We are big fans of Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens. The Indonesian coming-of-age dramedy, which dropped on Netflix last Thursday, tells the story of a young man who leaves his life in Jakarta and sets out in search of his long lost mother in New York. The movie takes that tried and tested trope and infuses it with new life, bringing to it an Indonesian flair, while successfully avoiding many of the cliches associated with the genre. It’s funny, and charming, and life affirming. And we promise that it’ll be your next favourite watch on Netflix.
Earlier this week, we caught up with Lucky Kuswandi, the director of Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens, for a conversation about how this movie came together.
Tell Me You’re a Coming-of-Age Story without Telling Me You’re a Coming-of-Age Story
Umapagan Ampikaipakan: Let’s start with how this film came about? Why did you want to tell this specific story? Because it really is quite different from your previous movies.
Lucky Kuswandi: This movie did not start from me. It started from the producer (Muhammad Zaidy). He used to live in Queens with these Indonesian immigrant women, and he was very inspired by them and their struggle. I think it was in 2017 when he came up with the idea and he contacted his good friend, Gina, who is also the script writer, and they started to create these Ratu Ratu Queens characters.
I got involved in 2019. And when I was involved, the characters were already there, but we still needed to figure out how we were going to tie them together? You know, this kid from Indonesia and this idea of his newfound family, based on the kinship that people form when they live abroad. That’s how we came up with the idea. And if they were going to be the replacement of Ali’s family, then it makes sense that he will look for his real family there, and find out what the true meaning of what family is.
That’s why I wanted to tell this story. Because I really relate to this idea of this search for a home. I used to live in the U.S. before, and I found my “Queens” there. But when I came back to Indonesia, I was confused with the home that I was supposed to be living in.
This whole exploration of what home is, is it New York or Jakarta, or is it really about the people that you’re with. It’s
UA: It’s kinda like a mirror of your journey in many ways.
LK: Yes.
UA: There is this great balance in your depictions of the different beliefs of these characters. There was no right and wrong. And there was no judgment on your part. However you felt about a particular situation didn’t come across and you allowed the audience to make up their own minds.
LS: We went through a lot of discussions about that. We wanted these people to be as human as possible, regardless of their ideological beliefs, or how religious they are. We just want them to be as human and as three dimensional as possible.
Now that the film is released, there are a lot of people who feel like they have an aunt like the one in the film. Like that is so my aunt. And I feel like the fact that we don’t decide who is better or not gives room for the audience to kind of reflect and relate to their own lives.
Casting Queens
UA: How did you bring this cast together? I think Iqbal (Ramadhan) was an inspired choice for Ali. Characters like that can have a tendency to be annoying and you managed to pull it off really well. Because Ali has his own sense of agency as well. He doesn’t just get dragged along for the ride. Did you always have Iqbal in mind for the role?
LK: We always had him in mind. He is very ambitious as a person. He has this drive within him. And I think he went to high school in the U.S. and then to college in Australia. So he had already experienced this sense of displacement and this family that you build through kinship. I felt like he could really relate to the story and the character, and that’s important.
I think the biggest challenge for him is portraying someone really ordinary. I feel like sometimes, when you have a lead character, they have to be great in all these things. But Ali isn’t. He is just an ordinary teenage boy with probably more courage than a lot of other teenage boys out there. But he’s not perfect. He’s blind in many ways. By how he sees his mother. And I feel like that’s the challenge, for an actor, just to “be.”
UA: And what about the four “Queens?” They have a tremendous chemistry that translates almost immediately to the audience.
LK: They were all our first choices to play the “Queens.” Some of them knew each other. Some of them have worked with each other before. But, you know, the thing with Indonesian moms, it’s just very easy for them to click and get together.
The fact that we all lived in the same hotel in New York, and we had like two weeks of prep, so I just kind of let them be. I just let them hang out by themselves, go shopping, do whatever, have their own adventure, get to know the city. And I think that really helps in terms of just getting to know and build each other’s chemistry.
