This year's New Filipino Cinema series at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, its third edition, which concluded last Sunday, had its share of gems and a few disappointments.
Inasmuch as it remains to be an important venue for Philippine cinema in the US, I must disagree with its curators' pronouncement that this year's its best since last year's clearly had a stronger line-up: Gutierrez Mangansakan's QIYAMAH/The reckoning, Arnel Mardoquio's ANG PAGLALAKBAY NG MGA BITUIN SA GABING MADILIM/The journey of stars into the dark night, Jewel Maranan's TUNDONG MAGILIW: PASAAN ISINILANG SIYANG MAHIRAP/Tondo Beloved: To what are the poor born, Whammy Alcazaren's COLOSSAL, Vincent Sandoval's APARISYON, Shireen Seno's BIG BOY, Mes de Guzman's DIABLO and the digitally-restored version of Ishmael Bernal's HIMALA/Miracle (1982).
This year, I can mention only a few gems, including the critically-lauded masterpieces, Brillante Mendoza's THY WOMB, and the digitally-restored version of Peque Gallaga's ORO, PLATA, MATA/Gold, silver, death (1982); the pleasant surprises, my two personal favorites, Keith Deligero's ISKALAWAGS, Pam Miras's PASCALINA and a maybe, Jerrold Tarog's SANA DATI/If only.
I made separate notations of the last three-cited films in this blog, and here are my few take-aways of the last two days of the series.
> ORO, PLATA, MATA/Gold, silver, death (Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, 194 min, 1982; directed by Peque Gallaga, written by Jose Javier Reyes, stars Cherie Gil, Sandy Andolong, Joel Torre, Liza Lorena, Fides Cuyugan-Asencio, Lorli Villanueva, Maya Valdez, Ronnie Lazaro, Abbo de la Cruz), its digital restoration made under the auspices of ABS-CBN Archives and Central Digital Lab, is better made than the HIMALA restoration - more crisp colors, clearer audio - could be because the original print may have been better kept and preserved.
Also interesting to note that the film marked the film debut of actor Joel Torre, the mama's boy-turned-cold-blooded killer, a remarkable debut, if I may say, which turned out to be the first of many brilliant performances the actor has done through the years, notably KARNAL (Marilou Diaz-Abaya, 1983); UNFAITHFUL WIFE (Gallaga, 1986); BAYANING THIRD WORLD (Mike de Leon, 2000) and the most acclaimed, ON THE JOB (Erik Matti, 2013).
The key problematic to the critique of the film, on its initial release, was its depiction of the lower class, the servants, as subservient, fiercely loyal and savage, brutal, and its empathy towards the genteel class, the landed gentry, as being victims of a tragic period of the nation's history. Although it still remains a prickly issue to this viewer, more than three decades later, its re-screening affords me to realize that class remains to be an unacknowledged, unrealized issue towards a more thoughtful understanding of what it takes to build a stronger nation.
Overall though, the film, a sprawling epic that it is, makes us realize too that this is the kind of film that can never be done again, in a very long time.
> WALAY TUMOY NA PUNTERYA/No end in sight (Cierlito Tabay, director and writer, 83 min, 2012), an interesting documentary on the underground gun-making industry in Danao City, Cebu, works best when it interviews the actual gunmakers, working in the city and in the mountains, which except for one, is not rightly identified, but falters when it tries to juxtapose these with government officials, police officers at length, weakening the full impact of the film.
> RIGODON (Erik Matti, director, 85 min, 2012), supposedly an adult movie about infidelity with ample breast exposure of its lead star, Yam Concepcion, is such a turgid film that makes me wonder, what is this film doing in this series? A case in point: Concepcion and John James Yap are having sex, while we get to ogle at Concepcion's breasts, we see Yap's still having his boxers on and we are made to believe they are reaching orgasm. With this movie, I am beginning to believe that Matti must be an overrated director.
Poster for Jarrel Serencio's VICTOR
Photo still from
Aedrian Araojo's SI EL CURIOSIDAD MATA CON EL GATO/Curiosity killed the cat
> BASKET CASE: SHORT FILMS OVER THE EDGE - A collection of short films, billed as edgy, alarming; of the eight films presented, two shorts stood out: Jarrel Serencio's VICTOR (15 min) and Aedrian Araojo's SI EL CURIOSIDAD MATA CON EL GATO/Curiosity killed the cat.
Serencio's short film follows Victor, who is about to be nailed on the Cross on Good Friday as part of the Lenten rituals in Pampanga, gives its readers a twist: all those being nailed on the cross get paid at the end of the crucifixion, which we realize is a show for tourists, quite a departure from the usual narrative of the penitents doing them as an expression of Catholic piety and devotion.
Araojo's work, spoken in Chabacano, about a young boy obsessed with jacking off, is so funny, hilarious, I almost fell in my seat. Bravo!
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