The Festival is winding down, but the movies aren't finished yet. Here we have yet another entry from the New Breed, and probably the most curious from the Director's showcase.
NEW BREED CATEGORY
Si Techie, Si Technoboy at Si Juana B
Techie and Jay are both OFWs about to get married. They return to the Philippines to do just that. Along the way she comes to meet her best friend Juana B. An aspiring filmmaker drifting in and out of jobs, Juana is a bit of a weirdo and a dreamer. Unlike her friend Techie, who constantly uses her laptop to surf the net, chat or visit social networking sites, Juana does her stuff the old fashioned way, using an old cellphone for contact and taking notes instead of using Microsoft Word or something.
In the last 15 or so years, we have seen a huge shift in the way we communicate with each other. With the advent of computers and technology, the distance between people seem shorter, and neither distance nor time matter that much anymore. The life has become so convenient due to these technological advancements that people can live almost completely off the internet. People have staged year long experiments subsisting on almost nothing but online shopping.
But at what price?
This film takes the old narrative conflict of Man vs. Technology and subverts it, making man and technology allies against other men. In addition, the concept of human relationships are mixed into the whole thing. The Machine/Technology as an entity now acts as a surrogate for other people or as a middleman. Want to hook up with friends? Facebook or Twitter. Want to speak with someone? There's chat. Want to bone some hot chick? Cybersex.
Yes, technology helps facilitate relationships, but on the other hand this interference of technology corrodes the way we make relationships with other people. There are so many moments in the movie that punctuate this point. While Techie fails to meet up with Teknoboy, Juana B instantly gets a man in a hilarious way. In another scene, Juana and Techie are literally sitting beside each other - yet Techie uses a cell phone as a surrogate or middle man to talk to her friend. That was probably the most telling for me. In extremes, technology causes us to lose our sight of the world around us, making the convenience of technology feed back, causing increasing social isolation. We see it all the time in the socially disillusioned of Japan, the hikkikomori, where technology in the setting of social pressures and disillusionment makes isolation far easier.
There's one problem, though. The presentation of the concept doesn't work as well as I would have wanted it to. The moments themselves work far better than the dialogue, with some lines feeling like they were forced or shoehorned into the scene. Although a kinky comedy, some scenes struck me as more corny than anything else. The best dialogue if you can call it that is during the end credits. It's an interesting summation of the things we've experienced during the film plus a few more points.
The rest of the film is decent enough to at least make the viewer reflect on that very concept, although with a bit better material and some good execution it would have worked a whole lot better. 7 black dildos over 10.
Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio
Andres Bonifacio is one of our national heroes, leader of the Katipunan, and one of the fathers of the Philippine Revolution. I didn't really know much other than that until my college days, when I found that his last days were intertwined with what seems like a turf war between the Magdalo and the Magdiwang factions, culminating in his death.
Seeing the trailers for this movie made me squirm. It looked exactly like a Theater Play on Film. Theater productions have their place, in my humble opinion, and Film has its own place in the cavalcade of the arts. Acting in film is more subtle, the dialogue less blatant or descriptive. I honestly didn't think this would work in any way, and I was prepared to hate it.
I didn't hate it at all. And although I didn't exactly like the total end result, what I did see was quite interesting.
The film is based on accounts, transcriptions and reports on the events of Andres Bonifacio's arrest on account of treason against the newly formed Revolutionary Government. The incident that sparked this is not shown; thus we do not know what really happened. We, as the viewers, are left to judge guilt on innocence based only on the testimonies presented, leaving us in the shoes of judge and jury.
After learning what had happened to Bonifacio, including the Magdalo's betrayal of his faction, I pretty much viewed the film with a bias towards him. But the film itself seems to at least try to take a balanced view on the matter, as it does not portray Aguinaldo explicitly ordering the death of his colleague. Again, the film leaves it to us to decide who really made the final decision.
Again, I must state that this is basically a Theater Play on Film. Thoughts and inner feelings are shown in abstract sequences, replacing the setting with a stage filled with symbolism. It kinda reminds me of the Zarzuelas with their combination of song and stage performance. The usage of camera makes it possible to capture emotions that might not be possible to percieve on stage.
We are provided with a narrator to help us through the film. Designed to be an androgynous, omnipresent force in the film's development, he/she/it serves as our guide, occasionally feeding us some thoughts on the characters and their futures. At times the narrator is neutral. At other times it taunts the other characters, even seemingly antagonizing them.
The film makes allusions to the structure of this story to the mythology of Ibong Adarna. Bonifacio himself, taking the role of Juan, seeks the mythical bird in certain sequences, perhaps a metaphor for whatever he truly wanted for the Philippines (peace? unity? to cleanse his name?) But here there are no happy endings like the myth. Ultimately he fails to achieve his goal (although we know through history that others will achieve it for him) and is lost forever.
The acting is solid for Alfred Vargas and whoever played the narrator. Dona Gregoria was okay, but the rest of the actors were forgettable. That would probably be affected by the fact that they acted this as if they were in a play, exaggerating some scenes. Again, the theater =/= film thing rears its ugly head here. There were some anachronisms in the sets, but nothing too noticeable.
All in all, I was surprised with this film. It shows you how an accomplished director can transform what seems like a hopelessly bad concept into something that actually works stylistically. 7 national heroes over 10.
