Yuni
Directed by Kamila Andini
Written by Kamila Andini and Prima Rusdi
Starring Arawinda Kirana, Kevin Ardilova, and Dimas Aditya
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes
On Digital and On Demand March 22

by Megan Robinson, Staff Writer

Purple is Yuni’s (Arawinda Kirana) favorite color, established by her theft of another girl’s hair tie. For Yuni, purple is more than just her favorite color, though; she becomes incensed at the idea of others owning or wearing anything that’s purple, her own sense of individuality becoming sullied by other girls matching her. In director Kamila Andini’s Yuni, the film that shares its name with its main character, individuality is revered by the youth and destroyed by the adults around them, as girls are often directed to a singular path for themselves: marriage. Yuni provides a grounded, honest, and heartbreaking journey for one Indonesian girl who desperately clings to the dreams of being her own person despite everything in society that tells her that her dreams are out of reach.

Yuni begins with our titular character preparing for school, only to arrive late to an assembly that bemoans the increase in teen pregnancies and decides the solution is virginity tests. From then on, Yuni navigates her teenage life becoming at odds with her approaching graduation and, thus, adulthood. At the same time that a school counselor encourages Yuni to stay out of trouble and keep her grades up to go to college on a scholarship, she receives her first proposal from a stranger who only wants Yuni for her body. She enlists smitten classmate Yoga (Kevin Ardilova) to do her poetry homework for her to pass the only class she struggles in, and finds his support and growing adoration to be the realest love she can find in a plethora of proposals. Along the way, she explores her sexuality, comforts accused friends, and finds that even her parents’ support of an independent life is not enough to help her discover what she truly wants.

The film is anchored by Kirana’s grounded performance as Yuni. Yuni is one of the most honest depictions of a teenager in the modern day: she texts her friends, giggly and lively, about a crush on her teacher Pak Damar (Dimas Aditya); she provides a dutiful listening ear for her friends in need; and she plays into the frustration and confusion that comes with the end of high school. One particular scene in her counselor’s office after Yuni gets into a fight with other girls over her proposals finds Kirana teetering on the edge of tears and screaming, but forced to bottle it inside. Her inability to verbalize her feelings, especially when she finds herself in such desperate need to escape the path she’s coming closer and closer to following, could make any audience weepy. Kirana is able to convey everything about Yuni even with just a simple smile or embrace as a confused, but ultimately good, kid. 

The writing from Andini and Prima Rusdi is strong in characterizing all our main players and the world they live in. Andini and Rusdi create a large ensemble cast who each find themselves just as lost and scared of the world as Yuni: between her friend forced to marry a boy she is accused of having sex with to a young family member considering divorcing her husband, everyone has a story just out of frame. Adrivola as Yoga is especially compelling with his quiet performance sneaking up on Yuni and the audience with his heartfelt sincerity. The world informs the characters, and every person’s move, their words and actions, are evident of this society where girls of every ilk, rich or poor, cisgender or transgender, even just single or taken, are faced with few options for security, safety, and longevity. One conversation between Yuni and her mother (Nova Eliza) truly highlights the push and pull the women in Indonesia face between pursuing an education or a marriage, as her mother reveals that she supports Yuni’s happiness but knows that education can also become a dead end the same way a marriage can.

If anything is lacking in Yuni, it’s the sometimes stiff direction from Andini. Scenes often linger for a bit too long, capturing nothing much than teens typing on their phones without giving them as much interiority as the writing normally allows for. When some scenes linger, it really works. One particularly powerful shot pans across one young girl’s bedroom, all the heirlooms of childhood like doodles on the wall and stuffed animals on a bed still in tact, as she laments the blackmail from townsfolk — pay them thousands, or risk them lying to the police that her and her boyfriend were having sex in public. The risk is too great for a young girl to face, and Andini truly highlights how mortifying it is to treat children this way. 

Yuni is a coming-of-age film that refuses to shy away from the politics its characters deal with in their daily lives. So often, Yuni and her friends just want to be young girls living in the moment: going swimming, having picnics, texting about boys. But they are refused this, again and again, in a world that wants nothing more than to adultify and control them. Yuni is a fierce character that can never quite say what she wants, but knows she doesn’t want this life, and will risk everything from her grades to her reputation to achieve that dazzling, lush life that only she can experience. Yuni will almost certainly join the pantheon of coming-of-age films for its frank honestness in addressing life and all its struggles, with a genuine and realistic character at the helm.