Dispatches from Hong Kong (2): Harmonium, HKIFF films

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Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) lives a simple life with his wife Akie and daughter Hotaru. One day a man from Toshi's past, Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano) arrives and Toshio lets him live with the family and work for them. It's clear that Toshio's reasons for letting Yasaka in are anything but altruistic, as they have a past together. Soon, Yasaka becomes entrenched in the family structure.

Harmonium deconstructs the family through Yasaka's presence, physical or not, in Toshio and his family's lives, addressing issues of parenting and poor communication between spouses, as well as the Japanese notions of obligation towards peers.  Fukada's film is crafted with clinical precision; he holds back from being melodramatic and creates a feeling of tranquility that belies the pitch black darkness underneath the surface..The sensibility feels European, with echoes of Bresson and the like within the film's frames. 

Fukada decides to clothe Yasaka in pure white - perhaps a reference to something Akie says earlier in the movie to the effect of "sinners are more beloved by God." It gives Yasaka an almost supernatural look especially when contrasted with other characters in the frame. And when Yasaka transforms visually, you know something has gone terribly wrong.

Harmonium is a devastating film. It gives no easy answers to its questions, but it is cinema done extremely well. It serves as an effective cinematic observation of atonement and guilt.

By the way, the previous post, this post and the post after this one will have reviews of films from the 41st edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. These will include acclaimed films that have been screened at other festivals like Cannes, Venice and Toronto. There are also a small number of Filipino films on the lineup, including Brillante Mendoza's Ma'Rosa, Lav Diaz's Ang Babaeng Humayo and a three film retrospective program featuring Mike De Leon. 

Without further ado...

Raoul Peck's Academy Award-nominated documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, expands upon the manuscript of social activist James Baldwin, applying his words to the state of racism in today's America.

The documentary is part stream of consciousness, part memoir. Baldwin (voiced by Samuel Jackson) gives his own ideas on the nature of race and racism in America, and the film contrass his beliefs with the two other civil rights contemporaries - Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, each with their own ideas on how to tackle the issues of the day. At times the ideas feel too freeform, too much like Jazz, making the film shapeless.

Interestingly, the film examines through Baldwin's words the history of black people in film culture, from the early times when blackface was commonplace, to the sixties and seventies, when people like Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier were sex symbols, even though nobody would have admitted it at the time.

Baldwin examines the anger from both sides; he surmises that the black man's anger stems from rage from years of oppression, while the white man's anger stems from fear, the fear of a boogeyman that , in Baldwin's words, 'only exists in his head.'

I Am Not Your Negro may feel formless, but its individual images are powerful, its truth, disturbing.

With last post's The War Show focusing on Syria, let's move to Egypt this time for Mohamed Diab's Clash, which was screened  as part of Cannes' Un Certain Regard category. 

The film takes place in the background of violent 2013 protests  that led to the removal of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. Morsi himself had replaced ousted president Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Arab Spring, the events of which are detailed in the 2011 documentary Al-Midan (The Square.) Morsi's removal led to a clash between supporters of the Muslim brotherhood (Morsi's party) and supporters of the police and military that removed him.

The movie takes place over the course of one day, within the cramped insides of a police riot truck. Several people from both the side of the Muslim Brotherhood and the pro-military forces are detained by the police. 

Diab uses the claustrophobic setting to create tension, using tight frames to make you feel the discomfort the characters feel. Although the film adds sidestories to develop its characters, these subplots are seldom unnecessary.

The film remains neutral, depicting neither side being more evil or good than the other. Diab molds his characters into a reflection of Egyptian society: rich, poor, religious, secular, Muslim, Christian. Had affiliations not mattered, there would be no reason not to believe these people could be friends.

The most powerful scene of the movie - and perhaps its most tragic - is a moment of respite just before the film's climax, where we are reminded that some of these people participated in the 2011 Arab Spring Protests. We see, just for an instant, the optimism and hope from that time. And just as quickly we are returned to the present time, where Egypt is now deeply divided, one of the dark legacies of the Arab Spring.

Citizen Jane: Battle For the City is a documentary about the life of Jane Jacobs. You may not know her, but her ideas on urban planning continue to influence how people build the spaces we live in.

Citizen Jane plays it like a David vs. Goliath story, pitting her against the New York City government and Robert Moses, one of the most well known and infuential city planners of his time. Jacobs' planning philosophy centered on the people rather than the infrastructure, where cities are planned with breathing space and social interactions in mind.

The film itself is quite entertaining, and Jacobs herself is quite the character. Jacobs' philosophies are also compared to the state of cities today - the rise and fall of the housing projects guided by th philosophies of Moses and his ilk, and the increasing number of high rise monoliths in developing countries like China.

It's all interesting stuff, and it has gotten me to start reading Jacobs' work and counterarguments to her ideas. 

Black Code, a documentary by Nicholas de Pencier, reads like a science fiction or cyberpunk novel - cyber espionage, an information war waged by world governments, spying on citizens without their consent. But it's all real: the docu is based on academic Ronald Deibert's novel of the same name.

Black Code takes us around the world, where individuals are harassed, tortured and even killed because of what they said on the internet or because they fought against or criticized the government through the net.

The locales are varied: news outfits for the rebellion in war torn Syria; live streaming protests in Rio de Janeiro, monks in exile in Dharamsala; women's rights activists in Pakistan. All of the stories are unique and compelling in their own way. Togethr, they paint a picture of a world that is in a state of flux, as we enter a new age of information distribution.

The content is chilling, and one can only wonder where it can go from here. As governments slowly catch on to the ramifications of this new age of information, the film leaves it to us to be vigilant, to keep our rights to privacy and free speech protected as much as we can.

Dispatches from Hong Kong: In This Corner of the World, The War Show, 76 mins and 15 secs with Abbas Kiarostami

Sunao Katabuchi's In this Corner of the World is based on the manga of the same name, detailing the life story of a young woman as she moves to the port city of Kure during WWII.

There are some really dark moments in this movie, showing us the horrors of the war and how it affects the characters and the place they live in. Comparisons can be made to the manga Barefoot Gen and the classic Grave of the Fireflies. Speaking of Grave of the Fireflies, In this Corner of the World feels like a Ghibli movie and its no surprise, as Katabuchi worked as assistant director for Kiki's Delivery Service, among others.

The film, however, is not as relentlessly bleak as the Ghibli classic. It's far more gentle, even whimsical at parts, despite the darkness going on in the background. There is a lingering spirit of hope and optimism for the future in this film, even though almost everything has been taken from these characters.

