Cinemalaya 2015: Little Azkals, Above the Clouds, Shorts A, Coming Home

Sports is always an interesting topic for documentaries, because the passion for sports is deeply rooted in people's hopes and dreams, hopes and dreams that serve as fuel for great documentaries.

In this case it's the Little Azkals, young boys from different parts of the Philippines aged under eleven. Rather than pursue the country's more obvious sports obsessions (read: BASKETBALL), these young men have taken up football, a sport that in my opinion really suits us Filipinos. Their individual skill at the game allows them to qualify for a training camp in the UK for three weeks.

This documentary chronicles these three weeks, sometimes focusing on the aspirations of one or two boys in particular. Surely somewhere in this film you can find a particular Little Azkal to connect with, as they have different personalities and are from various walks of life. But make no mistake, even though some of these kids have only recently met, they are a formidable team of kids.

As an aside, perhaps it's also fitting (and heartwarming) to see the UK Filipino community helping out the team as much as they can. Like the boys they are helping, every Filipino is part of a larger 'team', no matter where they are in the world.

There are a lot of funny moments and the movie is engaging from start to finish. I don't really watch football games but after seeing these kids, I'd watch a match with them in it and cheer them on.

Pepe Diokno's sophomore effort, Above the Clouds, is markedly different from his first, Engkwentro. Above the Clouds is a character study about two people trying to find themselves in a world that has left them only with each other.

Andy (Ruru Madrid) an angsty teen whose natural teenage angst is compounded by the recent death of his parents. Pepe Smith plays Andy's Grandfather; a family member who has been all but absent from Andy's life thus far. He comes into Andy's life and tries his best to care for the boy, and attempt that is far from perfect. Andy's Grandfather then decides to take Andy with him on a climb up Mount Pulag, the third highest mountain in the country.

In Above the Clouds, the ascent is also healing, the journey, emotional - during the ascent each character, sheds their own baggage, emotionally and literally. It's a concept that has been tackled before. In this case, the endpoint of both characters' emotional and physical journeys - literally reaching above the clouds - brings about a catharsis, perhaps one already reached through the journey itself. Over the course of the film they share feelings of guilt, regret and loss that weighs down on them heavily.

Unlike Engkwentro's tension, Above the Clouds is much more solemn. Mount Pulag itself becomes a third character, humming along to its own natural rhythms. This is partly thanks to gorgeous cinematography with vast vistas of the mountainside, our characters minute, at times seemingly lost.

Pepe Smith turns in a strong performance as a man who, despite his idiosyncrasies, only wants to do right by Andy. And Ruru Madrid as Andy is troubled, seeking attention, avoiding attention, pleasant and annoying at the same time - exactly what a teen is supposed to be.

Above the Clouds is not perfect - at times the narrative gets a bit lost in itself, and to some the premise may feel like a retread of something else. But thanks to strong performances and excellent visuals, the end result is more than satisfying, a solid, contemplative family drama from a very promising director.

CINEMALAYA COMPETITION SHORTS A (a.k.a.  We Want Short Shorts Short Shorts Reviews 2015)

One of two sets. I'll try to make them as short as I can.

Apasol - nicely shot, but the story is something we've heard about a number of times before. The execution matters more in this case, and it's at least passable. 2.75/5

Gatilyo ng Baril - The conspiracy angle is a nice concept, but we hear more than we are shown, the dialogue ends up not being compelling, and the performances end up uneven. 2/5

Nenok - Milo Tolentino, a veteran to the shorts section of Cinemalaya, plays off his usual themes (religion, street kids, comedy, friendship between unlikely folks) and once again makes a capable crowd pleaser. People expecting something drastically different need not apply - but who cares, it's fun. Nino Bonito shares a bunch of similarities with this one, but Nenok ends up superior to that film. 3/5

Kyel - a weird mental trip bordering on experimental. Needs to be seen more than once to catch every small nuance. 2.5/5

Sanctissima - Crisp, seamless, and done on a shoestring budget - an achievement in itself. The scope and ambition of recent contemporary Cebuano filmmakers is astonishing. It's based on Fruit Chan's Dumplings (the short version of Dumplings was part of the horror anthology Three: Extremes), and it's evident from the first scene. Realistic practical effects and clever production design makes this a winner. 4/5

 

Zhang Yimou's Coming Home, part of the international offerings for this year's Cinemalaya, is a heartbreaking tale about memory, grief, loss, and ultimately love.

Set during China's Cultural Revolution, it tells the tale of Lu Yanshi, who finally comes home after being taken for political offenses. Thanks to an event where Lu attempts a premature homecoming, he finds out his wife (Gong Li) no longer recognizes him, and family tensions have separated his wife and his daughter Dandan (Zhang Huiwen.)

Despite the memory loss, Lu's wife holds out for a husband she believes hasn't come home yet, while Lu himself holds on.

Both protagonists love each other, and it is shown through their unyielding patience for each other. Both make huge sacrifices for the sake of the other, in some cases these sacrifices prove devastating.  These small gestures of love tug at the heartstrings without being melodramatic or manipulative, and they work because of our emotional investment in the characters.

The family's troubles are brought upon by the social upheavals of the sixties and seventies; both husband and wife serve as victims of the times. With China entering a phase of modernization as it becomes a socialist market economy, both protagonists reflect a respective attitude towards the country's old wounds - either to erase these wounds, or try to relive them. These are themes and attitudes that we see in our own country's cinema with respect to Martial Law, where in my experience we often try to do the latter.

Regardless, Lu and his wife's time apart during the Revolution may never be truly regained. The fact that this gap exists tells us a lot about those painful times, and this makes Coming Home more than just a simple love drama.

correction: mislabeled Shorts A as Shorts B. Crapbaskets. It's fixed now.