266

Apa hubungan antara 'insait' dan 'pilotok'? Buat orang lain mungkin gak ada, tapi buat gue, dua-duanya berhubungan dengan karir gue yang gagal di dunia periklanan.

Beberapa taun(!) yang lalu, waktu masih masa malam-malam tanpa masa depan, Irwan main ke LFM. Sebagai praktisi dan orang yang keknya cinta banget sama iklan dan dunianya, yang diobrolin tentu gak jauh-jauh dari situ. Dan mungkin dia prihatin sama masa depan gue yang suram itu, sehingga mulai menceritakan prospek dunia periklanan ke gue.

"It's interesting. Elo bisa banyak belajar."

"Elo bakal harus ketemu orang dengan macem-macem karakter. Dari ngobrol-ngobrol gini lo bisa dapet insait-insait yang menarik."

Insait apaan sih?

"Kalo bosen di kantor, keluar aja, jalan-jalan cari insait."

Insait apaan sih?

Beberapa minggu kemudian, di salah satu malam tanpa masa depan di Srigading, Shafiq dan Aswin yang baru pulang dari Jakarta menceritakan pengalaman mereka.

"Harusnya kalian ikut," ujar Shafiq.

"Pokoknya seru deh," timpal Aswin.

"Kaya gimana sih iklannya?" kami bertanya-tanya penasaran.

Mereka baru saja ikut Irwan ngambil gambar iklan mi instan (Irwan menyebutnya instant noodle), tapi rupanya mereka gak boleh menceritakan isi iklan itu.

"Masih rahasia," sahut Shafiq menjawab pertanyaan kami.

"Kita gak boleh cerita sampe iklannya keluar," tukas Aswin.

Yaa, kalo udah keluar mah ngapain cerita lagi?

"Bahkan pilotok pun gak boleh," imbuh Shafiq.

"Hahh?"

Pilotok apaan sih?

Oke, ini kan Shafiq dan Aswin, teman seperjuangan menempuh malam-malam tanpa masa depan.

"Pilotok apaan sih?"

Shafiq dan Aswin berpandangan, lalu tertawa terbahak-bahak.

Rupanya pilotok adalah istilah yang berkali-kali digunakan Irwan dan selama beberapa waktu, mereka berdua pun gak ngerti artinya. Setelah kesekian kalinya Irwan menggunakan istilah itu, akhirnya mereka bertanya juga.

Pillow talk adalah percakapan intim di tempat tidur. Jadi maksudnya, curhat sama pasangan pun gak boleh ngebocorin isi iklan ini.

Coba gak nanya, sampe mereka ke Bandung bakal tetep gak ngerti apa tuh pilotok. Dan kami yang mendengarkan pun akan sama begonya.

Beberapa bulan kemudian, setelah Shafiq kecemplung di biro iklan yang sama dengan Irwan (dan lalu sempat gue coba masuki tapi gagal), gue baru tau bahwa insait adalah insight. Hmm... jangan-jangan gue gagal gara-gara itu

Moral dari cerita ini adalah: malu bertanya, sesat di pendapatan.

PS #1: Terinspirasi bikin tulisan ini gara-gara komentarnya Mas Iman.
PS #2: Ah, jadi inget redux, ya gak bos?

265

When the movie ended, I looked at Wildan who sat next to me. His eyes showed the same confusion as mine. “Will there any discussion after this?” he said. “I need enlightening here.”

Yeah, so did I. We were shaken, confused. We needed explanation of what just happened. In brief, we just didn’t get the movie

Village potters Siti and Setio are happily married. They were once Ramayana dancers, but now they sell earthenware to live. Siti used to play Sita, the beautiful wife of Prince Rama (Setio’s former role), who becomes the object of evil King Ravana’s desire. As if cursed by the drama, the couples falls victim to their roles’ fates when a rich man, Ludiro, tries to seduce Siti.
(Jiffest Catalogue)

The movie was made as a tribute to Mozart’s 250th anniversary, and the title is Opera Jawa, which should give me a clear hint that it is an opera. That means all the dialogues (except a few minor ones) are brought in tembang (Javanese songs). It really got to my nerve when I realized that

After got used to the tembang and identified the characters, I finally could enjoy the movie. It’s quite gripping, actually. And it’s beautiful in Garin’s way. Sensual, and a little bit violent. I couldn’t help connect it with Ramayana story. I think it’s not exactly a fair way to watch a movie, because a movie should be able to stand (and be understood) by itself. Maybe those audience who knew nothing about Ramayana could watch the movie with less burden and enjoy it more, while I always relate Siti to Sinta (Sita), Setio to Rama and Ludiro to Rahwana (Ravana).

I really enjoyed Ludiro’s part (played by Eko Supriyanto, a great dancer and choreographer but famous to us pop generation as Madonna’s former dancer). It’s energetic and expressive in broad range. From greedy to sad to lustful to hopeless. Setio was played by Martinus Miroto, a master in Javanese classical dance and contemporary dance. Siti was played by none other than former Putri Indonesia Artika Sari Devi (ah, there’s always at least one in every Garin’s work, right?). I can’t say much about their acting, mostly because I’m not familiar with the medium (tembang and dancing). Compared to Ludiro’s, Siti and Setio’s dancing is kind of expressionless, aristocratic. Maybe it symbolizes the restriction in marriage life, while the forbidden love—symbolizes with red cloth and apparently a vagina model which I just realize after reading the catalogue—is more passionate. It gets to the extreme when Setio tried to “shape” Siti with clay in pottery turntable.

