Merantau (2009)

[blue_skies]

Good news indeed Bengs! I am anxious to see more from Iko Uwais. Do you know if these projects are going to be with Iko Uwais teaming up with MERANTAU's director again?

.

YES:bigsmile:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12712&highlight=berandal

there has been a change of plans in the merantau films camp. Back in june word came out that the follow up film to iko uwais' star-making performance would be berandal, a large scale prison gang movie intended to star not only merantau stars iko uwais and yayan ruhian but also an additional pair of international fight stars. Well, while plans for berandal are still moving ahead the scope and international nature of it have proven a bit more complex and time consuming than anticipated. So while the film is still in the cards director gareth evans and stars iko uwais and yayan ruhian have decided to fill the gap with something a little different.

Imagine this, if you will: Die hard fused with assault on precinct 13 played out as a high octane martial arts picture. This is the raid (serbuan maut) and that description above is just how i like to describe it. Here's how writer-director gareth evans does:

A swat team arrives at a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord named tama. The building has never been raided before, never been touched by police. Seen as a no go zone it has since become a sanctuary to killers, gangs, rapists and thieves seeking accommodation in the one place they know they cannot be touched.

Making their move in the break of dawn the swat team work their way up the building under cover of silence. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and with news of their assault traveling to tama in his penthouse suite the building is locked down with all lights out and all exits blocked.

Stranded on the 6th floor the swat team must fight their way through every floor and every room not just to complete their mission but to survive.

Fight choreography and early camera tests for the raid are currently underway with an eye to launching full pre-production early in the new year for a spring shoot in jakarta. La based xyz films and jakarta based pt merantau films are on board as executive producers.

In the interest of full disclosure, yes, i am a partner at xyz films and have had a minor hand in the development of this and will continue to be involved through the festival play and international marketing of it. I'll have a similar role on this as i had on merantau, basically, though i'm involved earlier this time. That information doesn't make the kick pictured above any less impressive.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

^ Holy shit, I can't wait to see how this thing turns out... Die Hard meets Assault 13, damn that's an action movie I want to see... Are they going to release it this year???

[daisho2004]

Sounds really good, keep up posted.

[ben]

Good news indeed Bengs! I am anxious to see more from Iko Uwais. Do you know if these projects are going to be with Iko Uwais teaming up with MERANTAU's director again?

Yes Gareth Evans will be involved with those films.

[ben]

^ Holy shit, I can't wait to see how this thing turns out... Die Hard meets Assault 13, damn that's an action movie I want to see... Are they going to release it this year???

From what I read, "The Raid" is going to start shooting in about 2-3 months, and they want to do "Berandal" in 2012 so I guess there is a possibility it could come out late this year. I've tried to contact Gareth about it but no reply to me.

[ghevans]

Thanks for the comments about the film, much appreciated.

Just to confirm, we are in pre-production on The Raid now, with production starting mid-march. The fighting style is going to be different from Merantau with a much more aggressive use of silat from Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian.

We're expecting the film to be completed before the end of this year hopefully with a festival run in Q4 of 2011 before we release domestically in Indonesia January 2012.

Very happy to hear you're excited for the film, will keep you guys posted once we release any publicity materials.

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

Thanks, great news! Can't wait to see what you guys do next. More agressive use of silat? I like that:xd:.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Welcome aboard Ghevans, keep making them hits, enjoy your work bro!!!!

[ben]

Thanks for the comments about the film, much appreciated.

Just to confirm, we are in pre-production on The Raid now, with production starting mid-march. The fighting style is going to be different from Merantau with a much more aggressive use of silat from Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian.

We're expecting the film to be completed before the end of this year hopefully with a festival run in Q4 of 2011 before we release domestically in Indonesia January 2012.

Very happy to hear you're excited for the film, will keep you guys posted once we release any publicity materials.

Nice to see you Mr Evans and thanks for the update here.

Been trying to get to you through twitter, so great that you joined the forums.

[Guest Yi-Long]

So... how many damn different cuts are out for this Merantau movie, and why the hell do they keep doing this shit!?

[daisho2004]

So... many damn different cuts are out for this Merantau movie, why the hell do they keep doing this shit!?

Yi-Long: MONEY! I feel your Pain on this subject! I hate buying a movie only for it to have atleast 3 other verisons come out after I already bought the damn movie!

[Guest Yi-Long]

Yi-Long: MONEY! I feel your Pain on this subject! I hate buying a movie only for it to have atleast 3 other verisons come out after I already bought the damn movie!

What money!? Like I'm gonna BUY a cut version. Fuck that. Plus I'll be warning all my potentially interested friends as well to NOT BUY the CUT version.

There should be a consumer-protection law that states that all DVDs/BRs should be sold with clear information ON THE PACKAGING about if the version that is sold is cut in any way, shape or form.

It's incredible how many consumers are spending money on INCOMPLETE products without knowing it.

Now, I know some people will say: "it's no big deal" (and those people are fucking idiots)... but if you tell those consumers there's 10 minutes missing from the movie they paid full-price for, most of those people will be pissed off, and feel ripped off.

Ow, and considering GHevans is here to answer our questions: What the fuck is wrong with you as a director that you allow others to cut your movie up!? What arguments did they have!? How did they convince you that those cuts would be helpful in any way, and how can you accept it considering your background here on this forum and in this 'world', and thus knowing the fans' general reaction to this kinda BS!?

[ben]

What money!? Like I'm gonna BUY a cut version. Fuck that. Plus I'll be warning all my potentially interested friends as well to NOT BUY the CUT version.

There should be a consumer-protection law that states that all DVDs/BRs should be sold with clear information ON THE PACKAGING about if the version that is sold is cut in any way, shape or form.

It's incredible how many consumers are spending money on INCOMPLETE products without knowing it.

Now, I know some people will say: "it's no big deal" (and those people are fucking idiots)... but if you tell those consumers there's 10 minutes missing from the movie they paid full-price for, most of those people will be pissed off, and feel ripped off.

Ow, and considering GHevans is here to answer our questions: What the fuck is wrong with you as a director that you allow others to cut your movie up!? What arguments did they have!? How did they convince you that those cuts would be helpful in any way, and how can you accept it considering your background here on this forum and in this 'world', and thus knowing the fans' general reaction to this kinda BS!?

Ok I understand your frustration, but no need to get so worked up about it.

I don't have direct involvement or knowledge in the industry, but I'd expect the director's vision is to capture their art and share it for the world to enjoy. Once the film passes out their hands into the world of distributors, dealing with licensing rights, broadcast codes etc then they may not be able to control it. Anyway, again, just my speculation.

[ghevans]

I understand the frustration regarding films being trimmed for International releases, I more than anyone else wanted the film to be made available for all audiences to see it as I'd intended. But understand there was no evil conspiracy that led to Merantau being cut from it's initial 135min running time to the International version.

There are only 2 versions of the film, the International Cut and the Indonesian cut and I didn't let anyone else touch the film. I took charge of the edit myself after market screening reports suggested in its full version that the film would be a hard sell to distributors - we have a long build up before any of the action truly starts. In the international cut it comes in at roughly 30mins (which even then, a lot of audiences felt was too long), but in the Indonesian cut its almost close to 50mins. This was a major concern for a lot of the distributors, and seemed across the board to be the general feeling during screen tests also.

So from there, we re-cut the film to meet the market needs - now I know this will seem horribly shallow but while I stand by my work and fought to keep as much as possible I also have a responsibility to the production company and it's investors to deliver a film that can travel outside of a local release. And also, the full version still exists and was released theatrically and on DVD in Indonesia.

It was incredibly difficult to go back to the film and re-edit something I'd spent over a year of my life developing. There are decisions I made in the International cut that I'm actually more happy with as it allowed me one more run at it with extra time and hindsight to go back and fix some pacing issues that became more and more apparent after screenings of the film. Having said that there were some instances where I felt sad to lose some scenes that I still hold dear. I don't stop thinking about the edit, recently I thought of more that could be done in order to re-insert a scene we had previously deleted. But the time comes when you just have to let go.

We've learnt our lesson from Merantau, making 2 versions isn't an easy choice to make, and it costs a lot of money to do so. I can say to you though that our next film won't have that problem, there'll be only one cut of it - and I hope you will support us but more importantly, enjoy the films we make.

[Guest Yi-Long]

Ok I understand your frustration, but no need to get so worked up about it.

I don't have direct involvement or knowledge in the industry, but I'd expect the director's vision is to capture their art and share it for the world to enjoy. Once the film passes out their hands into the world of distributors, dealing with licensing rights, broadcast codes etc then they may not be able to control it. Anyway, again, just my speculation.

Actually, I DO need to get worked up about it, cause it's been the same shit for over 60 years now, and it's completely unnecessary.

Even classics like Seven Samurai got cut up, because 'some' suits thought us 'westerners' would run out of the cinema screaming and tearing our hair out because it might all be too 'Jappy' for us to handle.

