Busan 2023 Review: 24 HOURS WITH GASPAR Brings Hardboiled Detective Sci-Fi to South East Asia

South East Asia is not the region you'd typically come to looking for science fiction thrills, but Indonesian director Yosep Anggi Noen looks to change all that with his fast-paced, dystopian detective thriller 24 Hours with Gaspar, which premiered tonight at the Busan International Film Festival.

 

Reza Rahadian (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash) plays the eponymous Gaspar, a motorbike-riding private detective in a near-future Indonesia. After gaining some notoriety for blowing the lid off a mass slaughter that implicated a number of high-ranking government officials, Gaspar mind have inadvertently unearthed a clue that will help him find his childhood sweetheart, Kirana (Shofia Shireen). 

 

Unfortunately for Gaspar, he suffers from a rare heart condition that has forced him to have an artificial implant installed in order to keep his ticker ticking. Unfortunately the device has stopped working, giving Gaspar only 24 hours to live. With nothing left to lose, he rallies a gang of friends together for a do-or-die mission to take on the most powerful man in town (Isawadi Pratama) while there is still time. 

 

Along for the ride are Afif ( Shemina Cinnamon - The Queen of Black Magic), a fellow biker who holds a torch for our ailing hero and wants him to train her to be a detective. He also recruits his ex-girlfriend Kik (Laura Basuki - Before, Now & Then), who’s still pretty mad at him, as well as her slightly bewildered new boyfriend Njet (Kristo Immanuel - The Big 4). 

 

Through as series of flashbacks we learn of Gaspar’s relationship with Kirana. Though they came from vastly different backgrounds, the pair was inseparable. Little Gaspar (played in these sequences by Ali Fikry) is already committed to creating a mythic backstory for himself, claiming to have fallen for the skies and bragging that “dragons will tell their children stories about me” when he inevitably grows up to become a hero. Kirana believes in him unflinchingly, fanning the flames of his childhood dreams, that is until the day her cash-strapped father sells her and Gaspar never sees her again.

 

What unfolds is part crime caper, part social commentary of Indonesia’s corrupt hierarchy, and part cyberpunk infused noir, as Gaspar and his crew navigate the shadowy streets and backwaters of a crumbling metropolis, all shot through with this wide eyed sense of fantastical childish optimism. Inevitably the moody, futuristic urban backdrop of the film’s opening eventually fades into the background the deeper Gaspar and his gang go down the rabbit hole, but what Noen brings to the table is a pacy, ambitious and confident slice of South East Asian pulp cinema, the likes of which emerge all too rarely. 

 

Based on the novel of the same name by Sabda Armandio, 24 Hours with Gaspar proves that compelling science fiction narratives can be produced in this market at an attractive price point, provided the material is strong enough. If nothing else, Noen’s film will hopefully pave the way for more filmmakers and investors to experiment with confidence in this fervent and fertile space.