Sensei Sensibility

  For those of you who wish to retain your romanticised notion of boarding school being a Mallory Towers -esque picnic of a time, read no further.  Ginanti Rona's 2022 folk-horror  Qorin is  a harrowing portrayal of a remote Indonesian boarding school, which highlights the sexual vulnerabilities and isolation of the young females within, touching on themes of dark rituals and mass hysteria. Young Zahra (Zulfa Maharani) is on the cusp of graduation at a Muslim all-girls school. Run by a married couple and one tough nun, mobile phones and other modern privileges are banned - as is (seemingly) contact with the outside world. Zahra, like many of her peers, is piously devout and religiously (excuse the pun) follows the word of their male teacher and spiritual leader Ustad Jaelani (creepily portrayed by Omar Daniel) . Ustad has round the clock access to these impressionable young girls, and is not afraid to abuse this position of trust.  As his undivided atten...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Rosemary's Baby meets Joko Anwar in Netflix's latest Indonesian release The Womb . ( Inang in Indonesian) Papa Don't Preach, Wulan is in trouble deep!  Poor, young Wulan, sympathetically played by Naysila Mirdad , has found herself landed with an unexpected pregnancy, a job loss and an impending eviction.  The charming young gent who put her in the family way wants nothing to do with Wulan and the baby -  unless it's to pay for an abortion. Financial assistance and compassion are  not to be found in her sleazy manager's office at the local supermarket where she works - unless she's succumbs willingly to his moustachioed, sexual advances. And the animal print shirt wearing landlord of the grotty slums where Wulan lives has had enough of waitin...