What Home Feels Like is more an OFW movie than a farming movie, but the results are still pretty effective. Antonio is a seaman; he has been for a very long time. When a tiff with his employer ends up firing him from his job, he's now on the ground, which makes him truly face his family for the very first time, as his job basically made him an absentee dad. He takes up his time farming and doing miscellaneous things, including tending to his small farm.
Antonio's story is a common story, and it resonates quite well. For the sake of economic stability, parents have increasingly decided to go to work abroad for longer stretches of time to the detriment of quality family time. The drama hits all the right notes at all the right times, and a surprise twist that should probably surprise no one is still effective when all's said and done.
The film is far from perfect, however. The film could have shown Antonio's reconciliation with his children with a bit more depth, and the ending leaves some questions unanswered. Antonio may have changed his behavior towards his children for the better, but we don't get much of that on screen as his children leave soon after the dramatic speeches are made.
The film mainly works because of a great performance from Bembol Roco as Antonio. Irma Adlawan is equally as capable as his wife, providing the perfect balance to Antonio's fatherly disposition. What Home Feels Like is decent, though flawed, family drama that balances its drama just right.
The best kinds of science fiction films aren't always the big budget special effects extravaganzas. The best science fiction stories are the stories that give us insight into the human condition within its fantastical setting. The best science fiction frames sociopolitical issues that help us understand ourselves in the present day.
Based on its premise alone, Instalado is very promising. It takes place in a near future Philippines where people have gained the ability to "install" vast quantities of knowledge into their brains. Imagine learning how to become a nurse or engineer overnight - on the surface, it's a groundbreaking tool for humankind.
However, Instalado posits the question: what if this tool meant to uplift humanity was placed within the rotten structures of our current society, which is precariously balanced on class inequality? We get one possible answer: the death of traditional education, the creation of a new elite class, extreme capitalism, and the widening of the divide between rich and poor.
Personally, I think installation in itself is merely a tool and is neither good nor evil - it's only in how people use it that it can be used for an agenda or in unethical ways. Here, it can be used to promote capitalist prospects, it can be used to proselytize, it can erase peoples' identities or religious affiliation, and it can indirectly oppress the poor thanks to the way it is used. While watching this film, I kept coming back to Alex Rivera's 2008 film Sleep Dealer, which dealt with the Mexican immigration problem and how technology with a capitalist streak can affect the problem (and the people involved) in negative ways.
The world is meticulously crafted, but herein lies my one real gripe with the film. In a universe created through worldbuilding, a crucial step in the creation of an effective story arc is to have that world challenged somehow, to show us if it can stay robust or have the world profoundly changed or destroyed thanks to another paradigm shift. Instalado takes its sweet time building its world, having several story arcs seemingly heading towards a climactic third act that doesn't really fully materialize. There is the promise of such a thing happening, a few tantalizing hints here and there, but it's ultimately left unexplored.
Science fiction is a rarity in Philippine Cinema, and the subgenre of social science fiction, even more so. But I think independently made, low budget films are suited to this kind of storytelling, with films like this and Kung Ang Ulan ay Gawa sa Tsokolate offering a Filipino perspective to speculative and fantastical fiction. I can only hope that more filmmakers experiment with different genres instead of relying solely on vapid rom coms or the "shet ang hirap hirap ko" social drama.
There's a certain kind of nostalgia evoked by the music and images of Byron Bryant's Sinandomeng. Of all the films of this year's film festival, I think this is the film that took the core principles of the festival to heart.
The synopsis on the brochure basically tells you all you need to know about the film: Sinang (Sue Prado) is the remaining child of a family that owns a modest plot of land, used for farming. All of her brothers have gone abroad, leaving their wives and children back home. When Sinang's husband dies, she takes it upon herself to keep maintaining the farm. However, land developers are interested in the family land for their own purposes.
The film is paced rather slowly. It's filled with some really funny comedic moments, while other jokes fall flat. You get the feeling that the premise could be covered by a shorter film, even though the film is already one of the shortest in the festival.
Sinandomeng's images evoke a simpler time when people lived off the land and celebrations were modest but full of heart. It recalled childhood memories of walking through the farms of my relatives in Bulacan and smelling the fresh air. It features sparse musical interludes filled with local folk songs that further evoke this feeling.
And then, once the film has more or less resolved itself, it just stops. The film's greatest weakness may be that it's simplistic to a fault. While enjoyable and immersive in the moment, it just comes and goes, leaving you with interesting images that ultimately fade away.
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