In the end though, it turns out, we watch these movies because we are already very open to different cultures (or at least to experiencing other cultures through their movies...), and we prefer them in their original state. I doubt there are more than 5 good movies that benefitted from being cut. I certainly can't think of any...

So again, we DO need to get worked up about this issue, ESPECIALLY if there are now directors who come from this fanbase, know what we like and hate, and could now be in a position to inform those suits about these feelings, and also standing up for them.

I understand the frustration regarding films being trimmed for International releases, I more than anyone else wanted the film to be made available for all audiences to see it as I'd intended. But understand there was no evil conspiracy that led to Merantau being cut from it's initial 135min running time to the International version.

There are only 2 versions of the film, the International Cut and the Indonesian cut and I didn't let anyone else touch the film. I took charge of the edit myself after market screening reports suggested in its full version that the film would be a hard sell to distributors - we have a long build up before any of the action truly starts. In the international cut it comes in at roughly 30mins (which even then, a lot of audiences felt was too long), but in the Indonesian cut its almost close to 50mins. This was a major concern for a lot of the distributors, and seemed across the board to be the general feeling during screen tests also.

So from there, we re-cut the film to meet the market needs - now I know this will seem horribly shallow but while I stand by my work and fought to keep as much as possible I also have a responsibility to the production company and it's investors to deliver a film that can travel outside of a local release. And also, the full version still exists and was released theatrically and on DVD in Indonesia.

It was incredibly difficult to go back to the film and re-edit something I'd spent over a year of my life developing. There are decisions I made in the International cut that I'm actually more happy with as it allowed me one more run at it with extra time and hindsight to go back and fix some pacing issues that became more and more apparent after screenings of the film. Having said that there were some instances where I felt sad to lose some scenes that I still hold dear. I don't stop thinking about the edit, recently I thought of more that could be done in order to re-insert a scene we had previously deleted. But the time comes when you just have to let go.

We've learnt our lesson from Merantau, making 2 versions isn't an easy choice to make, and it costs a lot of money to do so. I can say to you though that our next film won't have that problem, there'll be only one cut of it - and I hope you will support us but more importantly, enjoy the films we make.

Thanks for your quick and extensive reply, Ghevans.

I didn't expect an evil consipiracy to be the root of the cause. Usually it's fear, insecurity, and hope that a different cut for a different audience is a right answer to those fears.

It usually isn't btw. Ong-Bak didn't become a success because of the cuts, but despite the cuts. And it's the same for many other movies which were shredded up.

Now, you give a very good explanation about the valid concerns, so I understand the fears, especially considering the fact that this is ofcourse marketed as an action-movie.

I also am happy to hear that they allowed you the right to make those cuts in your way, instead of letting some interns over at the studio do it without your consent.

However, I've got to ask you. How did the indonesian cut 'score' among it's audience? Did they rate it highly? Did they have a huge problem with the longer build-up? Were people indeed walking out after 40 minutes?

I ask, because often the longer the build-up, the more rewarding the explosion. Titanic is a movie about a big ship sinking. Yet after 2 hours in, everyone is still playing footsy and conversing in quite trivial conversations.

There have been many many directors and studios with those same concerns as yours. I'm sure the studio shitted their pants when Sergio Leone brought in Once upon a Time in the West, with that long-ass intro at the trainstation. Yet in the end, we all seem to prefer the 'complete' and uncut version. When it's a good movie, when the story is decent, when the actors and the acting are interesting... we usually won't walk out.

Mostly, the fears of a studio, while sometimes understandable, are quite unnecessary at the end of the day. If your movie was a great success in Indonesia, there really wasn't a reason to think it would have a completely different effect on the people here...

In fact, it's potential fanbase, namely the people on forums like these who have been keeping an eye on this project, and which will make or break the movie through positive or negative feedback-sharing. Now, we know 1 thing about us fanboys, and that's that we're quite anal. We usually can cope with a slow build-up when the end is rewarding. However, we do HATE it when we get a chopped up version. Not just because we feel we are special and different from the average 'Joe Hick' on the street 'who wouldn't 'get' our love for foreign exotic movies, but because we feel we would love the movie in it's original state, and we feel DENIED that opportunity to love it completely when we get a shorter cut.

Like I said, this isn't the first time a movie is cut out of fear that a western audience might not accept it in it's current state. We can probably fill a complete encyclopedia with altered foreign movies.

The question is always: is it REALLY necessary to do so, and does it actually improve on the quality of the movie and the experience of the person watching it. I sincerely belief that's exceptionally rarely the case.

Anyway, it's good to hear that next time you will just make 1 cut (or at least, that seems to be the intention), so that's a positive. I hope the studio will also be at peace with that.

