Having grown up in the countryside, innocent Cahaya heads to Jakarta in search of her father, whom she has not seen since she was 4 years old. But the father she meets there is no longer the warm and tender man she remembers?he is selling himself to other men on the streets. Cahaya is shocked to realize that the person she runs into on the streets wearing a red miniskirt is actually her father, but can’t just dismiss her love and longing for him. Her father, Saiful, is also initially unable to accept Cahaya as his daughter, but slowly starts to open up, and the two of them start to have night time walks together. Recent Indonesian movies seem to be searching for ways to overcome the violent, patriarchal society embedded in Islamic principles. [Lovely Man] is also a movie that appeals to the emotion by portraying the reconciliation between a devout Muslim daughter and a transgender father who brings disruption to Muslim patriarchal society. Donny Damara makes an impressive Saiful. (Jay SOHN)