Navigating life in your thirties can be hard; when you’re nearly forty it can seem downright impossible. After eight years, Sakti, Meimei and Andien have expanded their close social circle, adding new friends and old lovers. Lita and her son Talu, Sakti’s ex Nino, the plastic surgeon Dr. Joy and Nino’s new boyfriend are among the multitude joining the three friends in their day-to-day lives in Indonesia.

Director Nia Dinata returns to some of the subjects of her breakthrough film Arisan! (Frameline28), touching on homosexuality in Indonesia, secrets between friends and the titular arisan, or social gathering. Her narrative swings between the socialite scene of Jakarta and isolated outlying areas in Java, capturing the breathtaking landscape of Indonesia along the way. Andien lives the life of a socialite widow, throwing parties and getting botox from Dr. Joy. Sakti nurses the hurt he has after breaking up with Nino, the filmmaker he fell for eight years earlier, spending time with his older married lover. Meimei hides a dark secret, hiding her lymphoma diagnosis from her closest friends while visiting a healer outside the city.

Meimei leaves the city once and for all, choosing spiritual healing over chemotherapy and prompting her friends to follow her. They find her on the beach far outside Jakarta. The expanded group must cut through the shallow trappings of the rich set to find themselves, proving that while older does not necessarily mean wiser, it is possible to grow up at any age.

— MORDECAI STAYTON

AT&T Audience Award Text Voting Code: F102

Co-presented by:

Gay Asian Pacific Alliance