ABBA – Take A Chance On Me

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Take a chance on me

I should have been sleeping by now, but I was writing this instead. There I was in my tiny shoebox sized rented room, feeling a little freshen up after watching the movie Mamma Mia. It was very entertaining.

I didn’t come for the movie itself actually, but I came to see Pierce Brosnan. He’s always been my favorite, from the time when he was young, playing the charming Remington Steel until now that he’s old. He’s still as gorgeous as always. But no, he can’t sing. Ok, he sings and I could imagine him being the young Steel again, but he surely kills the James Bond’s character in him! And he looks ridiculous wearing that ABBA style suit from the 70-ies. Although I like the hair on his chest so much. Sexy!

I planned to watch Mamma Mia weeks ago, but instead I watched Laskar Pelangi, an Indonesian movie about the struggle of 10 kids from poor families to finish their study at a poor elementary school. It is directed by my senior at the film school, Riri Riza.

Then a few days ago, Karel and Nicole, invited me to watch Laskar Pelangi together with some other friends. So we agreed to meet up at 8 pm for a dinner at the food court of Grand Indonesia, and then go to the movie at Blitz Megaplex. When I got there, Nicole, Rully and two Indonesian girls (I forgot their names) were already there. Then Karel came from the gym with Stacey, an American girl. After finding a table that was big enough for all of us, we started to order our dinner. Funny, we the Indonesian girls chose to have some Thai food. I had the Tom Yam Gong of course, while Nicole, a German preferred to have the traditional Indonesian food from East Java!

This up side down situation has always been funny to me. I remembered when I went to a fair with Cipta, a British-Indonesian boyfriend back then (by the way, were we ever officially lovers, Cipta?). we met some Indonesian and foreign friends. Cipta spoke in the Indonesian language with our foreign friends, while me on the other hand, spoke in English with our Indonesian friends! And just like that night when I chose to watch an American film, while my Dutch, German and American friends chose to watch an Indonesian film! What a world!

So I went to studio 8 and they’re in studio 1. There were less than20 persons watching Mamma Mia. Blitz Megaplex is a good place to watch a movie, expensive but it has a wider range selection of film compare to the other chained cinema in Indonesia, the 21 Cineplex. There were few things I dislike from Blitz though; the black walls in the rest rooms and the chairs. Feels like you were sitting in a space ship, not that comfortable.

Then the film was started with the song “I have a dream”. I could relate to the song, but not so much to the scene. The girl, as a silhouette was standing at a pier and the water was shimmering by the moon light as the background. First few scenes at the beginning of a film were something that you must not miss. All the information you need to understand and to solve all the problems in the film, will be found there. And you can always judge whether the film is good or bad just by watching the first 15 minutes of it.

Ok, so the scene must be very important to be put at the very beginning. But who’s the girl? Why is she singing that song? Why the title is Mamma Mia?

Well, few things cling in my mind every time I hear Mamma Mia. First, it’s Italian words. Second, it’s absolutely an ABBA song. Third, it reminds me of a pasta commercial on TV. But I also remembered that I’ve seen the Mamma Mia was being played in Brisbane, Australia. Every time I walked that bridge that connects the Queen Victoria Street and the West Bank, I always saw that giant banner with a picture of a surprised bride’s face and the text of Mamma Mia on it, was being hung outside the Art Center Building. So I was always wondering, was that the same Mamma Mia as the ABBA’s song?

If I was correct, the story was based on ABBA’s song and then played in Broadway. Then I also saw on the credit title that the producer of Mamma Mia the movie is Benny Andersson, who is the member of the band, the executive producers are Rita Wilson and her husband Tom Hanks. So, that’s the connection.

As I’ve said, the movie is very entertaining. I also could imagine that it was so much fun when making it. The dancing, the singing, the costumes and the beautiful sceneries of Greek islands. But I always feel that I would feel silly to act in one of those musical movies. Or even science fiction ones or in the films where they combine animation and live action. It takes a lot of imagination to act in something that is not real. It takes good actors to play the roles too. But they don’t always do it right, especially with the direction of the eyes. They couldn’t imagine well enough where the imaginary characters they’re playing with would be. You can tell right a way that it’s all a fake. Make believe. Oh, sometimes watching movies is not a fun thing to do, especially that you were taught to make them, so most of the time you end up analyzing instead of enjoying the movies.

There’s another thing which was a bit weird to me; why there was a Swedish flag on the ship? The owner, the first father lives somewhere in an Arabic country, and he sailed to Greece. The second father lives in Paris, and the last one, Pierce Brosnan lives in the States. Nothing can relate or can be used as a good reason to have a Swedish flag raised on a ship at all. Unless, it’s a message to remind the audience that somehow the movie is Swedish. That ABBA is Swedish.

Other Swedish things in the movie, which I’ve just realized a while ago; the girl and the mother are blond! I didn’t remember what is the color of eyes of the mother, but the girl surely has blue greyish eyes. Those colors are typically Swedish. Then also, I think it’s the name of the girl, that she’s Swedish.

Swedish, Sweden. I fell in love with the men and still in love with the country! I always feel at home everytime I’m in Sweden. I would learn Swedish language as soon as finish learning Dutch.

I stayed at the ABBA’s hotel as well everytime I was in Stockholm. Hotel Rival, at Mariatorget 3, in Södermalm is a really nice boutique hotel. The design is so Swedish; simple, modern and clean. Every room was designed uniquely, but you can always find a collection of ABBA’s CD and videos on the table, a very cute teddy bear and a bathroom with window! It’s a big turn on watching your partner taking a shower from the window while you laying naked on the cozy bed, don’t you think?! So sexy!

But I’ve never seen Benny Andersson or any other ABBA’s member there. I’ve once almost set a fire at the lobby, I had a crush on one of the receptionist (although I wasn’t sure that he’s straight), I enjoyed very much borrowing the DVDs from the hotel collection and absolutely took cups of very nice hot chocolate and cookies from the guest lounge. But I’ve never met him at all! Well, ok, I saw him at the end of the movie, as a cameo.

Anyway, back to the movie. I enjoyed watching Pierce Brosnan there, he’s old now but still hot. I enjoyed so much listening to the beautiful songs. How I wish I could sing along or maybe dance. I cried a little when the scene is showing that the mother is getting ready to let her daughter go. Such a beautiful relationship which I didn’t have with my Mom. Who will give me away on my wedding day? But I really liked the scene where the three fathers and the mother were at the pier waving goodbye to the daughter and her boyfriend, departing to travel around the world. Such a beautiful scene, with the silhouette and the moon light. I loved how those men were standing under the moon light. Then the first scene I saw at the very beginning of the movie, when the girl is singing appears again. so that’s the end of the story. It has made a complete circle; back to the beginning.

It must be very nice (and also weird) to have a song for every moment in your life. but I knew that songs help me getting through my life. I wish I could sing. I wish someone could sing to me.

Somewhere in the crowd there’s you…
Take a chance on me!