Review: Ali & Ratu-ratu Queens (2021)

Give Marissa Anita all the awards! She’s the best part in this otherwise 3/4 (rather than 1/2) baked feel-good movie. Almost all of her scenes broke me, and she’s not even the character I empathize with in said scenes.

Ali & Ratu-ratu Queens is one of the few (if not the first) Indonesian movies that tackles the found-family trope in all its glory.

The queens in question may not all be very layered and we weren’t given a chance to relate to them on a more humane level as they don’t really have any internal or external conflicts outside of Ali or dreams that warrant even a full-on subplot (I want more out of that restaurant struggle), but they are nonetheless extremely fun.

What undeniably works though is the relationship between Ali and the mother (which thank God it does as it’s the driving force of the plot). It all thanks to our very own Gina S. Noer—which underlines how important it is that a woman should be given more chance to pen movies as she’s written a very layered, very complex woman who’s as unlikable as she is sympathetic. And also THANK GOD for Marissa Anita who elevated the material to even greater heights (she even made her screen partners, Iqbal in particular, better—notice how much flowy-er and truthful their scenes are compared to the rest of the movie).

I really like this movie if only for how rare we’re able to see it. It’s charming, it’s genuine in the most important parts, and it just doesn’t have any… ill-bone? in its body. It’s like a Christmas morning.

Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens

Sutradara: Lucky Kuswandi

Penulis: Gina S. Noer

Pemain: Iqbaal Ramadhan, Marissa Anita,

Nirina Zubir, Happy Salma, Aurora Ribero

7.5/10 ⭐