Author: Wanggo Gallaga

MOVIE REVIEW: Studio Ghibli does it again: ‘The Boy and the Heron’ marvels and inspires with a personal tale of grief and loss

When watching a Studio Ghibli, you are somewhat assured of stunning visuals and a fantastical story filled with inherent symbolisms. Hayao Miyazaki, the renowned Japanese filmmaker is back after ten years with ‘The Boy and the Heron,’ a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the era of the Pacific War. While the film is magical and mysterious, there is a heavy, pervasive sadness that grounds this movie, as the story keeps at its center the main’s character sense of loss and grief for their dead mother. It is the beating heart of this lusciously drawn animated feature.

‘The Boy and the Heron’ is the story of Mahito, who loses his mother during a fire in the middle of the Pacific War. He then moves to the countryside with his father and his new wife, Natsuko, the younger sister of Mahito’s mother. As the young boy copes with his new environment – a large home the size of a castle, bullies at school, a host of nosy, elderly women helping around the house – Mahito struggles resolving his feelings for Natsuko, who is pregnant with his soon-to-be-sibling, and the grief he still carries for his mother.

It is at his most vulnerable when Mahito discovers that the heron living near the grounds is inviting him to explore an abandoned, locked up tower in the woods. At first, the heron is mysterious and mystical, capable of speech and other fancy tricks. But later, it takes on a more sinister approach, and even revealing human teeth. When Mahito finally gives in to the lure, in efforts to find Natsuko, who has gone missing in the woods, he finds himself in a fantasy world where birds can take human form and speak, where the oceans are cursed, and beings who command fire exist.

There are quite a few parallelisms found in ‘The Boy and the Heron’ with Hayao Myazaki’s life – the loss of his mother, the point-of-view of a world filled with strife and conflict, amongst others – that there is a heaviness to the film that keeps the tone dark and melancholic, despite the sheer beauty of the film’s visuals. The film is not without its share of whimsy, including cute characters like a warawara, that can float into the sky by inhaling deeply. The film is also filled with birds of various breeds and when they flock around a character, that character is filled with bird poop. It has no real effect on the plot but it’s just a sense of visual whimsy that pulls against the sadness that anchors this film.

Because what is truly pushing the story forward is Mahito’s grief for his mother but also his determination to reconcile his emotions with Natsuko. More than his relationship with the heron, who becomes his guide in the fantasy world, it’s his relationship with both Natsuko and the fire being, Lady Himi, that sets the tender and beating heart of this film.

What is great about ‘The Boy and the Heron,’ aside from the sheer beauty of its design and art is how the story does not dawdle or feel like it needs to explain itself to the audience. There are things that happen in the film that are never justified nor picked apart and it is perfectly fine. The connection between the fantasy world and the real world is tenuous and unexplored but it is also not a necessity to know. There is a confidence in the world and world building of Hayao Miyazaki that allows you to just accept what is given narratively and you just take it because it makes sense.

Practically a legend, the renowned filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki still manages to dazzle and impress even in his latest outing. ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is a film that will leave you breathless with wonder and invites you to marvel at the power of creativity and dreams. The score by Joe Hisaishi is splendid and creates incredible melodies that can sometimes contrast a scene, creating a rich texture to the story as it unfolds. It is surprising at every turn and while it has an air of sadness and weight, it never wallows in it. It manages for whimsy and even humor while still delivering a lovely adventure that crosses time and space. Studio Ghibli has, since 1985, delivered gorgeous, animated movies that inspired and marveled audiences from around the globe and ‘The Boy and the Heron’ is just another continuation of that legacy. There are threats that this film may be Hayao Miyazaki’s last, and if it were, what a way to go.

My Rating:

The Boy and the Heron is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

January 15, 2024
MOVIE REVIEW: What You Didn’t Know About Bees: a review of ‘The Beekeeper’

There’s an old-school, unseriousness that permeates throughout David Ayer’s ‘The Beekeeper.’ Even the premise feels like a tongue-in-cheek semi-parody of over-the-top action films of the past: a retired agent of a top-secret organization called The Beekeepers is now living a quiet life as an actual beekeeper, who decides to take revenge on the corporation that runs a phishing scam who terrorized his neighbor. After the neighbor commits suicide after losing all her money, Adam Clay, the aforementioned Beekeeper, goes on the hunt to “protect the hive,” as a metaphor for all of society.