NEW BREED CATEGORY
Si Techie, Si Technoboy at Si Juana B
Techie and Jay are both OFWs about to get married. They return to the Philippines to do just that. Along the way she comes to meet her best friend Juana B. An aspiring filmmaker drifting in and out of jobs, Juana is a bit of a weirdo and a dreamer. Unlike her friend Techie, who constantly uses her laptop to surf the net, chat or visit social networking sites, Juana does her stuff the old fashioned way, using an old cellphone for contact and taking notes instead of using Microsoft Word or something.
In the last 15 or so years, we have seen a huge shift in the way we communicate with each other. With the advent of computers and technology, the distance between people seem shorter, and neither distance nor time matter that much anymore. The life has become so convenient due to these technological advancements that people can live almost completely off the internet. People have staged year long experiments subsisting on almost nothing but online shopping.
But at what price?
This film takes the old narrative conflict of Man vs. Technology and subverts it, making man and technology allies against other men. In addition, the concept of human relationships are mixed into the whole thing. The Machine/Technology as an entity now acts as a surrogate for other people or as a middleman. Want to hook up with friends? Facebook or Twitter. Want to speak with someone? There's chat. Want to bone some hot chick? Cybersex.
Yes, technology helps facilitate relationships, but on the other hand this interference of technology corrodes the way we make relationships with other people. There are so many moments in the movie that punctuate this point. While Techie fails to meet up with Teknoboy, Juana B instantly gets a man in a hilarious way. In another scene, Juana and Techie are literally sitting beside each other - yet Techie uses a cell phone as a surrogate or middle man to talk to her friend. That was probably the most telling for me. In extremes, technology causes us to lose our sight of the world around us, making the convenience of technology feed back, causing increasing social isolation. We see it all the time in the socially disillusioned of Japan, the hikkikomori, where technology in the setting of social pressures and disillusionment makes isolation far easier.
There's one problem, though. The presentation of the concept doesn't work as well as I would have wanted it to. The moments themselves work far better than the dialogue, with some lines feeling like they were forced or shoehorned into the scene. Although a kinky comedy, some scenes struck me as more corny than anything else. The best dialogue if you can call it that is during the end credits. It's an interesting summation of the things we've experienced during the film plus a few more points.
The rest of the film is decent enough to at least make the viewer reflect on that very concept, although with a bit better material and some good execution it would have worked a whole lot better. 7 black dildos over 10.
Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio
Andres Bonifacio is one of our national heroes, leader of the Katipunan, and one of the fathers of the Philippine Revolution. I didn't really know much other than that until my college days, when I found that his last days were intertwined with what seems like a turf war between the Magdalo and the Magdiwang factions, culminating in his death.
Seeing the trailers for this movie made me squirm. It looked exactly like a Theater Play on Film. Theater productions have their place, in my humble opinion, and Film has its own place in the cavalcade of the arts. Acting in film is more subtle, the dialogue less blatant or descriptive. I honestly didn't think this would work in any way, and I was prepared to hate it.
I didn't hate it at all. And although I didn't exactly like the total end result, what I did see was quite interesting.
The film is based on accounts, transcriptions and reports on the events of Andres Bonifacio's arrest on account of treason against the newly formed Revolutionary Government. The incident that sparked this is not shown; thus we do not know what really happened. We, as the viewers, are left to judge guilt on innocence based only on the testimonies presented, leaving us in the shoes of judge and jury.
After learning what had happened to Bonifacio, including the Magdalo's betrayal of his faction, I pretty much viewed the film with a bias towards him. But the film itself seems to at least try to take a balanced view on the matter, as it does not portray Aguinaldo explicitly ordering the death of his colleague. Again, the film leaves it to us to decide who really made the final decision.
Again, I must state that this is basically a Theater Play on Film. Thoughts and inner feelings are shown in abstract sequences, replacing the setting with a stage filled with symbolism. It kinda reminds me of the Zarzuelas with their combination of song and stage performance. The usage of camera makes it possible to capture emotions that might not be possible to percieve on stage.
We are provided with a narrator to help us through the film. Designed to be an androgynous, omnipresent force in the film's development, he/she/it serves as our guide, occasionally feeding us some thoughts on the characters and their futures. At times the narrator is neutral. At other times it taunts the other characters, even seemingly antagonizing them.
The film makes allusions to the structure of this story to the mythology of Ibong Adarna. Bonifacio himself, taking the role of Juan, seeks the mythical bird in certain sequences, perhaps a metaphor for whatever he truly wanted for the Philippines (peace? unity? to cleanse his name?) But here there are no happy endings like the myth. Ultimately he fails to achieve his goal (although we know through history that others will achieve it for him) and is lost forever.
The acting is solid for Alfred Vargas and whoever played the narrator. Dona Gregoria was okay, but the rest of the actors were forgettable. That would probably be affected by the fact that they acted this as if they were in a play, exaggerating some scenes. Again, the theater =/= film thing rears its ugly head here. There were some anachronisms in the sets, but nothing too noticeable.
All in all, I was surprised with this film. It shows you how an accomplished director can transform what seems like a hopelessly bad concept into something that actually works stylistically. 7 national heroes over 10.
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