What is Cinema?

By the time I saw Christopher Nolan's latest wet dream, " Interstellar ", I already went through a good number of excellent foreign-language films at the recently-concluded QCinema International Film Festival (Nov. 5-11) and Cinema One Originals (Nov. 10-18). Somehow, I was expecting Nolan's sci-fi yarn to be the icing on the cake - though that may be an over-statement. I wasn't really that impressed with Nolan as a filmmaker. Perhaps, his works that I really liked were the "smaller", pre-Batman ones, like " Following " and " Memento ", both of which make ingenious use of a film's time structure in telling a story. When he was given the opportunity to make films in Hollywood, I wasn't entirely sold to his outputs there. The " Batman " trilogy and " Inception " were visually meticulous and thematically ambitious, no doubt, but one just couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that they were merely Hollywoo...

Something strange is brewing in the following films that I saw on my last day of attending the still-ongoing Cinema One Originals . I'm pretty clueless.  • " Violator " (In competition, 100 mins), written and directed by Eduardo Dayao Films dealing with an apocalyptic scenario are a common staple in European and American cinema, but not in our own. Perhaps, we aren't just "brave" enough. On that point, Eduardo Dayao's "Violator" can be considered a rare breed. With its predominantly darkly-lit interiors and characters who are hiding mostly in shadows, the film resembles the look of a David Fincher noirish thriller. As a strong typhoon approaches the country, inexplicable occurrences abound: people commit suicide, police murder apprehended suspects, apparitions of pig-headed persons appear, cult groups conduct strange rituals, a child seems to be possessed by the devil. What makes these things the more perplexing is that they're presented in...

There are times that, despite a slight or absurd story, a film still triumphs because of the way the director handles the material. It's one such reason why in an awards-giving body or in a film festival, the Best Director award is separate from the Best Picture award and that winning the former award doesn't necessarily translate to winning the latter as well. It's like this: when one speaks of the film itself, one refers to the whole picture;whereas when one speaks of the direction, one refers to how the director puts together the parts of the film (cinematography, production design, editing, soundtrack, the actors' performances, etc). That was what impressed me while I was watching the following films at the still-ongoing Cinema One Originals .  • " Soap Opera " (In competition, 105 mins), written and directed by Remton Siega Zuasola  "Soap Opera", just like the primetime TV drama programs that it references, has a rather impossible or ridiculous ...

The first film-in-competition that I saw at the ongoing Cinema One Originals , Kanakan Balintagos' " Esprit de Corps ", proved to be a very good start. Let's see if the intense streak will continue in the following films.  • " The Babysitters " (In competition, 84 mins), directed by Paolo O'Hara, written by Paolo O'Hara and Mara Paulina Marasigan Paolo O'Hara's full-length film debut is about a couple (played by Jayson Gainza and Katya Santos) who raise a kidnapped child as their own after the kidnappers attempt to kill him when his parents turn to the police for help. Now, in order to support the child, they resort to conning and scamming people. Yet, trouble starts brewing again when the kidnappers are able to trace them and start taking the child again (who's now a grown-up boy) so they can finally get the ransom from the parents. The screenplay by O'Hara and Mara Marasigan is to be admired for there's an attempt at tackling so...

On my second day at the Cinema One Originals , I was again able to see another film from its international line-up. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Palme d'Or-winning " Winter Sleep " was a challenging specimen of cinèma verbal de spectacle , something that's high up there in the arthouse canon. Let's see if the following film would approach such.  • " Hill of Freedom " (Best of Asian Cinema, 66 mins), written and directed by Hong Sang-soo  For a Hong Sang-soo novice, his latest film "Hill of Freedom" may impress as something like "there's nothing much happening at all". The story is in fact slight: A woman (Seo Young-hwa as Kwon) returns to the place where, sometime back, a man she has jilted (Ryo Kase as Mori) had come looking for her to no avail. It's therefore a simple tale of heartbreak and reconciliation. But then, this is no Hollywoodland, where everything fits into some kind of a pre-ordained formula like nuts and bolts. Thus,...

Immediately following QCinema International Film Festival is the long-running and well-known Cinema One Originals , now on its 10th year. Just like the former, the latter includes for this year's edition some acclaimed international films in its line-up, aside of course from the 10 Filipino independent digital films (each given a 2-million-peso grant) in the competition section, some restored classics and a collection of short films. Indeed, for the avid cineaste all the good things from cinematic heaven just won't stop pouring.  For my first day at the festival, I was able to see two films: one from the competition section and one from the international line-up. Let's see how each of the films went.  • " Esprit de Corps " (In competition, 96 mins), written and directed by Kanakan Balintagos (formerly Auraeus Solito) What a good way to start the festival (I remember how it was similarly so for me last year with Arnel Mardoquio's " Riddles of My Homecoming...

