A Pilgrimage to Cinema

At one point in the film, during a conversation with his elder sister, Fabian, the intelligent but troubled law student in Lav Diaz' 4-hour opus " Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan " (shown recently at Trinoma Cinema), made an assertion that whatever it is that is dysfunctional in a society - the family included - should be eliminated. This is in fact a reiteration of what the young man pointed out earlier in the film, during a drinking chat with his fellow students, that for our society to move forward, all the bad people - the filth and scums, if we're going to ask " Taxi Driver 's" Travis Bickle - should just simply be killed off. This core idea of the film is outrightly provocative and terrifying. In a modern society that is primarily held in check by law and order, it practically gives man the license to become beasts and vigilantes, allowing free rein to his bestial nature and capacity for violence. Yet, for all the danger inherent in the film's...

Marxist wisdom states that man is essentially a working animal, yet man is only free when he is not chained to labor. This tenet may be put in question if one considers man's own volition - that is, if he voluntarily submits to work due to economic needs, etc. But what if man's employment is totally against his will, something that happened with absolute trampling of his freedom and rights? Then such wisdom may only gain stronger grounds. Among the many forms of such "involuntary" labor, we may cite as a primary example "slavery", particularly the kind that occurred in the American states during the 19th century. And such is the subject of Steve McQueen's " 12 Years a Slave ". Coming from the guy who made such stark and downbeat dramas as " Hunger " and " Shame ", his latest is likewise not an uplifting film, the kind that trumpets the nobility and fortitude of the black slaves and offers an easy way out of their cruel...

While I was watching Armando Lao's " Dukit " (which literally translates in English as "woodcarving"), it felt like that I had a dream that came true. That is, it felt like that I was watching the film at the Cannes International Film Festival , this unassuming gem radiating with humanity, with all of its warmth, frailty and compassion, which is most of the time the kind of film that wins big in the prestigious festival (" La Dolce Vita ", " Kagemusha ", " Paris, Texas ", " Eternity and a Day ", " Elephant ", " The Child ", " The Tree of Life " and just recently, " Blue is the Warmest Color "). During the film's brief introduction before its screening at the UP Film Institute, the director mentioned that he was hoping that with the film, we would "learn a little not just about the Kapampangans, but a little about life, too." He stands to be corrected. While we were wa...

Life can't always be cinematic, but cinema can always show us a thing or two about what life is and can be about. Just like with the two films that this film junkie saw this week:Spike Jonze's " Her " (showing at local cinemas) and Armando Lao's " Dukit " (at UP Film Institute). "Her" Spike Jonze's latest is the most visually existential film that I have seen on the big screen recently. Set in an unnamed yet not-so-distant future, dominated by tall buildings and glass walls and where people appear to be identically geared up and to be moving at the same automaton-like rate and where everything is virtually just one click (or voice) away and where the atmosphere looks like to be awashed in hazy white, "Her" sets to explore the premise of finding, working out, maintaining and eventually losing love and companionship - or for that matter, human relationship - in such a highly-impersonal metropolis. With its mood and atmosph...