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The next two films are documentaries from the 41st Hong Kong International Fuilm Festival (description in the next post.) Enjoy~

Ever since the Arab Spring led to the Syrian Civil War, many documentaries have sprung up about the conflict. The War Show is a deeply personal account of the struggle from the perspective of a radio DJ as she joins the resistance against the Assad Regime.

The film has many powerful images that lets us see the disturbing reality of the war: a house filled with orphans of war. Resistance fighters showing off for the camera. Secular and extremist protesters clashing in the streets.

The film also spotlights the power of the camera itself in the course of the war; Assad's men target people with cameras as the highest priority. Men are proud to show the scars of their torture to the camera, hoping that it would be seen by people around the world, as the regime tightens its hold on the flow of information. And it is evident that the propaganda war works both ways to fuel the fire of dissent.

Its epilogue is somber, noting that the Syria these people knew is no more; with the Syrian people itself serving as the new map of a country now lost. 

76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Abbas Kiarostami is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a personal filmi portrait of the filmmaker and the artist behind some of Iran's most celebrated contemporary films.

The film follows Kiarostami as he works on his films, as well as footage of him on the road, capturing images with his eye for the frame. Kiarostami is happy and joyful, enamored by the natural beauty of the world around him. He tries to capture the perfect shot as much as he can: even pleading with people to not move snow on the road or use the windshield wiper to get the perfect shot.

We see a man passionate about his art, from the time he bought a newspaper for his star Juliette Binoche during the making of Certified Copy, or meeting casually with the co-stars of one of his other films. These scenes flow together like a tone poem, creating the portrait of a filmmaker whose works will stand the test of time. He will be missed.

Dispatches from Hong Kong (prelude): A Silent Voice, On the Beach at Night Alone

At first, one might draw comparisons to anime film A Silent Voice and its contemporary, Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, but the two anime can not be more different in style and tone.

A Silent Voice is a nuanced, oftentimes surprisingly dark examination of friendship and guilt. Nearly all of its characters are wracked by guilt over something they did as children - the bullying and social isolation of a deaf student named Shoko Nishimiya. Ironically, one of the persons least affected by the bullying is Shoko herself - or at least that's what it seems at first. The movie follows protagonist Shoya Ishida as he tries to reconnect with all of the friends he lost  thanks to this event.

The movie captures the pain of school life as lived by its characters. Though many of you may not have experienced something as extreme as what the protagonists experienced in this film, you will find yourself relating to them and their problems at least in some way.

Ishida learns that reconnecting is not easy. the film begins with Ishida's attempted suicide because he lacks the self worth to move on, and it only marginally gets better from there. Both this movie and the manga feature characters that act like anime tropes on the outside but are deeply scarred and/or broken individuals on the inside, all of them emotionally needy in some way. While the manga has more breathing room to develop these characters and their motivations, the anime does a surprisingly good job comprssing 50-odd chapters into a two hour movie.

The film balances its darkness with moments of levity, which elevates the overall mood. A Silent Voice's dramatic moments still shine through despite the limitations of adaptation, carried by Kyoto Animation's  overall high quality production. A Silent Voice is a a parade of broken people, finding solace in their own brokenness.

Hong Sang-soo is a filmmaker with a very distinct style that has evolved over the years. His characters are usually men in creative disciplines who try to find meaning in their lives by pursuing (often drunkenly) the opposite sex. In his latest film, On the Beach at Night Alone, Hong shakes it up a bit, where a woman (Kim Min-hee) involved in a creative discipline (she's an actress) tries to (drunkenly at times) find the meaning of her failed love with a man.

The movie is, true to Hong's work especially post Tale of Cinema, paced gently, full of drunken outbursts and impassioned declarations. Hong makes the mundane seem fascinating when he does his magic, often zooming in and out of characters during long takes, at times in asymmetrical frames.

Hong seems to be self reflective at times during this movie, and there's the lingering sense of the fourth wall just out of reach, as his films tiptoe the line between reality and fiction, where the camera feels like a separate character.

Hong's films are full of love and regret drenched in beer and soju. There's no shortage of that in this film, and while many can accuse the director of being a one note creator, it's hardly true - as one of the characters says during the film's climax, it's in the craft and filmmaking where we see variations in the theme. And seeing Hong evolve from his early works like Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors to Woman is the Future of Man and now to this, the progression of the work is clear, like movements in an orchestral piece.

Hana and Alice is a lighthearted story about the stories we tell

First of all, April marks a month of celebration as this blog marks its 12th year of existence, so I'll probably be blogging more than usual for the next few weeks. For this post, I've taken the time to revisit one of my favorite Shunji Iwai films, Hana and Alice. 

Iwai is one of my favorite Japanese directors, and his 1996 film Swallowtail is my all time favorite movie. Prior to Hana and Alice, Iwai shot All About Lily Chou Chou, a dark, brooding examination of youth and disconnection in the digital age, when social media was non existent, and social interactions on the net took place on BBSes or image boards like 2ch (which still exists today.)

Hana and Alice is a far lighter tale than that film; it's more comparable to a slice of life anime. The titular characters, Hana (Anne Suzuki) and Alice (Yu Aoi) are best friends. One day, Hana gets infatuated with a boy, Masashi. When Masashi gets into a minor accident, Hana pretends that he has amnesia and she is actually his girlfriend.

As the lie grows even more complex, Alice is dragged into the situation, which is further complicated when Alice and Masashi form a relationship based on that lie. This extended network of lies and stories is quite fascinating, and I think it's the central theme of the film. Hana and Alice is a story about stories and storytellers. It's about how we tend to believe convenient tales even when we know they are false, because that's exactly what we want instead of what is. Indeed, aren't some stories but beautiful lies?

The connections to the themes do not stop there. Hana joins a Rakugo club to get closer to Masashi. Rakugo is a form of traditional Japanese storytelling, usually involving a set of characters in a (usually comedic) situation, the sitcom of ages past. It's made even more clear when one of the penultimate scenes juxtaposes a heartfelt confession with a Rakugo performance. One of Alice's friends takes pictures - itself a form of storytelling. These stories give Alice the courage to make amends later on in the story. And Alice herself expresses a story during an audition through dance, after spending most of the film awkwardly going from one audition to another, unable to act out her feelings.

And it's masterfully done at times when the film decides to imply a greater picture instead of spoon-feeding us the answers. Hana and Alice each have their own set of problems and life issues that find their way to us occasionally within the story, and they lead to some really lovely moments. Alice's lunch with her father is quite affecting because of these personal moments, and their interaction shapes a lot of Alice's decisions in the latter half of the film.

