‘Crocodile Tears’: Toronto Review

Dir/scr: Tumpal Tampubolon. Indonesia/France/Singapore/Germany. 2024. 98mins

Mom all the time is aware of greatest in Crocodile Tears. Tumpal Tampubolon’s low-key debut function charts the unhealthy relationship between a younger man and his overbearing mom, steadily shifting from household drama into extra supernatural territory. The central dynamic and the setting of a crocodile farm add intrigue to a slow-burning, generally cluttered combine that ought to entice consideration from festivals monitoring rising expertise from Indonesia following its Toronto Centrepiece debut.

Favours restraint over extra, atmospherics over explanations

Tampulbolon’s quick The Sea Calls For Me (2021), winner of Greatest Asian Brief Movie at Busan, dealt partly with lonely boys and absent fathers. There are related themes in his first function, which is about on a down-at-heel crocodile farm in West Java run by Mama (Marissa Anita) and her son Johan (Yusuf Mahardika). The slithering multitudes of crocodiles present loads of visible alternatives for cinematographer Teck Siang Lim who reveals them thrashing round, clambering over one another, mouths agape, earlier than gorging down the entire chickens hurled of their course.

Tampubolon appears enthralled by these crocodile eyes: close-ups present them  flicking open just like the shutter of a digicam lens and night time scenes gleam with dozens of eyes watching at midnight. It appears apparent that the crocodiles will play an important half within the story however initially the main target is on the uncomfortable bond between mom and son. Working collectively, the duo are all the things to one another. Mama showers her boy with kisses, calls for shoulder massages and holds him shut in her arms as they share a mattress. There aren’t any boundaries and no privateness. The query of what occurred to Johan’s father is one which runs all through the movie, sparking hypothesis and rumours.

Mahardika and Anita successfully seize that awkward mom/son bond by means of physique language and appears. Johan appears uncomfortable in his pores and skin; squirming, defensive, attempting to maintain calm within the face of exasperation and sexual frustration. Mama sports activities a glance of everlasting reproach, particularly when she washes Johan’s stained underwear.

The catalyst for change is Johan’s assembly with Arumi (Zulfa Maharani) and the candy romance that slowly develops between them. She is an orphan, working in an area karaoke bar and has not one of the shut household ties that bind Johan. Because the couple develop nearer, Mama begins to see the risk in Arumi. The viewer can solely ponder what attracts Arumi to maneuver to the crocodile farm when any wise soul would possibly run a mile in the other way.

The symbolism of the crocodiles turns into ever extra apparent as we study that they’re susceptible to consuming their very own eggs. The movie stays intriguing as we’re inspired to think about how Mama will reply to her son’s strikes in direction of independence, and to think about what half the highly effective jaws and gnashing enamel of the crocodiles will play in her response. Mama appears to have an inexplicable symbiotic reference to a cherished white crocodile that has an enclosure to itself. A rumble of distant thunder on the soundtrack is all it takes to sign occasions are coming to a head and, because the plot unfolds, the movie strays into the territory of Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). 

Crocodile Tears has all the weather for shlocky B-movie fare however Tampubolon retains his deal with the central relationship, favouring restraint over extra, atmospherics over explanations.  The last word reveal concerning the true nature of the white crocodile should be a stretch too far for some viewers.