Murder most fowl
Interchange follows a detective going after a killer birdman.
Interchange Director: Dain Said
Cast: Iedil Putra, Prisia Nasution, Shaheizy Sam, Nicholas Saputra, Alvin Wong, Nadiya Nisaa, Chew Kin Wah
INTERCHANGE wants you to rethink death from the perspective of its many characters. When a body is discovered in a nightspot called Eden, Detective Man (Shaheizy Sam) is called to the scene. He looks at the body hanging from the ceiling with its veins fanned out like fairy lights. Pieces of glass plate negative are found at the scene and Man is determined to prevent another death in the city.
On the other side of town, Adam (Iedil Putra) is wasting away in his apartment. The forensics photographer is haunted by images of death, especially by one victim, a young girl. He spends his days photographing his neighbours, who are all fixated with their mobile devices. Talk about the living dead.
It takes a woman to breathe life and purpose into Adam. Iva (Prisia Nasution), a femme fataletype with an unforgettable piercing gaze, claims she owes money to gangsters and needs Adam to retrieve an item from the police evidence locker room. All it takes for Iva to convince Adam to do her bidding is to simply challenge his sense of commitment – you go, girl. The item she wants is a ... glass plate negative.
The same item is also wanted by Belian (Nicholas Saputra), a man with birdlike features – beaked nose and long, talon-like fingernails – who slips away from prying eyes by concealing his physical traits with a hooded jacket. It seems that Belian is a grim reaper of sorts. He is bent on taking certain individuals to their final destination and needs a series of glass plate negatives to complete his mission.
Director Dain Said ambitiously reinterprets the detective noir genre by setting the film in a localised environment where its characters speak a myriad of languages familiar to us.
The distinctiveness is elevated by elements of mysticism and tribal beliefs about the semangat, or spirit. Interchange is essentially an engaging mystery set in Nusantara. It’s not hard to get lost in this fantastical world created by Dain, thanks to the atmospheric setting, stylish action sequences (including one where Man takes on a high-flying Belian on a rooftop) and a poignant story about longing.
Interchange is also a story about our inability to form real human connections. A reclusive Adam sits at home and frames his
neighbours from his camera. When one subject comes to him and becomes more than just an object within the frame, it makes for an awkward interaction. In Man’s case, his relentless pursuit of the truth makes him unsympathetic to Adam’s mental state. The film subtly reminds us of how we treat each other as merely means to an end.
However, Interchange can be a frustrating watch. We eventually come to learn what Iva’s real quest is – it has to do with freeing trapped, suffering souls – but the film does not explain how the souls got trapped and if they are really suffering. I was hoping we’d get a story about one of the victims but the film leaves that out as well.
As a result, Interchange leaves viewers with more questions than satisfactory answers.
Perhaps that is just a way for Dain to keep the story going and the mystery is left to discerning viewers to figure out. What better way to keep our curiosity piqued than by not ending the film on an obvious note?
If anything is clear from
Interchange, it seems to be telling us that we must accept death as a part of life. With death comes rebirth, a new hope and, for some, a return to paradise.