The acting can get a little bit silly at times, but it's great overall. The film is carried by Yu Aoi, who in my opinion is the better among the two leads. Her role in this film is markedly different than her much darker debut role in All About Lily Chou Chou, but she brings with it a big helping of charm, while still keeping a sense of vulnerability. A few other Iwai regulars appear in the film, including cameos from Ayumi Ito, and actors like Takao Osawa and Hiroshi Abe.

While light and funny (this is still probably one of Iwai's lightest and funniest films), Hana and Alice is a great movie that tends to be overlooked sometimes when one peruses through Iwai's oeuvre.

Suki ni naru sono shunkan wo is cute, but lacks context if viewed alone

Suki ni naru sono shunkan wo (translated as 'the moment you fall in love') is an anime movie currently showing in SM Cinemas. Before I start with the review, a little background first.

This movie is the second film in the Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai (Confession Executive Committee) series. This is a project by a musical group named Honeyworks that composes songs that are sung by Vocaloids. 

This project aims to adapt Honeyworks' most successful love songs into anime. Yes, the source material for this movie series is a bunch of songs (and a few light novels) about high school love and confessions. The songs themselves detail the intersecting relationships of numerous high school students at Sakuragaoka High School, where everyone is in love with someone else and everyone has no idea how to express that love. 

This movie in particular concentrates on a set on songs written for one character, Hina, who is in love with a shy but bishounen senior. She then decides to study hard for her high school entrance exams and get into the same high school as him. Meanwhile, Hina's childhood friend, Kotarou, has a huge crush on her but is forced to step aside after seeing Hina crushing on her senior. Despite this, his feelings remain.

It's a massive understatement to say that a lot of context is lost if you watch this film blind. In fact, I recommend watching the previous movie in the series, Zutto mae kara suki deshita (translated as 'I've always loved you') first, then going back to watch this movie. That's the biggest problem with the movie in my eyes: it barely stands on its own. Even without context, the film tries too hard to shoehorn in tons of exposition and backstory into one hour of running time. For example, a particular character's motivations are glossed over and presented in the space of five seconds, with no foreshadowing or buildup.

The plot is full of romance anime cliches, such as the childhood friend, the unreachable or unrequited love (that predates our own hugot by a bit) and the dependable older sibling. Taken together it's all quite cute, but nothing new as far as anime conventions go. As expected from an anime tackling relationships and confessing love to someone else, the movie shows us all the myriad ways where making a love confession to someone can fail badly (or succeed!) 

And when the film ends, it ends abruptly, leaving you hanging, and wishing for closure. An after credits sequence is essential viewing for people who want a little bit more closure to the story.

Suki ni naru sono shunkan wo should please fans and people familiar with either the other movie in the series or the songs the movie is based on. Otherwise, it's cute, but it will all be a bit confusing for newcomers. As a standalone film, it doesn't quite work and is probably better served as a series on TV. And if recent reports are any indication, with a TV special on the way, that seems to be the natural progression of things.

REELive the Classics: Sa Aking Mga Kamay (Restored Version)

I used to think the nineties were the dark ages of Philippine Cinema. But recent screenings care of ABS-CBN's film restoration team have begun to change my mind. Today, we tackle the 1996 thriller Sa Aking Mga Kamay, restored in glorious 4K.

The movie begins with a murder; one of many committed by the "Cattleya Killer," who murders mainly married women, leaving behind a Cattleya flower (not the notebook!) as his evidence/trademark. Joven Dela Rosa is hot on his trail, but then, thanks to a quirk of fate, the killer targets Joven's wife Camille as his next victim...

Aga Mulach plays the role of the serial killer very much against type. He's charming and manipulative, but is prone to maniacal outbursts of violence. His character's backstory is fleshed out quite well - as his murderous impulses stem from a very traumatic childhood experience. He and Chinchin Gutierrez have very interesting character interactions, especially when everything is revealed and Aga's character shows his true nature. Their acting sells the sexual and emotional brutality of their subsequent scenes together.

The story, while very entertaining, can get a bit cheesy sometimes, and near the end of the film Mulach really cranks the ham-o-meter to maximum levels. The last third of the film almost feels like a slasher flick in the way it was made, combining Romy Vitug's backlit cinematography with flashing red strobelights reminiscent of Natural Born Killers, which was released only 2 years prior.

The film tackles topics of shame and family, where communication between family is easier said than done; where the sins of the parents trickle down onto their children. It also puts a spotlight on the double standards between cheating wives vs. cheating husbands, perhaps lampshading or even subverting the tropes established by infidelity films. Unfaithfulness at first seems tantalizing, but it ends up dangerous, even fatal, for the people involved in this film. It takes away the romanticized artifice of the whole thing,  showing us the darkness uunderneath.

The restoration job is gorgeous. Because it was recorded digitally (probably the first in the country), the sound is crisp; the picture is equally good, and the movie could pass for a film released yesterday, if not for the 90's outfits, pagers and cassette recorders.

I've said it a lot of times before, but it bears repeating: mainstream cinema doesn't make movies like this anymore. It's a rare local treat from the nineties, and a very enjoyable film.

ABS-CBN is showing a number of restored films, including this one (AND KOKEY! LIKE wtf man) at Power Plant Cinemas from April 5-12.

Northern Lights brings on the cheese, but that's okay

Charlie Jr. wants to see the Northern Lights, because his mom told him dead people go there and his pet Brownie (I'm assuming it's his dog or pet) is there somehow. He goes to his dad, who he hasn't met since he was born, who lives in Alaska. At the same time, young yuppie Angel is on her way to the same place to find her long lost mother.

Northern Lights is this year's "mainstream drama located in an exotic place" movie. The "Northern Lights" part is definitely okay. With a ton of feel good moments, the film is cheesier than a fondue station at a buffet, but the charm of the main characters, especially Piolo Pascual, carry the film anyway. Its dramatic themes center around children being disappointed by their parents, and understanding these parents' faults and loving them anyway. It's anything but shallow, and although the treatment is sometimes hokey, its fairly interesting.

The problem is the "a journey to love" part. Like Star Cinema's earlier feature Everything About Her, Northern Lights muddles its subject material with a romance that doesn't completely work out. The film was fine as it was as a drama, but it feels even more schmaltzy as it enters romantic territory and doles out happy endings for everyone. A dramatic twist near the end seems shoehorned in and feels more like a cop-out for the female lead rather than a genuine dramatic moment.

