The Heartbreak Club or Sobat Ambyar is a romantic-comedy movie directed by Bagus Bramanti and Charles Gozali, and starring Bhisma Mulia, Denira Wiraguna, Fransisca Saraswati Puspa Dewi, Asri Welas and Didi Kempot.
Going through a breakup and picking up the broken pieces of your heart can be a debilitating thing. Heartbreaks are tough and losing the person that you love painful, especially when you break up on your significant other’s birthday while you deliver a life-sized teddy bear to them. Among the different things that can become your place of solace during times like those is music. Breakup songs can be just as important in one’s life as love songs, and taking that ahead is The Heartbreak Club.
The Heartbreak Club is a simple movie, a premise that we have seen a lot of times. The movie has few twists and turns, if any, and the narrative is simple enough for you to understand what’s going to happen. The movie is an ode to Didi Kempot, a singer-songwriter from Indonesia who made his name by writing songs about heartbreak and loss. The singer has a huge fan following and that’s probably why his music and name is nestled in the midst of the film.
A chance encounter with Saras lands Jatmiko in the midst of a whirlwind romance. What starts off as flowers and rainbows soon turn into terrible loss and pain for him as Saras leaves him to be with someone else. Will he be able to pick up his life?
As I said above, The Heartbreak Club does not offer anything new to the table. It’s a storyline that we have seen many a time, but it’s still a sweet film to watch if you’re not in the mood for anything too heavy. The movie is for people who’ve gone through loss and heartbreak and how that affects a person. It shows the various stages of grief, how people get over the pain and how lashing out is not the best of decisions. However, it is also hopeful and talks about valuing oneself. Although not new or unique, it’s still heartwarming and does its job well.
Apart from the romance, The Heartbreak Club is also heavily comedy-reliant, and although the jokes don’t always land that well, it’s still entertaining. Sure, I groaned a few times, but it’s not horrible and is still watchable.
The lead pair, Bhisma Mulia and Denira Wiraguna, are quite cute and look great together… well, as long as it lasts. Although their characters aren’t really well done, especially Wiraguna’s, it still is quite endearing to watch them. The acting’s good too and Mulia really gets into the role of a heartbroken kid picking himself up. I was really interested to know why Saras did what she did because it was quite confusing considering it felt like she did genuinely care about Jatmiko, but that’s never really looked into.
The Heartbreak Club heavily features Didi Kempot’s songs and I have to say, you’d be able to understand why the young generation resonates with his music. Although I was reading the subtitles (obviously), it was still quite heart-touching and the music melodious. The cinematography and costume are also great, and the movie looks lovely from all angles – especially a scene featuring Saras and Jatmiko getting wet in the rain.
Summing up: The Heartbreak Club
The Heartbreak Club is a romantic comedy that has its heart in the right place. Although it features the same old “bad girl breaks good guy’s heart” trope, it’s still an entertaining watch if you’re interested in a fluff piece without too many hassles.
The Heartbreak Club is streaming on Netflix.
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