The New York Times dismisses it, and Jonathan Rosenbaum isn’t happy (HT: Greencine Daily):

I've been reflecting lately that the film coverage these days in the New York Times -- thanks to the lively prose of Manohla Dargis, the literary intelligence (if not the film background) of A.O. Scott, and the critical and scholarly chops of Dave Kehr -- may be better than it's ever been before. But then I read the ugly, xenophobic, tossed-off review of Opera Jawa by Jeannette Catsoulis in today's paper, and I realize that in some ways we might as well be back in the 60s, when a barbarian like Bosley Crowther was smugly ruling the roost.

I saw the world premiere of this audacious, undeniably challenging, in fact downright mind-boggling avant-garde masterpiece by Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho at the Venice International Film Festival in 2006, along with my esteemed colleague and friend Olaf Möller, a critic based in Cologne who writes columns for both Film Comment and Cinema Scope. (I'm sorry to say that Olaf's review of the film for the former isn't available online, but he aptly called it an "honest-to-God masterpiece of mad invention.") If memory serves, Olaf has seen most or all of Nugroho's previous features and understandably regards him as a master, so he had much more context for this film than I did. I simply regarded it as a dazzling bolt from the blue -- something to see and savor again. The film is part of New Crowned Hope, an ambitious and fascinating series of films commissioned from the third world as part of an international celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday; others in the series have included Tsai Ming-liang's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century -- but of course Catsoulis can't be bothered to mention any of this.

--That’s “masterpiece” used by two different critics. Nathan Lee doesn’t use that term, but he calls the film “marvelous”. Darren Hughes loved it. And so did I, despite projection problems with the substitute DVD projected at FilmFest DC.

So, if it comes to your town, you can take those recommendations, or you can take Catsoulis’ recommendation. Opera Jawa is a challenging film, but it’s well worth seeing.

Am I the only one who assumed this was a Star Wars fan film?

Courtesy of the House Next Door, a link to an Asian Weekly review of the film, tied to its March 31 screening at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Anyone going? Do go, if you can.

I finally had a chance to see this, and I really enjoyed it. It's undeniably strange, but it's DIY creativity in the staging of such unusual scenes was fascinating. I'm sure there was a lot of cultural stuff that went over my head, but it was the kind of film that I wanted to keep watching just to see what odd but beautiful scene would happen next.

But are there Jawas in it...because like Backrow Baptist, I thought this was some Star Wars Fan Film...

Too bad the people behind Opera Jawa haven't made a Star Wars opera. It would certainly be better than anything George Lucas has done in years!