DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

I haven't seen many films by Agot Isidro, but if there is that movie which will probably define her acting career, this would be it. MGA ANINO NG KAHAPON (Shadows of the Past) is the new film by filmmaking tandem Alvin Yapan and Alemberg Ang, and for Yapan who again writes and directs, this is a departure from his previous works that bordered on poetry and the supernatural. Here, Yapan mounts a domestic drama that at once plays out like a suspense movie, then a partial horror film, then a full blown character-driven study of the human mind and family relations.  Irene (Agot Isidro) experiences high anxiety that there may be evil men connected with their family's past lurking around their house. She imposes this fear among the other members of her family, including her young son Brian (Carl Acosta), her mother-in-law Flor (Upeng Galang Fernandez), and brother-in-law, Carlo (Carlo Cruz). She also informs her husband Ed (TJ Trinidad) of such concerns via video chat, a...

Estela Alano (Yeng Constantino) doesn't find joy and fulfillment in her work as a call center agent anymore. That is until a senior agent, Trevor (Felix Roco) is assigned to mentor her, and Estela quickly and unknowingly gets attracted to him.  Trevor is fun to be with.  A great confidante. Humorous. Charming. Thoughtful. Estela is head over heels. Suddenly, work became really interesting with Trevor around. Estela may have found the perfect man: emotionally available, tender, and loyal. The only catch is, and Estela is perfectly aware of this- Trevor is gay.  SHIFT, the film debut of singer/musician Yeng Constantino is the film of our times, vividly defining an industry that has become indelible with modern Philippine culture, as represented by Yeng's call center agent character Estela who like many others of her real-life counterparts, is currently on a path of self-discovery.    This is where Estela encounters a sexual awakening, one of t...

China Doll is an alias given to a young woman with changing identities, infamous for her criminal history at a tender age. Today,  China Doll exists only as a myth, or rather a legend, until one reporter exposes the "truth" about her.  The newest addition to the wide range of Adolf Alix Jr's ever-changing and often surprising cinematic oeuvre, comes in the form of a detective story. Detective, in the sense that the journalist character, Perry Nanali played with  unflinching ruthlessness by Cesar Montano, strips China Doll (Angelica Panganiban) of her layered character and publishes a tell- all biography, even at the expense of her safety. Also, the film, from a screenplay by another esteemed filmmaker, Lav Diaz takes on the form of a sleuth journal, as we follow clues and chronology leading to the events that would be defined by that singular act of opportunism, or bravery by Perry.  ALAMAT NI CHINA DOLL does not follow a linear plot. From time to time w...

BENDOR opens inside an abortion clinic, where Blondie (Vivian Velez) reveals to her abortionist friend (Evelyn Vargas) about how she caught her womanizing husband, and how that resulted to an awkward and humorous encounter. The conversation is casual, until a woman screams in the other room. It is a patient- a young woman, and her condition does not look good.  We then see Blondie's usual day: by breakfast, having to deal with the problems brought about by her grown-up children; then there's her good-for-nothing husband; by midday, she has to man her stalls in Quiapo, and; on occasion, she sells the prohibited abortifacient Cytotec discreetly.  Today, Blondie's whole life will unravel in front of her. Premonitions will save her from a tragic fate. Almost.  BENDOR, a film that highlights the matriarchal role in present society shows us through Blondie how crippled we would be if not for the mother of our homes. In this aspect, Ralston Jover gets my sympath...

Atmospheric, dark, and astonishingly silent despite its graphic depiction of violence and its ominous psychological undertones, Nicolas Winding Refn's ONLY GOD FORGIVES could have been one of the best films of this year. Almost. Clearly an exhibition of style over substance, Refn's film set in Bangkok, Thailand depicts a cycle of vengeance where blood surely begets blood, and the obvious question should have been, where does it end? Yet ONLY GOD FORGIVES oftentimes concerns itself with remaining attractive to look at, that it forgets to show at least some glimmer of poetic justice, especially that the subject matter is that of revenge. Make no mistake: ONLY GOD FORGIVES features some of the finest cinematography you will ever see this year, with its masterful use of shadows and red and gold palettes to heighten the dark and decrepit feel of its subject matter. Also, the lighting and the production design, which renders huge room for visual space emphasizes the sad,...

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...

The name Paul Greengrass is synonymous with heart-pounding suspense. As exemplified by two Bourne films and GREEN ZONE, all topbilled by Matt Damon, Greengrass is well-versed with the kinetic language, which he uses to tell a story. The suspense itself is a palpable element of his movies.  CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, a retelling of the incredible but arduous ordeal of ship captain Richard Phillips against Somali pirates in 2009, is an uneasy exercise in morality. What starts out as a fight for survival gradually becomes an examination of personal motivation. Suddenly, the antagonists are not just plain evil- they have a cause worth fighting for, which is poverty. Poverty that also leads to fear. And in order to overcome that fear, they must elicit that fear into the hearts and minds of their captives.  While the lot of us will still readily associate Somalia with piracy (and a film is yet to be made I think about Somalia which does not involve piracy, unless you'd consider ...

