Present Confusion 2020 Rundown Part 2: Philippine Cinema Odds and Ends

 

the B in this BL probably means something else

The comic sans font doesn't really justify this piece. This piece isn't all about bad films since in this space I want to talk about interesting films too. Because film production in the country came to a halt, there weren't a lot of bad films. And no, your one star review of some popular movie that's actually not that bad doesn't count. That doesn't mean, however, that no bad films came out this year. 

This doesn't have much of a structure, either, and it's not in list form. I guess you'll just have to read through.

Blade Entertainment, the entertainment wing of the ubiquitous seller of car paraphernalia and knick knacks of the same name, is perhaps the last place where you'd expect a diamond in the rough. And that sentiment is at least kind of right; Ara Baldonado's Good Times Bad isn't exactly top of the year material, but it sure did leave an impression on me. 

There isn't exactly a lot of plot to hold the film together; it's about two people, complete strangers, who try to find stolen items that hold sentimental value to them. The entire film is about them trying to do just that.

The film has a lot of filler; the film tends to drag out some of its sequences, and the film also includes a number of strange additions, such as a cameo from Akihiro Blanco, reprising his character from Blade Entertainment movies 12 Days to Destiny and The Next 12 Days. But the film is structured so weirdly that it feels like an experimental film sometimes: there's a time loop in the middle of the film. There are various monologues about the mysteries of life, delivered as if in a drug induced haze, scattered all throughout the story. At points it was so delightfully weird that I was compelled to keep watching. It's probably one of the most surprising local movie experiences of the year.

For people talking about their favorite films this year, remember this experimental short disguised as an IG live? This almost kinda made it, but to be honest the conversation that followed was far more interesting than the film itself. Imagine being a little angry because you felt duped by a film, when the very idea of a love team is in itself a manufactured construct?

One of the most wild experiences of my 2020 moviegoing experience has to be Noriel Jarito's Huramentado: Kill The President. Yes, THAT president, but you don't get to see the act on screen (you don't even see if he's successful or not!). The Samar-based Jarito has made one other major film before (starring himself!) called Rindido, which can be viewed on his Youtube channel.

Long story short, this movie is bonkers. I almost contemplated making a (non) review of this film in the spirit of classics like Durugin ang Droga and Exit Point, but I simply didn't have the time. Maybe someday. The entire first 10-15 minutes is basically footage from an actual CineLokal premiere edited to look like an assassination is about to take place. All fine and good, until you realize that intercut with these scenes are seemingly accidental clips of some middle aged guy in his boxers lying in bed. I wish I could tell you I was joking.

Jarito seems to want to say something with his film, and you can palpably feel a seething sense of distrust towards corruption and a hatred of establishment politics and feudal rule in the provinces. Points for effort for that. I hope the film gets shown on youtube again so you can all see it in its crazy glory.

I've already said my piece about Pakboys Takusa, and I won't waste my time talking about that. They had a prime chance to screen a hentai at the MMFF and all we get are the ugly bastards. Just kidding. Or am I?

Pakboys the Animation (2021)

But there is one other film that I intensely disliked in 2020, and that's Oligase: The Demon of Fear. I dislike it because while (I think) it means well, and its disparate elements mean well, it's all in all a miserable affair that does nothing except paint indigenous peoples as backwards-thinking, histrionic morons. 

It's all in there: the stock religious masochistic suffering-to-redemption narrative, the devaluing of education, the devaluing of indigenous peoples, the weird colonialist undertones, the amount of sexual violence just for the sake of it. In a year where a film like Tokwifi gained mainstream recognition, this is just a giant leap backward.

***

That's about it for local cinema in 2020. Anyway, stay tuned for my favorite picks from international cinema.