A Pilgrimage to Cinema

" Under the Skin ", the new film by " Sexy Beast " director Jonathan Glazer, poses a lot of questions. Who exactly is Scarlett Johansson's character and where did she come from? Why is she doing that to the men whom she invites into her van and what really happens to them? Who is the man on the motorcycle and is he following Johansson? Has there been a "change" in character in Johansson towards the end and if so, what brought about that? What is the entire film about? But more than answering these questions, the director is much inclined to creating a mood, an atmosphere, a feel for the film. Here, cinema is reduced to pure imagery and texture - stripped bare of any conventional plot mechanisms, so to speak. More likely than not, we are invited or, perhaps, challenged to just follow and observe whatever it is that's occurring onscreen - be it the interplay of light and shadow, the mingling of faces and bodies, the exhibition of odd or mysterious hu...

Previously, we saw two comedy-on-the-edge fares at the Moviemov:Italian Film Festival . What type of comic fares are we still going to encounter at the festival's third day? One couldn't be more curious.  • "The Dinner" ( La cena , 126 mins) by Ettore Scola The third (and last) film by Ettore Scola shown at the festival can be considered as a comedy of manners or a sophisticated comedy. And by this time, viewers (especially those who are encountering Scola for the first time) may have already discerned a particular pattern or familiar element in his comedies. In the three Scola films featured in the festival - " The Pizza Triangle ", " We All Loved Each Other So Much " and "The Dinner" - we have characters who are lost in love or self-absorbed in their political inclinations or moral conundrums and the humor is the kind that provokes or makes us think, while not altogether failing to tickle our ribs. And of course, the director knows fu...

So far, a romantic comedy and a tragicomedy. Let's now check out the type of comedies that we saw on the second day of Moviemov:Italian Film Festival 's regular run at the Shang Cineplex.  • "The Great Beauty" ( La grande belleza , 140 mins) by Paolo Sorrentino  I've already written something about this Oscar-winning film before in connection with its screening at the Cinemanila International Film Festival last December. Thus, it's my intention not to repeat myself here and just to be concise as much as possible. Needless to say, "The Great Beauty" is an exhilarating and flamboyant film, a truly intriguing and endlessly fascinating comedy-on-the-edge as it puts the eternal city of Rome through a litmus test, seen from the vantage-point of a jaded and acerbic high-society gossipist/columnist Jep Gambardella (excellently portrayed by Toni Servillo, like hands in gloves), who has just celebrated his 65th birthday (as seen in the opening pulsating party)...

The first film that we saw at Moviemov:Italian Film Festival was, on the surface, a romantic comedy, but its director had some tricks in the bag in store for us. Let's now take a look at the second film, shown on the first day of the festival's regular run.  • " The Pizza Triangle " ( Drama della gelosia , 100 mins) by Ettore Scola This film by acclaimed filmmaker Ettore Scola can be rightfully called a tragicomedy. In fact, its Italian title literally translates as " Tragedy of a Jealousy " (which, in the opening credits, was followed by a subtitle which says " It's All in the News "). In the opening scene, we see a crime being re-enacted in slow motion as the investigators look on. We learn in a short while that this was actually a crime of passion and how it came about to this is what makes up the film's narrative drive. The truth is, on my part, regardless of the film's genre and plot, "The Pizza Triangle" is not to be mi...

For this year's edition of Moviemov:Italian Film Festival , the Italian ambassador to the Philippines, Massimo Roscigno, said during the opening night that the event's chosen genre is comedy, as this would be appropriate given the Filipinos' remarkable quality to "face everything with a smile" and in that Italian cinema is known for this genre as it has its own unique brand of comedy. Given this, I guess it would be appropriate to gauge each of the films that we will be seeing in the event under such light.  And now, for the first film (which served as the opening film): • " Fasten Your Seatbelts " ( Allacciate le cinture , 110 mins) by Ferzan Ozpetek  A casual reading of the film's synopsis might give one the impression that this is just another romantic comedy that Hollywood and even our own cinema are churning out on a regular basis, almost with a clockwork precision. Consider the situation:A man and a woman first meet on a not exactly pleasant t...

After seven days of film-watching, my attendance for this year's Eiga Sai was finally wrapped up with: " Until the Break of Dawn " by Yuichiro Hirakawa (129 mins)  Last year, it was " Always - Sunset on 3rd Street ". This year, it is "Until the Break of Dawn" which would qualify as the " MMK " (Abs-Cbn) of Eiga Sai. The dialogues are rife with sentimentality, the music is orchestrated for emotional swells, the entire film is meant to be a tearjerker. Thankfully, all of these are not done in a cheap fashion. It might be a cliché already to say this, but you might be the most callous person in the world if you don't get affected even a bit by the film. Truth is, I could have lost interest in the film because of its melodramatic orientation if not because of its subject-matter - death. This is the second Eiga Sai film that I saw that openly dealt with the subject (the other one being " Reunion ") and it attempts to bring the subjec...

In the film that I saw on my fifth day at Eiga Sai , family ties are tested by a cruel twist of fate. Let's find out how such ties are put to the test once more in the film on my sixth day at the fest.  • " Reunion " by Ryoichi Kimizuka (105 mins) Filipinos can relate to this film, as it's about a seaside town struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 3, 2011, now known as the Great East Japan Earthquake or, simply, 3/11. That's why the festival organizers chose "Family" as the theme for this year, because aside from the high regard that Filipinos and Japanese both place on the family, they also have a shared affinity in regards being resilient in the face of a disaster, with their respective nations acting as one big family to overcome the hardships and challenges. Be forewarned, though. For while the filmmaker, in all good intentions, opts not to show the actual disaster (which would be otherwise if this was a Hollywood summer blockbuster...

