During the enhanced community quarantine declared by the government on response to the insidious coronavirus disease 19,...
During the enhanced community quarantine declared by the government on response to the insidious coronavirus disease 19, one of the directives for social distancing is the closure of all movie houses for one whole month. In response to this, TBA Studios has released 8 of their films on YouTube so
Filipino film fans have something to enjoy in the next four weeks of being confined in their homes.Of the 8 films, I had already seen and written reviews for two of them. These were: "Bliss" (Jerrold Tarog, 2017) and "Matangtubig" (Jet Leyco, 2015). I was able to binge on the other five films on their channel that I had not yet seen before. They were all of relatively short length, tackled interesting topics and had slick production values that made watching them one after the other in three days a breeze.These first three films I will write about all had their Philippine premieres as films in competition at the QCinema Film Festival of 2015.
IISA
Director: Chuck GutierrezWriter: Arnel MardoquioThere was a major typhoon in the province of Compostela Valley, and the people were starving in its aftermath of its destruction. A group of NPA rebels, led by Monir (Perry Dizon), Mao (Mon Confiado) and Rufo (Jess Mendoza), were looking for food for the sustenance of their group. Meanwhile, Rufo's wife Ross (Angeli Bayani) was being accused of stealing money from their funds, and sought comfort from their spiritual leader Sister Jo (Rio Locsin).This is a very sad story of social injustice, framed with beautiful cinematography and a stirring musical score. The film opens with an elegant overhead shot of men stirring to life in a pit of mud during a downpour, a memorable scene which is depicted in the film's poster. The film closes with the camera on the ground facing the sky while rain is falling down on it. The haunting elegiac strings music playing during this scene was reminiscent of "Schindler's List." The veteran actors in the cast all performed with realistic grit.
GAYUMA
Director: Cesar HernandoWriter: Cesar HernandoMike (Benjamin Alves) is the grandson of a famous painter and is a fine arts student in UP himself. He is in a relationship with Joy (Elora Espano), a film student in the same university. One day, his attention was drawn to Stella (Pheobe Walker), an elusive model he saw in one of the figure drawing sessions. As Mike's attraction to Stella eventually turned into an erotic obsession, he realized that there had been more passed on to him by his grandfather aside from his artistic talents.What seemed to be a sexy drama in its poster turned out to have an undercurrent of horror running though it. The old house where Mike lived made sure you feel that from the outset. While the camera visuals and the main actors may look good, the simple story was just too overstretched to be compelling. Most of you can already figure out what was the whole point maybe at the halfway point yet it still took its time. Along the way, we get nude sketching sessions, cantankerous arts professors and Cherie Gil as Mark's chic tita.
PATINTERO: ANG ALAMAT NI MENG PATALO
Director: Mihk VergaraWriter: Zig MarasiganMeng (Nafa Hilario Cruz) was the leader of a gang of misfits, which included her nerdy best friend Nicay (Lenlen Frial) and wimpy new kid Shifty (William Buenavente). The other kids in their school always made fun of them because they always lost in their favorite sport, patintero. For the annual community patintero competition, Meng convinced her team to join under the name of "Mea Patalo" ("The Losers"). A mysterious cape and mask-wearing kid who called himself Z-Boy (Claude Adrales) materialized out of nowhere to become their fourth team member.The most striking aspect of this film are the frenetic scenes of patintero, depicting the exaggerated game action with brightly colored graphic designs and an energetic musical score. Of course, these animated scenes did get repetitive after a few times, but they were fun anyhow. The film went on a rather dark turn when it tackled the sibling rivalry between Meng and her older brother (Vince Magbanua), which stressed their chain-smoking grandmother (Suzette Ranillo) out a lot. Nevertheless, lessons on teamwork and sportsmanship make this a fun and worthwhile film for kids, which led to its win as audience favorite during the filmfest.This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."
