Cinemalaya 2014: #Y, Kasal

A little disclaimer before we move on to reviews: there seemed to be a sound problem for both of the movies I watched in CCP today. Both movies were screened in the small Huseng Batute theater and there was a noticeable lag in the sound. If it's a problem with the venue (which I am assuming here) then I am not considering it in my assessment of the films.

New Breed

#Y (Hashtag Y)

#Y begins with a suicide: Miles, a young twentysomething, jumps off a building. We then go back a few days and see his life before the jump.

It's clear that he has a decent enough life, with parents that provide for him and lots of nights out partying with friends. It's just that something's not right with him, and there's this nagging feeling that he wants to commit suicide.

Following The Animals, Gino Santos returns to Cinemalaya with yet another movie featuring the youth. But unlike that film, #Y isn't just about youth or youth culture, if anything, the main character in this movie rejects this culture of youth and revels in his own angst. We see the emptiness of the life he is living, emptiness that many of us may be familiar with. This growing ennui and disenchantment with life in general is a phase a lot of us go through. It's reflected in some of the comparisons between this film and JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.

#Y depicts a generation that is lost in its own hedonistic pleasures. For one, I'm actually part of this generation (the actual age range of Generation Y depends on who you ask.) And as a generation, we are drowning in a Huxleyan sea of irrelevance. Social interactions and privacy are perverted within the constructs of social media. Miles sees this as well, and he just can't cope with the burgeoning feeling that all this is merely emptiness.

But this time, the youth isn't the only focus of this film. Miles comes a bit prepackaged with a dose of mental instability. Doctors and therapists can only do so much for a person trying to commit suicide. His insanity manifests itself in hallucinations. Mental illness in film, especially here in the Philippines, is rarely done right (Ang Nerseri and Mga Anino ng Kahapon come to mind as positive examples.) I think in this case it's pretty close.

But unlike Caulfield, I find it difficult to relate to Miles as a character. I sympathize with him, but his motivations and viewpoints towards life are opaque and hidden behind his skewed mental state. Unfortunately, for me, like The Animals, I found it hard to gain an emotional connection with the film. Am I cynical? Am I just too old or jaded to care? I'm not really sure.

#Y is a very well done film. It's unfortunate that I was unable to connect to the film emotionally, but others, perhaps of the same age group, might be able to appreciate the struggles and angst more.

7 raves/10.

Director's Showcase

Kasal (The Commitment)

Kasal begins with a confrontation between two lovers. We see everything from outside a window; the view is slightly fuzzy, and the sound is muffled. We see and hear this lovers' quarrel from a certain emotional and physical distance, thanks to the construction of the shot. It's a bit voyeuristic, and thus we want to learn more.

Sherwin (Arnold Reyes) is a lawyer who handles annulment cases. Paolo (Oliver Aquino) is a film director. The fight we see in the first few minutes of the film is due to infidelity on one end.The relationship survives, somehow. But factors both external and internal will stretch the relationship to the breaking point.

Kasal (literally, "marriage") talks about the union marriage and deconstructs it in the context of a relationship between two gay men. The two of them clearly want the next stage of commitment, but there's something wrong. The state will not recognize their legal rights when they do so; and this country's society is not ready to accept the fact that yes, people of the same sex can love each other.

In the background, we see other ways that marriage is explored: a heterosexual couple are married but cannot commit to having a child. The one legitimate, legal marriage in the film is between a boy and girl in their teens. Neither are ready for commitment, but are forced into the situation by a surprise pregnancy. And, without the prospect of legal marriage, one partner hides the fact of his homosexual relationship because of a society too quick to judge. 

On the other hand, there are also a few talky parts about same sex marriage that are too blatant for my taste. I mean, we get it. Some things are better experienced through actions (hello, Dagitab) instead of words.

Arnold Reyes is a great performer, but Oliver Aquino delivers a performance that is spotty at best - he comes off as a bit too whiny for me (or maybe that's how bottoms really are? Gay film afficionados help me out here.)

Visually the movie excels. The shot composition is excellent; there is one scene where we see one person's eyes through the rearview mirror with water splashing on the windshield while he is talking about the impermanence of some things. The water splatters and is wiped away by the windshield wipers. However, in some car shots, the camera gets a bit too wobbly and ruins some of the level of immersion.

The movie ends with a scene that bookends the first: a scene of a union between two men, this time seen through a camera lens. We experience emotional and physical distance from that scene, as does a certain character, but the context is different.

Aside from a few casting and dialogue quibbles, Kasal is a good film. It's not a great film, but at the very least, it exceeded my expectations. 7.25/10.