UA: There is an issue that you address somewhat implicitly in the movie. It’s a conversation we often have over here about Malaysians going abroad, who “lupa diri,” and lose this sense of who they are. I enjoyed how you bridged that divide between being Indonesian and American.
LK: It’s very hard to tune the balance in these women. We wanted them to be funny, but not slapsticky. There was also a lot of long conversations about the costumes. Do they bring in parts of Indonesia with them?
UA: That first meal that they cooked for Ali! I was expecting something elaborate and Indonesian. And they made him a sandwich!
LK: I mean, these are practical women and they don’t know this kid. So they’re like, “okay, let’s just give him something so he doesn’t starve.”
I really liked the little details that my production designer put in the film. Like on their dining table there these typical Eid al-Fitr cookies which is very Indonesian. And also how they resolve conflict with food. I feel like that’s a very Indonesian thing. Like when Ali was really mad at them and they’re like, “okay, let’s just eat,” because you know, eating solves everything. That’s also very Indonesian.
These are just little things that we put in to kind of ground them. So they’re not like, “oh, we’re New Yorkers.” This way the Indonesian audience can see themselves too.
UA: My colleague Bahir’s big takeaway from the movie is that he really wants turkey rendang for Thanksgiving.
LK: [Laughs]
I Want to Be a Part of It…
UA: You avoid a lot of the cliches when it comes to shooting New York. Can you talk to me about your approach to how you wanted to depict the city?
LK: I think there are a lot of local films, when they should abroad, it feels very touristy and…
UA: Absolutely, it feels like a tourism department video…
LK: … and that is something that we didn’t want to do. We wanted to stay true to the character as Ali doesn’t go to New York to have coffee in Central Park, he goes there to look for his mom, so we have to get into his state of mind and how he sees the city.
I also think that in this film, New York is not an idea, but a living, breathing city. It’s a place where these “Queens” have to get up early and to go to work. They live in Elmhurst, in Queens, but they work in Manhattan because that’s where the money is. And so we just have to stay faithful to their world. They wouldn’t go to Times Square. New Yorkers hate Times Square.
But at the same time, Indonesians have certain expectations. Give me the Statue of Liberty! So I’m like, okay, I’ll give it to you. So the first thing you see is your typical cliched New York and then we go much deeper.
UA: Your movie was obviously delayed because of COVID and has now skipped a theatrical release for a Netflix one. I wanted your take on how Indonesian filmmakers see that divide between streaming and cinema. Are they open to it? Do they look at it as a viable avenue or are they still really focused on theatrical releases?
LK: We really appreciate the fact that we were able to release the film, and what I really love about streaming is that it’s so easy for people to watch the film. I think cinema is still very vital and very important. And there are efforts to bring the audience back to theaters. But it really depends on the condition out there. Right now infection numbers are rising again. They are really high. And we can’t force people to go to a place that they don’t feel safe in. Even though all the theaters are doing a really good job in making the argument that it is a safe place to watch movies.
Right now, I don’t feel like there’s that debate. I feel like everyone’s embracing what’s available.
UA: On the bright side, a cinema release would have meant a much smaller chance of us being able to watch Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens over here in Malaysia. Not every Indonesian movie makes it across to our shores.
UA: Before I let you go, tell me how audiences in Indonesia have responded to Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens. How have they taken to the idea of this young man, going to New York, embracing another culture, and leaving his “home” behind?
LK: There has been a varied response. Some say, “oh, it’s not that easy to get a visa.” And they have a hard time getting behind every detail, like the fact that he gets to go to school and all of that. But I think what resonates more is the idea of what family really means. It can be everywhere. It doesn’t have to be by blood, like the typical heteronormative image of what a family is. I feel like that is something that is being broken through this film. And I think a lot of people relate to that.
UA: You were talking earlier about avoiding cliches. But I think there’s one moment, one scene, in which you indulged yourself a little bit. The trumpet player in the rain?
LK: Yeah, that makes no sense. But I’m like, it’s so New York!
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