Some films make us think, tend to provoke or prompt us into action. That can be said of the last set of foreign-language films that I was able to see in the still ongoing QCinema International Film Festival .  • " Leviathan " (2014, Russia, 140 mins), dir.: Andrei Zvyagintsev "Leviathan" is a fearless and lethal film. It doesn't hold back in taking a stride against the corruption and manipulation of the powers that be, both in the government and the bureaucracy. No wonder that the film isn't on "friendly terms" with the Russian government, despite having been awarded in this year's Cannes Film Festival and earning raves left and right from international film critics. "Leviathan" isn't so subtle in naming its targets directly: President Vladimir Putin's unsmiling portrait hangs conspicuously in the manipulative mayor's office and frames of past Russian leaders are being used as targets for an outdoor shooting. Sugarcoating ...

A daring choice made by this year's QCinema International Film Festival was to devote a special section to Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook's formidable " Vengeance " trilogy. As if last month's Korean Film Festival wasn't enough to familiarize Filipino viewers to Korean cinema's unique brand of untamed filmmaking, here comes the Park Chan-wook tribute, which is just fitting because, arguably, his trilogy is the one that further fuelled the violent sub-genre of Korean revenge thrillers. For such a brand of cinema, the concept of vengeance is unapologetically purist: indeed, it's a dish best served cold. Coldly brutal, remorseless and relentless. I have my personal DVD copies of the "Vengeance" trilogy, all of which I already saw. But when the opportunity came to see them on the big screen, via QCinema, it was simply irresistible. Out of the three films in the trilogy, I was able to see two.  • " Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance " ...

For the next two films included in the international line-up that I was able to see in the ongoing QCinema International Film Festival , the spotlight is focused on kids in trouble - or the wild reeds, so to speak.  • " Lilet Never Happened " (2012, The Netherlands/Philippines, 105 mins), dir.:Jacco Groen The film may be directed by a Dutch, but "Lilet Never Happened" is actually set in Manila and has a Filipino cast. It's purported to be an advocacy film as it was based on the true-life story of Lilet who, at just the tender age of 12, is already working as a child prostitute. "Lilet Never Happened" is being geared up to bring awareness and action to the issue of child trafficking, considered to be one of the social ills besetting our country. No problem with that. The intention is well and good. However, while watching the film, as much as we wanted to think otherwise, we were just smelling miserablist cinema all over the air. The issue is being blar...

Cineastes are definitely on cloud nine these days. For this year, QCinema has expanded its cinematic fare to include contemporary international films, many of which are award-winning and critically-acclaimed works. From just three Filipino films last year, the festival now boasts of more than a dozen line-up, international and home-grown combined. If these aren't enough still to satisfy one's filmic cravings, I don't know what else will.  Let's take a look at the first three foreign-language films that I was able to see.  • " Jauja " (2014, Argentina/Denmark, 108 mins), dir.: Lisandro Alonso Compared to his previous trilogy - " Fantasma ", " La Libertad ", " Los Muertos " - Lisandro Alonso's latest film has a pretty discernible "plot" and has as its main character a well-known Hollywood actor, Viggo Mortensen, thus not entirely alienating the viewers - or so it looks like. It may even be considered that "Jauja...

" Alienasyon ", the recipient of QCinema 's 2-million-peso full production grant and which served as the opening film of this year's edition of the festival, marks a departure for its director/screenwriter Arnel Mardoquio. In his last two features, " Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim " (Gawad Urian Best Picture winner) and " Riddles of My Homecoming " (Best Director winner in last year's Cinema One Originals), he tackled political issues besetting his place of birth, Mindanano. In his latest film, he shifts his attention to the historical legacy of his place of residence, Quezon City - and more.  Once again, the filmmaker delivers a sublimely powerful and beautiful work that further cements his reputation as one of the visionary and original directors working in our cinema today. "Alienasyon" tells of a retired and widowed UP professor, Paulino (portrayed by the incomparable Spanky Manikan), who faces threat of eviction ...

Had " Mga Anak ng Unos, Unang Aklat " been your "usual" or "traditional" documentary, it would most probably feature an authoritative or dispassionate voice-over that narrates or explains everything we see onscreen and interviews with resource persons or with the subjects at hand themselves, giving their own insights and opinions about the matter being tackled. But then, Lav Diaz, having his documentary for the first time in the 16 years that he's been making full-length narrative features, would have it in a radically different way. The method that he employs in the 143-minute black-and-white documentary is essentially no different from the kind found in his lengthy narrative features (" Batang West Side ", " Siglo ng Pagluluwal ", " Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan ", " Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon "): the long, static shots and the austere compositions. Yet, the filmic style of the documentary invites a different k...

Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes' entry to last year's edition of Sineng Pambansa , " Sonata ", was a misfire. What could've been a captivating character study, bolstered in no small way by Cherie Gil's marvelous performance as a world-weary has-been opera diva who strikes an unlikely friendship with a cheerful young boy, was ultimately bogged down by a meandering second half which was at a lost as to how to acquit itself, narrative-wise. The filmmaking duo's entry in this year's edition of the fest, " T'yanak ", a remake of their 1988 blockbuster horror made under Regal Films, manages to put them back at the top of their game. Let me say outright though that the film isn't an entirely perfect horror film - it's even doubtful if it'll become an emblem of pop culture that its predecessor had achieved: "Ang anak ni Juday!" isn't really as catchy today as "Ang anak ni Janice!" was back then - but one can't...