Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2: Breathing is Quite Optional

By: Andre Suprapto

A great love story must involve depth, and when we are talking about depth; breathing is out of the question, or at least optional.

Indeed, the second installment of the movie franchise that symbolized the artistic rebirth of my generation’s post reformation era has established Riri Riza as a director who is in the business of taking his audiences’ breath away.

It’s truly a sequel that does not disappoint. A triumph, a grand visual and audio feast that gracefully make their way to the heart.

The ability of movies to paint human story through pictures, acting, and music surpass other medium of art due to its holistic approach.

I highly regard and appreciate those who have the guts to devote their lives in the movie industry. I never have the courage to write bad reviews on bad movies. I only write reviews on movies with superlative quality because I feel indebted to the makers of the art not to add another words of praise.

One word regarding Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 (AADC 2) that you can always find from mass media, or social media comments on Facebook, Instagram, Path or Youtube is “baper – kebawa perasaan” (carried away with feelings).

"In Love We Trust?"

by: Andre Suprapto

“Love…is the great creative process”

-D.H. Lawrence-

Love is in the air… Love Actually… All you need is Love… PS: I Love you… We seem to just can’t get enough of love, can we? And it’s actually an undeniable fact that the defining theme of our generation’s culture and arts has been LOVE. Just like medieval-ism was the golden age of religious faith; the twentieth and the dawn of this century have been the age of the reinvention of that mythical mystery of the way of a man and a woman that always thrill our senses, and charms our emotions. However, to have love in a microscopic scrutiny, have we really fathom this bizarre concept or is it just a myth? 

Love. What a refreshing and at the same time revolting idea. From the day that we were born we have been completely surrounded by this four letter word, that we can actually see and hear it at anytime and anywhere, especially through the arts. 

For better or for worse, nothing stirs the emotions the more as art; and humans, since time beginning, have always exhausted their best artistic endeavour in composing poetry, singing songs, painting, and depicting dramatic scenes about love. 

Thanks to our age of instant media; the messages of love through the arts have become part of our daily bread. As we tuned in the radio in the morning, we will hear dozens of love songs played perpetually throughout the day. Switching on the TV what would we see; love movies with romantic final-scene kisses have become the defining epitome of the movie industry. Accordingly, we have unconsciously drifted under the influence of love in the hope that somewhere, sometime, and somehow, we will also experience that joyous thrill of love that the arts have depicted so beautifully. Indeed, as Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University, said: “They (people) live for love, die for love, and kill for love. It can be stronger than the drive to stay alive.”