Topic: Filipino films

[wedge]

Do, is the book going to be available to the public on the launch date? Or is it going to be just, well, a launch?

BTW, I freed my sked up for Wednesday. I'll be there with Onat.

[Klaus Weasley]

Sister Stella L. (Mike de Leon) ***1/2 - I definitely see why this is such an iconic Vilma Santos movie, playing a young nun who goes from a naive innocent to a strong, fierce champion of laborer's rights as she helps out with striking workers of an oil refinery factory. This is not my favorite de Leon film but it still a compelling film that's both unapologetically Catholic yet also unapologetically left-wing. It's a pity Filipino cinema very seldom do these types of films these days, at least in the mainstream. 

[Noel_Vera]

It's not a Mike De Leon film, it's a Pete Lacaba film. His is the strong voice that comes out. It's not subtle, it's spare, clean, and forceful--Lacaba's virtues, not Mike's.

[keating]

HIMPAPAWID (Raymond Red, 2009)

Rejected at the Cannes filmfest, Raymond Red's HIMPAPAWID soars high based on a newspaper item about a man hijacking a plane and dropping from the sky 5,000 feet below the ground. The result is gripping, riveting and amazing piece of work. With a great ensemble cast that leaves you breathless about their performances, from John Arcilla as the group's leader, to Soliman Cruz as the torture victim, Raul Morit as the driver of the cab and Marissa Sue Prado in three roles such as the flight attendant, harlot neighborhood and unsympathetic clerk all delivered their best performances to date. It's Raul Arellano who shines in every frame as Raul the hijacker reminiscent of Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER. The moments highlighting the dramatic events unfolding before your eyes from Arellano's crappy and dirty room, jerking off in his bathroom while watching his neighborhood prostitute, to his way applying for a job, the dropping of the coin into the drainage, the stepping of his feet into the feces until to his final desperation are worthy enough to place this into the ranks of future classic!

[Noel_Vera]

100 Best Filipino Films (slightly revised, more links)

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

Twilight Saga: Eclipse (David Slade)

A Single Man (Tom Ford)

The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)

I just didn't do it (Masuyuki Suo)

Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) 50th Anniversary

Letters to Juliet (Gary Winick)

[RMN]

August 14, 2010  
Krimen: Kayo Ang Humatol (1974) Directed Jun Raquiza
September 11, 2010
 Masquerade (1967) Directed by Danny Zialcita
October 9, 2010
 Kasal o Sakal (1964) Directed by Efren Reyes & Johnny Reyes
November 13, 2010
Ito Ang Pilipino (1966) Directed by Cesar Gallardo
December 11, 2010
Gaano Kita Kamahal (1993) Directed by Butch Perez
January 15, 2011
Waray-Waray (1954) Directed by F.H. Constantino

FREE ADMISSION!!!

[keating]

Laurice Guillen's KUNG AKOY IIWAN MO has been rotating on my dvd player for about a week now. Guillen's 2nd film after KASAL only confirms her genius shine during the 80's along with SALOME, INIT SA MAGDAMAG and KUNG MAHAWI MAN ANG ULAP.

More thoughts later....

[keating]

KUNG AKOY IIWAN MO (Laurice Guillen, 1980)

Three movies in a row will gauge if a filmmaker has the ability to determine her career will take. This is true on the case of Laurice Guillen as far as back during her early days as a filmmaker. KASAL tells the uncertainties and last minute apprehensions of a couple about to be wed. SALOME involves the question, what is the truth, a crime of passion being committed in a small town. Her second gig KUNG AKOY IIWAN MO deals with the classic dilemma of career versus marriage. And what could be more fulfilling by casting Nora Aunor and Christopher de Leon as the couple whose relationship crumbles in this domestic drama. A love story that recalled very much their own private story and Nora as a singer.

KUNG AKOY IIWAN MO is intelligently well-made, technically polished and restrained. Nora is simply superb. It needs to be resurrected again and give the audience the chance to see it again. It was a flop during the 1980 MMFF. If you're a typical moviegoer expecting fireworks, cuss words and fight scenes in those scenes of infidelity, then this film will not work for you. Laurice Guillen's films especially KUNG AKOY IIWAN MO will always demand thinking audiences and provoke discussions but she was not able to sustain it on the present times.

