Buhay Habangbuhay begins with an ending - the sudden, tragic death of Sandy (Iza Calzado.) While her physical body has passed on, her spirit remains, tethered to the house she shared with her husband Joel. She tries to move on, and meets several characters along the way. That's more or less the premise of the whole film. The magic lies in the way it is shown to us.
The film relies on strong visual storytelling to tell us these things; a lot of plot points are shown rather than expressed through dialogue. it helps that the film's source material is a graphic novel, a medium where a few succinct panels are better than numerous speech bubbles explaining everything.
Sandy meets fellow spirits along the way, and thanks to the way everything is done, a lot of it is implied and we can fill in the blanks and tell their backstories in our own thoughts and words. A silent ghost could either be a grandparent watching over a beloved grandchild or a teacher looking back at her cherished job; a child spirit could be fixated on happy days in school even after death.
Sandy's ghostly exploits are filmed with a mixture of underwater greenscreened shots (to give the impression of a floating spirit), normal greenscreened shots and cleverly blocked normal shots. The effect is overall okay, but I wish the floaty and normal shots would be a bit more consistent in which is used where.
The ending of Buhay Habangbuhay makes the whole thing feel like an origin story. In a way that makes it all the more interesting. In fact, so far it's my favorite of the festival. Buhay Habangbuhay shines exactly because of its simplicity and in the breadth of its images.
Star Na Si Van Damme Stallone, a tale about the struggles of a mom and her son with Down Syndrome, was advertised as a light drama-comedy through its trailers. And in many ways that's right: there are numerous comedic elements that respect its subject matter. But above that, the most powerful scenes in the film are its dramatic moments, where the film delves into the darker aspects of its subject matter.
Raising a child with special needs is extremely taxing, financially and emotionally. Children with Down Syndrome don't only have varying levels of learning disabilities, they are also at risk for other things like heart disease and leukemia. Multiple times throughout the film Candy Pangilinan, who plays the mother, struggles with this fact. It's partly out of worry of the inevitable fact that she will not be able to take care of her son forever. Sometimes she wonders what it would feel like if her son didn't have the condition. Many times she is pushed to the breaking point, and Pangilinan brings out those feelings in a standout performance. Her battle is full of dark paths, but hers is obviously not the only battle. Vanvan's brother Tano also wonders what it would be like to have a sibling without the syndrome, and sometimes he grows resentful of the extra attention and love his brother is getting from his mother.
On the other hand, these moments of doubt and bargaining give way to a sense of immense love and dedication. It may stray a bit into being overprotective, but it's a very human reaction. Her anxieties are perfectly framed in one of the last sequences (the buttoning of the shirt scene), as it shows the wish that every parent has to protect their child from the outside world, regardless of his or her condition.
There's a lot to like in Star Na Si Van Damme Stallone, and as someone in the medical field I think it's a topic that needs to be discussed. Its heavier emotional moments are balanced with moments of levity, and it respects its subject matter.
Straight to the Heart seemed straightforward, but it felt more like a zigzag. While it's nice that it tries to address a few topics on gender identity, its story often left me lost by the wayside.
The premise starts off promisingly: a gay hairdresser has an accident and suddenly turns straight. While it could be done as a light comedy with some drama, the movie quickly turns into heavy, angst filled, unnecessary drama. It ended up leaving me lost and disappointed at the result.
There's also the (unintended?) implication from this story structure that being straight makes one into a hypersexual, amoral person. Of course that isn't true, and the ending of the film counters that by emphasizing that you are what you are regardless of orientation. It's confusing.
The film often segways into random subplots and random affairs that come out of the blue. Characters come out of nowhere, are introduced long after we wonder who they are and their interactions with our main characters feel shoehorned in. It's distracting from the central plot and in the greater scheme of things it's not necessary. In many ways, just as Buhay Habangbuhay mastered making things simple and making it mesh well, this film tries to overcomplicate every single thing about itself that it ends up being a confusing mess.
The film tries to discuss some interesting topics. There's a short part in there about the gay community having support groups for people with HIV. Traditional gender roles in things like relationships, jobs and marriage are also discussed. But all of these things often feel like out of the way detours rather than stops along a straight road. The thing is, with a premise like what this film had, there's no need to keep making it as complex as it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment