The Night Comes for Us

The Night Comes for Us (in Indonesian Malam Datang untuk Kita) is an Indonesian action thriller from 2018, written and directed by Timo Tjahjanto. It was produced by XYZ Films and Screenplay Infinite Films. It had its world premiere on 22 September 2018 at Fantastic Fest and was released worldwide by Netflix on 19 October 2018. According to English Wikipedia, it was the first original Netflix production from Indonesia. The main character is Ito, a former triad enforcer who saves a girl during a massacre. In doing so he turns his former organisation against him, along with an old friend who wants to rise in its ranks. Ito is played by Joe Taslim, a member of the Indonesian national judo team from 1997 to 2009 and a Southeast Asian Games medallist. The character of Arian was played by Iko Uwais, a grandson of the silat master H. Achmad Bunawar, founder of a silat school. According to The Ringer, all of the film's fight choreography, built on pencak silat, was provided by Iko Uwais. Julie Estelle, who plays The Operator, only began learning pencak silat for The Raid 2, with Yayan Ruhian. We have not been able to document from sources how the others contributed to the choreography. According to the critic Kieran Fisher, Julie Estelle's role was minor but left a strong impression.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

Timo Tjahjanto wrote the script as a tribute to Hong Kong action cinema of the nineteen-eighties. Production of the film was announced around May 2013, but in September 2014 pre-production stalled. Three months later Tjahjanto confirmed that he was reworking the script into a graphic novel, on which he worked with Glitch Network. The film brings together actors from the circle of The Raid films. Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian choreographed the fights together in The Raid (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014), and Tjahjanto had previously made the action film Headshot (2016) with Uwais. Ruhian, who has practised pencak silat since the age of thirteen, appears in this film's cast as Sugendi. We did not find in sources whether he also took part in its choreography.

Fight choreography

According to The Ringer's review, all of the film's fight choreography was provided by Iko Uwais, and its style is pencak silat. English Wikipedia also lists him as the action coordinator on this film. Uwais comes from a family with a silat master, and for his film debut he learned Minangkabau silat harimau, the tiger style. We did not find in sources which specific style of silat he performs in this film. Martial Journal's review describes Joe Taslim's fighting in the film as a combination of judo and kickboxing, and says it complements Uwais's pencak silat well. Taslim's judo has documented top-level credentials in the Indonesian national team, while only this review mentions kickboxing for him.

People and martial arts

• Timo TjahjantoDirector
• Iko UwaisAction director
• Iko UwaisFight choreographer· Pencak Silat (real practitioner)
• Joe TaslimActor — as Ito· Judo (real practitioner)
• Iko UwaisActor — as Arian· Pencak Silat (real practitioner)