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Based on the eponymous novel by Ika Natassa, “about three men who deceived Ava’s (the main protagonist’s) past, present and future,” Anga Dwimas Sasongko’s melodrama is a type of Netflix content that draws a lot of viewers by its pathos and exaggerated emotions in service of a plot that successful soap operas have operated on since the invention of cinematic fast food: love, deception, new hope, and happy end. Its formula would work even better if this simple tale of one woman’s revenge with a droplet of blood and no body count were linear, and not chopped, steered, and served to the audience in an incomprehensible order.

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Set against the backdrop of the Indonesian entertainment industry, the film concentrates on the young movie star Ava Alessandra (Laura Basuki) whose childhood trauma still occasionally causes mental blockades that disturb her work.

Love stories that are about emotional baggage and the effect it has have to be one of the most intense genres out there. Most of the films by Imtiaz Ali, a Hindi filmmaker, fall into this category. Tamasha is an example of a love story that is marred by emotional baggage, where one of the people in the relationship just can’t handle it. Even the Netflix Original Nobody Wants This is all about what happens when someone meets the right person in their pursuit of a stable relationship. Heartbreak Motel, an Indonesian film, is one of those sad stories with a ray of hope that discusses a person’s turbulent relationship with their partner and how they deal with it.

Spoilers Ahead

Who was Maya?

Heartbreak Motel began with Ava Allessandra reminiscing over winning a pageant when she was in her late teens. She speaks about how her mother...