What is Cinema?

There are some filmmakers who have such a consistent visual style and thematic concern that with each new film that they come up with, there can be no doubt that it is their film. The auteur quality is just unmistakeable. Wes Anderson is one such filmmaker. And " The Grand Budapest Hotel " (winner of the Grand Jury Prize in this year's Berlin film fest) is the latest addition to his signature body of works.  I'm not a serious devotee of Anderson, this precocious whiz kid of deadpan prank and hilarity, but I always find his films visually smart and fresh, a dazzling and picturesque eyecatcher (" Bottle Rocket ", " The Royal Tenenbaums ", " The Darjeeling Limited ", " Moonrise Kingdom "). Instead of getting amused and laughing without  thinking, you get amused and laugh while thinking. Though this may be some kind of an acquired taste. For it's highly probable that not many of us welcome the idea of being humored while ex...

Trilogies or omnibus films are a seldom thing in Philippine cinema. Perhaps, when we think of one it's only the " Shake, Rattle & Roll " film franchise that would come to mind. And haven't we had enough of this? That's why on that point alone, " Bang Bang Alley " is such a welcome work. And nope, this is not a horror movie (though there may be some other kind of horror here).  The film consists of three crime stories (and a ten-minute prologue) each written and directed by first-time directors Yan Yuzon, King Palisoc and Ely Buendia. Each of the stories runs for about more or less thirty-five minutes and shares the common theme of crime and violence, and how our lives can actually be driven and defined by them.  The prologue, " Bang Bang Alley ", written and directed by Eraserheads and Pupil main man Ely Buendia, is about a bodyguard (portrayed by Jimmy Santos) who is finally given the chance to put justice in his own hands on that...