Cinemalaya 2018 Quickies: Yield, Of Love & Law

Winner of this year's Gawad Urian for best documentary, Yield explores the lives of children living in the third world, children whose status in life prevents them from advancing further, stunting them literally and figuratively. Their struggle is reflected in the film's opening frames: small, frail figures chipping away at an immovable mountain, one rock at a time.

The film does not offer narration or much context, content to show the lives of these children as candidly and as unfiltered as possible through visuals and editing. This experimental approach allows the film to avoid casting judgement on these children; in the filmmakers' own words, to avoid the pitfalls of exploitation. This is something that is levied against many films that depict the poor, and the film manages to succeed.

Instead of just misery, Yield also offers glimpses of life, of hope - and at the end, a darker means of escape.

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From the third world, we move on to the first. Despite being one of the most advanced nations of the planet, Japan still has a long way to go in terms of accepting diversity. It stems from many factors: the Japanese population is almost overwhelmingly homogenous, and Japanese society is designed against dissent in favor of the greater good. Hikaru Toda's Of Love & Law follows two lawyers in Osaka as they strive to defend Japan's marginalized and unregistered, as they themselves strive to live their lives as an openly gay couple.

The film isn't solely about LGBT rights, as it paints a broader picture with the cases it presents. There is the artist whose vagina - inspired artwork drew criticism for being obscene, the teacher who was fired for refusing to stand up for the national anthem, there are people whose unregistered status denies them the chance at obtaining a passport or a professional license, and there are people among the marginalized, struggling to live a normal life.

There is a concept in Japanese society called 空気を読む (Kuuki wo yomu, 'reading the air') that encapsulates the Japanese need for conformity, using social cues to avoid speaking up, or conforming for harmony's sake. But to dissent is critically important to democracy, and Japan is facing that idea little by little as paradigms around the world begin to shift.