It is in Adolfo B. Alix, Jr's ISDA (Fable of the Fish) that I first heard the term "magical realism". Magical realism as it turns out is the combination of the magical and the actual, or in other words the fantastic and the real. I mean, come on- a woman who gives birth to a fish? In the hands of a lesser director and a lesser actress, ISDA would have been a total mess of a film. In order to make the outrageous story work, you have to navigate somewhere between sentimental and comical, and Alix does just that. Cherry Pie Picache shines in ISDA as a woman longing for a child; she completely descends into this poor, depressed character that you really believe what you're seeing onscreen is not some actress playing a poor, depressed character but instead a real human being. If you've read enough articles written about Alix's latest film, you'd already know that the story of ISDA stemmed from that controversial incident way, way back in the 80s t...
* English title "Shadow behind the Moon" The best term to describe Jun Lana's latest film would be a cinematic charade- a game of identities, of motives, of suppressed passions, and of uncertainty. Or the film equivalent of a Russian doll, if you will. "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" only has three characters- husband and wife Nando (Anthony Falcon) and Emma (LJ Reyes) and military man Joel (Luis Alandy). What started as a seemingly routine banter among friends gradually and intensely escalated into an examination of society, where the definition of immorality is blurred during a time of insurgency. And in fact, the film does discuss the subject of immorality from various paradigms. When does adultery become acceptable, and to whom? Is sexual liberation more heinous than murder? Why is immorality always a double standard? The film plays out the ideas in endless games. Or are they really games at all? Lana could have stopped there, but he didn...
Young Anita (Teri Malvar) has a feeling she is afraid to express to anybody: that she has feelings not for a boy, but for a girl, and more so, a grown up woman, Pilar (Angel Aquino). Being part of a family with a deeply Catholic background, and living in a rural town where the old ways seem to still govern everyday life, Anita is in real trouble once her secret gets out. Not even her best pals Carmen (Len-Len Frial) and Goying (Solomon de Guzman) are in the know. Growing pains form the center of Sigrid Andrea Bernardo's debut full-length feature, a lighthearted, oftentimes humorous glimpse into a young girl's acquaintance with her sexuality. Yet, ANG HULING CHA CHA NI ANITA discusses a lot more than female homosexuality; through Anita, the film takes us on a bittersweet romantic journey between two people with a very wide age gap (hence, redefining the May-December affair) and treating it with much empathy for the motivations of each character. Pilar is a br...
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