What is Cinema?

Without a doubt, the most ambitious film shown in this year's Cannes International Film Festival  or, for that matter, the most ambitious offering from world cinema this year is Miguel Gomes' " Arabian Nights " (2015, Portugal), a three-part epic based on the literary classic One Thousand and One Nights . The ambition doesn't simply pertain to mere logistics (budget, production, casting, etc), but, more importantly, also to the serious intent of putting under the spotlight Portugal's contemporary socio-economic woes and maladies, by way of the aforementioned literary collection of Mid-Eastern tales. Filipino cineastes just had the unimaginable fortune of being able to see Gomes' epic on the big screen, as it was part of the selection in the World Cinema section of the recently-concluded Cinema One Originals (Nov. 9-17 at Megamall, Trinoma, Glorietta and Resorts World cinemas). This film being shown in our local cinemas is like a now-or-never situation.  ...

In " Police, Adjective ", a police investigator is tasked to follow, catch and question a boy who's suspected of smoking hashish (a dry weed). In lesser hands, such a story will probably be reduced to a series of tense cat-and-mouse chase sequences and brutal interrogations, highlighting just the spectacle of the story. In the hands of a more thoughtful filmmaker though, like Corneliu Porumboiu, such a seemingly simple story becomes a springboard for the exploration of the moral - and not just the legal - ramifications of one's job as a police officer. It becomes a question of the ethics  of duty, responsibility and law. The same filmmaking inclinations can be said of " 12:08 East of Bucharest ": rather than focusing on the spectacle of a national revolution, Porumboiu turns his gaze on the question of the extent of actual participation of the masses in the revolution (in the film's context, it's in regards the city of Vaslui). It becomes a matter of...

The two other foreign-language films that I saw in the World Cinema section of this year's Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival were: Grímur Hákonarson's " Rams " (2015, Iceland) and Hou Hsiao-hsien's " The Assassin " (2015, Taiwan). Both of these films had their premiere in Cannes last May and even won awards there.  While I was watching "Rams", I couldn't help thinking of Andrei Zvyagintsev's " Leviathan " (Best Screenplay winner in last year's Cannes and shown in last year's QCinema ). Not because the former was monumental and had political provocations, but because, just like the latter, it appears to me that it had biblical allusions. Such an allusion becomes even more pronounced, ironically, by the fact that the film's story is so seemingly simple - and "uneventful". Consider: A man's jealousy and hatred toward his own brother lead him to commit an act of retaliation which, in turn, leads ...

After QCinema International Film Festival , there was just a sort of one-week "break" and now comes another film event, Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival (Nov. 9-17 at Trinoma, SM Megamall, Glorietta and Resorts World cinemas) which, just like the former, has included in its selection since last year a number of foreign-language films. Most of this selection from world cinema are arthouse favorites, have initially rounded prestigious film festivals abroad and are even award-winners. This year's selection includes new works from the likes of Hou Hsiao-hsien, Roy Andersson, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hong Sang-soo. Two of the remarkable films that I saw were: Lanthimos' " The Lobster " (Ireland, 2015) and Andersson's " A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence " (Sweden, 2014).  It's curious to think how "The Lobster" is bookended by scenes wherein we are left hanging for an answer. The film begins with a...

Interestingly, there were two feature films shown in the recent QCinema International Film Festival (Oct. 22-31 at Trinoma, Gateway and Robinsons cinemas) that made use of the one-shot take during their entire length. One was Sebastian Schipper's " Victoria " (Germany), an incredible stunt of a film that dazzles and devastates at the same time with its tale of youthful lives spiralling out of control. The other was our very own " Anino sa Likod ng Buwan ", written and directed by Jun Robles Lana. His previous festival-circuit work, " Barber's Tales ", was a consistently assured and impressive piece of women's cinema, helped greatly by telling characterizations all throughout. With his latest work, though, I have mixed feelings.  In terms of formal aesthetics, "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" is undoubtedly daring. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only other  Filipino film to date to utilize an unbroken take for its whole length (the ...

There was such a strong and impressive international film line-up in the recently-concluded QCinema International Film Festival (Oct. 22-31 at Trinoma, Gateway and Robinsons cinemas) that it became such a cinematic wonderland for avid cineastes. The films were just irresistible that it was practically a now-or-never scenario for us. I was able to see 12 of all the international films shown and if I were to choose just one best film among them (no matter how hard), that would be Indian filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane's perceptive and striking " Court ", which makes use of the absurdist trial of an ageing folk singer to lay bare the failings of the Indian legal system as well as the class differences of the court denizens. Yet, one of my favorites, if not the best, among those that I've seen was Ana Lily Amirpour's " A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night " (2015, Iran).  Not since I saw on the big screen Alexander Payne's " Nebraska " and Pawel Pawlik...

This year's edition of QCinema International Film Festival has just wrapped up (Oct. 22-31 at Trinoma, Gateway and Robinsons cinemas), with one of its highlights being the Director in Focus section. Last year, the featured filmmaker was South Korea's Park Chan-wook and his Vengeance trilogy (" Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance ", " Oldboy ", " Lady Vengeance "). Filipino viewers were definitely treated to the brand of violence and nihilism that characterize Park's cinematic world. This year, that kind of "shock treatment" continued with France's enfant terrible Gaspar Noé and his trio of provocations: " Irreversible ", " Enter the Void " and " Love 3D ". This would certainly be the first time that cineastes will get to experience on the big screen the boundary-pushing cinema of Noé. It's like one's nightmare becoming larger-than-life.  "Irreversible" (2002) instigated a walk-out when it pre...