Will the indonesian cut get an asian BR-release btw? I'm sure there are many indonesian people working in Hong Kong who would probably enjoy the movie as well... (although I doubt many of them will have access to a BR-player, come to think of it...). And is there a chance that the indonesian cut will get a release in the west?

[ShaOW!linDude]

I understand the frustration regarding films being trimmed for International releases, I more than anyone else wanted the film to be made available for all audiences to see it as I'd intended. But understand there was no evil conspiracy that led to Merantau being cut from it's initial 135min running time to the International version.

There are only 2 versions of the film, the International Cut and the Indonesian cut and I didn't let anyone else touch the film. I took charge of the edit myself after market screening reports suggested in its full version that the film would be a hard sell to distributors - we have a long build up before any of the action truly starts. In the international cut it comes in at roughly 30mins (which even then, a lot of audiences felt was too long), but in the Indonesian cut its almost close to 50mins. This was a major concern for a lot of the distributors, and seemed across the board to be the general feeling during screen tests also.

So from there, we re-cut the film to meet the market needs - now I know this will seem horribly shallow but while I stand by my work and fought to keep as much as possible I also have a responsibility to the production company and it's investors to deliver a film that can travel outside of a local release. And also, the full version still exists and was released theatrically and on DVD in Indonesia.

It was incredibly difficult to go back to the film and re-edit something I'd spent over a year of my life developing. There are decisions I made in the International cut that I'm actually more happy with as it allowed me one more run at it with extra time and hindsight to go back and fix some pacing issues that became more and more apparent after screenings of the film. Having said that there were some instances where I felt sad to lose some scenes that I still hold dear. I don't stop thinking about the edit, recently I thought of more that could be done in order to re-insert a scene we had previously deleted. But the time comes when you just have to let go.

We've learnt our lesson from Merantau, making 2 versions isn't an easy choice to make, and it costs a lot of money to do so. I can say to you though that our next film won't have that problem, there'll be only one cut of it - and I hope you will support us but more importantly, enjoy the films we make.

I get what your saying.

Question: Why did the fight scene of the other Silat fighter get cut? It's not that long and the build up to it wasn't that long or time consuming. I think impressing the audience with his skills then would've been integral to bringing an increased excitement at the moment of the elevator fight scene (which is the best one filmed ever btw).

That would be my only suggestion. I realize all films have cuts made on the editing room floor........but don't cut boss fights sequences out even if they are short.

Hey, thanks for posting by the way. Lots of folks in your position wouldn't "condescend" to us genre fans like us. I, for one, appreciate it. I liked your directing and pacing. Thank you sooooo much for avoiding quick cuts and close-ups which actually negate the feel of the action/fighting. I'm looking forward to more of your projects.

[daisho2004]

OK I watched this movie again last night on BR, and I have a copy that I got from overseas and I really didn't see anything that was cutout from this movie. There was an awesome deleted scene which is a shame didn't make it into the movie, that is bcuz it was 15min. But it was a scene where he meets that Guy Eric at a cafe and he asks him how he is doing and tells him to come with him he has some work for them, he takes him to an underground fighting match and Eric busts this dudes ass up and asks if he wants to come and join him and he tells him no that is not his way. That also shows how Eric ended up working for the Owner of the club as an Enforcer and when they have ther fight in the elevator that was a great scene that needed to be left in the movie.

[ghevans]

Thanks again for the comments, I'll try and cover most of what was brought up...

The Fighter Recruitment scene was absolutely the hardest scene to cut, I loved that scene and it really built up the "friendly nemesis" angle we were going for with Yayan Ruhian's character for the eventual fight inside the elevator (2 equally matched silat fighters). I tried to look for ways to keep it in, but the flow of the scenes before it meant that logically I had to keep around 10-11mins worth of drama prior just to get to the meat of that scene. Their characters had separated, so I couldn't just keep the fight club scene I had to have everything before it - from Yuda meeting with Adit again, the teaching scene and his reunion with Eric.

It was a hard decision to make, and without a doubt the final decision to be made.

Other edits are minimal, some small dialogue moments were cut (not essential to plot or character building) while others were trimmed slightly to improve the pace of the film.

Thanks for the compliment re: the elevator fight, it was easily the one scene we were all most proud of after shooting, we only had 2 days to shoot it and the guys kicked and punched living shit out of each other for 14hrs a day racking up over 300 takes before we were finished.

Re: Indonesian Cut release, I'm pushing to see what we can do to get it out with English subs - if it gets re-released in Indonesia it will be on DVD however, as there's no domestic BR authoring here at the moment. If there's any news regarding this, I'll post it on here.