The film is chock-full of dialogue that mentions bees, and even the police and FBI, who are chasing after Adam Clay through his explosive (he commits arson several times) path to vengeance, are reading about bees to understand their suspect, blurt out facts and trivia about the insect. Twenty minutes into the film and I’ve learned way more about bees than I have about Adam Clay, our film’s sort of protagonist.

I say “sort of protagonist” because while Adam Clay is the reason why we have a plot in the first place – it is his revenge-laden crusade that is driving this story – as played by Jason Statham, he is character with no real discernable character arc. He is just a force of nature in this film, capable of taking down any force that gets in his way, so much so, that it becomes comical in the ways that he is better than everyone in this movie. In fact, only one person offers up himself as a challenge to Clay and this person just shows up in the end (with no real backstory of his own).

So while Statham is the film’s central figure and the character the title of the film is based on, the one with any real actual story is the FBI agent who is chasing after him, Agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who is also the daughter of Adam Clay’s neighbor and the victim of the phishing scam. While she is after Clay to stop his relentless rampage, she is doing it half-heartedly because, in her mind, what he is doing is right – getting back at the people who hurt and steal from innocent people, whom the authorities can’t seem to catch. How she feels about Clay and his actions is the story’s real tension but, it never is really explored fully. This isn’t that kind of film.

It has extensive fight sequences (all showing how unstoppable a force Adam Clay is) and that’s its main selling point. It has big explosions and lots of gun fights and martial arts fights but not enough to cover its lack of any real story, which may not be the point of the film anyway.

What was fun to watch, though, was Josh Hutcherson’s committed turn as the ultra-wealthy owner of the company that handles the phishing group that Adam Clay has now targeted. Hutcherson’s Derek Danforth is heavily Gen-Z coded, with his use of the lingo, and his affinity to new age practices while keeping his business light and informal. It definitely has an air of parody, making fun of this archetype of young, Gen-Z bosses and Hutcherson leans so far into it that he’s obviously having so much fun playing the bad guy and it makes watching him so enjoyable.

The other character that contributes the story in the film is Danforth’s mother, played by Gemma Redgrave, who is shown in short bursts in the first act and at the start of the second act but it’s when the film reaches its zenith when her true position is revealed, that puts into play the high stakes the film was secretly holding close to its chest but also how crazy and over-the-top the film is willing to go for this story.For those who love no-brainer, big and explosive action sequences, then ‘The Beekeeper’ is for you. It’s a strange beast as there are some actors who take the film too seriously (Statham, Raver-Lampman) while others are just having fun and chewing up the scenery (Hutcherson and Jeremy Irons and Minnie Driver, who are also having lots of fun in their semi-villain roles) and so the effect is somewhat jarring. But it’s kind of silly and would have been more effective if everyone just went onboard with it.

My Rating:

The Beekeeper is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

January 13, 2024
MOVIE REVIEW: The surprising beauty of ‘Iti Mapupukaw,’ one of 2023’s best films

From the opening shot of Carl Joseph Papa’s ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ alone, you could already tell that you were in for a visual feast. The film opens in the late morning in the bedroom of its main character, Eric, as he takes a call from his mother. The film is animated via rotoscope, an animation style where the film is shot first with actors acting out the scenes in a location or studio – in this case, it appears like an actual location, designed meticulously by production designer Eero Francisco – and then the filmed shots are animated over. The result is a stunning, photo-realistic animated style that captures the fluidity of real movements but the grandiose color scheme and textures that is only limited by the vision of the filmmakers.

In just the opening scene, as Eric and his mother talk via video call, we can already see the rich texture of the images create an extra layer of wonder to the proceedings. Eric doesn’t speak. He shakes his head or nods, gives a thumbs up, or writes on a handheld white board by his bed and shows this to his mom. Sometimes, he types a message for her to read.

It’s a simple conversation of a mother and her son – in the Ilocano language, mind you, and it makes me so excited to watch a film embrace its regional origins – but the context of their communication goes beyond the audial. The communication involves the visual, being able to see and that’s when you start to see the specific little details. Eric, who does not speak, does not have a mouth. He’s not animated with one.