That said, the film is pretty entertaining. It's also a treat seeing Sandy Andolong on the big screen again. Piolo Pascual fans are likely in for a treat here.

The '17 Ghost in the Shell takes a Western approach to an Eastern story

NOTE: This essay contains some spoilers.

I was firmly in the skeptical column when I learned that Hollywood would be producing a remake of the anime/manga Ghost in the Shell. Hollywood's track record for anime adaptations had been previously dismal, churning out stinkers like Dragonball Evolution. Some adaptations were actually quite fine, like 1995's Crying Freeman, but they are, more often than not, exceptions to the rule. Having seen this version of Ghost in the Shell, I can say it's actually quite okay, given my low expectations coming in. While it doesn't quite live up to the source material, as a standalone feature it's okay science fiction.

To me, Ghost in the Shell has always been a story deeply rooted in Eastern concepts, linking technology and transhumanism to spiritual ideas of reincarnation and the soul. It's treated differently by the different adaptations of Shirow Masamune's original manga, the best being the 1995 adaptation by Mamoru Oshii. While Masamune's manga is lighter in tone, it still has a heavy emphasis on metaphysical concepts. Oshii's films are far more introspective, and the tone is noticeably dark. While Oshii peppers both films with Judeo-Christian images and symbols, the films are still deeply rooted in a very Eastern sensibility. The two anime series concentrate more on the political landscape of the manga, while still holding true to existential questions posed in the manga and films.

This adaptation, in contrast, provides a very Western approach to telling the story. It emphasizes the divide between ghost and shell - soul and body - to emphasize western ideas on individuality, identity and self. The Major is asked multiple times throughout the film "Who are you?" or "What are you?" and this is a question that she struggles to answer throughout the film. The film's outward appearance, its shell, if you may, copies a lot of elements from the source material. Its world is a Blade Runner/The Fifth Element-esque heterotopian landscape; it is a mashup of cultural identities, with signs in English, Japanese, Hangul and Chinese, with concrete landscapes modeled after the post-colonial sprawl of Hong Kong. Clint Mansell's synth heavy score is reminiscent of other science fiction works, with some moments evoking his work on (of all things) Mass Effect 3.

The revelations in the last part of the film make the statement that we are defined by what we do and who we are, and our outward appearance is unimportant. (In a metafictional way, it also addresses (and effectively, in my opinion) a certain criticism of the film.) Even in the '95 film, the Major was a blue-eyed, androgynous cyborg whose race, nationality and identity always remained uncertain, something taken to even further extremes with Masamune's follow up manga, Man Machine Interface, where the Motoko entity inhabits multiple cyborg bodies.

One can see the difference in the 'ghost' of this film and that of its Japanese siblings in how it treats the ending. This film and the 1995 film/original manga both end with a choice that the Major has to make. The western remake's ending is doggedly individualistic, with the Major asserting her identity as an autonomous individual with a strictly defined role and purpose, an ending that I believe is rooted in Western ideals. In the original film and the manga, on the other hand, this decision is very different. It takes a collectivist stand on the matter, where the individual merges with another to evolve beyond their original role and purpose. This emphasis on the harmony of the collective over the self is a cornerstone in the storytelling conventions of the Japanese and I see it in a lot of other Asian stories as well. In Eastern storytelling, we are but miniscule players in a grander scheme and we take in the enormity of the world around us. There's a segment in the middle of both the '95 and '04 films that encapsulate this ideal: an introspective, atmospheric sequence of shots that function like a tone poem, showing us the film's themes. This remake doesn't really have that.

Its a significant source of cultural dissonance, and it can seem jarring to many viewers. It's inevitable that one will draw comparisons between this film and the original, and that's one of the pitfalls of making an adaptation of a popular source material, especially if it's an influential cyberpunk masterpiece like Ghost in the Shell. Depending on how you approach the film, it can either be very disappointing, or one of the most accomplished western remakes of anime out there.

Present Confusion Video Essay: The Apotheosis of Mystica

enjoy~

Hiwaga is mostly nonsensical sap

Hiwaga; Ang Paglalakbay sa Hiwaga ng Buhay is about a faith healer woman who receives her power from nature spirits. Although they pray to God (?) or something, they mix pagan beliefs into the whole mix, which is kind of the norm for a lot of people. 

She takes care of four children; John Estrada (no relation to the actor), Lorraine, Hannah and Princess. Their mother teaches them the title song (which they master, probably with blending techniques,) after only hearing it once. Because, apparently, why not. The film makes the lazy narrative decision to let the mom do the character establishment by enumerating the main characters' names and all their positive qualities through dialogue, something that no human being would do in real life.

Predictably, the mother dies, and the children go through what can only be called the surefire go-to talent portion shtick for contestants of That's My Boy and Little Miss Philippines: acting as if their mother had died. Of course, she doesn't die immediately, as they bring her to the mountain because she needs to drink the healing water or something. She dies anyway because apparently that shit don't work if you're actually dying.

The four kids are separated but eventually reunited through rather serendipitous means, mostly through the power of Facebook stalking and the titular song, which, in the course of viewing this movie, you will hear approximately 9000 times (gross estimate.)

The movie isn't really compelling, and the majority of its running time is dreadfully boring. For most of the middle half of the film it's boring, inconsequential stuff about a high school trip to the mountains. Here, John Estrada goes to the place where he grew up and things happen. None of the other characters in this trip are of any consequence, and they are ignored later on. The nature spirits also make an appearance, but are also quickly ignored as the film goes on. (They aren't even in the finale.)

As the poster politely tells us, the entire film is based on the song by "Sir RCA", who directed this film. To be fair, it's slightly catchy. But to make up a story about faith healers and separated orphans from the song requires one hell of an imagination, because even the lyrics have barely anything to do with the plot of this film.

Hiwaga is not a very good film, but it's not as bad as some of the other garbage I saw this year. It seems to be a showcase of talent for all of the kids working under the talent agency that produced the film. This is not an uncommon occurrence, as it was also done with films like Dota: Nakakabaliw (okay, probably not the best comparison). But, like I said, the end product isn't very good. It's all sappy drama without rhyme or reason and characters that I don't really care about, based on a largely nonsensical story.

The 2017 Power Rangers is basically a Tokusatsu Breakfast Club

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you'd know I'm a big fan of Tokusatsu, especially the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider franchises. So it's not an exaggeration to say this review comes with a bit more bias than usual. Upon watching the recent Power Rangers movie from Lionsgate, I was actually surprised at how much I liked it.