[keating]

TUHOG (Jeffrey Jeturian, 2001)

Shot in 23 days for a budget of P6M, TUHOG is two movies in one, think of it as a twinbill in one film. A mother and daughter sold their story who are victims of incest and rape to a bunch of filmmakers and agreed to their story. As they watch the film on the big screen on real life they were raped again.
Jeffrey Jeturian has crafted another outstanding film in his filmography. Its brave, clever, bold. The real mother and daughter team was played by Irma Adlawan and Ina Raymundo while the reel mother and daughter team was played by Jaclyn Jose and Klaudia Koronel. The film within the film is not merely a spoof of sexploitation flicks. We see the glossy look of these kind of films and yes we are fooled by it, exploitation flicks imitating as an art. In most Filipino films rape has always been depicted as erotic, and Jeturian expose it as horrifying and we feel guilty about it.

Originally titled PINILAKAN which won at the defunct ECP scriptwriting contest, the original version shows a young rape victim sells her story to the movies, had a tryst with the director, gets dumped and shows at the movie preem to shoot her ex-lover. Still a brilliant idea from Armando Lao who wrote TUHOG along with other Jeturian flicks like SANA PAG-IBIG NA and PILA BALDE. Its been a while since we've seen a Jeffrey Jeturian flick, and I'm waiting for his comeback on the big screen.

[Klaus Weasley]

Possible Lovers (Raya Martin) (UNRATEABLE) - What can I say about this film? I will not even try to "review" it. But it was an interesting experience to say the least.

[keating]

Raya Martin's POSSIBLE LOVERS is deep, non-conventional storytelling. INDIO NACIONAL & LA INDEPENDENCIA are still his best works.

[oggsmoggs]

Thanks for watching, keating and Klaus Weasely. Too bad we didn't have time for a Q&A. I thought Possible Lovers is intriguing. For a 90-minute film that shows only one immobile set-up, it opens up a lot of questions --- what is happening within the frame, what is happening outside the frame, what is happening between the film and the audience, why is there only one copy of the film? I'll try to write something about this some more in the future.

Tales is interesting because it feels so strangely out of place in Raya's filmography. It's probably the setting, or it being upfront personal. I thought the unintended reading of the English translation of the French intertitles by Raya (or any male voice) made it an even more interesting viewing.

It was a lovely screening, despite the glitches. Thanks!

[Klaus Weasley]

So the sound glitches were not intentional?

[oggsmoggs]

So the sound glitches were not intentional?

By glitches, I mean the church people who used the U-view after our screening, and the late start because of some technical issues.

[Noel_Vera]

That sounded cool. Wish I was there.

[X44]

So the sound glitches were not intentional?

The glitches in sound, it turns out, were the result of Raya making only one copy of the film. Last Sunday was the third time it  was shown,albeit the first time in the Philippines. The first time, Raya ssid, the sound was apparently perfect but it deteriorated  with each play. Someone made a  joke that the tape(film) rots the way love sort of rots over time. Makes a weird kind of sense. Weirdly enough, the picture quality never degraded - - -it was intentionally degraded from the get-go.

Very interesting experience. Possible Lovers has the structure of a passive installation piece (or a James Benning landscape film without the obsessive-compulsive technical exactness) that demands to be shown in an immersive environment like a cinema. Some of the people beside me sort of got it and closed their eyes to focus on the sound design, which is where most of the "story" is, I think. Too bad we never got to the Q & A but I feel whether you were bored (I drifted off a few times ) or fascinated or indifferent or  infuriated, it was the right response.

I thought the night shots of Tales were lovely.

I'll try and write up my own review, although I sort of just did. 

Oh, and thanks for coming, klaus weasley. Also, keating. And RMN. And everybody else. Last Sunday was a career-high for the Film Series as far as the turnout was concerned. Hopefully this keeps up. with the next screenings.

[oggsmoggs]

Possible Lovers (Raya Martin, 2008)

[X44]

Possible Lovers

[Klaus Weasley]

Tatlong Taon, Walang Diyos (Mario O'Hara) **** - Noel Vera called this "arguably the best Filipino film ever made". I don't think I agree (there are several Filipino films I like better) but it is definitely in the Top 10. A young Filipino woman (Nora Aunor, in one of her best roles) is raped by a Filipino-born Japanese soldier (Christopher de Leon) during the start of the Japanese occupation of World War II. The two eventually fall in love and face the horrors and savagery of war first hand where no one (Japanese, American or Filipino) gets away without blood on their hands. Despite the poor quality of the print of the DVD, I can still tell that this is first-rate extraordinary filmmaking and certainly a great World War II film. 

[Noel_Vera]

Good thing you saw it, Klaus. Wish it was on a big screen. Hell, wish there was a better print, overall.

