And after three misses, Pinoy Indie Film has redeemed itself with KADIN and ENDO.

Trish and I watched both movies on saturday, after watching a short preview of the new Ballet in the deepest bowels of the CCP. Not really, it was just one floor down from the ground floor.


Anyways, KADIN. The cinematography was simple and beautiful. It was the best I've seen out of any Filipino film. The kids acting in it were perfect! Of course, you could tell it wasn't effortless, their acting. But it also wasn't contrived. If it were up to me, the little boy should've won as best actor. Everything about the movie was simple and unpretentious. The story, the writing, the scenery, the direction and the acting. Trish asked how much it might've took to make the movie because it looked so stripped from anything fancy or larger than life. I would watch that movie ten times over. At the end of the screening, Trish's friend introduced us to the Writer and Director (Just one guy, he produced it too.) and he was so humble and I think even a bit embarassed by Trish's gushing...which she was. It's all good...I would've gushed too if I were capable of gushing at people I don't know.


After a brief break, we watched Endo in the uncomfortable Little Theater. But the movie more than made up for the horrible seats and tight theater. Again, the movie was good because it was simple. There weren't any preachy lines or morals being hammered into your psyche. The movie wasn't trying to be the next greatest story ever told. It was a love story, but it wasn't cheesy. It was specific and still universal. BECAUSE IT WASN'T TRYING TO BE ANYTHING ELSE BUT A STORY BEING TOLD! (yes, Mr. Writer and Director of SINUNGALING NA BUWAN, I'm talking about you!)

Sadly we didn't get to watch Tribu. Friday night, I had told Trish that I was burned out by the disappointment from Pisay, Still Life and Sinungaling Na Buwan and couldn't bring myself to watch a violent movie. And thanks to Glenn and his alcoholic ways that suck you in, we didn't get up on time on sunday to watch the shorts and TUKSO. Never mind. Atleast we ended the festival on a good note and the last two that we watched were awesome. Not just good, but really damn good. Hopefully next years films will follow after KADIN and ENDO.
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BEST FILM Tribu
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE Endo
BEST ACTRESS Ina Fileo (ENDO)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY & SOUNDTRACK Kadin
BEST DIRECTOR Pisay (I wonder if it's just because there was alot of people to direct and because they were mostly kids. Hmmm.)
BEST ACTOR Tribu Cast
BEST SCREENPLAY Tukso

One of our neighbors has developed a new habit of blaring Opera music in the late afternoons. It spills down the street and into every house. On rainy days like this, it makes me feel like I'm in a Fellini film, pinoy style, with the tricycles driving by and the sounds of the maids cooking in the kitchen. But at this moment, my Aunt is storming out the gate to make the neighbors turn off the music. There goes one of my life's simple pleasures.

I want to scream. I want to pull my hair out. I cannot keep my mouth shut. That was the worst, uncomfortable two hours I've ever spent in a movie theater. Trish says that it was the worst movie she's ever seen. While I'm sure I've seen worse, this one truly inspires the deepest form of loathing from the pit of my stomach. Am I over-reacting? Go see the movie for yourselves. Let's see if you don't start fidgeting and looking for a way out by minute 5.
The movie was pretentious yet stupid. The story was grasping for a life line as it stumbled its way through bad writing and unnecessary plot elements. I find it funny that in a press release for the film it was mentioned that the film is based on an award-winning screenplay. What I want to know is, Which "award-winning" screenplay are they referring to, and are the writers of the so-called award winning screenplay aware of the foul swill that has come out of it?
Holaina asked "Did they (the makers of the film) show this to their friends? And did their friends just all gush over them and pad their egos? Do these people have any taste???" It was an hour and a half of self-indulgence for the makers of this movie.
And again, quality takes a back seat in Philippine cinema. The editing was HORRIBLE!!!! And the sound was even worse. Obviously the cinematographers and the director tried to go for artsy composition shots, with mirrors, fish bowls, colors and shooting inside grills, but with their godawful lighting, it all just didn't work!
Am I being harsh? And as a student, am I even qualified to say all this? Hell, yes I'm qualified to say all this because I'm part of the watching public! And thank God I didn't have to pay for ticket because I would've asked for my fifty bucks back.
For a while we were thinking, maybe we just didn't get it. Maybe there was something we were missing. For a brief moment we just couldn't accept that anything could be that bad...PERO HINDI PA RIN EH! It was a bad movie! There wasn't any deeper meaning to be had, no secret and slow inner revelation had been inspired...it was just a bad movie.
Saving grace, there was none. Although Jake Macapagal was out of place in the company of such bad acting from the other leads. But even then, it wasn't anything special. I don't think anything could've saved this movie.

Just got back from watching "Still Life" with Trish, Holaina and Take. Maybe I'm going about this thing wrong. Maybe I'm expecting too much. I should really start thinking that these are Indie Films, after all, and they ARE working on a very limited budget. But is it too much to ask for consistency and continuity in camera work? As you've guessed by now, I was again disappointed by the movie. The story wasn't predictable, that, I have to admit. And the acting, overall was alright (the lead who looks like Angel Locsin is a bit irritating, but strangely engaging. And John Lloyd was unnecessary), the guy playing the artist was good though. Not as an actor, but he was convincing. It was strange. Actually, a lot of things about the movie gave me strange feelings.
My biggest complaint about this movie is the color. It was washed out and dull. The lighting was awful. Which is sad since the movie is about a painter searching for inspiration for his last masterpiece. I expected the colors to be bursting and over saturated and abundant. The lighting did not help at all. Shadows should've played a big part. But they didn't. I know, I know, maybe that was the point...but it SO wasn't washed out enough to bring that across. Color, people!!! Cripes, the location was awesome but the color did not do it justice at all!
Take asked what score I would give the film out of a hundred, and I really wanna give it more, but I put alot of stock on the use of color, so I give it a 50/100. Maybe a 60 if I count that Holaina and I laughed alot making fun of the dialogue and other things. But hey, it was better than "Pisay".

Thanks to Cinemalaya Sponsors Passes from Tita Maan, Trish and I watched "Pisay" last night in CCP. I can't say that I was impressed. I'm a bit disappointed, actually. As Trish said, the story was good, the writing even was alright. But the camera work was dizzying in some parts and inconsistent in style all throughout the movie. I've seen better camera work done by some of my classmates in my second year at school. That one scene where the camera just went around and around was admittedly ambitious, but it ended too late, or maybe started too early on in the scene. The gravity of the scene was lost in the dizzying tight shots. And one thing that really irritates me is when Filipino stage actors act in movies. Their actions are exagerrated and contrived. Which is all well and good if they were on stage, but this is film, people! Stage acting is just overacting on celluloid! This may sound mean, but to me, the movie is like a very well executed student film. I'm crossing my fingers that "Still Life" won't disappoint tonight.