A Pilgrimage to Cinema

As in David Mitchell's brilliant 2015 horror film " It Follows ", the opening scene of " Get Out " (2017, USA) sets the tone of the entire film, in which we see a hapless victim being beleaguered by a hostile or malignant entity in a seemingly pitiless environment. If "It Follows" derives horror from teenagers' sexual promiscuity, "Get Out" finds horror in another not-so-pleasant aspect of human life - racism. In particular, living as a black in America. Once again, monsters come not in the form of some hideous other-worldly creatures, but in the form of what we thought to be close and dear to us - family, friends, fiance(e). Written and directed by sketch comedian Jordan Peele, this Sundance-premiered debut work is potent, chilling and disturbing (and even funny at times!), choosing to tackle a subject that, up until now, is considered to be unlikely for a horror film. Who would've thought that, in cinematic terms, terror and anxi...

The region of Mindanao has a rich and relevant material for cinematic storytelling. And I'm speaking of films that were made by native Mindanaoans themselves, not by outsiders looking in. Films such as " Halaw ", " Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim ", " Riddles of My Homecoming " and " Women of the Weeping River " are a testament to this. Now comes " Tu Pug Imatuy " (2017, Philippines), one of the five full-length films included in this year's edition of Sinag Maynila Independent Film Festival, a brainchild of acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza and Solar Entertainment head Wilson Tieng. Without a doubt, this is one of the best Filipino films that you will most likely see this year. And once again, from Mindanao. A debut work of Arbi Barbarona, who served as a cinematographer in the films of Arnel Mardoquio, and written by the latter himself, it tells the story of a Manobo couple, Dawin and Obunay who, after c...

I remember watching the first " Trainspotting " back in 1999 during the British Film Festival (now defunct) held at the Shangri-La Plaza Cinema (an international cinema haven then as it still is now). I was just out of college then. About two decades later, who would've thought that director Danny Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and novelist Irvine Welsh would bring all the main characters together again in a sequel called " T2 Trainspotting " (2017, UK)? In a sense, I practically grew up with these never-do-good and neither-here-nor-there heroin junkies and sociopaths through all these years. Thus, I was one of those who were somehow thrilled when the news of the sequel being made came out. Seeing the sequel would have an added nostalgic feel to it for the generation who was able to watch the first one at the time of its first release, especially when one considers the fact that "Trainspotting" has long been regarded as a generation-defining film. S...

" The Salesman " (2016, Iran), written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, recently won the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film, beating, among others, the heavily-favored German film " Toni Erdmann ". Farhadi's second Oscar triumph - the first one for the brilliant " A Separation " - ranks him alongside master filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, who also won the award twice. The film had its world-premiere in Cannes last May, where it was awarded Best Actor and Best Screenplay by a jury headed by " Mad Max " creator George Miller. Some observers from the entertainment industry note that "The Salesman"'s Oscar victory was a form of "protest vote" against US President Donald Trump's controversial executive order to ban immigrants from seven Muslim-dominated nations, one of which is Iran. (As of the moment, the order is on hold.) Whether protest vote or not, I still believe "The Salesman" deserv...