On Eiga Sai 's fourth day, the film that we saw had a much bigger ambition:the family was placed within the context of a nation's history. Let's check out if the film shown on my fifth day at the fest has a similar vein. • " Like Father, Like Son " by Hirokazu Kore-eda (121 mins)  When the film made its premiere in Cannes last year, not a few critics were not that eager about it as they found the film to be mawkish and minor, an uncharacteristically inferior work from the usually superb filmmaker. Despite that, the jury led by Steven Spielberg (whose films were not that far from the theme of this particular Kore-eda work) was impressed and awarded "Like Father, Like Son" the festival's Jury Prize. Having finally seen it in this year's Eiga Sai, I begin to wonder what those critics were actually thinking. If they found "Like Father, Like Son" as a sob, then how else would " The Fault in Our Stars " measure up with them...

Between those times when " Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan " made its premiere in last year's Cannes International Film Festival and " Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon " premiered in this month's World Premieres Film Festival , the former film by Lav Diaz has already heaped numerous accolades, won numerous awards and made rounds of different film festivals abroad. With the latter film having been just shown to the filmmaker's own kababayans in the just-concluded WPFF, we could only surmise for now how the film would sit well with the international audience and critics once it gets shown abroad, which is highly likely to happen. Now, if justice does really exist in the world, "Noon" should get the recognition in the same manner as "Norte"'s, if not more so. For "Noon", while not without flaws (like the tendency to "speechify" everything that has transpired before or to "extend" beyond what is necessary), is a ...

On Eiga Sai 's day three, we saw a couple of films that center on persons who come into and go out of their families' lives. For the festival's fourth day, let's find out how this particular film that I saw dealt with the subject of family, the theme of this year's film festival.  • " Casting Blossoms to the Sky " by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi (160 mins)  Before I saw the film, the one thing about it that immediately caught my attention and eagerly made me want to see it was the director himself, Nobuhiko Ôbayashi. Coming from the man who made " House ", a 1977 film that became a cult favorite because of its distinctive lunacy and strangeness and eye-popping visuals, I was somehow expecting that "Casting Blossoms to the Sky" would be of the same mold. And it surely is (with the director now at age 74)! Of the films that I saw at the Eiga Sai so far, this might be the only one that isn't for everyone's taste. At the start of the film, we ...

For Eiga Sai 's second day, we saw a film whose family, unconventional though it may be, is essentially no different from any other family in that, no matter the challenges and difficulties, it is still strengthened by the power of love and the imperturbability of the spirit. Let's now find out how the films on the festival's third day have regarded this most basic unit of society. • " The Kirishima Thing " by Daihachi Yoshida (100 mins) This is basically a high-school film which is set solely in a, well, high school within a week's time. It employs a multi-character perspective and repetition to show how the sudden disappearance of the title character, Kirishima, who seems to be the most popular student in school, has affected in one way or another each and every high-school student who knows him, each of whom belongs to a certain school club (film, sports, music, etc), just like Kirishima himself. On the surface, because of its elliptical narrative...

Eiga Sai 's first day greeted us with films that formed a unique conception of the family within the contexts of home intrusion (" Hospitalité "), a slacker (" Tamako in Moratorium ") and a lost wallet (" About the Pink Sky "). On the second day, I was only able to see one film, but let's still find out how it has taken its view of the subject.  • " Wolf Children " by Mamoru Hosoda (117 mins) I'm not really a big fan of animated films. Or, in this case, of Japanese animation ( animé ). The only films from the genre that I'm familiar with are those done by Hayao Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii and Mamoru Hosoda. If ever I get to watch an animé , I try to take a careful look first at the storyline to see if it has any promise or if it sounds interesting. Gut feel, if you may call it that way. It is for such reason that I watched Hosoda's "Wolf Children". And I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint. It...

Eiga Sai , the yearly festival of Japanese films being held in the country, has just begun. For this year, its theme is about the family, which, while the basic foundation of all societies past and present, is a rather generic subject. Let's take a look at some of the entries in this year's event that revolve around the subject.  • " Hospitalité " by Koji Fukada (93 mins) This is Japanese cinema's own take on the home invasion genre - and just how did they do it! It doesn't have the bloodshed and brutality that we have come to associate with films belonging to the genre (Sam Peckinpah's " Straw Dogs ", Michael Haneke's " Funny Games ", Adam Wingard's " You're Next ", to name some), as it's more on psychology and emotional manipulation, while attempting to add social dimension by tackling issues of homelessness and illegal immigration. Yet, it's just as tense and unpredictable, as intrigue is generated, secr...

The yearly and much-anticipated  Eiga Sai will start to have its regular run this week. But before that, let's check out first a couple of films being shown this week as well, the one at regular cinemas, while the other as part of an ongoing film festival.  • " The Rover " (Australia) by David Michôd David Michôd made a strong impression with his debut feature film " Animal Kingdom ", a simmering family crime drama. Now, after four years, he's back with " The Rover ", which premiered at Cannes Film Festival 's Un Certain Regard last May. Once again, the Australian director displays his strong skills behind the camera in this post-apocalyptic tale set in the outbacks about, as the opening inter-title says, "ten years after the collapse". The film opens with the shot of an open dusty vista viewed from inside a vehicle, burnt by the sun and seemingly bereft of life. Then after about a minute or two, the camera cuts to a close-up shot of ...