Reflective Encounters

“Shot in a single take after a wild sex party, Science Around Us is a twenty-minute plate-spinner. As Netherlands-based Budi is forced to take a call from his ailing father back home in Indonesia he must clean up his party-shelled Airbnb before the new guests arrive in 15 minutes. Oh, and he also has to babysit a hungover straggler from the previous night’s frivolities.

Taken together and packaged in one long take, the stress constantly teeters on the edge of comic pandemonium through the film’s visuals. Yet it’s through sound that the film maintains a poignant emotional core that also serves as a lifeline for the audience. The conversation between Budi and his father powerfully captures the tensions immigrant children have with their parents back home: the dual weight of expectation and guilt on both sides hangs heavy in the film. Budi’s father nags him about starting a family, something Budi is very obviously not interested in. Both father and son are frustrated with one another’s differences, yet there are also similarities in their circumstances. In the end, while Budi’s plates may come crashing down, the film is able to keep its narrative wheels turning, culminating in a powerful conclusion.”

— Cathy Brennan