The police in Kuala Lumpur might make
the far-left rethink abolishing ICE, because they make the bureaucratic agency look rather benign in comparison. KL cops are always happy to
score a cheap collar, but on the plus side, they can be bought at prices most “undocumented
workers” can afford. This is particularly true of the shamelessly corrupt
Hassan, but not so much for his squeaky-clean rookie partner in Nam Ron’s Crossroads: One Two Jaga (trailer here), which screens
during the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.
Sugiman
and his sister Sumiyati were Indonesians working legally in Malaysian, but she
sabotaged her status when she walked out on her exploitative employers (who
hold her passport). Fortunately, Sugiman works for Sarip, a big wheel in Indonesian
expat circles, who can smuggle Sumiyati home, for a specially discounted price.
Since
Sumiyati is now a fugitive, Sugiman will have to keep her under wraps until it
is time for her to leave. This is not a good time for cops to start snooping
around Sarip’s garage-junkyard-whatever. Frankly, he has high-level protection
to prevent that sort of thing, but Hussein something about the place just
bothers Hussein. Sarip’s cop-hating son Adi is not exactly a moderating
influence either.
Initially,
Crossroads (the “One Two Jaga” refers
to a local variation on the kids game “cops and robbers”) starts out very much like
one of those these-people-are-all-inter-connected-in-ways-they-don’t-know-yet
indie films that may have finally fallen out of fashion, but it builds to an explosive
third act. Viewers can guess the general trajectory things are headed, but Nam
Ron takes it deeper and darker than even experienced genre fans will expect.
Frankly,
there is an additional sub-plot involving Filipino expats who skim from their boss’s
regular police bribe money that easily could have been eliminated. Seriously,
any of us could have told them that would end badly. On the other hand, the tension
between Hussein and Hassan is electrically charged and really rather gutsy,
given local sensitivities (it is worth noting one of his prior films remains unreleased).
Sugiman
and Sumiyati are also acutely human characters, caught up in circumstances
beyond their control. Ario Bayu and Asmara Abigail really look like brother and
sister (such is their mutual good fortune) and they act like siblings with
years of strained history together. Zahiril Adzim maybe broods a little too much
for his own good as Hussein, but Rosdeen Suboh makes the roguish Hassan into an
intriguing, multi-dimensional figure. He is not all bad and he is certainly not
all good, existing in the gray areas, much like nearly everyone else in Malaysian
society (or so the film seems to suggest).
Despite
working towards a foreshadowed tragedy, Crossroads
is quite compelling to watch. The subplots are not developed with equal thoroughness,
but it is worth seeing the high caliber work of Bayu, Abigail, and Suboh, under
any circumstances. Recommended for discerning patrons of naturalistic crime
drama, Crossroads: One Two Jaga screens
this Wednesday (7/11) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.
