What is Cinema?

With the first three films that we saw, Sinag Maynila , now as before, appears to be gearing itself as a modest venue for Filipino arthouse fares. Should be no wonder, as one of its founders is acclaimed film director Brillante Mendoza, whose works (" Tirador ", " Serbis ", " Kinatay ", to name some) have made rounds of prestigious international film festivals like Cannes and Venice. Let's now take a look at the other two films that we saw in the second edition of the local festival.  • " Lila " by Gino M. Santos, writer: Patrick Vinalay  This fifth film from young director Gino Santos (" The Animals ", " #Y ") is about a young woman (Janine Gutierrez) who, having been traumatized by a family tragedy, starts life anew by shutting herself off from her own family, except from her cousin (Enchong Dee), who appears to be her sole supporter as of the meantime. In order to seclude herself, she rents a room in an old house owned ...

Sinag Maynila , a brainchild of Solar Entertainment head Wilson Tieng and acclaimed filmmaker Brillante Mendoza and in cooperation with SM Cinemas, is now on its second year (April 21-26). And as in its first edition, it again showcases five new feature films from some of the country's exciting directors. Let's take a look at those films.  • " Mrs. " by Adolf Alix, Jr., writer: Ralston Jover This film is about an elderly woman (Elizabeth Oropesa) who lives alone in an old ancestral house, with no other companion but her household help (Lotlot de Leon), who is pregnant and about to get married. We eventually learn that she's a grieving mother, whose activist son has long become a desaparecido. And yet, she still longs for the day when she'll once again see her son, whether dead or alive. While at this, she also has to deal with a sister (Daria Ramirez) who owes her a huge debt and a daughter (Rosanna Roces) who has just joined a religious cult. Add to this is t...

As the song goes: "Honesty is such a lonely word". Thus, do we associate Jake Gyllenhaal's loneliness with his honesty in " Demolition " (2016, USA), the new film by Jean-Marc Vallée (" Dallas Buyers Club ", " Wild ")? Or was it his loneliness that brought about his honesty? This is really a quirky association, if we come to think about it. Well, seems natural for us to do so, especially if we place such concept in the context of Bryan Sipe's quirk-filled screenplay.  We know that the film is headed towards that direction during an early scene at the hospital in which Davis Mitchell (Gyllenhaal), after learning of his wife's death in a car accident (from which he miraculously survived, almost unscathed), buys an M&M from the hospital's vending machine, yet the candy just didn't drop off. The investment banker (so we learn) simply won't take the matter lightly, so he decides to write a complaint to the customer service ...

An ubiquitous motif in " Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis " (2016, Philippines), Lav Diaz's massive exploration of Filipino history, fiction and myth, is the mountain-jungle. It's through the mountain-jungle that Gregoria de Jesus, along with Cesaria Belarmino, Aling Huli and Mang Karyo, go in search of her missing husband (presumably already dead), the Katipunan supremo Andres Bonifacio. Likewise, it's along such terrain that the ilustrado Simon and the intellectual Isagani make their trek while escaping from the hounding Spanish officers, with the former suffering from a fatal gunshot wound (inflicted, ironically, by a fellow countryman, Basilio).  For most of the time, we see these characters (both historical and fictional) trudging with steadfast mission, yet seemingly aimlessly, through these borders, going in and out of every possible routes, corners and steeps, in the hope of finally reaching their destination or attaining their goal. It seems like these souls, l...