Fireworks

Herwin Novianto's 2023 Indonesian film follows four strangers who come together to kill themselves. The plan is to blow themselves up with a large firework; but the explosion does not kill them and returns them each time to the same moment. The story rests on a loop, and each repetition opens a little more of why each of them is there. Its honest quality is refusing to simplify the reasons for suicide or to offer an easy solution. The science fiction element is never explained, deliberately. The tone swings between comedy and drama and some of those transitions do not hold. The cast works well together. Who it's for: viewers interested in Indonesian cinema and stories built on a time loop. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding the subject of suicide, or wanting the science fiction explained.