A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is having its Philippine premiere at this year’s QCIFF. See screening schedules here. This review is taken from the author’s blog dated April 5th. Critics have invoked a shortlist of forebears to Ana Lily Amirpour’s ovni: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). The general consensus
Category: Festival Coverage
The Last Pinoy Action King
When he died it was like losing a Jedi Master,” says a wide-eyed Sharon Cuneta, voice hoarse and on the verge of breaking, perhaps unaware of the great service she serves the documentary. In Sharon being Sharon, filmmakers Andrew Leavold and Daniel Palisa found their movie. It’s an unassuming quote—a product of wit and sincerity
TIFF REVIEW: ‘Demolition’, ‘Son of Saul’
Toronto is on full blast on the Day 1 of Toronto International Film Festival 2015 with world premieres, guest appearances, promotions, advertising as tourists and film aficionados flock from the different parts of the globe. Two very good films happened to be screened: one brought humor to the audience and the
Silong
To be among the fortunate few to see Silong in August 14th as Cinemalaya’s closing film – tense days followed as I continue to abridge the experience. There is this distinctive atmosphere of muddle, consternation, and abysmal expectation of how the film looks like or how this review will echo. Silong is shrouded
Apasol
Peace. Tranquility. Contentment. Heartbreak. A muddle of all these fashions the unparalleled feeling that engulfs someone, observing the relentless receding tide, the fiery blends of red, oranges and yellow, and the underlying heartbeat of farewells and promises. This is how Ryanne Murcia’s Apasol breathes the salty air of leave-takings, love and uncertainties.
Kyel
There are no clocks in hell according to Frank Ferguson Jr.’s unnamed druggie, who we only know through his (possibly drug-induced) fits of rage and breakdowns. The dark room where this scrawny persona holes in doesn’t have clocks, either; but if need be the space looks just the part. We find
Redlights
Playing like a tense thriller reminiscent of the films of Michael Mann, Redlights plays up its atmosphere of uneasiness – that feeling that’s something’s up but you just can’t put your finger on what it is – to deliver a suspenseful look into the seedy underbelly of Cebu. Written and directed
Pusong Bato
When you are told that the premise of the film you are about to watch revolves around a has-been starlet who falls in love with a rock – yes, that unassuming, solidified piece of merged minerals you find everywhere – you can either cringe at its ridiculousness, or be excited
Papetir
Beneath Papetir‘s exterior of outdated editing and its just basic lack of directorial style, lies glimmers of an interesting premise not fully utilized. Papetir is the story of King (played by real-life puppeteer Ruther Urquia), a children’s party ventriloquist, who during one of his shows gets derailed mid-skit as he confronts his
Sanctissima
Sanctissima is easily the best amongst the the other short films it screened alongside with, as part of Cinemalaya’s Shorts A block. This is not to say that the short is perfect. The film has many good points as it delivers its promise of very Filipino barrio-set horror. Its flaws
Coming Home
Established on an enthralling trustworthy backdrop of Mao-era communism where exhibiting of industrial, banking and commercial nationalization is perceptible. Swathed with political milieu and narrating the dealings of Cultural Revolution. Coming Home depicts a tear-jerking spectacle of everyday lives in the midst of crisis where essential principles are under siege. The
The Territory
Russian novels are often lengthy and are a bit tricky to adapt on screen. Looking at the trailer set for Alexander Melnik’s The Territory, it is easy to be intrigued by what the lengths and heights it took to capture each landscapes set for the film. Based on a novel by
Son of Mine
Limburg, in the south of Netherlands, is the location of Remy van Heugten’s feature film “Gluckauf” (Eng. title: “Son of Mine”). As an ode to the province’s former mining industry, he named the film after a phrase that all miners used to say, which means “to go up” or to
Filosofi Kopi
There’s so much to tell in a single cup of coffee. All the love and effort made in preparing it, the trade, the hard work every coffee farmer puts in harvesting these dark, aromatic beans; and the time and effort our baristas put in whipping up the “perfect” coffee. But
The End Of Love
What is it that we know about love? This is the question that begs to be known in Hsu Li Da’s second feature film The End of Love. We follow the lives of four contemporary couples at the beginning and or at the brink of their love lives. The key
An Kubo sa Kawayanan
The new film from Alvin Yapan is introduced as a “small film with big ambitions.” Twice I have heard of this:the first time from his actress Agot Asidro presenting his 2013 film Mga Anino ng Kahapon; and again from him last night at the Gala Screening of his WPFF entry An
FESTIVAL REPORT: Sinag Maynila 2015
Currently running across seven SM cinemas around Metro Manila, Sinag Maynila stays true to its promise of offering “Pelikulang Pinoy, Pusong Pinoy” with five creative and socially relevant films: Paul Sta. Ana‘s Balut Country, about the story of a man undecided what to do with the duck farm business left
Shake, Rattle & Roll XV
Of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival, since the film series’ awakening from its lengthy dormancy until ‘05, Shake, Rattle & Roll is bestowed upon the most daunting task, which is, to present three horror “featurettes” per volume. The scriptwriters has since considered their limiting obstacles, primarily runtime, which, on
Gemini
The oversimplified definition of film noirs has long been reduced to stories of extreme cynicism and ambivalence, a test, if you will, in perception of the truth. Naturally, my main attraction with Ato Bautista’s neurotic thriller Gemini roots from the film noirs repetitively played (but with different sets of actors)
Hindi Sila Tatanda
Malay Javier’s Hindi Sila Tatanda is an indulgent play at sonic and visual euphoria. The film has earned that merit. It is technically subversive, too; beginning as an innocuous slice-of-life coming-of-age with scenes that are mistakably Sundance-mold, until it plunges to a more sci-fi/genre film vibe, and finally pulls back.
Red
There is no description for Jay Abello’s Red more apt than a ripple, making circles within circles and telling a story about stories. In the whole it is a well-meaning reminder of the true role of an audience to a story, of the unspoken symbiosis between the teller and the
The Babysitters
Being a film about a pair of swindlers, Paolo O’Hara’s The Babysitters begins with an auspicious prelude in which a caroller drones sarcastic lyrics to those who would not spare him loose change. The scene, whilst not the most striking starter, sets the film thematically well. In the world that
Violator
For an audience as discerning as the “Dodo” Dayao—his film writings, after all, are compiled in his expansive blog titled “Piling-Piling Pelikula“—the expectations for his film are naturally high. The man, known to a large sample of readers a prolific film critic* and ardent enthusiast, operates with a sense of cutting-edge
T’yanak
Of the plethora of think-pieces that John Carpenter’s Halloween has inspired over the decades, one thought remains most astute of the masked killer Michael Myers. He is not the predator, nature is—because it has allowed his existence, this err. The scene towards the film’s end perfectly illustrates my point: Myers,
Dagitab
There is not much to do but surrender to Giancarlo Abrahan’s Dagitab (alternatively titled The Sparks), a film that holds captive its audience. It radiates in visual and textual opulence that only the deftest of hands can achieve. One scene in particular makes a perfect summation of the film as a fine work