From what I know, Ramayana is a metaphor of loyalty and usually portray power oppression. There are some scenes of violence which I think should be relate to present Indonesian condition. When I think about it, the problem is it was hard for me to connect the violence to Ludiro, except I knew he represented Rahwana. Maybe it was just me with bad Javanese language and verbal tendency and limited intelligence. Heck, what did I expect? It’s Javanese, it’s wayang orang (traditional Javanese dance-drama) and it’s Garin’s. The movie is full of symbols.

A carefully crafted one, though. Wildan said the movie is, “Surreal, but not absurd.” It involved several installation artists, and it’s not too much to make you wanna throw up. It just gives you a headache ;P

Anyway, Wildan and I watched the movie on its premiere at Jiffest. It was for invitation only but we insisted to wait in theatre entrance until an official finally let us in just a few minutes before the movie began. We hardly believe we could get in and watched the movie with important film people and celebrities and foreign representatives. (And my excitement did not lessen when I found out Athun actually had invitation and Eka had a copy of the movie)

What feels strange for me is there seemed only two of us who were crazy and stubborn enough to sneak into the premiere. I mean, on last year’s Jiffest, there were more than one time I got into the screening when the tickets already unavailable. It was a combination of stubbornness and luck, because there were always a few seats empty. And we’re talking about Opera Jawa, which probably won’t go into 21 (and now I know why). Maybe because the screening was held on Djakarta XXI. I think this year’s committee want to raise the prestige of the festival by moving the screenings from last years’ mostly on TIM to exclusive XXI theatres (eX and Djakarta—just renovated last year). But the moving changes the audience, or at least the audience’s behavior. And I miss TIM’s crowd

Hmm… I don’t know if I can stand it, but I probably should borrow the movie from Eka anyway

264

When the day is long
And the night, the night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life
Well hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes...

I remember Mas Ulul once being asked to edit a footage about Tragedi Semanggi. On the brief sheet, the guy suggested using a touching song, ‘misalnya (such as) Everybody Hurts’.

The song would suit better if there were some kids who were gonna throw themselves from Semanggi Flyover.

I don’t know about other non-English speaking countries, but I think in Indonesia the song is widely misunderstood. I often see television footage using the song as the background for news on massacre or natural disaster and such kind.

Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go (hold on)
when you think you've had too much of this life
Well hang on

'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friend
Everybody hurts

The song does sound sad. But it’s not a sad song. At least not exactly. When Mike Mills pointed out All The Way to Reno as a sad song, he added a remark, ‘But as with so many of Michael's lyrics, you know you can always you can see it as a hopeful song, or as a very sad song.’ I think Everybody Hurts is one of those ‘many of Michael’s lyrics’.

Don't throw your hand... oh, no...
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you are not alone

If you're on your own, in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much
Of this life, to hang on

It’s funny how the song is misunderstood because it’s one of a few Michael’s lyrics that speaks straightforward. As Peter Buck said, ‘He wanted that song to reach teenagers and not to be misunderstood. You don't want something that needs a math degree to go through when you're trying to reach a seventeen-year-old and say, "It's ok, things are tough, but they get better." There's not a line out of place in there.’ Even Michael said, ‘God, I did it, I wrote a song that a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds with a lot of different ways of thinking can call their own and respond to emotionally and intellectually.’ (Bowler & Dray, R.E.M Documental)

Everybody hurts
Everybody cries
Everybody hurts
Sometimes

Like so many of their best songs, it embraces both a lyrical and musical dichotomy; musically, it is almost serene, but there is a disturbing undercurrent from Buck's distorted electric guitar as Michael's voice changes in tone from welcoming death to reassuring those left behind that life goes on, imparting the wisdom of age. (Bowler & Dray, R.E.M. Documental)

Everybody hurts
Sometimes
Hold on... Hold on... Hold on... Hold on...
Hold on... Hold on...

Everybody hurts...
Everybody hurts... (you are not alone)

>> Dedicated to my dearest friends, especially those who think they don’t deserve happiness. The beautiful song belongs to R.E.M.

263

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures
(Ironic, Alanis Morissette)

+ Yaa... ujan lagi...
- Mana elo masih sakit gitu Ran.
+ Iya nih. Mana sekarang ketambahan batuk. Padahal kalo udah batuk sembuhnya lama.
- Ya iyalah, gimana gak batuk? Tiap hari pulang malem.
+ Ya gitu deh... Namanya juga cari duit. Tiap hari pulang malem keujanan ngumpulin duit biar bisa buat beli mobil. Kalo udah pake mobil kan kalo pulang gue gak usah ujan-ujanan lagi.

Hehe... ngomong-ngomong soal ironi...