Finally, a film that was meant for 3D ever since the inception of the medium.  GRAVITY, aside from being one unforgettable, larger than life space experience of a movie, is also a spiritual journey from desperation to hopelessness to survival. It toys with our concept of hope based on what limited options are present at the time being.  Sandra Bullock turns in another praiseworthy performance as Mission Specialist Ryan Stone, who is out on her first space shuttle mission onboard Space Shuttle Explorer. A seemingly routine job to fix the Hubble telescope erupts into major catastrophe as debris from a Russian missile strike advances to the Explorer's location. She gets detached from the shuttle, and floats into dark, cold, and limitless space.  Bullock manifests the compelling innocence of her famous character Annie from SPEED, but here there is no escape. From varying moments of tension, we see Bullock fight to live, and in those 90 minutes of shifting cla...

After seeing THE GUERRILLA IS A POET, the new film by sisters Sari and Kiri Dalena, whatever your stand may be on communism, what's certain is that Jose Maria Sison, or JoMa Sison, or Amado Guerrero (his war name) is indeed an ordinary man who dreams, who loves, and who fights, but whose extraordinary achievements imparted a constant reminder to Ferdinand Marcos during Martial Law that his tyranny shall not go unchallenged.  At almost two and a half hours, GUERRILLA constantly makes for an uneasy watch; its subject overtly serious and heavy. From the time of JoMa's childhood up to his and his wife, Julieta De Lima's exile in The Netherlands, the film broadens the history, making a parallel between JoMa the revolutionary and JoMa the poet- which actually are one and the same, because traces of rage are present in JoMa's literature.  The use of docudrama may be distracting at times, appearing propagandist even, yet there are moments of candidness during the i...

Erik Matti's ON THE JOB is that return to form of Pinoy action movies we've been waiting for, and the film that will probably be tied to Matti's career. From the trailer alone, the story, the shots, and the editing are all promising. We easily get the concept of the movie: prisoners are being used as assassins so that the hits will be untraceable, meanwhile an idealistic NBI agent and a beat-up policeman chase the assassins unaware, or perhaps partially aware that they are pawns in an elaborate game where power is what matters.  "So what's new?" says you. While it is true that the story has been more or less explored in previous action flicks both local and international, it's the inspired performances of OTJ's leads (and even supporting characters), a rich back story for its protagonists and antagonists, and more notably, the seamless fusion of cinematography, editing and music that gives OTJ a gritty feel more than enough to satisfy fans...

Heavens spare us from another fantasy movie featuring love triangles, which goes to show that its target audience, the tween crowd is all about crushes and sorcery, and damsels in distress- which is all right for a moment, but not all the time.  Unfortunately, once you've seen THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, there is no unseeing it.  Set in modern-day New York City, teenager Clary Fray (the lovely Lily Collins) begins seeing people, or rather otherworldly beings that no one else can see. Her room is filled with drawings of a single insignia, and soon enough her mother Jocelyn (Lena Headey, or Cersei Lannister for us nerds) gets abducted by two hulking men. Obviously they are trying to reach Clary.  Then a guy named Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower) enters the picture, looking like he stormed out of a punk rock group, or a denim commercial. From the surface, we can already tell Jace is the dashing prince, and Clary is the damsel in distress, and t...

Michael Bay is back in Miami, and we love him when his setting is in Miami. BAD BOYS and BAD BOYS 2 remind us that a genuine filmmaker is somewhere inside Michael Bay, enough to forget that he wasted our money and intellect with the TRANSFORMERS sequels.  Bay shoots Miami beautifully, with his aerial shots and his panoramic sweep of the skyline just before dawn. Watching PAIN AND GAIN reminded me a lot of BAD BOYS (BAD BOYS is one of the best action flicks out there), what with the language, the humor, the editing, and the attitude. Okay, so Bay is known for excessive everything- too much violence, stylized shots, scoring, you name it. In PAIN AND GAIN there is an excess of exposition during the first half of the movie that the pacing drags like a math problem. But the speed picks up once things spiral out of control. I did not expect the film to be this wild, and the characters, despite the jokes are surprisingly dark and demented, okay maybe just Mark Wahlberg's ...

As perhaps the most-anticipated horror film of the year given the amount of buzz it generated, and the numerous mentions that daily appear on my Facebook newsfeed (not including the incidental office conversations of co-workers), THE CONJURING may look like another haunted house movie given its facade, yet strong performances from its leads and a director (James Wan) known for effectively spinning quite an effective suspense yarn make it worth the trip to the cinema. A haunted house. Check. A family moving in. Check. A pair of paranormal experts. Check. A deadly secret. Check. THE CONJURING, for what it's worth is not the best horror movie out there, enough to be leagued with THE EXORCIST, or POLTERGEIST, yet this two hour frightfest centers more on our imagination, by means of creating a chilling atmosphere and slowly unveiling the horror one by one. The scares may be predictable from start to finish (at least some of them are), but with the amount of effo...

