The first few minutes of Joey Paras' Igib lets us know what kind of person its main antagonist is: opportunistic, selfish, the kind that doesn't take responsibility for her actions, the kind that takes a mile for every inch. Despite many calling it a blatant display of poor people doing poor things, I tended to see it more as a character study between a wayward mother and son, and an acting showcase for comedian/director Joey Paras, who gives an excellent performance here.
There's a very clever narrative trick at the end of Arby Laraño's Ang Meron Sa Wala that leads one to reconsider the entire film not just as an examination of a father's regrets, but as a genuine attempt to understand them. To say more would be a spoiler, so I'll just leave my recommendation here.
Dama de Noche's otherwise run of the mill plot is enhanced by its unique coffin-eye view, placing us in the shoes of its "protagonist," an OFW whose existence is reduced by many of those left behind to her ability to make money, even from beyond the grave. It gave me the feeling that I was being buried alive, and if it's "protagonist" were alive, I'm sure she'd feel something similar.
There's a lot to be gleaned in the silences of Cody Abad's Grand Gestures, a film about how some families tend to bypass said grand gestures when reconnecting and asking for forgiveness. In fact, its major character moments are seen in little things, without any accompanying histrionics (arguably the only grand gesture in the film is the incident that incited the events of the film in the first place.) It's subdued but meaningful, making the most of its short timespan.
For every film like The Slums, we have films like Tarang. While Tarang boasts an impressive cast, I am personally getting tired of the same formula depicting poor people being subjected to near constant misery and misfortune, something that now feels as cliched as a mainstream romcom.
Tahanan reminds me a bit of Brillante Mendoza's short Shiniuma; in both films the protagonist is displaced from a life that he's known for decades into a place that's alien and off-putting, a place where he doesn't belong to anymore. I like the character study, even though it's a riff on familiar material.
What makes Gulis (Lines) work for me is its depiction of familial love, the type of love that is given despite everything, without judgement. It's a fitting last (?) performance from Menggie Cobarrubias and I hope to see more from this director in the future.
The superimposed layers on top of the form of Displaced feels unnecessary, because its stories and accounts from people during and after the Marawi siege are powerful enough. Still, even just for those stories it is worth watching.
***
Basurero is a great addition to the canon of films taking place during the government's war on drugs. It's also notable in that it also shines a light on why the poor are forced into the drug trade - because of limited opportunities for employment, selling drugs feels like easy money.
Like last year's PPP entry Pagbalik, Nang Em is heartfelt but very rough in its construction, with a tone that feels all over the place. But Gloria Sevilla's performance carries the film for me in any case. One's mileage may vary.
If there's any film that encapsulates the growing frustration of Filipinos during this latest crisis, it's probably Chuck Gutierrez's adaptation of the stage play Heneral Rizal. The titular Rizal doesn't refer to the National Hero, but rather his brother, Paciano (played by Nanding Josef), who laments the state of the nation after our country is passed on from one colonizer to another. Its ending scene seems to imply that we should not seek the guidance of a singular savior or the second coming of someone who has long passed away, but instead we should emulate a love of country and nation within our own selves, and that's something I can get behind.
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