A Pilgrimage to Cinema

" 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten ", the feature film debut of Pampanga-born Petersen Vargas, won the Best Film award in the recently-concluded Cinema One Originals (Nov. 14-22). Personally, I'm really half-hearted about the film. I was impressed and moved by the young director's short film " Lisyun Qng Geografiya ", a sincerely- and wistfully-rendered tale of male friendship and unrequited love. I can't say the same thing exactly about his feature film. It has its merits and pleasures, there can be no doubt about that, but I'm not sure if they can add up to the whole experience of watching the film. My first problem with the film starts with the main character himself, Felix (Khalil Ramos), a friendless and lonely achiever in  a highschool in Pampanga. Ramos is a good actor, playing his character with enough youthful earnestness and charm. The thing is, I can't fully sympathize with the character himself. He's supposed to be bullied and teased by ev...

Here are some more world cinema features, which premiered in international film festivals like Cannes and Berlin, that I was able to see in the recently-concluded Cinema One Originals (Nov. 14-22). • " Graduation ". Cristian Mungiu. 2016, Romania. The titular event doesn't take place until the very end. But the journey towards it is one such roller-coaster ride, most specifically for the central character of the doctor-father named Romeo (Adrian Titieni, who's present in every scene). Just when his only daughter Eliza (Maria Victoria Dragus) is about to take an examination that will determine if she can study in a prestigious university in England, she is attacked, to the point of being nearly raped, by an unknown stranger near her school. The incident traumatizes the teenage girl to such a degree that makes her unable to take the exam in a proper state of mind. But Romeo, being the loving and caring father that he is, won't let such an incident compromise hi...

A month after QCinema, it was now Cinema One Originals' turn to offer the latest in independent Filipino feature films and documentaries and the best in world cinema, fresh from their triumph in prestigious international film festivals. Here are some of the world cinema features that I was able to see during the festival run (Nov. 14-22). • " Frantz ". François Ozon. 2016, France/Germany. There has always been a consistent homosexual theme in François Ozon's films (his early shorts, " See the Sea ", " Sitcom ", " Water Drops on Burning Rocks ", " A Time to Leave ", " 5x2 ", to name some). But in "Frantz", he seems to "tease" the audience with that theme, in order to connect with the film's overall preoccupation with the twisty dilemma faced by humans in regards choosing between covering up with comforting lies and expressing hurtful truths. Just when we suspected that there's more than ...

Conceptually-speaking, being trapped or confined in a limited space is a common plot device in cinema. It's what happens on the fringes - or if we may say so, above and outside - and how a director can make "most" out of a cramped space that can elevate a film utilizing such a familiar set-up. This is what " Tunnel " (2016, South Korea), written and directed by Kim Seong-hun (" A Hard Day "), succeeds in doing. Just like in the recent " Train to Busan ," the genre cover is meant as a way to lay bare some of the failures and inefficiencies in the government and bureaucratic machinery. It's like these Korean filmmakers are doing their best to entertain us, while making sure that they still manage to vent out their anger towards a dysfunctional society, which is presumably their primary aim when they crafted their respective films. The plot is fairly simple: Lee Jung-soo (Ha Jung-woo of " The Chaser " and " The Yellow Sea ,...