Power Rangers tells the story of a group of troubled teens, each with their own hangups and problems in life. And it's very well done. The actors, for one, are superb in their roles; and its obvious that the director was trying to get the feel of John Hughes' iconic teen film The Breakfast Club. While this movie is nowhere near as well made as Hughes' film, it's still pretty impressive for a genre remake. The Rangers feel like relatable human characters instead of cardboard cutouts. And I think films like The Breakfast Club are a perfect template to use for a movie like this: the teenage years are often a time when one tries to assert their own individuality; it's a time when some teens have the most difficulty trying to fit in, despite the fact that sometimes it's okay not to fit in at all. The Ranger suits/armor for me serves as a way for these teenagers to be who they really are - unique, nuanced individuals - in a sea of adolescent social hierarchies and cliques.

This focus on characterization makes you feel for the Rangers as the plot moves on to the spectacle of the third act of the film, where they do battle against original series antagonist Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). Here the tone shifts to what I've been accustomed to with Power Rangers the show and in Super Sentai. These shows are for the most part, catered to kids, and the show often mixes a tone that is over the top, silly and serious at the same time. There are a lot of silly jokes near the end of the film, and Banks hams it up as much as one possibly can. I think the filmmakers caught this tone very well, though the shifts may prove jarring for people not used to the show.

The movie does use nostalgia a bit, but in a very measured way. It does not point to the nostalgic material and go "hey, look at this! remember this? cool, huh?" Instead, it eases us into it as some sort of reward. It goes and tries to be its own thing without relying too much on other things, and that's something I think a lot of big franchise films tend to forget these days. It focuses on characters instead of setpieces, rare for today's movies that prefer spectacle and eyecandy and forced intertextuality.

The film does have its share of problems, I'll admit. I wish the film could have extended some of its action sequences, especially the fight on the ground with Rita's mooks. The movie also ends in a weirdly edited place, and the plot is pretty much a no-brainer. Despite that, I appreciate the simple approach taken with this film. If a sequel does get made, it will be interesting to see where the filmmakers take these interesting characters in something that's not an origin story, for one.

Higanti, or how playing chess is the importantest

It's new movie timeeee. Today, we'll be talking about this gem, Higanti. I watched this film alone, and from all accounts the previous screening was probably as empty as the one I attended. This is evidence that normal people have the common sense and logic not to throw their money away. I envy them.

This movie, on the other hand, lacks both common sense and logic. It's poorly edited, with many scenes composed of random scenes spliced together. A dance scene, a scene where a young man furiously punches an easel and a scene where someone uses drugs are all shown in order, one after another. None of the scenes make any sense together or alone.

The story, which is about a woman who is basically shit on by her family for reasons, is poorly told. As a revenge film, it doesn't really dwell on revenge too much as it instead relies on letting things be. Which, as a revenge film (the film is literally titled "revenge" for chrissake) is the lamest thing you can do. It's so poor in almost all aspects of filmmaking it's actually quite amazing. Some people can't even try to be this bad. 

The writing is atrocious. There's a scene where the bitchy daughter (Meg Imperial) finally changes her ways. But the process of that change is so strange, so poorly implemented, that her character change is jarring. There's a motif of Gitana (Gypsy) dancing all throughout the film, but interpreting it as some sort of metaphor for the film is like saying quadratic equations are a metaphor for the Spanish Inquisition.

This is a film where someone is punched so hard, said punch-ee sprays so much blood (from where!?) drenching the punchers face in it.

This is a film where arterial spray from the neck has both the pressure and volume to coat an entire wall with blood almost instantaneously, thanks to piss poor editing.

This is a film with a hilariously bad CPR sequence, where the doctor is either 1) showing off 2) doesn't know what the fuck she is doing, or 3) both. She is defibrillating the patient's clavicles, after all.

This is a film where another doctor tells family members that their loved one is having a heart attack AGAIN in the most nonchalant, robotic way possible.

This is a film where a single shot from an M16 (NOT an M203, I checked) causes a large explosion in the water.

This is a film where a man tells the corpse of his dead brother that he can't die, because they still have to play chess. This is now the new "I'll never play the violin again!" and my new favorite line ever.

This is a film where an apparently bankrupt company has the money not only to buy juice and a cake, but also to remodel their entire building lobby, with nothing in the film telling us how the company got out of bankruptcy, if at all.

This is a film where said employees buy said cake and juice, but neglect to rearrange a burgled safe, just enough for our main character to see, instead of telling her that the safe has been burgled.

This is a film where establishing shots (or just random shots) are tilted at an extreme angle (90 degrees in some cases!) and spun around, because style is king, I guess.

This is a film where a man carves a deep wound into another mans chest, but the chest is merely smeared with blood seconds later.

This is a film where a bunch of guys piss on another guy's face in a slow mo/undercranked shot. Maybe these are the "understones" the MTRCB is talking about? You can take your 14 year old to see this film, by the way, since it's R-13.

This is a film where a "journalist" types with the typing speed of a three year old, capitalizing random words In His Sentences Like This. (Maybe he didn't read The Elements of Style.)

Higanti is garbage; an absolute failure of a film, and that's not really up for debate. But I really don't mind if people keep on making these shit films. I was in a bad rut today, and laughing (raucously, if I may add) at this film took me out of that rut. Not even Hollywood blockbusters managed to do that to me in the past few weeks. So thanks for that, I really appreciated it. Best film ever 10/10

Beauty and the Beast: a fairy tale

Once upon a time, there was a great animated movie from the kingdom of Disney. It was so good, it was hailed as one of the best in an era of bests, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (not best Animated feature, mind you.) To John, it was one of his all-time favorite Disney movies.

Time passed, and the film aged well in the intervening time. John noticed that Disney was remaking its old animated movies into live action features, a trend that produced films such as Cinderella (2015), Maleficent (2014) and The Jungle Book (2016). The results ranged from meh to pretty great, so John had his reservations.

So it came to pass that John saw the new Beauty and the Beast live action film, directed by that guy who directed a number of Twilight films.  After seeing it, he generally appreciated what he saw, but he found something lacking.

Maybe, he thought, it was in the fact that certain things translate better through animation, where the CGI Beast ended up less expressive. Maybe, it was because of the bland color palette that consisted mostly of shades of dark blue and gold. Maybe, it was because he heard autotuning during some of Emma Watson's songs. Maybe, he surmised, it was because the most important scene in the film, the ballroom scene, felt flat and lifeless compared to the technical wonder of the cartoon.

