Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet!

Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! (2007)

Adjeng lives alone in an apartment paid for by her boyfriend, a rich businessman. A writer of children's stories, she wishes to write short stories for adults; in this, she is mentored by Asmoro with whom she is also having sex. Meanwhile, Adjeng's mothe handles various aspects of her life, constantly calling her and making surprise visits. This has led Adjeng's friends, Venny and Andien, to tease her about her overbearing mother.

Date of release
2007-12-28
Runtime
1h 32m
Genres
Drama
Director
Nai Djenar Maesa Ayu

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Indonesia

Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! is a 2008 Indonesian film directed by Djenar Maesa Ayu. Starring Titi Rajo Bintang, Henidar Amroe, and Ray Sahetapi, it tells the life story of Adjeng, who was sexually abused as a child by her mother's boyfriend. Filmed over 18 days after several years of development, the film adapted two of Ayu's short stories from her debut anthology of the same name. Owing to its low budget of Rp 620 million, its cast and crew were mostly amateurs and students, although several established actors appeared at reduced rates.

Production

The film was originally meant to be based on the short story "Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet!" from Djenar Maesa Ayu's 2002 debut, a critically and commercially successful short story anthology of the same name. However, Djenar later chose to base the film on "Lintah" ("Leech") and "Melukis Jendela" ("Painting the Window"), two other stories from the anthology.

In 2004 Ayu began taking filmmaking classes to prepare herself to direct the film. She also watched several films directed by her father, the director Sjumandjaja, in preparation for production. Production began in October 2006, with some of the film crew – including art director Hardiyansah B. Yasin – drawn in after Ayu met them at a cafe in South Jakarta and discovered that they were active in the local indie film scene.

Many of the roles were written with specific actors in mind, with casting for other roles promoted by word of mouth. Titi Rajo Bintang, a lecturer at the Daya Kemang Institute of Art, was cast in the starring role of Adjeng after Ayu and her then-husband, Sri Aksana Sjuman (Ayu's brother), convinced her. At first she was uncomfortable with some of her scenes and her lack of training, as this was her first film role.

Model turned actress Henidar Amroe was chosen to play Adjeng's mother; Ayu later said that the role had been written with her in mind. Although worried about the sexual content of the film, Amroe accepted the role, calling it a "crazy" plot that "read like a foreign movie". The young Adjeng was played by Ayu's daughter, Banyu Bening. Several of the established actors cast, including Jajang C.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended