It argues that the new American-influenced Indonesian society metaphorically extinguishes the revolutionary spirit, foreshadowing the tragic events of the 1966 CIA-backed communist purge, which claimed the lives of countless intellectuals and activists, further underscoring its central thesis.
In conclusion, “After the Curfew” stands as a poignant cinematic exploration of the complexities surrounding postwar Indonesia’s transition from revolutionary fervor to modernity. Through the lens of protagonist Iskandar’s alienation and disillusionment, Usmar Ismail skillfully examines the tension between the ideals of the nationalist revolution and the societal changes that ensued. With its nuanced portrayal of the struggle to reconcile past and present, coupled with its commentary on the enduring influence of imperialism and capitalism, what emerges is a thought-provoking reflection on the nature of social revolutions and their lasting impact on individual lives and collective consciousness.
This review first appeared in Omnitudo as part of The Big Continent: Asian Cinema Challenge.
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Movie Reviews
1986 Movie Reviews – Dangerously Close, Fire with Fire, Last Resort, and Short Circuit | The Nerdy
by | May 9, 2026May 9, 2026 10:30 am EDT
Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s May 9, 1986, and we’re off to see Dangerously Close, Fire with Fire, Last Resort, and Short Circuit.
Dangerously Close
I would love to tell you what the point of this film was, but I’m not sure it knew.
An elite school has turned into a magnet school, attracting some “undesirables,” so a group of students known as The Sentinels take up policing their school, but will they go too far?
The basic plot of the film is simple enough, but there is an oddball “twist” toward the end tht served no real purpose and somehow turns the whole thing into a murder-mystery. Mysteries only work when you know you’re supposed to be solving them, and not when you’re alerted to one existing with 15 minutes left.
Decent 80s music, some stylistic shots, absolutely no substance.
Fire with Fire
Oh wait… I may want to go back and watch Dangerously Close again over this one.
Joe Fisk (Craig Sheffer) is being held at a juvenile delinquent facility close a high-end all-girls Catholic school. One day while running through the forest as part of an exercise he spots Catholic schoolgirl Lisa Taylor (Virginia Madsen) and the two fall immediately in love because… reasons.
This film is just so incredibly lazy. The ‘love story’ really can just be chalked up to ‘hormones.’
Last Resort
Once again I am baffled how Charles Grodin kept getting work so much through out the 1980s.
George Lollar (Grodin) is a salesman in Chicago in need of a vacation. He loads up the family and takes them to Club Sand, which turns out to be a swingers resort as well as surrounded by barbed wire to keep rebels out.
There are a lot of talented people in this movie such as Phil Hartman and Megan Mullally, but the film lets them down at every turn with half-baked ideas of jokes. Supposedly, Grodin rewrote nearly the entire script and I think that explains a lot about how this film feels like unfinished ideas. It’s a Frankenstein monster of a script with half-complete ideas that feel like they are from completely different movies.
Short Circuit
Lets just get this out of the way: What in the world was Fisher Stevens doing?
NOVA Laboratory has come up with a new series of military robots called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport). Following a successful demonstration for the military, Five is struck by an electrical surge and finds itself needing ‘input.’ After inadvertently escaping the lab, it wands into the life of Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), who cares for animals and takes Five in. Dr. Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg) is trying to get five back, while the security team wants to destroy it.
Overall, the film is thin, but harmless. The 80s did seem to love a ‘technology being used for the wrong reasons’ theme, and this falls into that camp. What is mind-blowing, however, is Stevens as Ben Jabituya, Crosby’s assistant. Not only is he wearing brown face, but he’s doing a horrible Indian accent and later reveals he was born and raised in the U.S.
His whole character is mystifying.
Honestly, a couple of decades ago I may have recommended this movie, but it’s a definite pass now just for being offensive.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on May 16, 2026, with Sweet Liberty and Top Gun.
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer
Posted: May 8th, 2026 / 08:34 PM
AFFECTION movie poster | ©2026 Brainstorm Media
Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
Writer: BT Meza
Director: BT Meza
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: May 8, 2026
AFFECTION is an odd title for this tale. While it is about a number of topics and emotions, fondness isn’t one of them. Obsession, definitely. Love, possibly. The kind of general warm fellow feelings associated with “affection”? No.
There have been a lot of movies lately in which characters – mostly women – are grappling with false identities and/or false memories imposed upon them, mostly by men.
Let us stipulate that the protagonist (Jessica Rothe) in AFFECTION is not an android or in an artificial reality. However, we can tell something is way off from the opening sequence. A car is stalled on a tree-bordered highway. Rothe’s character is lying face down on the asphalt beside it, possibly dead.
But then the young woman rises, dragging a broken ankle. She experiences a full-body seizure. Fighting to recover, she sees oncoming headlights and tries to run, only to be hit by a car.
The woman wakes up in a bed she doesn’t recognize, next to a man (Joseph Cross) she likewise is sure she’s never seen before. One big confrontation later, the man says his name is Bruce – and that the woman is his wife, Ellie.
Ellie insists that her name is Sarah Thompson, and she is married to someone else, with a son. When she sees her reflection in a mirror, she doesn’t relate to the face looking back at her.
Bruce counters that Ellie has a rare neurological condition that causes her to block out her waking life and believe her dreams are real. This is why they agreed, together, to move to this isolated house, without the kinds of interruptions that can hinder Ellie’s recovery.
The set-up is presented in a way where we share Ellie’s skepticism. But Ellie and Bruce’s little daughter Alice (Julianna Layne) immediately identifies Ellie as “Mommy!” Alice appears to be too young to be in on any kind of deception, so what is going on here?
AFFECTION eventually explains this via a helpful videotape, though it’s so convoluted that viewers watching on streaming may want to replay the sequence to make sure they understand the exposition.
Writer/director BT Meza musters a sense of menace and lurking weirdness, as well as making great use of his location.
We still have a lot of questions, many of which are still unanswered by the film’s end. It may not matter to the points AFFECTION is trying to make, but a better sense of exactly how all this started might help our investment.
As it is, despite a heroically versatile performance by Rothe, a credible and anguished turn by Cross and appealing work from Layne, we’re so busy trying to piece together what’s important and what’s not and how we’re supposed to feel about all of it that it can be hard to keep track of the action as it unfolds.
Agree or not, Meza’s arguments are lucid and illustrated clearly by AFFECTION’s events. However, the movie is structured in a way that becomes more frustrating as it goes. We comprehend it intellectually but can’t engage viscerally.
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:
Deanna: ★★★★.5
Allison: ★★★.25
Julia: ★★
To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.
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