He also becomes the lover of several beautiful women, including a Dutchman's mistress, a cokek dancer, and a woman (Tuti Indra Malaon) who owns a store in his village.
The film's review in Tempo magazine noted that this showed in the use of short dialogue and minimal use of long shots.
It was a commercial flop, which resulted in critics writing that producers should approach Karya if they wanted a film to fail.
[7] Rahardjo found himself becoming more outgoing in his roles, to avoid the criticism he received in Wadjah Seorang Laki-laki.
In a 1999 write-up in the Cinemaya Journal of Asian cinema survey, directors Marselli Sumarno and Nan Achnas described Wadjah Seorang Laki-laki as one of the ten best Indonesian films of all time.
The film has been shown with English subtitles by the Australian company SBS Television under the title Ballad of a Young Man.