[R2]

TIYANAK
Peque Gallaga, Lorenzo Reyes (1988)
The duo's third directorial effort marks the first of their many forays in the horror genre, which proved to be a winning formula as fas as commercial success is concerned. Made during Regal Films' glory years, it tried to cash in on the then-popular tandem of Lotlot De Leon and Ramon Christopher, and publicised via a popular tagline (remember "Oh my God, ang anak ni Janice!"?). It can be noted,though,that most of Gallaga and Reyes' filmography conspicuosly didn't have to rely on star power to sell the movies (with the exception of Once Upon A Time, starring Dolphy).
The movie,unfortunately,suffers from some weak points in terms of character motivations, implausible plot points,and unnecessarily hysterical (but supposedly emotional) scenes.
What cannot be denied,however,is the movie's technical brilliance: all filmic elements (photography, production design,editing,music and sound) effectively combined to convey shock and terror to the viewers. Among it's many impressive set-pieces are the "showdown" between Mary Walter and the monster baby, the scenes in a hospital,on a nursery full of neonates,and the climactic sequence set inside a cinema (imagine how it feels to watch a scene like this,as I did when I saw the movie during its theatre run back in the late '80s; it was such a brilliant conceit).

[Noel_Vera]

Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio (The Trial of Andres Bonifacio, Mario O'Hara, 2010):

Ang Ninanais (John Torres, 2010)

A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

Salt (Philip Noyce, 2010)

The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan, 2010)

Claire's Knee (Eric Rohmer); Jenifer (Dario Argento)

The Big Bang (Dr. Who season finale)

The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski, 2010)

[rse]

Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio (The Trial of Andres Bonifacio, Mario O'Hara, 2010):

I hope they release this on DVD so I'd have a chance to see this. Although I'm not a major fan of his later works, I love his early works (and also most of Babae sa Bubungang Lata.)

I have no problems with being theatrical.  I'm a Bergman fan and I think that he's theatrical.  But if it's something like Lars von Triers theatricality in his Dogville and Manderlay then I'll pass.  For me there's theatrical and there's filmed stage play.

[Noel_Vera]

My problem with Dogville is Von Triers constructs this elaborate stage set, then films the whole thing in brief handheld shots and jump cuts. Why do a definite space when you don't exploit it?

I've no problem with a filmed stage play; some of the titles I mentioned are in fact filmed performances (I'd throw in Scorsese's The Last Waltz). You can have something as simple as a stage, an actor, and a chair and if your filmmaker is gifted, the results are cinematic--you can even do without the chair.

[R2]

SANA MAULIT MULI
Olivia Lamasan, 1995

The pursuit of happiness - this,in a nutshell,is what this surprisingly moving film is all about. What appears to be,on the surface,just another melodramatic love story turned out to be an eye-opening treatise on the continuing Filipino experience that is the diaspora.
The story revolves around two lovers - a young,upwardly-mobile professional and his less successful but dedicated girlfriend. Aside from a demanding career,he has a pretty boss,and he is also beholden to his family,not to mention the possessive mother. Meanwhile,she just lost her father,and was petitioned by her estranged,US-based mother to join her and her new family. She grudgingly relented,despite her misgivings and the risk to their engagement.
What followed is a journey that initially separates them physically,then emotionally, until it took its toll later on. Will they make it together again?
The movie's strongest suit is its narrative tour de force - tight storyline,insightful subject matter,carefully-chosen dialogues,instructive character arcs. The dramatic scenes are well-handled; high melodrama,yes,but Lamasan made sure there is no excess fat, yet not too lean either.
Equally crucial was the lead performances by Aga Muhlach and Lea Salonga,which anchored the film. Muhlach's role is not a flashy one,yet his sensitive performance was such a marvel to watch. And Salonga is such a revelation in this film; her character's transformation was so heartbreaking. With this movie (made a few years after her West End/Broadway stints),she proved that she can have a career other than as Miss Saigon. She merited a well-deserved Gawad Urian best actress nomination for this film,though it was Muhlach (best actor) and Lamasan(director) who brought home the trophies,as well as the scriptwriters and the movie's producers (best picture).

[Noel_Vera]

Mulach's really pretty.

Did you think Salonga's performance inspired sympathy? Maybe just me, but I felt she's a bit of a cold fish, even here.

[rse]

I think that Sana Maulit Muli is a good romance film, maybe not Urian-worthy. The ending is a bit of a letdown. Aga is ok in this movie.  He's his usual Aga persona.  Lea's ok too, although her acting in some of the scenes is a bit too big and placed for my taste. Although I must admit that I haven't seen this movie in ages.

[Noel_Vera]

I'm thinking of how Angelika might have handleded this...

[halvert]

^angelica who? angelica panganiban and angelika dela cruz would have been teenagers or tweeners at the time 

[Noel_Vera]

Angelika. So he's a cradle snatcher.