TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Love and expectations collide in Visinema's 'Heartbreak Motel'
Director-writer Angga Dwimas Sasongko and lead actors Laura Basuki and Reza Rahadian talk about the daunting task of bringing Ika Natassa’s polarizing novel to the big screen.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Dramatic rendition: Director and cowriter Angga Dwimas Sasongko (center) guides actors Reza Rahadian (left) and Laura Basuki in a scene from romantic drama ‘Heartbreak Motel', a film adaptation of the novel by Ika Natassa. (Courtesy of Visinema/-)
S
ome might say that novelist Ika Natassa’s Heartbreak Motel is her most polarizing outing yet, perhaps even her most devoted fans.
Bibliophiles have been vocal in their reviews of the 2022 novel on the literary cataloging platform Goodreads, where 307 members had given Heartbreak Motel only three stars or less at the time of writing.
Many of them took particular issue with the novel's narrative style and characterization of its heroine Ava Alessandra, an acclaimed actor who is secretly dealing with a troubled past and emotionally wrought relationships.
Still, true to Angga Dwimas Sasongko's disposition as a filmmaker over the years, the polarizing reception of Heartbreak Motel did not deter him from adapting the novel into a cinematic experience. As he said candidly on July 18, "I don't care."
Turns out, anything polarizing is exactly Angga's cup of tea.
"Well, most of my films were polarizing," he continued, with a chuckle. "And it's OK. There is a risk in a polarizing body of work, and I like that."