That feeling you get when you should have watched the short film first, and saved yourself 100 minutes of anticipating for nothing. MAMA, produced by "the" Guillermo Del Toro is based on the short film with the same name by Andy and Barbara Muschietti. Andy directs, and Barbara produces for the full-length version, and it's quite hard to summarize the story without spoiling the twist that has been the cliche of horror cinema since the dawn of time. Of course, we see Del Toro in the poster, and we immediately go for it, the same way that Spielberg, Scorsese, and James Cameron makes us grab our wallets faster than you can say, "popcorn, please!" MAMA finds Oscar-nominee Jessica Chastain's Annabel (ZERO DARK THIRTY) playing adoptive mother to two abandoned children (Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse) after years of isolation in a remote cabin. Her husband, Lucas (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau of TV's GAME OF THRONES) is uncle to the two girls, and bo...

QUICK CHANGE is a satire of sorts, a peek into what madness has become of Filipinos' obsession with outer beauty, and at the same time a character study of a middle-aged transsexual trying to fit in a world slowly crumbling around her. Played with comic timing and utmost sincerity by Mimi Juareza, the lead character Dorina acts as the means for catharsis. She has an infidel lover (played by Jun Jun Quitana), an age that cannot be denied and cannot seem to withstand competition from prettier and younger gays, and ironically, an underground cosmetic surgery business in peril of one day catching up with her.  In a macro view, Dorina sees it all while being a part of a cruel social phenomena herself. She gives collagen injections to gays who want to buff up their cheeks, or their breasts (and even guys who want to enlarge their "asset"), but at the end of the day she is still in need of acceptance as a woman, or rather as a human being. She understands the demand...

Vilma Santos in her long and illustrious career in cinema has her playing a stripper (BURLESK QUEEN), a dying woman (DAHIL MAHAL KITA, PAHIRAM NG ISANG UMAGA), the other woman (RELASYON), a superhero (DARNA), a freedom fighter (SISTER STELLA L), countless mothers (ANAK, BATA BATA PAANO KA GINAWA, DEKADA '70, IN MY LIFE) and sometimes even a tormentor (SINASAMBA KITA) yet what EKSTRA, her new indie film offers is something we have never seen Vilma do- underacting. The role demands it, and Vilma more than handsomely gives her finest performance as a bit player. The screenplay, penned by Jeffrey Jeturian (TUHOG, KUBRADOR), Antoinette Jadaone (SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM LILIA CUNTAPAY), and Zig Dulay (HULING HALIK) is peppered with countless dashes of humor, that even non-workers in the entertainment industry will find funny. For those who work or have worked in the entertainment industry/similar media, the laughs will be relentless. The one-liners and the sarcasm explode ...

We love Johnny Depp in almost all the films he's in, and Armie Hammer shows us he's an actor of a serious caliber via J. EDGAR, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and this movie. So it is hard to hate a movie which is escapist enough and yet lands sour with the critics.  For those of us young enough not to have been familiar with the TV series, we'd have to rely on the quality of the story of Disney's big budget reboot, and Depp and Hammer's chemistry as partners.  As the Comanche Tonto, Johnny Depp fashions his signature quirkiness and oddity to add flavor to his otherwise mute character- and the role is really tailor fitted for Depp. Meanwhile, Hammer gives his best as THE LONE RANGER, and it is amusing to see his character struggle to be self-righteous amidst unfair circumstances.  Helena Bonham Carter, whose presence in a Johnny Depp movie is always welcome adds color as Red Harrington, a brothel madam who helps the duo ward claim justice.  She never has to ex...

Jesse and Celine are characters that have become dear to us throughout the years, up to the point that we know them so intimately as if they are our personal friends, and we welcome them with open arms to a sumptuous lunch (or dinner) after nine long years of absence.   This is the effect of BEFORE MIDNIGHT, Richard Linklater's conclusion (or is it?) to his romantic trilogy that captivated audiences worldwide, and redefined the romantic genre forever. As the film opens, we see Jesse bading goodbye to his son (from a previous marriage) at the airport, and afterwards, he drives to the sprawling Greek countryside with Celine in the passenger seat, and two beautiful young girls sleeping in the back (whom we learn are Jesse and Celine's twins). A lengthy conversation ensues during the drive, that somewhat culminates in Celine saying "this is how relationships end," foreshadowing later events in the film. They attend a sumptuous dinner hosted by their artist fr...

It's a gangster movie and a buddy movie in a single package. With a smart script that never takes itself too seriously, but packs a wallop of emotion at times you let your guard down, STAND UP GUYS is an exciting light fare made even better by the A-game performances of Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin. Watching them do an all-nighter makes you remember the times when they were young, and performance-wise nothing has changed. Pacino is Valentine, released on parole after a 28-year stint at the slammer. Walken plays his buddy, Doc who picks him up and the two goes on a night out on the town. But Doc is at a difficult position, forced to do something against his morale. The two then rescues another buddy, Hirsch (played by Alan Arkin) from the elderly home . It's like the old days once again, when the three of them used to work for the mob. Seeing Arkin so full of energy here makes you wonder why he did not win that Oscar for ARGO. The jokes are hila...