3 Wishes 3 Loves (3 Doa 3 Cinta)

Written and directed by Nurman Hakim. Starring Dian Sastro, Nicholas Saputra, Yoga Pratama, Yoga Bagus Satatagama and cameos by Jajang C. Noer and Butet Kartaredjasa.

Set around 9/11, 3 Wishes 3 Loves told the stories of three friends who attended a pesantren, some sort of an Islamic boarding school. Huda wished to look for his mother, who took him to the pesantren six years before and then abandoned him. Rian wanted to run his own wedding video company and Syahid, affected by the teachings of an extremist, wanted to be a martyr. The film showed how three of them tried to realize their wishes and dreams.

First of all, the poster is misleading. Everyone is so excited about Dian and Nico's reunion and a poster featuring those two sure would sell. However, as the title suggests, the film is more about the three guys and not just about Huda (Nico) and Dona (Dian). I thought the film was quite okay, with good performances by Nicholas Saputra and Yoga Pratama, but probably not that great overall. It used a lot of still shots (which really worked for the Japanese film Nobody Knows, by the way) which could annoy some Indonesian viewers, but I personally was fine with it, I thought it suited the film's feel. I wouldn't say the film was great (I still don't buy Dian's acting), but the messages that it tried to pass on were quite honorable. Not bad.

7 / 10.