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A movie theater complex in Central Jakarta briefly became the unlikely hub of Jakarta’s glitzy fashion universe on Tuesday as the stars of the new mockumentary “Fashion Satu Hari” (“Fashion in a Day”) descended on the Blitz Megaplex for a pre-screening. Following in the spiky-heeled footsteps of the documentary about Vogue maven Anna Wintour, “The September Issue,” “Fashion Satu Hari’ is a fictional look at 24 hours in the frenzied lives of a group of fashion magazine editors as they work to meet a deadline.

Directed by veteran fashion journalist and novelist Syahmedi Dean, “Fashion Satu Hari” blurs the line between fiction and documentary by cutting in real footage shot on the runways of fashion shows in Paris, Milan and London.

The storyline is fictional but the roles are all filled by real players in the local fashion scene.

The film opens with a raucous montage of shots that cuts between a traditional chicken market in Jakarta and the sleek, runways and red carpets of a major label fashion show.

The juxtaposition is jarring. The flow of color and action is suddenly interrupted as we cut to a dark apartment and a young woman being awakened by a pre-dawn phone call.

The woman is Fitria Yusuf, a fashion director at the fictional magazine Maga. Of course it’s her editor, Quartini Sari, who is already hard at work and calling to talk about a video conference with Dolce & Gabbana later in the day.

As the sun rises, the rest of the characters begin to stir as well. There’s Tatis, the secretary, Dewi Utari, the fashion editor, Aimee Juliet as the managing editor and Samuel Mulia, who plays the male version of Anna Wintour.

The plot is largely driven by Samuel in his over-the-top role as the snobby, curt, ultra-discerning chief editor as he deals with staff, investors, designers and a pesky interviewer.

No matter how hectic things get, Samuel maintains his clinical demeanor and ability to strike fear into the hearts of his staff by simply waltzing into the room wearing his trademark white tailored blazer.

A lot of the humor comes from the way he plays the impossibly demanding boss who isn’t quite sure what he wants but is certain of what he despises.

If you enjoy the snarky, rapid-fire fashion-speak recently popularized by shows like “Ugly Betty” and movies like “The Devil Wears Prada,” you’ll enjoy the dialogue.

The characters spew a constant font of all the biting sarcasm, gallows humor and venomous wit we’ve come to expect from those adapted to the world of high fashion.

They also speak in a blend of Indonesian and English which, according to Dean, is an accurate reflection of life at a fashion magazine in Jakarta.

In an attempt to give the film a more realistic documentary feel, Dean inserts short clips of interviews with some members of the cast, designed to pull the audience further into the world of fashion journalism.

For example, Samuel waxes poetic on why facts and research are just as important when covering fashion as when reporting any other type of news.

The fact that Samuel regularly writes a parody column in Kompas in his real life adds an extra layer of humor and realism to these interview scenes.

There are also additional interviews with real-life fashion photographer Julius BZ and emerging designer Jeffery Tan, in which they discuss the role of magazines and journalism in the fashion world.

At times, however, this effort seems misguided as the transition between the real interview footage and the fictional story are often rough to the point of being jarring.

The real interview footage, often with some big names in the local fashion world, is distracting to the fictional plot, which I found more enjoyable than listening to fashion royalty hold court.

I found myself wishing Dean had put a little less emphasis on catering to the giants of the industry and more on showing the struggle of the little people behind the scenes, the junior stylists and assistants fighting to keep a grip on the crowded lower rungs of the fashion career ladder.

One of my favorite scenes portrays young, struggling fashion editor Dewi Utari as she is thrown into the role of leading a big-time fashion shoot.

The scene does a great job of showing how much anxiety and work goes into making the stress-free looking photo spreads that grace the glossy pages of the fashion magazines. It’s a world where everything can change in a minute.

I just wish that those exciting, insider scenes added up to a few more minutes on the silver screen.

The film opens on Sept. 23 at the Kineforum in Jakarta.