What is Cinema?

The Werner Herzog Retrospective (running for all the weekends of May until the first weekend of June at Cinematheque Manila) continues with two of the German auteur's quintessential films: one features yet again his larger-than-life alter-ego Klaus Kinski and the other is a documentary, kind of. " Cobra Verde " (1987) marks the fifth and final collaboration of Herzog and Kinski, one of the great director-actor partnerships cinema has ever produced. As with the two's previous works (" Aguirre, the Wrath of God ", " Woyzeck ", " Nosferatu the Vampyre ", " Fitzcarraldo "), the film's main character is someone who's all too willing to drive himself to extremes, for better or for worse. (Aside from the fact that it's the kind of role you couldn't imagine any other actor playing and the kind of film you couldn't imagine any other filmmaker directing.) This time, Kinski is Francisco Manoel da Silva, a barefooted ...

(Note: May contain spoilers.) We've already seen films that poke fun at the showbiz industry, so on that point " Bliss " (2017, Philippines), Jerrold Tarog's new film, isn't exactly an exercise in novelty. What makes it ingenious though is how it's cleverly disguised as a psychological-thriller to belabor its satirical points. Tarog has once more proven his mettle in subverting a specific genre, as he has done with the mockumentary in " Confessional ", the romantic-comedy in " Sana Dati " and the historical-drama in " Heneral Luna ". On the surface, "Bliss" looks like one of those psycho-thrillers that feature a character who seems to be on the verge of a mental breakdown (think of Roman Polanski's " Repulsion ", which the film somewhat suggests). But as the film goes further and deeper, it ultimately exposes the toxicity of the very industry in which the director works. In this specific world of glitt...

Goethe Institut-Manila and Cinematheque Manila are currently holding the Werner Herzog Retrospective in all the weekends of May until the first weekend of June. Now is the chance once again of Filipino cineastes to savor the highly-unique filmography of Werner Herzog, one of the most acclaimed, original and idiosyncratic filmmakers cinema has ever known. If you're truly serious in pursuing your passion for cinema, then Herzog's films are among those that are essential viewing. For its initial offering, the retrospective featured " Fitzcarraldo " (1982, Germany), starring Herzog's alter-ego, the great Klaus Kinski, in the title-role, the fourth out of the five films on which the director and the actor collaborated. It was only fitting that the retrospective opened with this film, as it's arguably the most extreme of Herzog's works, the most extreme of the Herzog-Kinski collaborations, and one of the most extreme films that have ever graced cinema. By now...