Review: Filosofi Kopi 2: Ben & Jody Gives More Complexity to Coffee
The first installment of “Filosofi Kopi” was released back in 2015, adapted from a short story written by renown author, Dee Lestari. On that film, it tells about how two pals, Ben (Chicco Jerikho) and Jody (Rio Dewanto) build a coffeeshop named “Filosofi Kopi” to rise from financial crisis and become the host of the best house blend coffee in Jakarta. As an adaptation movie, this film could manage to attract public’s attention. Many people also start to read the book once the film hit theater and compare the two versions, which resulted in more positive feedback. The love and enthusiasm from both the viewers and the readers made the establishment of the coffeeshop came true in real world. “Filosofi Kopi” directed by Angga Dwimas Sasongko is a movie built based on dream, perseverance and ambition. This time around the two lead roles are faced with another setback which force them to re-calibrate their purposes.
Filosofi Kopi 2 begins when Nana, Aldi, and Aga decided to resign from their barista positions at Filosofi Kopi, after they decided to share their happiness of making coffee across Indonesia on a moving van. The news hit both of the owners hard, Ben and Jody needed to re-think and do something fast. So, they pick Jakarta as the place they call ‘home’ and their shop in Melawai, Blok M which was sold is now being acquired once again to continue their dream. But what is their dream now? Ben who is an ambitious and stubborn character has to deal with Jody who is business oriented and logical. In this phase, Ben and Jody meets Brie (Nadine Alexandra), an aspiring barista whose love for coffee is undoubtedly huge. They also meet a new investor named Tarra (Luna Maya) whom they have to convince to spread more branches of their coffeeshop. In this movie, we learn a lot more about coffee or its brewing technique and origin. We also learn about the business side of building a coffee empire.
Filosofi Kopi 2 has a strong brand positioning, with a strong ambience which embraces the audience to immerse themselves in this particular notion. The excellent tone of color and cinematography enhance the visual aspect of the movie and the plot is well told. The conflict is not too complicated, each role do not surpass one another but they are able to maintain their own forte. The soundtrack and scoring which was done by Glenn Fredly is another plus point of the movie as we could listen to the songs by FSTVLST, Fourtwenty, and the main casts who cover Sheila on 7’s classic hit “Sahabat Sejati”. They do know their market well which is dominated by 18 – 35 year-old viewers. They infuse scenes which are familiar to the aforementioned age group and as much as they could, become relatable to us. The educating part of the movie is also executed nicely by promoting the business model of 3P (People, Planet and Profit). During the screening at Gala Premier (07/06), they said that 1 ticket of the movie means 1 coffee plant seed for the farmers. Without much exaggerating, we think that Filosofi Kopi 2: Ben & Jody deserves a shot.
Reviewer: Audy Prasetya/Editor: Novita Widia