[ben]

Thanks for the insight Mr Evans. As a whole "Merantau" re-captured my interest in martial art films, that I had been missing for a long time. I appreciate you make the effort to come here and share your personal feedback with us. I'll be looking forward to what you produce in the future.

Mr Ruhian did a great job in "Merantau" and I'm pleased to see him in the next film "The Raid", I hope he may have a more prominent role. Also, I haven't heard about these cuts from "Merantau", so I would also very much like to see a full version of the film sometime.

[daisho2004]

I think you guys created a good character with Yuda and you should bring him back somehow for Merantau part 2! More hard hits, more crazy stunts, more action, more bloody and evil scary bad guys!

Possible Spoiler:

DragonSword: I agree & disagree with you at the same time, I like the character they created with Yuda but he died at the end of this movie, so I don't want to see a pt.2 that to me ruins a great movie. I could see if he lived then that would be different. That is the problem with most movies today, they keep bringing a character back from the dead, or he has a twin brother. I'm looking forward to a new film with these characters in them.

[MattK]

Thanks Mr Evans for replying to all KFC posters comments, it shows great humility and just adds to the respect i have for you after watching the extras on the making ofs on the DVD. The film is fantastic and has, for me, alot more heart and philosophy then most martial art films and though this will inevitably be compared to ong bak, i loved merantau for what it was and you can truly see the love and care that was put into the production and i'm very excited about your next project 'the raid', iko and the rest of the cast were awesome. and good for indonesia cos i cant name any other films that come from there

also wanted to say your teaser for berandal was brilliantly directed with the build up/ music/ and climax all timed perfectly, can you say who the international talent, i can understand if you want to wait til its done for promo and if that the case can you say if any of them are chinese? Just looking forward to seeing Iko fight people with some styles that could trouble him on screen for classic battles

thanks again, and keep making movies, best film of 09 that was for me!

[slinky]

I don't see why they just don't put an option to watch the original cut vs the international. I wish they would do this for deleted scenes too. I would like to see it how it was even if the cut is better, actually i would watch both. They should see if they could get Billy Chong involved if he still does stuff.(even a cameo) Because to me he was one of the greats along with the rest of the elite. Loved Merantau by the way and hope to see more as good if not better, please don't cut back on the action(fight scenes) like so many do though. Just my two cents.

[ghevans]

Thanks again for the kind comments, really appreciate it.

RE: Berandal casting, everything is ongoing and as the project isn't due to begin until 2012 at the earliest I'm afraid I can't really say much more at the moment, especially in this industry as things change so often. Once anything is confirmed however, I'll be sure to announce it.

In THE RAID we're definitely not cutting down on fights, my AD has the unenvious task of figuring out how the fuck we're going to be able to fit everything into our production schedule. In Merantau we had a lot of small fights, in THE RAID because of the concept we have a smaller number of fights but they progress and grow merging from one room to the next with different attackers. There's some breathing space to add to character and plot but the pace should keep the tension building throughout.

[Guest Yi-Long]

@Ghevans. I didn't really get an answer to one of the questions I posed in my earlier wall of text

How was the reception by the indonesian audience to the longer cut!? Did they mind the longer build-up? Were people walking out because of it, or hating on it because of it!?

If the reaction was mostly very positive, then why worry about the western reaction to the exact same cut!?

And I can kinda understand the reasons given for trimming it for a theatrical release. (Understanding the reasons isn't the same as agreeing with them though)

... but why didn't you choose to include the longer cut for the BR-release, like King Kong!?

[blue_skies]

While I think it would be nice to have the longer director's cut released alongside the international cut of the film I do think Yi Long is completely over-the-top. Merantau isn't hacked to pieces and completely ruined by this shorter cut of the film. It's a very good film as it is in the international cut and to put off people from buying it is absolutely ridiculous. It deserves to be seen and I would highly recommend it to any one. In fact I would agree that while there is an audience to see the full version, there is an audience that isn't going to appreciate 50 minutes of story before getting to the action. There's still an audience that can't stand subtitles whatsoever and miss out on some terrific action/martial-arts films because of it. Surely it's better that these films are seen and encourage more people to watch, making this type of film more profitable and for talented directors like Mr Evans to get funding to make more films of this nature.

I'd like to say categorically that I don't feel cheated and in this case "it's not a big deal" and feel your comment calling anyone who doesn't feel ripped off a fucking idiot highly insulting .

Keep up the good work Gareth and I look forward to more of your projects with Iko Uwais.