In almost two hours of Sofia Coppola’s latest film Priscilla, the titular character (Cailee Spaeney) had a visually and emotionally intricate journey in looking and establishing her agency, seeking her identity beyond being the woman placed and living in the shadow of the King of Rock and Roll, husband Elvis
Tag: FPR Recommends
GomBurZa MMFF 2023 review: Martyrs Among Us
What makes a martyr? Is it what they did in life that turns them into one? Is it what they stand for? Or is it something in between that makes them what they are? This story needs no spoiler warning because even if we don’t know the specific details, we
Lonely Glory (2022) review: the cost of success is a lonely pursuit
In ‘Lonely Glory’, Keitaro Sakon explores the inner turmoil of a twenty-something woman named Haruka, in her ambitious pursuit of success. Princess Kinoc reviews this film from this year’s Japanese Film Festival In the eyes of Haruka and everyone else, she is very good at her job. She knows it.
Cinemalaya 2023 Round Up! (Part 2)
Cinemalaya 2023 films are in for special screenings across the country through FDCP’s Cinematheques. Check out the schedule for your local cinematheque here. As If It’s TrueSocial media has irrevocably changed the idea of privacy, whether it still exists as we add more and more of ourselves to a curated
Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is finally coming in July
Taylor Swift made the announcement in one of her “Eras Tour” concerts in her hometown of Nashville. As a recovering Swiftie, the last album of hers I fully listened to was “Speak Now”. As Tay-tay was 21 in 2010, I was 20. I didn’t really have the similar romantic explorations
Bad Times at the El Royale, Hell is Other People
“Hell is other people.” Often quoted, frequently misrepresented, the phrase which originated from philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit—a play about three people trapped in a single room for all eternity—has been a favorite way to describe the inherent toxicity of relationships. Sarte though has long clarified that what he meant by
Episode 7 – Liway (with Glaiza de Castro, Dominic Roco and Alemberg Ang)
The Third World Cinema Club interviews the cast and crew of upcoming film Liway! Join John as he interviews actors Glaiza de Castro, Dominic Roco and producer Alemberg Ang as they share a few insights about Cinemalaya’s highest grossing film. Liway opens October 10 in cinemas nationwide. Theatrical trailer
“DEADPOOL 2” Raises a Middle Finger to a Supersaturated Genre
It is a marvel how 20th Century Fox, despite (or because of) its limited ownership, have recently conjured a more well-realized oeuvre, raging against its saturated but more financially successful counterpart, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Beginning with 2011’s X-Men: First Class, the production company brought in year after year
“CITIZEN JAKE” is a wake-up call for both the asleep and woke
Often a trope in movies is when a hermitic, wise — often, cranky — veteran is brought out of retirement to school the youth when the times have turned most trying (especially when the villains they once faced in the past have re-emerged from the ether). Obi-Wan did it with
Sundance Review: “SWEET COUNTRY”, A powerful slowburn on australia’s not-so-sweet history
Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country opens with Sam Neill’s preacher Fred Smith sharing a meal with his Aboriginal farmhands Sam and Lizzie Kelly (exceptional newcomers Hamilton Morris and Natassia Gorey-Furber). “We’re all equal in the eyes of the Lord,” the preacher sermonizes as he says grace with the couple. This scene serves as a
Ang Larawan
There are projects that beyond their flaws you’ve got to praise for brazenness, the amount of love put into their creation. There’s this air of faith, of passion, that permeates all aspects, smoothening out whatever rough patches the material may have. Ang Larawan is this sort of project. Ang Larawan,
Call Me By Your Name
In “The Heptaméron”, Marguerite of Navarre asks the question: is it better to speak or to die? It’s a question that cradles us back to that thrilling, self-destructive, sweat-leaking-out-of-our-palms moment of professing our yearning for someone. Nevermind that it was merely a “special friendship”, which means everything and nothing at the same time.
Changing Partners
In the first minutes of Changing Partners, Agot Isidro’s Alex (don’t be confused, there’ll be two Alex’s here — that’s kind of the concept of the whole film) expresses her excitement over watching the new season of her favorite prime-time musical soap opera. Her much younger boyfriend Cris (Sandino Martin, one
Nervous Translation
People often say “see the world through the eyes of a child,” acting as if these words are the remedy to cynicism. Somehow this phrase is charged with what we imagine childhood to be: innocence, authenticity, joy and tears (somehow our emotions back then feel purer), wonder, etc. And yet
Paki
About two-thirds into Giancarlo Abrahan’s sophomore feature Paki, almost the whole of its ensemble start to gather around a table for a meal. This is the first time the family’s matriarch Alejandra (acted to a tee by Dexter Doria) will face once again her then not yet present and newly estranged
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
In social psychology, there’s this concept known as moral self-licensing. Moral self-licensing is what we call the tendency of man to succeed an act of goodness with something we can, in simple terms, label as “bad.” In an episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s satiating podcast Revisionist History (which I strongly urge
Neomanila: Earned Redeption Failure
Warning: Full spoilers below. Neomanila has the uncanny ability to disorient. The film initially posits that in the underbellies of Manila, its inhabitants learn how to hold on to whatever light they can manage to get their hands on. It makes its audience believe that optimism is its endgame, that it
Blade Runner 2049
Let’s set expectations first. Full disclosure, I am in love with the original Blade Runner. It’s up there with Oldboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Fight Club (I was a hormonal teenager) in the list of films that changed my life. Given my adoration (and of course, Blade Runner 2049 being a sequel
Respeto: The Futility of Resignation
Warning: Full spoilers below. There’s a mislead inherent to Treb Monterras II’s Respeto. By its sheer inclusion of the rap battle subculture — one whose foundation in itself is competition — there’s the immediate perception that it falls under the underdog sports movie genre. But instead of following tropes akin
mother!
There’s this scene in Ex Machina where Domhnall Gleeson explains to Alicia Vikander’s Ava the allegory of Mary’s Room. He tells the story of how Mary, a scientist, knows everything that’s possible to know about color — spectrums, theories, etc. She though lives, as well as was born and raised,
Logan Lucky
It’s interesting to see how after a sort-of drought in the heist genre, we get two quality entries this year with Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver and — the brought-back-from-retirement — Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky. Both are stylized takes on the classic genre: featuring smart quirky dialogue, charming leads, and a
It
There is a certain kick in watching gushes of blood, split-second glimpses of monsters, and jump scares accompanied by irreverent denotations of sound and music – as it is the collective appeal of horror films. It also allows us a breather, whether in a scene or two following a scare,
Birdshot: An Allegory of Paradise Lost
Warning: Full spoilers below. For the past three days I’ve been thinking about what part of Birdshot leaves me so unsettled, restless with a feeling of dread hovering above. Just like a gumshoe with an inkling he’s obsessesing over, I’ve been thinking, re-watching the film, trying to get a hold of
Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B
There’s something inherently gothic in the pairing of romance and the supernatural — that notion of the taboo, the alienation that results from the “forbiddenness” of an affair, “you and me against the world.” There’s an idealistic purity that comes out from this subgenre of love; funny how it is
Kiko Boksingero
Family dramas often have the dire need to verbalize emotions via heavy-handed dramatic confrontations. Thop Nazareno‘s coming-of-age drama Kiko Boksingero spares its audience of this embarrassing rehash and instead sustains a light tone all throughout. The result remains to be a fully-fleshed earnest story efficiently utilizing its modest screen time.
