Season of the Devil (Lav Diaz) ***1/2 - It's 1979, during the Marcos Martial Law years. A poet's wife who's a village doctor gets kidnapped by the corrupt military who's supporting a corrupt demagogue. This is the latest from director Lav Diaz and it's four hours long. If you know Lav Diaz, that's actually kind of short for him. It is very much a politically charged...MUSICAL. Yes, musical. There's barely any spoken dialogue in this film. Pratically, every line is either a song, a poem, some sort of rap or talk-sing....and it's all A CAPELLA. Yes, the characters not only break into song and sing live, they do it without music. It's a wild exercise, even for an experimental filmmaker like Diaz. You either open yourself up to it or you check out immediately. I was largely into it. It's not my favorite from him but it's still an extraordinary piece of work that may test your patience especially if you're not used to his style. It features beautiful black & white cinematography and some great performances that produce some great moments. A huge chunk of the audience (mostly seniors who got in for free) left after an hour or so. It's definitely not for Diaz beginners.