Of deadly fights and fading crafts:Cinemalaya X, part 3

Thus far, the ongoing Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival has offered a number of really good, even excellent, Filipino feature films. Let's find out if the good streak will continue in my third day at the fest. 

• "Children's Show" by Roderick Cabrido (90 mins)

If "Dayang Asu" (by Bor Ocampo) did push through, "Children's Show" wouldn't be made and shown at Cinemalaya at all. It was one of the films on the "waiting list" in case any one of the original chosen entries for the New Breed section backed out. Perhaps, the film was really meant to be seen by us. "Children's Show" is the most powerful work I've seen in the festival so far. Based on actual events, it presents a particular form of child labor that many of us probably haven't heard about - a secretly-held wrestling match. Here, syndicates put those young and fragile bodies at a violent and bloody clash with one another for some hefty amount of money at stake. More than the danger it poses on the lives of the kids, the disturbing thing is that the parents or guardians willingly consent to their child engaging in the fight. Working on a strong screenplay written by Ralston Jover, Cabrido neither passes a judgment on nor makes an apology for the kids' awful plight. Utilizing a cinema verité style, the film in fact offers no hope for the children finding a way out from their lives inside the ring. The film is quite grim and unflinching in how it suggests that through force of circumstances and the children's resignation, such a way of life is bound to continue for long. "Children's Show" makes for a really uncomfortable viewing experience, providing us a glimpse into a number of disturbing situations and, at some point, even taking a detour to some surreal territory. There's this uneasy feeling that death is just hanging around the corner in this forsaken milieu. It's like suggesting that beyond the underground fights, life is one big wrestling match, where anyone can put anybody in harm's way. Particular mention must be made of the two young actors who portrayed the siblings engaged in the deadly game, Buboy Villar and Miggs Cuaderno. Both are truly excellent:they didn't try to act like some wisened adult, but as children still who are just toughened and embattled by the situation. In something that Joseph Israel Laban failed to do with his young actress in last year's "Nuwebe", Cabrido admirably tones down the two kids in scenes that could be potentially steeped in bathos. Volatile emotions are kept at a minimum or are expressed just enough, yet at some innocent moments you can see that they still want to live the normal life of a child, to play the kind of games that kids normally play. 

• "Mariquina" by Milo Sogueco (120 mins)

While I was watching "Mariquina", I was thinking of Armando Lao's "Dukit". Both films could be fraternal twins. As in the latter, the former deals with parent-child relationship, a family torn apart by infidelity, the power of forgiveness and a fading craft (shoemaking). And just like "Dukit", "Mariquina" moves at a patient and quiet rhythm and jumps back in time to tell its story, gradually revealing layers and subtleties of human nature. The film actually gives hints of an Ingmar Bergman human drama, especially in how it utilizes those resonant close-ups (just like "Dukit" itself). The screenplay was written by Jerrold Tarog, and in keeping with the craft that defined Marikina and curiously following the shoe motif in his own "Sana Dati", he and Sogueco make use of how a handcrafted shoe can tell something about the breakdown of a human relationship and the frailty of human nature. The power of the film lies not so much in what is spoken, but in what is seen and felt, those emotions conveyed through glances and body language. And just like the shoes crafted with loving skill by the father (wonderfully portrayed by Ricky Davao, in a role that was originally intended for Joel Torre), one can likewise see how the film was lovingly made and shows genuine affection for the town and its popular craft. All the actors in the film are in fact wonderful (Davao, Che Ramos as the mother, Bing Pimentel as the mistress, Barbie Forteza as the daughter Imelda as a young girl and Mylene Dizon as the daughter Imelda as an adult, needless to say in a role that was initially given to Judy Ann Santos). They are able to characterize with quiet efficiency the troubles and pain, the weaknesses and strengths attendant to human nature. Rather than hysterics, all is expressed through that tear barely waiting to flow down from the eye. "Mariquina" may require a little bit of patience from us as it slowly gets to its heart (plus, it is left to us to put together the pieces that may have led to the father's suicide, an event that informs the rest of the film). But once finally there, we may just stand in awe as some of the profound and transcendent depths of human nature are revealed to us. 

Summary:

"Children's Show" - excellent

"Mariquina" - excellent

(Mylene Dizon as the hurt daughter Imelda in Milo Sogueco's restrained family drama "Mariquina".)