And despite a plot that ties everything neatly together and new songs by original composer Al Menken, John thought the film was lacking when it was developing the most important part of Beauty and the Beast's plot, where the Beast warms up to Belle and vice versa, set to the song "Something There."

John exited the cinema and looked at the crowd who enjoyed the film. In trying to determine why, he searched far and wide within the landscapes of his mind and he realized that a wizard was casting powerful magic on these people. This wizard's name was Nostalgia. Nostalgia had been put to work by Disney before; exerting its power in the most recent Disney venture, that of a Rogue and her band of space misfits.

John admitted to himself, "The parts of this film that I enjoyed, the parts of the film that affected me the most were effective only because of that previous film. Without it, the film falls apart." And that, he realized, was the weakness of Nostalgia's magic. He imagined Nostalgia locked up in a corporate castle, forced to do the dirty work of unfeeling men in suits, with no prince or princess charming to save him. And that made John sad. He wished that one day, films can be made without relying too much on Nostalgia, because overused magical powers tend to weaken over time. Wishful thinking, maybe, but if love can turn beast into man, anything is possible.

March Reviews (2): Kong Skull Island, Get Out

Well, so much for my "hiatus."

On the surface, it's easy to judge Kong: Skull Island as a shallow monster movie. Its characters are mostly cardboard characters with little or no development - there's loopy scientist, decent civilian scientist 1 and 2, rookie-ish solider, hardened veteran with a past, photography girl and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson. Most of the meat of the story involves our titular gorilla punching and stomping and kicking ass, which is all well and good for popcorn entertainment. But Kong: Skull Island does something interesting with its story, one that has been remade many times since the original 1933 film.

The film draws from the time period it is set in - the 1970's - with visuals evoking the films and the filmmaking techniques of the time. Most obviously, the poster you see here is directly inspired by a similar shot in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

And it's interesting how the film ties the conflict between our heroes and our beloved gorilla to the events of the Vietnam War, though it could apply to any war or conflict, past or present. It shows how the rational civilian population can be duped by the irrational whims of their leadership. It portrays Kong not as an amorphous villain, but as a fellow sentient being who we can get along with if we had the time to empathize, communicate and understand. It shows the lasting effects of the trauma of war on the soldiers that fight. It's also emasculating in a way, showing that blowing through everything willy nilly OR staying true to a lost cause is not always the proper course of action. These are lessons America could have learned over the course of that disastrous war, but these mistakes were repeated in their conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Despite all the silliness associated with the genre in the eighties and nineties, at its core, kaiju/monster movies often serve as a personification of society's boogeymen. In the 1950's, the Japanese used their own giant monster, Godzilla, to reflect their neuroses and trauma from the two nuclear blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the spectre of nuclear conflict that persisted all throughout the Cold War. Here, it's a very American take on the situation, baring the trauma to the American psyche through clever genre filmmaking.

Kong: Skull Island can be viewed as superficial B-movie-esque popcorn fun, relying on intertextual references ala Rogue One to keep viewers entertained. On the other hand, it can be viewed as a self examination of America's own deep scars.

Speaking of America's deep scars, Get Out, the directorial debut of comedian Jordan Peele, tackles that other giant elephant in the room: Racism. But Peele doesn't tackle the racism we overtly see. This isn't a movie about stereotypical, Trump supporting rednecks complaining that they "terk our jerbs". This is instead about a more insidious, normalized kind of racism. This is about a "benevolent" form of racism that is not really benevolent at all.

While the film sticks to the basics of the genre (jump scares and whatnot,) there's an atmosphere of awkwardness throughout the whole movie, making it extremely unsettling. Peele based the story of the film on his own anxieties when he would be the only black person in a social gathering, and you feel that anxiety when you know that something in this film is very, very wrong. The film wisely balances this dread with just the right amount of humor, thanks to a fantastic performance by Lil Rel Howery.

Peele (along with his comedy partner, Keegan-Michael Key) have always based their humor on observations on race and how it's still deeply rooted in society. Most of their skits in their comedy show Key and Peele tackle the same ideas as Get Out. See, just because America voted a black president into office (and would probably vote for him a third time if they could) doesn't mean racism is over. It just means that its roots will find less overt ways of manifesting in society.

I won't spoil the movie any more for you all, since I think watching this film blind is the best thing you can do. And do watch it, to gain a perspective on the nature of what racism is.

Sinag Maynila 2017 Festival Report

March marks the third edition of the Sinag Maynila film festival. We have five more full length feature films that are distinctly Filipino. This year, the results are mixed: one really good film, a couple decent films, and two films that I think will merit divided opinions.

I managed to see all five full length features, but I was unable to see the shorts and the documentaries, which seemed to be added to the festival as an afterthought (they were showing in only one cinema, for only a couple of days.) It's also weird in that one of the full length entries is itself a documentary. In any case, here are my thoughts on this year's Sinag Maynila 2017 films.

Let's start with the sole documentary in the full length feature category, Ricky Carranza's Beyond the Block. It serves as both historical chronicle and memoir, detailing the history of Pinoy streetdance and how it has evolved from a smattering of groups into a thriving culture of dance enthusiasts.

The film is divided into five chapters, each roughly covering a decade in the development of Pinoy Streetdance. The first two chapters, covering the seventies and eighties, are utterly fascinating, and the balance between memoir and history is kept. People who lived through these times might still remember shows like Dance 10 and the groups that participated in them, such as Carranza's own Funk System. For the nostalgia factor alone, this part of the film is worth the price of admission.

Once things get to the nineties, however, the historical material diminishes and the memoir aspect of the documentary takes over. This is where the documentary is at its weakest, and it's not helped by a tendency for the story to meander. For example, one sequence that involves a visit to Dubai (complete with epic intro) lasts only a minute at best, and is followed by a sequence that bears little to no relation to the topic at hand. It's kind of like listening to your Uncle tell you a story and he goes off on a tangent before returning to the story at hand.

While there are problems with how Beyond the Block is structured, it covers some really fascinating stuff, and is worth the watch if just for that.

Jason Orfalas' Ladyfish is not for everyone. Its brand of humor involves rather gross things that can offend a lot of people, including, but not limited to: goats, defiled vegetables and golden showers. I personally enjoyed the film, but felt a few things lacking from the final product.

Ladyfish takes the slice of life approach in depicting the everyday life of a gay man, Kaye (Martin Escudero) with a bunch of personal issues. He's visited by his transgender friend Bonn (Brenda Mage) who is in the middle of transitioning from male to female. Soon, the two of them, as well as Bonn's son, live together in a house.

