There were two conflicting feelings in my head as I watched Last Supper No. 3, part of 2009's Cinemalaya. One was mirth; the film is, on the surface, quite hilarious. The other is a deep seated unease. The remarkable thing is the film makes it work. Based on true events, Last Supper No. 3 refers to a Last Supper tapestry that is the center of the film's events. Once Wilson Nanawa (Joey Paras) loses the item in the course of a film shoot, he soon gets entangled in a legal kerfuffle that slowly eats away at his time and money.
While Wilson patiently goes through each tedious and excruciating step of his legal journey, we are shown the rotting innards of our justice system, which through corruption, a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and a lack of facilities, has turned into a labyrinthine nightmare, a shell of the system it was supposed to be.
His tribulations over the resulting legal proceedings (which in the movie and in real life took the better part of two years) wear him down, and apathy and even dread begin to set in, always with the threat of incarceration looming over his head. We sympathize for his character, and while we laugh at some very well placed jokes, we feel sorry for Wilson and his plight.
Last Supper No. 3 is a capable comedy, but it also reveals a systemic social problem simply by presenting a case study without resulting to theatrics or melodrama.
CINEMALAYA COMPETITION SHORTS B (a.k.a. We Want Short Shorts Short Shorts Reviews 2015)
Lisyun qng Geografia (Geography Lessons) - Simple in concept, and everything is so well done and polished. A small capsule of friendship, heartbreak, and loss. 4/5
Wawa - Probably the most gorgeously filmed short in this year's program, Wawa is a meditation on death and moving on. Tells a lot without saying much at all. The cinematography makes the locale ethereal, otherworldly. 3/5
Mater - Mater takes an experimental approach, which is not really my cup of tea. Some uneven sound design at times hinders the work. I interpret it as a film that tackles the dangers of overabundance, be it religious zeal or a wanton lifestyle. Sometimes, after passing through one extreme, you end up on the other side. 2.25/5
Pusong Bato - absurd, funny, and ultimately entertaining, one of the main draws of this short is how it manages to recreate the look and feel of footage from the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema (a feat that, I've learned, was done mostly in post production.) Mailes Kanapi nails it on the head. 4/5
Papetir: Sonder n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Simplistic premise and a bit short, but is purportedly part of a bigger, as yet unproduced film. It still manages to tell a lot of backstory with the constraints it places on itself. 2.75/5
I had a really weird thought when I was watching Elwood Perez's swan song, Esoterika: Maynila. For some reason, this film felt like Querido. You know, Mystika, Neil Nilaga, etc etc. A few hours after watching I think I know why. (No, it's not because both have a macho dancer at the end.)
Querido has been a film that I have come to respect, in its own kooky way. For that film and this one, the similar feel lies in the exuberance of the filmmaking at hand, at times delving into the absurd, and a sense of self-awareness that enhances the overall experience.
It's hard to nail Esoterika: Maynila down. It's basically a man's journey to finding his craft, meeting many of Manila''s art scene along the way. Sexuality also comes into play, with many characters engaging with both male and female partners. There are vampires (ish) too. There is an action scene which feels like something out of a bloody revenge film. It all feels so surreal that imagination and reality blur.
And yet, it treats its material with a healthy dose of self awareness, where we see some characters noting (even with just their facial expressions) the absurdity of some of the situations they are in. This film knows exactly what it is, but it really doesn't care. And that brazenness is kind of charming in a way.
This is not to say the film is perfect: the dubbing has a number of problems, some scenes are edited weirdly and the story meanders at some points. The acting by some of the first timers is uneven, with Ronnie Liang coming out on top among his fellow co-stars (no pun intended.)
It might be a reflection of our country's pop culture and its cinematic history from the post colonial period onwards. It might be a treatise on sexuality and accepting one's self. It might be a silly 'road movie - like' tale of a man finding coming to terms with his own art. Whatever Esoterika: Maynila may be, it was one hell of a weird ride.
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