A Brother and 7 Siblings

Moko is a young architect at the start of his career. When his sister and her husband die in an accident, seven children are left in the house and he takes on all of them. His own life stops: work, a girlfriend, plans, everything gets postponed. Years pass, the children grow, and the question changes: when does Moko get his own life back, and can he. The original title read correctly clarifies the story: 1 Kakak 7 Ponakan, one uncle and seven nieces and nephews. The word siblings in the English title is wrong, and the film's whole subject lives in that difference, because Moko is not their father and has to become one. Yandy Laurens wrote and directed, from Arswendo Atmowiloto's television series of the same name from 1996. Chicco Kurniawan has the lead. It closed the 19th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival on 7 December 2024, opened in Indonesia on 23 January 2025 and came to Netflix on 10 July 2025. The register is closer to Koreeda's family films than to Indonesian television melodrama: no shouting, and long scenes at the table. Who it is for: anyone who likes family drama and calm storytelling. Who it is not for: anyone wanting tension. It runs long, several of the seven children stay in the background, and while questioning sacrifice the film sometimes exalts it too.