Cinemalaya 2022: Shorts B

 

I've seen Si Oddie a total of three times now, and it gets me emotional every time I see it. If anything, it is a masterful feat of storytelling from, of all things, a student film. I look forward to the director's filmmaking future.

There's a lot about Duwa Duwa that could have been fleshed out more; the ending in particular feels truncated even though it technically ends in an adequate place. Despite that, in bright, saturated frames, it tells a heartwarming story of a mother and daughter reconnecting and learning each other's worth.

Overseas work often entails a level of emotional displacement that divides families as much as it does so in a physical sense. Distance details the aftermath of one's return from that work, and how people heal from the divide created from that displacement. It is a deeply personal work, yet one that funds resonance in anyone "distanced" from their loved ones.

I've already seen Gabriela Serrano's Dikit last year, but it is in a theater where its many intricate pieces lock into place for me: its split screen a manifestation of desire, of its central mythological creature, of woman and womanhood. It's an astonishing film that achieves its goals without uttering even a single word.

The other day I was going back to my apartment after a long day of work, I came across a senior colleague who I hadn't seen since the beginning of the pandemic. In our short elevator ride together, the first thing we shared were the colleagues we lost in the interim. See You, George! encapsulates that feeling of loss and regret, though personally the change of heart seen in the end could have been brought out more to the surface and is left quite ambiguous. It takes on a whole different meaning now that the elections are over.

And finally, Zig Dulay's Black Rainbow from the NCCA's Sinehalaga film festival is a little gem of a movie. It follows an Aeta child as he vies to get a scholarship and, ultimately, defend his tribe from outsiders who seek to claim their lands. It's lean yet effective storytelling that is achieved in the ways that only the best short films can achieve.