Present Confusion 2023 Roundup Part 2: Philippine Cinema Favorites

 

2023 was a year of regrowth for Philippine Cinema. 160 films were released in theaters, streaming or limited runs this year, surpassing output even in pre-pandemic times. A large chunk of these films were Vivamax releases of various levels of quality. While various other streaming services had their own productions (Netflix with a couple of romantic films and the Keys to the Heart remake, Amazon Prime with a slate of their own through collaborations with ANIMA studios and the Ideafirst Company,) Vivamax's streaming output was seconded only by the now defunct AQ Prime, who stopped releasing films near the middle of the year. Another streaming startup, Goblin films, started and stopped with only Jay Altarejos' The Last Resort as its sole would-be offering.

In the relative absence of new feature film-centric film festivals, feature lengths from the surviving post pandemic festivals (Cinemalaya, MMFF) had to step up. QCinema, despite being still the best film fest in the country, has not yet returned to holding a competition local feature films. The newly established Manila Film Festival (not to be confused with the MMFF) debuted with a slew of poorly made student productions which barely got any buzz from audiences outside of the filmmakers themselves.

Cinemalaya was by far the festival that stepped up the most. Buoyed by funding from the FDCP and a film lab to further refine the potential films, Cinemalaya fielded one of its best (if not the best) lineups in its 19 year history. The only downside would be the festival's move to the PICC as the CCP underwent renovation - a good decision for a festival for people to meet up and talk, but not so much a film festival, as PICC venues are not designed for film screenings. If it still takes place at the PICC, next year's Cinemalaya should be sponsored by Salonpas.

One of the year's biggest surprises was the MMFF, which, in the absence of films by either Vice Ganda and Vic Sotto, still managed to gross 1 billion pesos at the box office. Lines to the cinema are still long to this day, after the festival's run was supposed to end. While it looks like box office is still skewed towards a couple of high performers, the outcome of the festival may be a good sign that Filipinos aren't necessarily beholden to a few people - give them good stories that they can watch with their families and they'll come.

Admittedly, I don't have the stamina I once had, but I endeavored to watch every single Filipino film released in Filipino theaters in some capacity in 2023, and thanks to friends over at the Society of Filipino Film Reviewers (SFFR), I have actually managed to do so - with the exception of Crisanto Aquino's Instant Daddy, I have watched every 2023 Filipino film released in theaters. The operative phrase there is "released in theaters," as unfortunately, I have not had the time to watch all of the films released through streaming - a couple of colleagues have, however, watched way more Vivamax films than I have, and I recommend going to letterboxd to check out their reviews. By the time this three part writeup is finished, I will have watched approximately 120 out of those 160 Filipino films, which is a clean 75%.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order) include: About Us But Not About Us (dir. Jun Lana), the last two segments of Shake Rattle and Roll Extreme (various directors), Mallari (dir. Derick Cabrido), Essential Truths of the Lake (dir. Lav Diaz) and National Anarchist Lino Brocka (dir. Khavn).

Anyway, on to this list: any film, whether released on streaming or in a theater counts, and this is a list that belongs only to me, as you might have a very different list because everyone is different. Short films are not included here; they will be featured in a separate list in the third part of this writeup. Without further ado, here is

John Tawasil's

TEN FAVORITE FILIPINO FILMS OF 2023

10. Love You Long Time (dir. JP Habac) - Habac's timey-wimey romance of two lovers whose worlds don't exactly align stayed with me the longest, after its surprise ending recontextualized its entire conceit. Also, Habac manipulates the frame - further experimentation from his earlier Dito at Doon - to emphasize its characters' distance.

9. Kampon (dir. King Palisoc) - perhaps the weirdest Filipino horror movie of 2023, and I mean that in a good way. Kampon externalizes the various anxieties of parenthood into a malevolent, demonic force. 

8. Gomburza (dir. Pepe Diokno) - a history film that stands in contrast to Jerrold Tarog's duology (Heneral Luna, Goyo) where its focus on historical fact is a reflection of its stance on truth and truth telling; an interrogation of martyrdom and how simply believing in what is right or becoming a symbol for change reverberates throughout generations.

7. Nowhere Near (dir. Miko Revereza) - what starts with Revereza's continued exploration as a stateless individual, navigating neoliberal immigration policies in America (the rollercoaster scene still lives in my brain rent free) evolves into something entirely different once Revereza comes home, or rather, comes near a perceived ideal of "home" but never really reaches it. "Home" is a bunch of cracked, dilapidated steps - the last vestiges of history, eroded by colonial tides.

6. Ang Duyan ng Magiting (dir. Dustin Celestino) - discoursive, provocative - Celestino's latest navigates through all the complicated nuances of nationalism, and how it can be closely intertwined with violence of all sorts.

5. Huling Palabas (dir. Ryan Machado) - metamorphosis, coming of age, a record of transition from one era to the next, Huling Palabas shows time, place and person all in a state of flux, with at least the latter settling into a sense of knowing, in some capacity, one's place in the world.

4. Iti Mapukpukaw (dir. Carl Joseph Papa) - our entry to the Academy Awards' best foreign film is one of the best choices in this year's lineup of films: an examination of trauma that isn't afraid of going to dark places; a tender and loving testament to how understanding (or at least, the attempt to understand) ultimately leads to healing. One of the best endings of any Filipino film this year.

3. Third World Romance (dir. Dwein Baltazar) - sadly overlooked by mainstream audiences, Third World Romance finds common ground with another exceptional film from world cinema: Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves - where two people, chained to the unfair demands of a capitalist society, try to find happiness in each other.

2. As if It's True (dir. John Rogers) - to me, As if It's True is an essential film that captures the nebulous state of truth in online spaces, the creation of virtual images and online personas, and the creation of subjective realities in the backdrop of a post-truth society. Its manipulation of form to further blur that distinction between what is true and what is not is unmatched by any other film that I've seen this year.

1. Gitling (dir. Jopy Arnaldo) - anyone who knows me will probably figure out my choice for favorite 2023 film of the year. In my opinion, it's not even close. Wrapped in a familiar, romantic package, Gitling is an exploration of language, in how language shared helps us form bonds and share experiences, how the structure of language itself shares its DNA with how we deal with metatextuality in film, in the process of how we intuit the construction of sentences is not all that different in how we intuit the endings of films made many times before. Its final frames are haunting, layered with meaning, so much so that instead of watching a few more of those 160 films, I opted to watch Gitling one more time - and it's time well spent.

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Usually the remaining segment of this roundup is spent on documenting the weirdest and worst moments in Philippine Cinema, but this time let's do something different. For the final part of this 2023 roundup, I want to tell a few stories about movies that I saw this year (both good and bad), and, a few words about the future of this blog. Stay tuned.