That description is basically the whole movie, as Bonn and Kaye go about their daily lives with no real conflict between them. The movie does address a few issues regarding the discrimination of people from the LGBTQ community, but it doesn't materialize into anything that profoundly affects the story.

My main source of enjoyment from the film comes from the comedy, including a funny spoof of a scene from Lav Diaz's Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis. The ending of the film, which reveals something interesting about the film's characters, is interesting as well, although the beauty contest that precedes it feels a bit tacked on. Ladyfish may be entertaining, but at the end of the day, it simply goes nowhere.

I'm going to confess this to you guys right now: I have never seen a Joel Lamangan film that I've liked without reservations. This one comes pretty close, however.

Bhoy Intsik takes place in a typical Lamangan-esque world of social injustice and oppression, where savvy characters use their wits to survive. In this case it's petty thieves Marlon (Ronwaldo Martin) and the titular Bhoy Intsik (Raymond Francisco,) who strike up a strange friendship after fate intervenes in their lives.

There are some really good character moments between the two main characters of Bhoy Intsik, thanks to fantastic performances by Ronwaldo Martin (who basically does the thing he did in Pamilya Ordinaryo again) and Raymond Francisco, both of whom deserve awards for what they did in this film.

That said, the film is marred by a number of strange directorial and script decisions that suspend my disbelief and break my film viewing experience. First, living eye donations as depicted in the film don't really exist, unless there were some unethical black market shit going on. Second, one particular sequence in the film consists an absurd number of coincidences for the sake of plot development that just feels lazy. Third, some of the film's sequences are awkwardly edited, such as alternating shaky footage and static footage as reverse angles. The film lays on the EJK/Tokhang references really thick; the film is terribly unsubtle about it. Oh, and a suicide attempt is fixed in no time with no lasting emotional repercussions. O....kay.

Bhoy Intsik is watchable, if only for its two main characters. It's my least un-favorite Joel Lamangan film. If that makes sense.

Tu Pug Imatuy is, according to the poster, anyway, Manobo for "the right to kill." And when you give people the right to kill, that right tends to be abused.

The film tells the story of a Manobo family and their run-in with the military. To say anything more would spoil the experience, so I won't elaborate. Its mixed with some snippets of oral tradition, traditional folk music, and some really lush landscapes. It's no exaggeration to say the film is beautifully shot, probably one of this year's standouts in cinematography work.

The film's story is harrowing. It makes your blood boil in anger. But the most horrifying thing about it is that it's based on a true story, and that's scary as hell. The great cinematography works in the film's favor, as it provides a disturbing contrast to all the terrible things happening on screen.

The struggle of the Lumad has gotten increased attention in films these days with films like this and Chuck Gutierrez's Iisa, and I hope the trend continues. Tu Pug Imatuy is a story that chills your spine with the things it implies regarding our society. It's a story that needs to be heard.

Like Ladyfish, HF Yambao's Kristo also takes a slice of life approach, depicting a day in the life of a Kristo, or bet maker, in a local cockfighting arena. Unlike Ladyfish, however, Kristo is deadly serious.

Kristoffer King delivers yet another great performance as the titular Kristo. He's street smart and he knows the rules of the game. He's done these kinds of roles before, such as in last year's Purgatoryo and Dyamper, and as a whole, he's suited for the role.

Much like the cockfighting matches that happen in the film, the film's events depend largely on chance. Much of it is shot with an emphasis on realism, and makes no qualms showing these chickens fighting and killing each other.

My one real issue with the film is its ending; it seems really unnecessary and feels like an attempt to be edgy somehow. The story was otherwise compelling up to this point, but this just feels senseless. (The visual comparison was nice, though.)

In any case, the film is quite well made, and seeing the odds and ends of the cockfighting business is really interesting to watch. The film's characters and the capricious nature of fate only makes it look like the world's a giant cockfighting pit, and we're all gamecocks primed for a fatal game of chance.

***

That's it for Sinag Maynila, guys. I enjoyed this year's edition compared to 2016, to be honest, and I'm looking forward to future editions of the filmfest.

***

I'll be taking a short break from the blog to work on the anniversary special. I initially planned to not write anything in the interim, but I just realized there are a couple of really interesting films coming out in the next 2 weeks, and I might just be tempted to write sooner than expected. So thanks for reading, everyone, and see you all at the movies.

March Reviews: Guardians and Pwera Usog

I'm just going to cut to the chase on this one: the Russian superhero film Guardians is terrible. Most of the film is incredibly boring and the action scenes are soporific. Most of the character development in this movie is established not through flashbacks or a cleverly structured plot, but by one on one conversations with the Guardians' perpetually smug commander.

The four Guardians have strange powers; one can use telekinesis but only on rocks, one can turn invisible, one has superspeed and one can turn into a bear. Oh, and together they can fire an energy ball for some reason. Go figure.

The local release of the film is dubbed, and it does not help the film one bit. The film employs a mix of practical effects and CGI. The CGI, especially for our bear friend, is particularly horrendous, while the practical effects and makeup, especially for the main villain, make him look like a bootlegged Michael Chiklis/Pillsbury Doughboy on steroids action figure.

This movie was definitely a disappointment. In the meantime, for some fun Russian action fantasy, try Nightwatch/Daywatch instead.

Pwera Usog is a fun horror comedy from Regal films. It begs comparisons to films like Evil Dead, Peter Jackson's Braindead, and the loopy local horror films of the eighties. It treats its material a bit tongue in cheek, and there's a distinct Filipino feel to the supernatural warfare being waged between a malevolent entity and a family of albularyos in the countryside.

The film makes the choice of having as its main protagonist one of the most unlikeable main characters of any film in recent memory. Jean (Sofia Andres) seems irredeemable based on her actions in the first half of the film. The script drops hints as to why she's acting this way, but it isn't really fleshed out. Once she has her redemptive moment by the latter half of the film, that moment feels unearned, because there isn't much of an established motivation for her to empathize and be altruistic towards the other main characters.

On the other hand, there's an interesting story that could have been told with the characters of Quintin (Kiko Estrada,) his adoptive mother (Aiko Melendez) and grandmother, and the identity of the mysterious entity causing the curse. It would have been interesting seeing the worldbuilding at play, establishing the rules of Usog and other faith healer things, like, say, how John Wick established its rules of killing in its world of assassins. The actions and backstories of Quintin and company are actually central to the film and its conclusion, but they're side characters for most of the film. Maybe for the sequel they can take a bigger role.

