“A vibrant, colourful work that embraces excess in its celebration of a stunning culture and the people involved in its preservation.”

Music pulses, bodies sway, and consciousness slips sideways as a group of people gather in the middle of a bustling village in rural Indonesia to engage in an activity that falls somewhere between religious experience and entertainment. This is the image that greets us when we step into the world of Levitating, a film that treats trance not as spectacle but as lived experience, a cultural cornerstone and ultimately a rite of passage for generations of people. Rather than explaining its rituals in detail, Wregas Bhanuteja (in his third feature film) immerses the audience in them, allowing rhythm, movement, and sensation to become the primary language of this peculiar film. The premise is simple: Bayu is a young man who plays the flute as part of the local band that participates in regular trance festivals that have become a vital part of the community. However, he aspires to move up the ranks, with his sights set on the coveted position of lead shaman, a role that is not only highly respected in the community, but also ensures some genuine financial security. Battling with a range of personal crises, in particular his father’s suggestion that they move back to Jakarta (where they will become even poorer than in this remote village) due to the looming threat of eviction from their current home, Bayu finds himself struggling to achieve his dream. He has to balance social obligations with his own personal ambitions, but he has no intention of giving up the effort to get where he needs to be. An immersive and deliberately destabilising blend of genres, Levitating refuses to simplify itself or the culture depicted, instead trusting viewers to engage by embracing the unique rhythm that drives this intriguing but slightly flawed film.

Levitating offers fascinating glimpses into a culture that we don’t often see on the global stage. Indonesian cinema is not well-represented outside of its borders, despite having an extraordinarily rich, complex history that lends itself to some enthralling insights when given the opportunity. Bhanuteja builds his film to conceptualise tradition as something that isn’t merely stagnant remnants of the past toward which everyone is forced to be reverent, but vibrant and alive, shaped by circumstance rather than preserved in an idealised form, and which is openly embraced by every member of the community. Yet, as with any kind of tradition, they are at risk of being compromised by the growing danger of modernity, which encroaches on this community. This is not viewed as outright antagonism or the concerted effort to replace cherished customs with soulless modern practices, but rather an inevitability – as a community develops, so does the awareness of worlds outside their own, bringing the opportunity for new practices to intermingle with the existing ones, which can be exciting when properly demonstrated. This debate forms the main thematic conflict, with the character of Bayu caught in between the traditions he genuinely loves and the ongoing movement towards modernity that is more embraced by his peers. His struggle creates a sense of urgency and anxiety as he attempts to find a balance, trying to integrate modern principles into these sacred beliefs without letting them become overwhelming or shift the meaning. This forms the core of the film’s focus, particularly in how it resists tropes related to the idea of tradition being in conflict with modernity, and instead attempts to find the happy medium between two concepts that are not mutually exclusive.

To bring these ideas to life effectively, the director employs a very specific approach, built around blurring the boundaries between genres. Levitating is a film that refuses categorisation – it shifts between coming-of-age comedy, supernatural fantasy, psychological thriller and even a few brief touches of horror, all of which work in tandem to create this distinct cultural portrait, where the tonal shifts contribute to the overall sense of unease. It’s a very idiosyncratic work, where a single genre isn’t enough to house the myriad ideas that the director introduces. It’s a film that veers towards the needlessly complicated on a few too many occasions, but we can frame this eccentricity as a structural choice, rather than just a lack of attention to detail or unwillingness to simplify the narrative. Bhanuteja was driven to explore the trance culture, and how it is steeped heavily in ancient traditions that aim to place participants in an altered state, and therefore the film is almost required to be a disorienting affair, filled with rapid-fire editing and peculiar visual choices drawn from a specific cinematic language constructed on excess more than subtlety. Restraint, while preferable, does not seem to be an option here, but once we can overlook the narrative sprawl and the ensuing tonal imbalance, and take the film at face value, it is the moment we can start to see its unconventional charms. The cinematography is striking (especially in the trance sequences), and the director does well in communicating the frenzy that surrounds these trance festivals, leaning quite heavily into the magical realism that is inherent to this subject matter.

Ultimately, Levitating is so thoroughly committed to its idiosyncratic premise that it does occasionally become unwieldy, which can keep the viewer at arm’s length. However, it is still worth exploring as a cultural document, a glimpse into a world with which very few of us are familiar. Considering the ritualistic origins of the story, it is surprising how it doesn’t go too in-depth on the cultural nuances, which could be a way to prevent it from becoming overly didactic. Yet, there is still a sense of transcendence that drives the film, which interweaves with the more sobering conversations on the economic and cultural pressures faced by the protagonist and his community. It does not present any significant revolutionary message, and our most notable takeaways from the film are the cultural details we gain from seeing these traditions recreated, as well as the underlying commentary on the act of resistance, which is only partially explored, but notable enough for it to linger with us throughout the film. There are very few neat resolutions or clear answers presented, but it is all part of the experience of working through this fascinating document that sheds light on a culture rarely shown on screen in such vivid detail. The rapid-paced storyline, upbeat tone and deft blend of genres keep us interested, even if the ultimate payoff may not land quite as well as it could have with some slight tweaking. Not entirely demanding, but still requiring attention and the willingness to surrender to its unique approach, Levitating is a vibrant, colourful work that embraces excess in its celebration of a stunning culture and the people involved in its preservation.