Many horror anthology series are inspired by black mirror Nowadays, with separate stories that are somehow connected through one or more factors, proving that they all take place in the same universe. A new series from Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar promises to tie together their separate stories, and after watching the first episode, we think we know how he does it.
THE NIGHTMARES AND DREAMS OF JOKO ANWAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Initial shot: “JAKARTA, 2015”. A taxi driver takes a nurse in his taxi.
The essence: The driver, Panji (Ario Bayu), takes nurse Siti (Ruth Marini) to the nursing home where she works. He always thought the nursing home was for rich families, while he is a taxi driver and his mother, Ranti (Yatti Surachman), was a cook. Ranti is in her early seventies, but she is already starting to show signs of dementia, what Panji calls “not thinking clearly.” When another nurse, Naya (Putri Ayuda), encourages Panji to apply for her, Siti tells him not to even think about it, that it is wrong to leave parents in a house like this.
However, after a horrific incident involving Ranti, Panji and his wife Rara (Faradina Mufti) believe it might be time. When he brings Ranti to the house, Panji meets another son of a resident, who is also a working-class boy, who regrets bringing her mother to the house, as he is not allowed to see her.
Ranti leaves her tour of the house, thinking she is going to cook there, but when Panji tells her that she will stay there for better care, Ranti breaks down sobbing and begs Panji not to leave her there.
That night, he has a nightmare about what his mother might be going on there, so he goes there in the middle of the night, determined to bring his mother home. However, he is greeted by Nurse Naya and finds a room full of people her age socializing. Naya tells her that these people are sons and daughters of residents, that Ranti is fine, and that even the guilt and nightmares she has are normal.
Panji leaves, but turns around and returns to find his mother. Instead, while he hides from someone he believes to be the son of a resident, he follows the man to a secret passage. Once in those catacombs, he sees all the young people in hooded robes and discovers where all that youth comes from, which makes him more determined to find his mother.
What shows will it remind you of? Joko Anwar’s nightmares and dreams is black mirror-esque, but with more leaning towards straight horror.
Our opinion: Anwar, a well-known Indonesian filmmaker, is not content with making a season of one-off anthology episodes. This season’s stories Nightmares and dreams They are intertwined, probably through this mysterious cult of wearing robes. The robes themselves are creepy, with round decorations around the hoods and a line on the front that lights up and makes the people wearing them look like aliens when the faces in the hoods are obscured.
Right now, that connection between the stories is the reason to keep watching Nightmares and dreams. The plot of the first episode, while it had some tense elements and some disconcerting special effects, was also quite predictable. Seeing all the young people in the room, dressed in what appeared to be their best from the ’60s and ’70s, made us immediately realize where they were coming from. We were right, although we had no idea exactly how it happened. That’s where the disconcerting visual effects come from. But because the “twist” of the episode was quite predictable, the story had no real shock value.
But, with all series in this vein, episodes are likely to vary in quality, and some stories will be better than others. As we said, the creepy hooded cult seems to be the common thread of this series, and it’s certainly something that will keep us intrigued.
Sex and skin: None.
Parting Shot: Signs of life appear among the rubble.
Sleeping star: Faradina Mufti as Rata, Panji’s wife, mainly because we don’t see her in the second half of the episode and wish she was more involved in the story.
Most pilot line: As he walks away from the nursing home after his late-night visit, Panji mutters “Piece of shit” to himself and decides to turn around. Hey, people have to make tough decisions when it comes to caring for his elderly parents, Panji. Do not be so hard on yourself.
Our call: TRANSMIT IT. If the hooded cult members are the common thread of Nightmares and daydreams of Joko Anwar, As we suspect they are, they are definitely creepy enough to make the series watchable. But the stories themselves have to be better than the first episode for us to wholeheartedly recommend it.
Joel Keller@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but make no mistake: he’s a couch potato. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and other places.
