"Honor Thy Father" continues Erik Matti's inspired streak

Film director Erik Matti is on an inspired streak. After "OTJ" and the two aswang chronicles, "Tiktik" and "Kubot", comes another exemplary work, "Honor Thy Father" (2015, 105 mins.). An entry in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival, the film might just be the best among all the other 7 entries (I just saw one other film, "#Walang Forever"). From start to finish, we can clearly see the marks of a filmmaker's utmost dedication to his craft, materializing his vision onscreen in a precise, astonishing and uncompromising fashion. Films that are crafted with perfection are hard to come by these days, but when they do we are the more rewarded for it. 

The film, written by "OTJ" and "Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan" collaborator Michiko Yamamoto, essentially tells the story of a middle-class Baguio-based married couple, Edgar (John Lloyd Cruz) and Kaye (Meryll Soriano), whose quick-return investment scheme goes awry after the latter's father embezzles all the money and eventually was killed for it. This makes the couple run afoul with their investors, with one particular client even taking hostage of their daughter, gravely harrassing and threatening them if their money isn't returned in due time. This leads Edgar to do all things he can, even taking desperate measures, going as far as to seek help from his estranged family in Bontoc so that he can prevent further worst things happening to his own family. This is the classic cause-and-effect narrative, where one thing leads to another. But how Matti tells the story onscreen is something to behold, the kind that feels unique and refreshing. In certain ways, Cruz's character reminds me of Elio Germano's Cannes-winning character in Daniele Luchetti's "La nostra vita", while his interaction with his family in Bontoc as he seeks their help somehow reminds me of the family dynamics in David Michôd's "Animal Kingdom". 

Outwardly, "Honor Thy Father" can be seen as a crime-thriller. But as we've come to learn all along, the dominant utilization of a specific genre in a film can serve as a means to tackle some weighty issues that relate to the human condition. And as Matti and Yamamoto did in "OTJ", so they do once more in "Honor Thy Father". The film takes a mordant and grim look at greed, class inequality, religious fundamentalism and justice, within the context of Philippine society. There's even a streak of irony here: The concept of "money as the root of all things evil" can be traced back to the Bible, and yet there are characters in the film who believe that heavenly grace and salvation aren't altogether in contradiction with material and monetary enrichment. In one scene, Edgar and Kaye desperately ask the head of the church movement that they belong to, whom they call "Bishop" (Tirso Cruz III, charismatic as he is devious), to return the million that they initially donated so that they can settle things with their furious investors. But the bishop reasons out that as much as he wants to, he simply can't because the money now belongs to the church and, in effect, to the Almighty. This is really a fearless thing for the filmmakers to do, given how predominantly religious our nation is. 

We can also see how this confluence of greed and power has brought about a decisive character arc in Edgar himself. From being a generally stoic and laidback patriarch, such a dire turn of events has led him to become a man of mustered courage and fierceness, with not much choice left on his hand but to fight back and even to resort to committing crime itself in order to protect the lives of his loved ones. In that sense, Edgar is also something like Dustin Hoffman's character in Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs". That in an early scene, we see him giving his food to a stray dog he chanced upon on the road might just reinforce the reference. Another thing that we realize as Edgar is deep within taking some desperate measures is how there's actually a class inequality within his own family. When he returns to his Bontoc hometown after a long period of absence to seek help from his mother and brothers, we learn how his deceased father really resented his marrying someone from the low-lands and how his mother is up till now still in doubt if he has already become accustomed to a life away from his hometown and clan. While his wife Kaye, in another scene, reminds him that he can always visit his family, provided that he wouldn't bring along their daughter. 

As the actor tasked to embody Edgar's character, Cruz (who also served as one of the film's producers) fits perfectly to the role, as if it was tailor-made for him. I wasn't really able to completely warm up to Cruz as an actor, finding him too bathetic and measured for comfort (all his Star Cinema movies, for example "The Trial"). But here in "Honor Thy Father", the director was able to make the young actor deliver a performance that's remarkable for its restraint, nuance and dignity. We're a witness to how he really steps out of his comfort zone in this one. The only other actor who can probably rival him in the festival is Jericho Rosales, who likewise turned in an insightful and affecting performance as a broken-hearted man in Dan Villegas' "#Walang Forever". But then, my heart goes to Cruz. 

That "Honor Thy Father" deals with a number of weighty themes like crime, power and familial crisis shouldn't really come as much of a surprise, considering that its writer, Yamamoto, was one of the story contributors to Lav Diaz' similarly-themed "Norte". The former may not have the Dostoyevskian breadth and depth of the latter, but Edgar may very well have been a character plucked out of a Dostoyevsky novel. And still, in true Dostoyevsky fashion, the "Father" in the title is open to sly ambiguity. Could he be Edgar? Or the Bishop? Or the One Above? And more importantly, should an "honor" really be accorded and, if so, up to what extent? 

"Honor Thy Father" is that distinguished Filipino film that just perfectly hits all the right notes. The direction, the screenplay, the cinematography (Ber Cruz), the sound design (Mikko Quizon), the editing (Jay Halili), the production design (Ericsson Navarro), the acting - all blends together in every single scene like a master musician rigorously composing his symphony, utmostly making sure that not one note is out of place. We can see that every single shot, with all the aforementioned elements in it, is immaculately thought of and composed. Now, if only this film wasn't the "exception" in this annual film event that we call the Metro Manila Film Festival. 

Erik Matti's "Honor Thy Father": A father driven to desperate measures