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| A coffin during the i-Libings Gala Screening |
Looking back, this was the time when I really pushed myself by watching three films in one day for two days in a row. The weather during this time seemed to be mocking me with the rain pouring heavily while I was still on the road and then it would suddenly clear up and the sun would shine when I was just a few minutes away from the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It really seemed that some outside forces were making it difficult for me but absolutely nothing was going to stop me from fully experiencing Cinemalaya.
Day 4
It was strange to see the CCP with a sizable number of people on a Monday since it is normally closed during this day but they decided to let the Cinemalaya run until the end without any interruptions. I was also interested to see what kind of turnout a weekday could command compared to the previous days.
Shorts A
Un Diutay Mundo, Samarito, Walang Katapusang Kwarto, Every Other Time and Niño Bonito
Un Diutay Mundo, Samarito, Walang Katapusang Kwarto, Every Other Time and Niño Bonito
I missed the gala screening of this because I was at the press preview of Cory ng EDSA, a Filipino Musicale instead. So I had to settle for a later screening at the MKP Hall which I think is not the best place to view the Cinemalaya but I had to be contented with this setup since I had no other opportunity to see this set. The set was comprised of Un Diutay Mundo by Ana Carlyn Lim, Samarito by Rafa Santos, Walang Katapusang Kwarto by Emerson Reyes, Every Other Time by Gino Santos and Niño Bonito by Milo Tolentino. The films in this batch felt uneven for me and it was only Walang Katapusang Kwarto that really stood out for me with its clever dialogue between two lovers in bed. The twist in Un Diutay Mundo felt too forced for me and I wished that the reveal was handled with more subtlety. Samarito got a lot of publicity because of the controversry generated by Rafa Santos. But the film underwhelmed me as well. This was also the same for the remaining two which were okay but not as impressive as I thought they might be. Most of the short films were done as college projects so I guess that it's perfectly understandable as to why I felt underwhelmed by them. I just hoped that the other batch of shorts would be a lot stronger than this one.
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| Gino Santos from Every Other Time |
i-Libings
As much as I wanted to like this film by Rommel Sales, I found it difficult to do so since I just recently saw Departures at the Eiga Sai 2011 a couple of weeks before. And it had too many similar elements in my opinion and I couldn’t help but compare the two of them. Departures is a truly remarkable film and i-Libings had the difficult task to match or even exceed the brilliance of the Japanese film in order for it to come out of its shadow. I think that Sales was clearly inspired by Departures and tried to tweak it to make it a totally different film. One major difference was the ending when in Departures it was a bittersweet reunion with the departed father while in i-Libings, it was anything but and this monologue was delivered by the very effective Glaiza de Castro. I guess that I would’ve enjoyed this film a lot more if I hadn’t seen Departures but I did truly enjoy Glaiza’s performance especially the last part.
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| Glaiza de Castro and Marc Abaya from i-Libings |
Isda
Directed by Adolf Alix Jr, this film had a very absurd premise about a couple giving birth to a fish. The wife Lina (Cherrie Pie Picache) accepts the fish as her child but husband Miguel (Rafael “Bembol” Roco) remains in denial. Despite this absurdity, the acting remained realistic and straightforward as if nothing was amiss and this made it absolutely funny for me. One of my favorite moments was when Miguel was having a drinking session with his buddies and Lina passed by and noticed the plate of fish that the group was eating as well. And she in all seriousness remarked that he showed no respect to their child Miguelito at all and she really meant what she said. And I found that very funny. After some films that didn’t meet my expectations, this film absolutely met my standards.
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| Angel Aquino, Cherrie Pie Picache, Rafael "Bembol" Roco and Evelyn Vargas from Isda |
I survived three screenings in one day although the Shorts A actually had a short running time so I wasn’t that exhausted as I thought I would be. The i-Libings Gala Screening had a very interesting setup at the lobby during its screening with an actual coffin on display courtesy of Sanctuarium. I waited for someone to actually lay down on it but I think that no one had the guts to do so. The Isda Gala Screening on the other hand served sushi and sashimi at the cocktail reception and another Miguelito was on display as well. I was told that they used seven Miguelito’s during the shoot and the one on display was the actually the eighth.
Day 5
Now this was the day that I dreaded the most since I was scheduled to watch three full length films. Thankfully, all of them would be at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) and I knew that I’d be comfortable watching there. But I already prepared myself for the pandemonium that was Ang Babae sa Septic Tank which many predicted to be the biggest hit of the Cinemalaya 2011.
Busong
This film already made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and many people had high expectations for this work by Aureaus Solito. I do think that this film was lovely to look at although the tales of the people who helped carry Punay (Alessandra de Rossi) was difficult for me to comprehend especially during the beginning when I was still getting used to the narrative style that was employed in the film. I only got settled in this during the second part which highlighted the gorgeous sea surrounding Palawan where the film was set. One of the things that I liked about the film was the score by Diwa de Leon. The end credits featured fleeting passages of the kudyapi accompanied by sustained bass notes which had a very haunting effect. It was a simple tale with splashes of myth, folk and legends which I am not familiar with. I wished that I could view this another time for me to see things that I wasn’t able to see before so that I could understand the film better.
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Clifford Bañagale from Busong |
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| The cast and director of Busong at the Gala Screening |
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank
Eugene Domingo on a film at the Cinemalaya seemed like a sure hit and indeed it was. Aside from the actual film directed by Marlon Rivera, there was also an added show brought about by the huge crowd who came to see the film. As I’ve said, Eugene Domingo was the star of the film and this film would absolutely tank (no pun intended) if another actress, no matter how brilliant was cast. The film is simply about a trio of young filmmakers dreaming of making an Academy Award winning independent film and they wanted Eugene Domingo to star in it. In jokes abound in this film and someone who doesn’t have any idea who Eugene Domingo is will not get the full extent of the humor of the film. Thankfully, I know who she is and how she appeals to a wide audience (independent and mainstream) and the stabs at herself in the film absolutely worked for me. This was clearly a film made for her and she proved her status as one of the industry’s major stars by the sold out screenings this film had through the entire festival.
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| JM de Guzman from Ang Babae sa Septic Tank |
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| Kean Cipriano from Ang Babae sa Septic Tank |
Cuchera
After the hilarity of the previous film, it was time for a more serious and disturbing film. Cuchera, by Joseph M. Laban is definitely not a feel good film as it recounts the preparations that drug mules, couriers and traffickers had to do before the risky trip overseas. The film touched upon the uncomfortable way of hiding the drugs inside the stomach, rectum and in a woman’s sex organ. Swallowing the drugs in capsules with the help of okras to hide them inside the stomach led some people to squirm so what more for the other places in the body to hide the said drugs. The new recruits seemed hesitant and some even backed out but Isabel (Maria Isabel Lopez), a veteran in drug trafficking, handled the preparations as if there’s nothing difficult about this kind of scheme. While the film seemed so rough and unpolished in execution, I guess that it suited the subject matter. I think that only someone with a deranged mind would say that he would love to see this film over and over again.
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| Maria Isabel Lopez from Cuchera and Jean-Marc Thérouanne |
Three full length films which are so different from each other and I was glad that they were since I would’ve been too bored if they felt the same. The last two films that I saw were Gala Screenings so there were a lot of people especially during the Ang Babae sa Septic Tank screening and I didn’t even dare try to get close to Eugene Domingo since she was literally mobbed by people taking photos of her. What I dreaded before actually happened but I was still grateful that it was nowhere near the hysteria that I usually see in movie premieres happening at the mall with the people screaming and pushing each other.
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