DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

"SAYAW" is a highly-artistic interpretation of a seemingly ordinary story of three people affected by the power of dance and literature. What could have just been a love triangle is instead presented as a soulful journey of feminist ideology and homosexual tendencies.  The film, the latest feature of filmmaking tandem Alvin Yapan and Alemberg Ang (ANG PANGGAGAHASA KAY FE) makes use of a number of poems from noted feminist writers such as Ophelia Dimalanta, Merlinda Bobis, and Rebecca Anonuevo to name a few. The poems are either chanted, or sung, as the characters dance to it, as means of presenting us the story hidden beneath the facade. And it is exactly such technique that won me over; like Wong Kar Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and Bernardo Bertolucci's BESIEGED, less is more. The whole story is not laid out and spoon fed to us; we scavenge for all the clues layered within subtexts of dialogue, images, and montage.  The poetry unfolds like magic. Tender and yet pr...

I partially read Eros Atalia’s novel before actually seeing the movie, and one difference I’ve noticed is that the movie did not follow the order of events in the book. But that isn’t my main objection to the movie adaptation. There was a lot of hype that surrounded even before the movie premiered during the seventh Cinemalaya at CCP, and I am one who was hit by all the buzz. I guess most of the festival’s audience (which are students) dig love stories, especially painful love stories. I remember the same reception for Jade Castro’s ENDO. I am not a buzz kill for these sorts of movies. I love watching people suffer in the name of love because only then, lessons are taught and empathy is expressed. However, I cannot get my head around the confused translation of Eros Atalia’s novel onscreen. When you’ve seen Wong Kar Wai and Almodovar and even Adolfo Alix, Jr. discuss about the pain of unrequited love, LIGO NA Ü stands elementary. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve read the entire novel prior...

AMOK is many things. Call it an updated CRASH. Call it a Scorsese fest minus the mob. Call it the ROTONDA of 2011. Nevertheless, AMOK captures the fast and brutal streets of Metro Manila where lives intersect and eventually clash. What makes AMOK worth watching is the event which triggered all mayhem in the movie, which is a very senseless argument. As testosterone levels go through the roof, innocent people get shot at, ego maniacs get what they deserve, and the unexpected happens.  Gary Lim is enormously compelling; so is Dido Dela Paz who both play urbanites at each other's crosshairs. Mark Gil's segment is hilarious (there goes your tribute to stunt actors) and it's good to know that Efren Reyes, Jr. is still acting. Here he plays a crooked cop hatching an arson plan. I keep remembering his terrific portrayal of a gay friend to Richard Gomez's character in BABAE SA BINTANA. Beautifully photographed, scored, and edited, AMOK showcased Pasay Rotonda in all its raw...

Why ANG BABAE SA SEPTIC TANK works as a film and as a work of art is because of its objective- to deconstruct mainstream cinematic conventions as well as misguided aspirations and visions of young filmmakers. Also, it exposes the actors who are in the limelight per se, embodied here as Eugene Domingo playing herself, and we revel as Domingo, representing the glamorous movie star is being brought down to the level of the septic tank (literally and metaphorically). The script by Chris Martinez and the direction of Marlon Rivera with Eugene Domingo's comic timing and caliber as a dramatic actress made ANG BABAE SA SEPTIC TANK a witty critique of some of Philippine cinema's bane of existence-those things a lot of us were enraged about, but can only do so much. A film within a film, we see a trio of filmmakers (director, producer, production manager) do a quick pre-prod at Starbucks, throw bitter remarks at their friend who has become a successful director, and get a dose of thei...

BISPERAS, for what it's worth is a solid drama featuring compelling performances by Raquel Villavicencio and Julia Clarete (they bagged the Awards, FYI). The premise is simple enough- a burglary fleshes out hidden unresolved issues of a family just in time for Christmas day, a day supposed to be about joy and giving, but for the characters in Jeturian's film, this is probably the worst day of their life.  Featuring some of the shakiest shots this year reminiscent of Jim Libiran's TRIBU, or Pepe Diokno's ENGKWENTRO (but these two are urban thrillers, so what's your excuse BISPERAS?), BISPERAS tells a conventional family drama rooted in Filipino religious Catholic traditions, and as Jeturian tells it... a family struggling to remain Catholic. Told in ultrarealist manner (we follow the events from start to end in real time) BISPERAS has the family members gutting at each other's throats at repressed anger. Villavicencio truly shines among everyone, with her disp...

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...