Busan 2023 Review: ALI TOPAN, Young Lovers On the Run in Spirited Adaptation of Seventies Romance

A rich girl and a street punk fall in love and run away together in Sidharta Tata’s polished adaptation of Teguh Esha's beloved novel Ali Topan Anak Jalanan, which was previously brought to the screen in the 1977 movie of the same name, as well as an iconic 90s TV show. Premiering as part of the Window on Asian Cinema section at this year’s Busan International Film Festival, Ali Topan brings together two of Indonesia’s hottest young performers for an effective update of this classic tale of star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the tracks. 

 

Lutesha stars as the wonderfully named Anna Karenina, younger daughter of an incredibly wealthy minister and property tycoon, who meets the roguish, handsome bad boy with a heart of gold Ali Topan (Jefri Nichol) at a nightclub, where he and his friends have organised a concert. Anna’s parents have her followed everywhere she goes by the uptight Boy (Axel Matthew Thomas), who one suspects has designs of his own on his boss’ daughter. 

 

When Anna defies her father’s wishes and goes out with Topan again, he vows to send her overseas to finish her studies. This incident coincides with a suspicious attack on the nightclub, for which Topan is implicated. Incidentally, the nightclub owner is here played by Ari Sihasale, who starred as Topan in the hugely popular television adaptation.

 

Desperate to clear their names and stay together, they flee the city on Topan’s motorbike, with only the open road ahead of them...but Boy, a gang of hired goons, and the authorities are in hot pursuit. Once out in the countryside, Anna tracks down her elder sister, who appears to have gone down a similar path of rebellion. She is also confronted by a side of her homeland she had been sheltered from thus far, but the film stops short of granting Anna a truly signifant reawakening. 

 

This princess and the street urchin fairytale is as old as time itself, and Tata’s contemporary reimagining retains much of the timeless magic that has kept the story so popular. The original novel already established that Topan was more that just a delinquent tearaway. He was top of his class and looked out for his impoverished family, supporting the old adage that appearances can be deceptive. 

 

That spirit is carried forward in this new version, even as one suspects that some of its source material's rougher edges have been smoothed over for modern audiences. Nichol’s Topan may look like trouble, but he is a similarly misunderstood individual who has been written off by society simply because he was born on the wrong side of the economic divide. Similarly, Anna may have had a privileged upbringing, and her parents may well be the absolute worst kind of corrupt, ignorant, classist bigots, but her love for Topan is real. 

 

Suffice to say, characterisation is broadly drawn pretty much across the board, with everyone surrounding our two principles little more than archetypes representing either the corrupt elite or the honest working class. The script does include a modicum of social commentary through its depiction of the exploitation and re-gentrification of impoverished regions by the fat cats in power, but this is not a film that is about to upset the status quo. 

 

Ali Topan exists as a celebration of young love, adolescent defiance, and romantic escapism - a wholesome star vehicle for its attractive and charismatic leads, and as that it succeeds effortlessly. It’s not about to change the world, or encourage your daughter to run away with her moto-taxi driver anytime soon, but if only for a moment, it might just let her dream.