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Monday, July 23, 2012

Cinemalaya 2012 Day 2: Diablo, Mga Dayo, Oros

Three New Breed Films today before I take a break for a week or so. Have fun and keep on watching...

Diablo

What the Cynic in Me Expected: Hippie Jesus saves the world through weed. No just kidding.
What Actually Happened: An interesting, albeit sometimes lacking, movie on faith, family ties, and anxieties.

Nana Lusing (Ama Quiambao) is the elderly mother of five sons. Although she once had a job selling stuff, she has since stopped working due to illness. She now lives alone in her quiet home. One by one we see her five sons, most of whom have varying professions: one is a miner, one is a soldier, one is a farmer, and one is a sleazy lowlife. The last son, Oscar, is some sort of religious cult member who kinda looks like Jesus.

Unable to sleep at night, listening to some weird religious program on the radio, the rest of the film depicts her life as she encounters her five sons again. Oh, and during those nights, a mysterious black figure appears in front of her.

There are lots of symbolic references to religion and what have you, and the overall message is pretty straightforward, although a lot of elements can be interpreted in many different ways. Nana Lusing has most of the spotlight in this film, and it comes along with a good performance by Ama Quiambao. Her mere presence changes the lives of the people around her, yet ironically her own unresolved issues bother her, and they manifest as apparitions and visions. Whether the visions are real or not depends on the viewer.

Oscar is an equally mysterious character. Lusing's youngest son walks barefoot, looks like popular depictions of Jesus, and carries around an oil lamp with mysterious powers. Although his appearances are sporadic, his actions and the events surrounding him enact change in the plot and characters.

While the buildup is nice enough, the ending feels a bit rushed and ties up many plot threads too quickly (or not at all.) Sometimes I get the feeling that the story could have been told in a much shorter time. Technically there were some issues with audio syncing but otherwise it was fine.

Diablo is just an OK movie. I probably enjoyed it more than I expected, which is at least good.

Metaphor style rating: imagine a cup of Yan Yans and not even halfway through you run out of dip.


Mga Dayo (Resident Aliens)

What The Cynic in Me Expected: an hour and a half of I WANNA GREEN CARD SO BAAAAAD
What Actually Happened: A very nuanced look at the lives of Filipino immigrants in Guam.

A lot of Filipinos live abroad. A great number of them live in the States and in its territories. With the promise of a better life and a better paying job, a lot of Filipinos try to get there.

This movie takes place in Guam, a place with flavors both American and Filipino. It shows a slice of the lives of three women: Alex, who plans to get married to get a green card before her impending return to the Philippines, Miriam, a former newspaper editor who just lost her job and is lost among a number of frivolous relationships, and Ella, a hard working hotel housekeeping supervisor who works to get her elderly mother in America.

While it seems at first that they would want citizenship and a life in a foreign land, not all of the girls are keen on staying there. There's a sense of longing for home in one of a characters, a sense of dissatisfaction in another, and for the other one, not so much a sense of staying there out of want, but out of need.

The Filipino communities portrayed in the film show that Filipinos are hardy and can live almost anywhere, as long as there is the promise of a better life. It also examines the various loopholes one can take in getting a green card in the States.

Although the plot is tight and doesn't drag (it's the shortest full length film in competition) there are some weird side plots that really don't go anywhere, most notably one that involves Ella's relative. The shortness of the plot does leave some things unresolved, but I think the film gave the message it wanted to give: that these three people have their own hopes and dreams regarding living abroad (or returning home.)

Technically there are no problems with the film. Guam looks great in these shots and I kind of want to visit there one day. The acting is superb, notably Ella's portrayal as this hardworking woman who only wants something better for her family. When she finally reaches the breaking point, the resulting scene is a fitting climax for the film.

I was a bit impressed with this film. I'd put it somewhere above middle ground in the movies I've seen so far.

Metaphor style rating: A trip to America 5 days long. Not long enough to really appreciate everything, but enough to get a general idea on what the place is about.


Oros

What the Cynic in me Expected: PO-VER-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
What Actually Happened: An interesting story, entertaining to boot and decently acted, but these "social commentary set in poverty" films are starting to get a bit cliched.

Makoy and Abet are brothers living in a poverty stricken area in Manila. Makoy holds an illegal gambling ring that sometimes involves holding fake wakes with unclaimed cadavers to be able to hold an sakla (a card game) operation.

There are a lot of interesting issues in this movie. The most important to me is poignantly stated by one of the characters somewhere in the first third of the film: that a new life is often harder to deal with than death. Death is death, but a new life is just another mouth to feed.

The illegality of the gambling operation is not lost on the main characters, but they gotta do what they gotta do. When asked by Abet if they could prop up a carinderia instead, Makoy answers him that no one in their house really knows how to cook and the notion is dismissed. The relatively big money adds to the appeal of the business, even though it is illegal. At the same time, this activity is condoned not only by goverment officials, but also by some members of the police - as long as they get a share. The system allows for corruption to seep in like a cancer and, unfortunately, we find it entrenched in a system that refuses to change.

It's money that makes the plot revolve -it is the need for money that propels the characters towards their decisions in life, and eventual ruin. Although we may look at the business as something that doesn't hurt anyone, it does - very subtly we see posters of missing people - people whose bodies can be used in such illegal operations. It's the dark side of what we see in the film, and once you realize it it is quite disturbing. The movie resolves with a taste of irony that shows this dark side, and although it is mostly implied, it is not a pretty picture.

The 'poverty porn' genre is getting a bit stale these recent years, and this year's festival has kind of toned it down a little. But a lot of the staples that we've seen in previous films are still there. While this film is good and entertaining, it doesn't offer a lot of new stuff as far as these films go. I still want to see something fresh from the genre, but I think it needs a rest for a few years.

Anyway, go and see this film. It's still worth the price of admission.

Metaphor style rating: Eating at your favorite restaurant everyday for two years. You like the food, and the food is delicious, but ordering the same food again and again takes its toll on your palate.

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