What is Cinema?

What I'm about to write is not about cinema, as what I've always done. Instead, I'll write something about some of our country's current events, especially those that happened this past week. Though what transpired in the news can be an ideal material for cinematic storytelling, something not out of place in the biting satires of Luis Buñuel and Ruben Östlund, or in the political cinema of Costa-Gavras, or in the social-realist stories of Mike Leigh and the Dardenne brothers.  I rarely write about current events (not that I don't care). It's only that the things that have happened lately are of such a degree that I really need to voice out my seething sentiment. I'm not a political analyst (and don't pretend to be one). I'm just an ordinary citizen who, for the longest time, has always hoped for a better political leadership and a better nation. Just like everybody else. The number of typhoons, coupled with the southwest monsoon (or habagat ), that h...

TAMPOPO, Jûzô Itami's sophomore feature, is inarguably the best foodie film and one of the best Japanese films ever made. If I recall it correctly, this was the first foodie film that I ever saw. I instantly fell in love with the film the first time I watched it that I took it upon myself to seek out the other foodie films that followed. Let me just say that Itami never made another film similar to TAMPOPO.  The other foodie films that I was able to see afterwards were: BABETTE'S FEAST (1987, Denmark), LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (1992, Mexico), EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994, Taiwan), BIG NIGHT (1996, USA), THE BIG FEAST (1973, Italy/France; this one came before TAMPOPO), JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (2011, USA) and, of late, THE TASTE OF THINGS (2023, France). All of these films are certified gastronomical delights. However, TAMPOPO is really a foodie film like no other. It's a league of its own.  If the greatness of a film is measured by its power to change or affect our lives, then TAM...