There are lots of surprises for casual horror fans, mostly jump scares and some creepy moments, but like I said, the movie adds a tinge of humor to the mix, so it's probably not horror like people are used to, which is a plus. I enjoyed Pwera Usog for what it's worth, and I'm curious how the world can be expanded further in possible future films.

Logan:: Weapon X's Kingdom Come

James Mangold's second and final entry to the Wolverine movie series, Logan, is for all intents and purposes, an X-Men/Wolverine story told with the themes and story conventions of a Western. And to be honest, for a swan song to the character, there's no genre more appropriate.

The X-Men Western

Aside from its primary comic book source material (the Old Man Logan storyline), Logan borrows heavily from many films of the Western genre, especially the 1953 movie Shane, directed by George Stevens. (It's the western that we see prominently during some of Logan's scenes.) In both films, a wandering man, accustomed to the ways of killing, is given a task to protect someone or something. In Logan's case, it's young Laura Kinney (Dafne Keen), a mysterious girl with ties to Logan. It's a story that has been told numerous times before, not only in westerns, but also in films from other genres such as Lone Wolf and Cub, The Professional, and others. 

And it's clear that the protagonists of Logan are no longer the heroes they once were. Logan himself, now decades old, struggles with a weakened healing factor. He takes care of an elderly, senile Professor Xavier and is basically waiting for his time to die. Our protagonist, like many a Western anti-hero, is a troubled individual with a checkered past, but with a solid code of honor that he applies to those he protects - and that plays into the story in a big way.

And here's where the Western influences help. Logan takes places in a post-post apocalyptic world where mutants are almost extinct; there hasn't been a new mutant born in 25 years. The film is bathed in near-apocalyptic music and imagery: the vehicles in the desert reminds one of the first Mad Max film, and the film ends appropriately with Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around, which is chock full of references to the book of Revelations:**

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts,
And I looked and behold: a pale horse.
And his name, that sat on him, was Death.
And Hell followed with him. 

In comparison, the Western itself has dealt with such imagery, to envision a decline of the old world, where the notion of Cowboys and the Wild West become obsolete. You see it not only in movies, but also in Western-themed video games like Red Dead Redemption. In the same way, Logan heralds of the end of mutant heroes like the X-Men, in a world where they are nothing more than legends in comic books.

A War for the Future

In his book Supergods, prolific comic book writer Grant Morrison once said that he thought of mutant culture "not (as) a single monolithic ideal, or the warring ideologies of "evil mutants" and "good mutants," but as a spectrum of conflicting viewpoints, self-images and ideas about the future," and Homo Superior's struggle against Homo Sapiens as, and I paraphrase, the tendency of the parents to fear being co-opted by their children, and thus try to kill them off. This undercurrent of fear undercuts the motivations of Logan's antagonists, because people fear less that which they control.

In the same way, this war for the future drives our protagonist forward, if only thanks to Logan's code of honor. That's a part of what made him a hero in the first place, and that's what Marvel did so well with their characters during the Silver Age of Comic Books, where superheroes were not perfect gods, but people like you and me with their own notions of doubt and weakness.

Hugh Jackman brings this sense of humanity out in spades, delivering his franchise best performance (and a pretty memorable performance overall.) Jackman and Dafne Keen make their scenes work, developing their characters in effective ways. Patrick Stewart's last turn as Charles Xavier is heartbreaking and masterful as well.

Breaking the Mold

Aside from the obvious Western influences, the film does a good job distancing itself from the action spectacle of other Superhero films. In fact, it's a Superhero film that doesn't feel like one. Instead of bloated, briskly edited, CGI heavy action sequences filled with dozens of characters, Logan gets its job done with simple, cleanly edited, brutal action choreography. The film earns its R rating with the number of decapitated limbs and heads flying around at any one time.

Logan delivers a level of tension that I haven't felt in a Superhero film in a long time. While it could be trimmed a bit for time, none of the scenes were boring or unnecessary. It's a bit sad that this will be the last outing of Wolverine in this particular cinematic universe, as well as Hugh Jackman's last turn as the beloved character. But its sheer quality and craft make me hopeful for future X-Movies in a franchise that has grown less relevant in the shadow of other comic book movie franchises.

**even more relevant considering Mangold directed the Cash biopic Walk the Line in 2005.

Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (Restored Version)

Carlos Siguion-Reyna's Hihintayin Kita sa Langit is a strange film in today's context. It features the Richard Gomez--Dawn Zulueta love team, but instead of formulaic or relatively lighthearted fare, the movie is surprisingly dark and full of dramatic moments.

The film itself is a loose adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, or at least the middle chunk of it. Richard Gomez takes on the Heathcliff role as Gabriel, a man driven by revenge against everyone who wronged him, while Dawn Zulueta takes on the role of Carmina, (patterned after the elder Catherine,) his childhood friend and eventual lover. As anyone who has read the book (or watched the numerous film adaptations) knows, the story is full of instances of physical, sexual and mental cruelty, where everyone seems to be manipulating everyone else.

The restored cut of the film is gorgeous. Romy Vitug's lensing of the North is made even more vivid with the restoration job, and unlike the restoration of Magic Temple, where darkened scenes lost a lot of clarity, the dimly lit scenes in this movie are crisp despite the low lighting. A lot of the scenes looked like they could have come from a movie released yesterday. In addition, this is a director's cut of the film, which leaves in several extended steamy love scenes involving Gomez and Zulueta, so fans of the original movie will find this a treat.

That said, the adaptation leaves holes in everyone's characterization, and it's most felt with Carmina. In the original book, Catherine may be flighty, but her decision is multifaceted; she is concerned about Heathcliff's social standing but nevertheless retains her love for him. Here, the script makes Carrmina out to be a bit erratic, leading to all sorts of bizarre, illogical, at times questionable character decisions. Sometimes the drama reaches soap opera levels; in particular, one scene set near crashing waves felt a bit too contrived for my taste.

But despite  these glaring character flaws, the movie is quite enjoyable to watch, if only for the cheese of it all. Hihintayin Kita sa Langit is a treat for fans of the Richard-Dawn love team and for dramas like this. Compared to recent fare, making a movie like Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, with a bankable screen couple and a dark story, is quite a ballsy move. They don't really make these kinds of dramas anymore.

ABS-CBN will be showing restored Cinema Classics, including Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, over at Glorietta and Trinoma Cinemas from March 1-7.