Tokyo Asian Future Drama ‘Jani Be Good’ Probes Silence and Motherhood in a Chinese-Indonesian Family, Marking Ariani Darmawan’s Return

Indonesian filmmaker Ariani Darmawan stepped away from directing for years to raise a family. Her first feature, “Jani Be Good,” which is playing in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future competition, turns that experience into a portrait of four women across three generations. “I stopped making films for over 10 years because I was […] Ariani Darmawan returns after years away with ‘Jani Be Good,’ a Tokyo Asian Future drama about three generations of Chinese-Indonesian women. Indonesian filmmaker Ariani Darmawan stepped away from directing for years to raise a family. Her first feature, “Jani Be Good,” which is playing in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Asian Future competition, turns that experience into a portrait of four women across three generations.

“I stopped making films for over 10 years because I was having a kid and looking after my family, so getting back to it was all I really wanted,” Darmawan tells Variety. Unfolding across four December days in the lead-up to Christmas, the film follows 13-year-old Jani after she overhears a fight between her 18-year-old sister Julia and their mother Winnie, and Julia leaves home. Winnie, a single mother who works as an accountant and fills fruit hamper orders on the side, grows short-tempered