Cinema One Originals 2013:The Journey, Day 4

Just took a 1-day break and I was now into my 4th day of Cinema One Originals. This time, the films I saw were Ian Lorenos' "Saturday Night Chills" and Whammy Alcazaren's "Islands". Were these works as heavy-handed as those this film junkie watched on the 3rd day (with films like "Bukas Na Lang Sapagkat Gabi Na" and "Angustia")? That we'll see: 

"Saturday Night Chills" 

I'm not sure if it was just me, but while watching the film it felt like the 3 young actors here - Joseph Marco, Matteo Guidicelli and Rayver Cruz - were given free rein by the director to deliver their lines and act out their characters - to improvise, so to speak. It seems that they were in their "comfort zone" to smoke, drink, womanize, horseplay and swear - to be an asshole - throughout the film. And they did all of these things in the film a whole LOT! On the amount of profanity and dirty talk alone, the film rivals that in Ken Loach's "Sweet Sixteen", another movie about an aimless youth. I couldn't care less about all the "sweet" movies and TV dramas that the 3 young men starred in before, but with this film by Ian Lorenos they (un)pleasantly vindicated themselves. In "Alagwa", the director was able to bring out a gut-wrenching performance from Jericho Rosales, the kind that didn't have to resort to operatics to achieve so. In his 2nd film, he was likewise able to make not just one, but a trio of young actors shine in clearly offbeat roles, the kind that is so vividly shithead that it just rings true. And these 3 devil-may-care youths he situates in a neo-noir microcosmos of nocturnal pleasures, shady transactions and risky games of chance. The editing is tight and brisk, as if keeping up with the boys' brash and irrepressible attitude. The only catch is that such a misplaced vivaciousness entails some formidable risks. Some pleasures - or the lack of them - may have to be paid with blood. And this, the boys (Jeff, John and Mark) have come to learn the hard way as the night went deep. In "Alagwa", a father's desperate search for his missing son unwittingly brought him head-on to an unforgiving criminal underworld of child trafficking;in "Saturday Night Chills", the 3 boys' reckless search for fast cash and short-term goals rapidly plunged them into a devious underworld of off-track gambling, where greed, betrayal and, if it calls for, violence seem to be the prevailing moral codes. However, unlike the main character in the 1st film, there appears to be no hope anymore for our protagonists in the 2nd film to pull themselves up from the pit of their own making. On that crucial night, their fate has become sealed. 

"Islands"

Looks like it was the more experimental works that were standing out in this year's edition of the festival thus far. We have ''Riddles of My Homecoming'' and its examination of violence. Then, ''Bukas Na Lang Sapagkat Gabi Na'' and its probe into a troubled history. And now, ''Islands'', wunderkind Whammy Alcazaren's gorgeous, lingering and melancholic ode to isolation, longing and loneliness. And should I also say that it is such one strange film to boot? The film comprises of 3 seemingly unrelated vignettes, with each character - an old widow (Marita Zobel), a tribesman (Luis Alandy) and an astronaut (Benjamin Alves, in dual roles) - having to contend with some form of isolation and loneliness, and yet seems to be basking in it, in some kind of beautiful sadness, waxing lyricism (even a pop song, no kidding!) here and there. And all the actors are up to the challenge of their enigmatic roles, with each one of them savoring the strange and dream-like air of their characters. It feels so nice to see Marita Zobel and Luis Alandy back (even just this once) in out-of-the-box roles. And Benjamin Alves - good heavens, his character seems to come as an eerie coda from ''2001:A Space Odyssey''! All the 3 of them are like wandering ghosts, searching for some kind of tangible footing in a vast cosmic emptiness. The film's title is just apt, as plaintive souls become lost in an island of emotional barrenness. Just like that film by another Alcazaren (not sure if they are related, can anyone tell?), ''Puti'', ''Islands'' is a visual delight, making a high art out of, not a horror story this time but, uhm, a love story. The episodes in color are autumnal, while those in black-and-white are glacial. If there could be a possible misstep in the film, it is when, without a warning, the director decides to break the 4th wall at the latter part, as a probable form of self-reflexive assessment. Such ''assessment'' becomes expository during the long and steady conversation between a film clapper and his ''hidden'' crush (this film junkie began to sense a Lav Diaz here;in fact, there were touches of the director in the film, but the young turk actually improved on them). But as the conversation goes further, one can finally glisten an ''actual'' sense of longing and sadness, something being experienced by those ''behind'' the camera, too.

Such was my 4th day of the fest - an encounter with characters in search of something and not actually finding it.

Ian Lorenos' ''Saturday Night Chills'':Life on the fast lane

Whammy Alcazaren's ''Islands'':You'll never listen to Moonstar 88's ''Torete'' the same way again