SANA DATI/If only
100 min, Philippines, 2013
Cinemalaya Foundation, Metric Films
In Tagalog with English subtitles
Directed and written by Jerrold Tarog
Stars Lovi Poe, Paulo Avelino, TJ Trinidad, Benjamin Alves
HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY
79 min, Philippines, 2013
Hubert Bals Fund, cinematografica
In Tagalog with English subtitles
Directed and written by Raya Martin
Stars Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Noni Buencamino, Ness Roque
When the filmmaker announces in its opening credits that this particular film is the last in some-sort of a trilogy - SANA DATI is the last in Jerrold Tarog's Camera Trilogy - which presupposes a running thread of either an idea, an image or subject, three things: One, the filmmaker directs the viewer to give attention to that particular object, in this case, the camera to be able to understand the film's intent; two, the filmmaker is saying that to fully understand this particular film, the viewer is expected to watch the previous two films, because parts of the trilogy; and three, the filmmaker is discreetly urging the viewer to either go watch, or purchase a complete set of the films.
Very ingenious.
Lovi Poe and Paulo Avelino in SANA DATI
Setting that aside, Tarog's SANA DATI does make use of the video camera as an instrument to drive home point that the camera, contrary to its truth-seeking purpose, does not necessarily reveal the truth, as is commonly suggested.
As a viewer, this is not my main interest.
While Tarog, also the film's writer, is able to update the romantic drama as a popular genre, which by the use of ample flashbacks and well-coordinated, adroitly composed scenes in the present - from the preparations to and the actual wedding ceremony - where the lives of its four main characters intersect in a highly nuanced dramatization of a relationship severely tested by confronting the past, his film just reaffirms society's expectations, thus delaying the prospect of a woman's prerogative, as hinted at in a very heartfelt performance of its lead, Lovi Poe, to be independent and freed of such conventions.
On the other hand, a film like Raya Martin's HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY, shies away from such predisposition. In this case, although the film appears to follow some plot, it does not really tell a story. At its most succinct form, the film suffices to project a state of mind; Martin, who in a manner, perhaps to satisfy the curiosity of his European patron(s), assumes the position of commentator instead, rather than a storyteller, of his country's social condition.
A still from the film, HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY
This a curious spot that Martin as the filmmaker puts himself in. Because he chooses to have his film occurs in some nameless islands whose characters are unnamed thus ahistorical, his choice of actors, distinctly Malayan or Filipino in appearance speaking in Tagalog proffers an experience specific to a place and time.
A prepubescent girl wont to imagine to be in a place unknown; a frequently intoxicated father giving her unwanted lustful advances; an industrious mother slowly descending into madness.
Yet, the discordant interplay of images and sound - the punk music situates the young protagonist's imagination as alien to her rustic environment - is deliberately assaulting as the film subjects us, the viewer, to the inevitability of violence against women, in this case, young girls.
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SANA DATI was awarded Best Film in 2013 Cinemalaya Director's Showcase.
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SINE! says:
SANA DATI
XO (crossover appeal): *
A+ (arthouse potential): *
C> (cult film fav): -
H! (hometown prime): ****
HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY
XO (crossover appeal): *
A+ (arthouse potential): ***
C> (cult film fav): **
H! (hometown prime): -
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