MMFF, that most wonderful time of the cinematic year, is almost upon us. But before that, the New Wave section, which is really shaping up to be a major player among other big independent film fests. So, in one fell swoop, I watched all of the films in competition, both short and full length. So how were they? Let's find out.
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First up is Toto, which is about a guy determined to make it to the US at any cost. This includes propositioning random Americans (male or female) for marriage, hiring people to pose as his fake family and so on and so forth. It's partly due to his late father's own failed ambition but it's mostly for the sake of his family. Leaving the country for somewhere else is an option that many of us dream of, regardless of social stratum. It's partly because life here is perceived to be so terrible that leaving the country seems enticing to many. But the movie is not dreary, it instead finds moments of levity in the situations it creates. One may interpret the ending as having us, the helpless natives having foreigners as our saviors, but I think the point is that we reach our dreams and help our family through dogged perseverance and a sense of what's right.
The film also has the weirdest usage of Macarena in any movie I've ever seen.
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For a story about a boy and his dad, Turo Turo lays on the drama really thick. The film seems to remind us every so often how poor and miserable the characters are. The scale of the drama feels so forced at times as we watch our main protagonist fail badly in any situation he faces. The execution of the story is also lacking - we see establishing shots recycled (twice), sound cutting off at weird parts, Arabs that don't look like Arabs, doctors wearing lab coats for med techs (unless that was not an "RMT" I saw) and other doctors misidentifying blood cancers as "infections."
Yet there's a weird kind of infectious optimism in the film, brought on mainly by the kid. His effusive, sometimes annoying enthusiasm rubs off a little on you, even though it doesn't fit in the otherwise dreary atmosphere of this movie. His one scene with the teacher when she gives him old books looks like it was genuine drama in a work whose drama feels manufactured. I get the lessons it tries to impart, but in the end the execution failed the finished product.
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Our fellow Kapampangan filmmakers give us Ari, a heartfelt love letter to the Kapampangan language and to Kapampangan poetry. It begins when Jaypee, a teenage boy, fetches an aging poet named Conrado, for an award ceremony. He grows interested in the old man and his poetry, partly because he is trying to impress a girl with it. Conrado, crowned the "King" of Kapampangan poetry, is eloquent; his words emerge effortlessly. Rhythm, rhyme and verse flow through his veins. He engages in impromptu poetry, in Crissotan, the Kapampangan version of Balagtasan, which is (for our younger, non Filipino readers) a sort of rap battle through poetry.
Yet Conrado and his fellow poets are aging, and no one seems to be there to replace him. Even in his own hometown he is but a curiosity; it is made evident during a picture taking scene where visually and figuratively he is relegated to the background, and his subsequent speech is ignored or tolerated by the audience. Our appreciation of men and women in the arts and culture pales to our appreciation of men and women boasting other, flashier, more materialistic achievements.
The film also asks us to love and learn our own regional language. With 7,107 islands (give or take) our linguistic culture is rich and full of nuance that cannot be seen in conventional, 'vanilla' Tagalog, but homogenization and a lack of appreciation is slowly killing the diversity in our languages. Perhaps through a revitalization of regional arts and cinema which is happening all over the Philippines, maybe we can help reclaim the parts of our multifaceted culture that are in danger of fading.
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Speaking or regional languages, there were no subtitles for Mandirigma, but luckily most of it was in Tagalog, and the rest was in Tausug, which I can understand. After last year's fictionalized version of the Maguindanao massacre in Maratabat, Arlyn dela Cruz makes a movie about our military's exploits fighting against bandits and terrorists in the south.
Aside from being a showcase of the Marines, there really isn't much of a story to tell. Bad guys do something bad, good guys regroup, good guys kick bad guy's asses, repeat. The bandits are given some sort of depth, portraying some of the overzealous ones as either skewing religious interpretation into extremism, or making a quick buck for their own needs by kidnapping and other illegal activities. (As an aside, I also noticed that there were some minor mistakes on the depiction of prayer, and this was for a Muslim on the soldier's side.)
In the end, unlike Maratabat, the social repercussions of the conflict are not explored. There is one scene near the end that hints at the possibility of understanding between the two sides, but there are no concrete answers. I guess, like with what happened with the Maguindanao Massacre and Maratabat's open ending, there are no clear answers to such a complex problem.
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And last but not the least for the Full Length Features, we have King Palisoc's Tandem, about a team of two brothers who conduct robberies via riding-in-tandem. It's well shot, the story moves along at a good pace, and we have a dark, gritty thriller where the true enemy of all involved is a festering culture of corruption that eats away at us, one unethical act at a time.
Nico Antonio and JM de Guzman give great performances as the two brothers. As the younger brother de Guzman gives an air of naivete and rebelliousness towards his older brother, who is haunted by his past decisions but is forced into this cycle of crime, corruption and violence to support his wife and unborn child.
The film does a good job of building suspense as the relationship of the two brothers is tested to the breaking point. In the end we're just hamsters running on stationary wheels running endlessly in place. Breaking the wheel, while being the most obvious solution, proves much harder than in theory.
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The shorts program is divided into animation films and the HOOQ Short Films, which are live action shorts. To give very short impressions of the films in question:
The animated entries begin with Alamat ng Giraffe, which is a short joke in animation form. The animation technique is the focus instead. I'd like to see a BTS of this one.
Buttons is the kind of short that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling. It's not bad; compared to the others it sits in the middle of the pack.
Geo is the sole 3D CG animated film of the lot, and is about a kid with a hyperactive imagination. Kudos to the mom for putting up with the kid - I'd have given him a German suplex or something if I were in her shoes. I guess that's the point of the short.
little lights is the best looking animated short of the lot. The visuals look like very stylized paintings. It's worth seeing even just for the visuals alone, but its story about a smart little firefly is worth watching too.
The Seed is a story about an old man, a dog, and an anniversary. It's very touching and I noticed a few moist eyes in the audience. The character designs and overall animation style is reminiscent of watercolor painted comics. The one sole gripe I had was that most of the score consists of one track of music that seems to loop over and over.
The HOOQ short films begin with Daisy, which is a sci-fi story with a slightly retro feel to it via the music and production design. The ending is clever and the central conceit, insidious.
Ding Mangasyas (Tough Guys) is cute in the sort of way girls think their hardass boyfriend/male relative is cute when he tears up when he sees his sister/daughter get married. Only with less sisters, more brothers and no marriages. Joking aside, it's a very simple yet effective short.
Lapis is the one short that really lingered in my mind after the program was done. It laments the slow death of artists via technological obsolescence. I'd rather have old and new coexisting together, but oftentimes we see the latest technological innovation forcing the previous generation to adapt or die.
Momento is just really freaking sad. Its a testament to old, enduring love, even during the darkest tragedy.
Mumu deals with the fear of being typecast. It does so via a slightly scary, yet funny story. Also, many of us (myself included) have felt that feeling of being left behind by our peers, pressured to keep up somehow, and the film talks about that a bit too. In the end, it's accepting our own past and moving forward at our own steady pace that we grow personally.
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That ends the MMFF New Wave section for this year. There are some standouts and some not so good films, but I believe with the reduced ticket prices (and student discounts) it's definitely worth it. Besides, by the end of the week we'd have seen Star Wars already, so why not take a gander at a few of these films? You might find something you like. I'd recommend Ari, Tandem, and maybe Toto. If you want something lighter, the short films are a good choice.
See you 'round Christmas for the MMFF proper. I won't see all of the films on their lineup, but I am sure I will see at least 2-3 films by the end of the year. Also I owe you a Star Wars Spoiler Review, so that's coming out by Monday.
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