The Forbidden Door (2009)

The Forbidden Door is a tricky to rate. It's so convoluted that I felt like I had watched at least three different movies, but that messiness is effective. It's hard to tell if writer/director Joko Anwar knows exactly what he's doing, or just threw stuff at the screen to see what works. All I know is that I enjoyed the experience.

The film is visually stylish from the credits on, and has some great performances. The script asks a lot of Fachry Albar, but he rises to the challenge every time. It's dark, violent, and can be quite hard to watch, but it's always compelling, even when it feels like it's gone completely off the rails. I think it would have been stronger without a certain early scene, but maybe it serves a purpose I just don't understand. It's one of those movies.

3 scenes after the credits out of 5.