5/28/2015

The Dilemma That is Philippine Cinema

Gone are the days when Brocka et al. reigned Philippine cinema. It would probably take another master filmmaker for our nation's cinema to recover and be given the kind of international recognition it once had.


Himala (Miracle).
That's probably what our cinema needs. A miracle.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)



Although we often have entries to international film fests like the recently-concluded Cannes Film Festival, Philippine cinema still has a long way to go in terms of identity and originality.

Once our cinema has established a particular trademark, Filipino films will finally be put back on the map of international cinema — alongside cinematic benchmarks like the German cinema, Italian cinema, Japanese cinema, and French cinema.


Cinema should not be a piggy bank


We don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.
- Walt Disney

4/24/2015

"What the F*ck," Said the Audience



ALICE
Jan Švankmajer, 1988

Using stop-motion animation, Švankmajer creates a surrealistic version of the already strange tale of Alice, the dreamy girl who dreams her way to Wonderland.

Through a drawer a.k.a. the rabbit hole, Alice (Kristýna Kohoutová) follows a stuffed White Rabbit, leading her to Wonderland. I'm sure you already know the rest of the story.

Dubbed in English, this Czech weirdfest might seem tedious to some audiences. For some unfathomable reason, Švankmajer likes to show close-ups of the narrator's lips while uttering the perpetual: "...said Alice" "...said the White Rabbit" "...said the Caterpillar" "...said the March Hare" "...said the [insert character's name here]." This sh*t goes on throughout the film. This particular technique makes the film ridiculously monotonous, to the point of droning.

4/14/2015

Fave Movie Quotes: Serial Mom





Chip: Mom, are you a serial killer?
Beverly: The only "serial" I know anything about is Rice Krispies.


DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. I don't own or claim to own any of the photos used.



3/17/2015

Ballet as a Bloodsport






BLACK SWAN
Darren Aronofsky, 2010

Got a secret
Can you keep it?
Swear this one you'll save
Better lock it in your pocket
Taking this one to the grave
If I show you then I know you won't tell what I said
'Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead

- The Pierces, Secret

How far are you willing to go for the sake of absolute perfection? For Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), as far as it takes.

In Black Swan, ambitious ballerina Nina Sayers is tapped to star in the new production of Swan Lake, which is being helmed by the company's flirty director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel). As the production approaches its first show, Nina finds her life resembling that of the two main characters in Swan Lake: the Swan Queen and her wicked twin, the Black Swan.

3/05/2015

Dismantling the Stereotype






SETTLE DOWN
Guy Franklin, 2010

And in celebration of Women's Month, here's my take on Kimbra's feminist song, Settle Down. Kimbra, in my opinion, is kinda like the sober and sane version of Lady Gaga. Born in New Zealand, this underrated singer is mainly popular in Australia, focusing more on her music as an art, not as a means of worldwide fame.

I happened upon one of her songs, Settle Down, when its video was used as a promo for a music festival here in the Philippines, in which Kimbra is the main performer.

Settle Down has a sardonic undertone in it, implicitly saying that not all women want to get married, at the same time dismantling the stereotypical notion of "a lady housewife."

2/23/2015

Hollywood: Going Forward AND Backward

I've never really looked up to Hollywood as the benchmark of masterful filmmaking. Capitalist filmmaking, yes. Filmmaking as an art? Not exactly. Most Hollywood filmmakers look at cinema as a piggy bank, not as an art medium.

On the same note, I never really took the Oscars® seriously, it's mostly just a popularity contest. Oscar® — the tiny, golden, (and probably) naked guy — mostly favors the popular and the money maker, not the artistic. Just think: Hitchcock never won an Oscar.


White Oscar




With (alleged) propaganda film American Sniper getting lots of publicity and attention, it wouldn't be a surprise if the film wins the major awards at this year's Oscars.

2/14/2015

Gone Girl Finds Herself




Forsaken by that Lady fair
She glides unheeding through them all
Covering her brow to hide the tear
That still, though checked, trembles to fall

She hurries through the outer Hall
And up the stairs through galleries dim
That murmur to the breezes' call
The night-wind's lonely vesper hymn.

- Emily Brontë


PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
Peter Weir, 1975

Forming a sense of attachment is often easier than the mere thought of detachment. Change is the only thing that is permanent in this world. That's a fact that we know. So why do we still cling to things of temporary existence? Simply because we want what we can't have.

In Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, a group of schoolgirls and their teacher disappear during a Valentine's Day picnic at Hanging Rock. Those left behind are shaken to their Victorian core.

12/08/2014

Fave Movie Quotes: Picnic at Hanging Rock

Our seven year-old monitor finally gave up, and I'm typing this on a darkened half screen. Won't be getting a new monitor until around early next year. So all I can post as of the moment is this tiny but memorable quote from 1975's Picnic at Hanging Rock. Happy holi-f*cking-days!




What we see and what we seem are but a dream... a dream within a dream.
- Miranda



11/12/2014

Subplot: Picnic at Hanging Rock

Nearly forty years since it came out, Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock is still a visual poetry of an enigmatic kind, as fascinating as the mystic clairvoyant that is Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert).





Princess Sara Loves Queen Miranda

11/11/2014

An Ambitious Fairy Tale



BLANCANIEVES
Pablo Berger, 2012

Blancanieves is a very Spanish take on Snow White, the classic fairy tale by the Grimm brothers.

After his flamenco singer wife — Carmen de Triana (Inma Cuesta) — dies in childbirth, matador Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménes Cacho) practically abandons his newborn daughter Carmencita to live with Encarna (Maribel Verdú), an opportunistic nurse.

Carmencita (Sofía Oria) is raised by her compassionate grandmother (Angela Molina). Longing for a mother she never met, Carmencita develops a keen interest in flamenco, her mother's career. Her grandmother dies, so Carmencita is sent to her stepmother's mansion, wherein her father is now a paraplegic prisoner.

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