Yuni

Distributed by Film MovementProduced by Ifa IsfansyahDirected by Kamila Andini2021, Streaming, 95 mins Yuni is an entrancing coming-of-age film about a teenager in Indonesia. With the catalysts of proposed mandatory virginity tests at school, marriage proposals, a scholarship opportunity for unmarried women, and a budding relationship with a boy at school, Yuni navigates the complex relationship between personal desire and the potential consequences of her choices. The film shows the surveillance and shame women in her community face surrounding sex and explores how a girl navigates sexual awakening in that context. In addition to its protagonist, the film highlights supporting characters navigating experiences from traditional marriage, to pregnancy by rape, to divorce and casual dating, to forced marriage based on a false accusation of having had sex. It tells each girl and woman’s story with care while suggesting myriad possibilities for Yuni’s own life. Societal constraints on gender are also explored when Yuni catches her teacher, Mr. Damar, secretly experimenting with feminine dress. The actors’ performances are strong across the board. Yuni is faced with life-altering decisions and matures exponentially throughout the film, but her kleptomaniac tendencies for anything purple and her regular scoldings at school remind us that she’s still young. The interplay between her youth and the complexity of the decisions and limitations presented to her is potent. In particular, there is tension between Yuni’s own desire to please her family and Mr. Damar’s desire to please his. In order to protect himself, Mr. Damar seeks conformity by way of marrying Yuni. Yuni feels compassionate toward him, but also finds her own autonomy threatened by that compassion. In addition to its strong storytelling, the filmmakers made beautiful aesthetic choices. The use of color is particularly striking; purple tones start out muted and occasional, but by the end of the film, Yuni wears bold purple tones in her hair, other characters wear articles of clothing that bring a vibrant reminder of the protagonist’s identity to a scene, and Yuni’s wedding day— on which she makes her culminating choice to drown herself— is drenched in purple. As Yuni explores her own internal life, she becomes more present in the external elements of the film. The poetry of Sapardi Djoko Damono is also central to the film, particularly “Hujan Bulan Juni” (”The Rain in June”), which calls to mind the protagonist’s name. The core of the story, as expressed by Yuni, is this: “I know what they’ll say. ‘What’s your dream in life? What do you want?’ How do I know what I want?” She knows that her loved ones want her to pursue her own desires, but that all of her choices must be filtered through others’ competing wishes. She is confronted with both her own uncertainty and the uncertainty that she could get what she wanted even if she knew. Awards:Platform Prize, Toronto International Film Festival; Young Cineastes Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival; Best Actress, Asian World Film Festival; Best Actress, Red Sea International Film Festival