DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

Official Entry, 2014 Cinema One Originals I liked the premise of THE BABYSITTERS. A couple, Rod (Jayson Gainza) and Lucy (Katya Santos) are part of a kidnapping group where they babysit kidnapped children until the ransom is paid off. Their latest job turns sideways, and the boss orders his hitman to eliminate the child. But Rod and Lucy would not allow this, so they escape with the child. Years later, Ben (Jhiz Deocareza), the kidnapped child is all grown up. To support their needs, Rod and Lucy engage in various con jobs, and Ben who is old enough to be aware of his parents’ schemes is in danger of becoming just like them. Upon careful examination, the plot would be a perfect opportunity for a moral irony— the con artists will pay for their sins through their adopted child who will grow up to be like them. Or are they paying for their mistake to even keep the kidnapped child in the first place? As the film enters the second act, things spiral out of control. Logic is thr...

Official Entry, 2014 Cinema One Originals -------------------------------- The devil is in the details. VIOLATOR, Dodo Dayao’s debut full-length feature is an exercise in psychological horror, a seemingly harmless yet unrelenting force of nature that wreaks havoc in its tight final 20 minutes. But even the vignettes that establish the film’s tone during the first half of the film provide silent terror. Five men are trapped inside a police station, cleverly designated “Precinct 13” during a storm that one character likened to the end of the world. Two cops (Victor Neri, Anthony Falcon), their chief (Joel Lamangan), the caretaker (Andy Bais), and a traffic accident complainant (RK Bagatsing) lament over the storm’s severity, all the while realizing their powerlessness over the situation. They constantly try to contact their loved ones to see if they are safe, given the rising waters outside. At one point, the “Rapture Cult”, which predicted that the world will end o...

As LORNA opens, a black and white action sequence, almost film noir-ish in its quality quickly draws attention. The titular character, played by veteran actress Shamaine Buencamino engages in a gun battle, is crippled, and eventually loses the fight. But LORNA is not an action film. Writer and director Sigrid Andrea Bernardo employs dream sequences, a technique she also used in her first film, ANG HULING CHA-CHA NI ANITA to showcase characters’ thoughts and motivations. The opening sequence is just one of the many times the scene cuts into a trance, suspending disbelief. Lorna is a sixty-year old woman who is still looking for love, despite having failed at so many relationships. The news that her former husband (Jim Paredes) who never married her is getting married to another woman, and that she is to meet her ex’s new fiancée puts further gasoline to the fire. The problem is, she loves him (Paredes), more than he loves her, Lorna tells son Ardie (Felix Roco) in one scene...

Official Entry, 2014 Cinema One Originals Culture clash is always fascinating material for satire, especially with ones as rich and as colorful as those of the Filipino and Korean culture. Most Filipinos adore Korean culture almost as if it were a religion, from the hairstyles, the dresses, K-Pop, and yes Koreanovela. Koreans travel to the Philippines, mostly because we are damn good English speakers. And yes, the food of Korea and the Philippines which I’m sure the two opposite cultures enjoy. So when a film comes, pitting a Filipino transwoman (Mimi Juareza) running after her two-faced boyfriend with a Korean guy (Jisoo Kim) who longs for the love of his life soon to marry another, the possibilities for comedy are endless. Also, it would be a perfect opportunity to parallel both the Filipino and Korean culture in perspective. SEOUL MATES begins when Filipino Alice (Juareza) and Korean Joon (Jisoo Kim), following their respective heartbreaks both attempt to end their lives ...

As an advocacy film, BIGKIS (INTERTWINED) gets its message across. The state of maternal healthcare in the Philippines is downright depressing, with mothers seated on the floor of public hospitals due to shortage of beds, medical equipment and hospital staff. The baby better be gaping through the birth canal before the mother receives serious medical attention.  Such social issue has been featured countless times in local documentaries and even in a feature film (2011's BAHAY BATA), but BIGKIS pushes the envelope further by bridging a connection between mother and child by means of breastfeeding, and in doing so, promoting breastfeeding in the process.  As a drama, the film tends to squeeze too much tragedy from the downtrodden lives of its characters that a lot of the dialogue feels staged for us to feel sorry for their countless miseries. Mariel (LJ Reyes), a teenage mother deals with an unwanted pregnancy and worse, the abandonment of her baby's father (Pancho ...

I stopped watching movies based on Nicholas Sparks novels after NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, with its heavily contrived ending despite the charming pair of Richard Gere and Diane Lane. Then again, I took a chance with SAFE HAVEN, thinking a plot involving a woman running away from her past is good movie material, which to my dismay was another dud.  Then comes this film, which I was not too eager about but not too dismissive either given the fact that Michelle Monaghan, a capable actress headlines this new Nicholas Sparks vehicle, teamed with James Marsden, a guy who is heavily underrated in those X-MEN films. And for a while this film did not disappoint. Dawson Cole (Marsden) and Amanda Collier (Monaghan) are reunited years after drifting apart, when a personal tragedy occurs. In that brief moment of solitude, both of them are forced to reexamine their past and try to find out if they can still be together again. Flashback to when they were in their teens. The shy young Daw...