Image Source: Cinemalaya

Later, we discover that he’s known in his building as “the guy who doesn’t speak” and everyone in his office is aware of it as well. Very carefully, director and writer Carl Joseph Papa builds a world that feels lived-in, authentic, and whole. It shifts gears when we see the tension-filled interaction between Eric and his co-worker Carlo. Is it a romantic tension? Is this a queer story?

But just as the film shifts gears to provide us with that added layer, it does another when Eric and Carlo have to cut their dinner plans to check up on Eric’s uncle, a request from Eric’s mother. When the pair find Eric’s uncle Rogelio dead, it triggers an unexpected reaction from Eric and then he is suddenly taken away by aliens!

Image Source: Cinemalaya

‘Iti Mapupukaw’ makes full use of its animated medium to tell a dazzling story that is equal parts love story, dark family drama, and a sort of epic science fiction adventures all rolled into one. The various elements flow so well into each other (with excellent editing by Ben Tolentino) that it never feels jarring. This is aided by the excellent use of animation that helps the editing keep all the narrative elements and genres together and feel cohesive.

Each frame is so gorgeous to look at, but all of this is heightened further by such engaging performances by the performers. Dolly De Leon plays Eric’s mother and even as she is animated, the warmth and love of her character is felt and pushes through. It’s no wonder she won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Cinemalaya Film Festival last year where it first screened.

Image Source: Cinemalaya

But to give De Leon someone to throw all that love to, Carlo Aquino and Gio Gahol do a tremendous job at bringing Eric and Carlo to life. Aquino must act without speaking – it’s all body language and communicating with his eyes – that’s a tough job when you’re completely animated and, as the story progresses, you even manage to lose an eye and a hand! But Aquino makes it work and his Eric becomes someone you can truly empathize with, and it gives Gio Gahol’s Carlo a great reason to help Eric through the craziness. There’s a groundedness to Gahol’s work that helps complete the love story.

‘Iti Mapupukaw’ is surprising in every way. It is filled with a warm tenderness, but it is also about something extremely dark and scary. There’s an unspoken dread that permeates through the film, and while it is kept hidden, the clever audience member will pick it up immediately, but this is not a mystery. It never plays as such. ‘Iti Mapupukaw’ is ultimately a story about healing, about not feeling alone, and about feeling safe and reclaiming your power.

It’s brave and gorgeously made. I cried at the end, even if I knew it was going to end the way I imagined it to. I wanted to see it as the film had endeared me to its characters, especially to Eric and his journey to his healing. I am not at all surprised it was chosen as our Oscar bet for Best Foreign Film. It’s probably one of the most surprising and most well-made Filipino film I’ve seen in a long while.

My Rating:

January 13, 2024
REVIEW: The spellbinding allure of ‘Saltburn’

Film is, first and foremost, a visual medium. For this alone, writer and director Emerald Fennell’s second full-length feature ‘Saltburn’ is a delectable banquet for the eyes. It’s luscious cinematography and production design fill each frame with something gorgeous to look at: if not the extravagant excess of the British mansion Saltburn, for which the film takes its name, than the beautiful faces and bodies of its characters, most notably that of its lead stars Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi. Fennell pushes for a lot of earth tones and through the lens of cinematographer Linus Sandgren, manages to turn the skin tone of all the actors into exquisite textures. Every freckle, every strand of body hair, every drop of sweat that trickle down on any of the performer’s skin becomes a tantalizing, arousing spectacle that highlights this tale of obsession and of excess.

I wonder what ‘Saltburn’ would look like in the cinema – the luscious cinematography and production design projected in a giant cinema screen – rather than my little iPad screen as I stream the film on Amazon Prime Video. The delicious excess and indulgences that Fennell delivers in her 131-minute psychological drama feels like it is bursting out of the tiny screen of my iPad. There’s a bigness in the world that Fennell creates in ‘Saltburn’ that feels claustrophobic when seen in such a small screen. The effect in the big screen must be so different.

Courtesv of MGM and Amazon Studios | Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC

While there’s a masterful use of visual language, the story that inhabits this visual treat is a bit harder to swallow. It’s a tale of obsession, for sure, as Barry Keoghan’s Oliver finds himself alone in Oxford in 2006. Feeling like an outcast, he manages to befriend Jacob Elordi’s Felix Catton, a popular boy in school. He’s handsome and rich and everyone flocks around him. The less privileged Oliver feels invisible but by Felix’s side, a bond is formed.

It’s so strong that Felix invites him to his British mansion Saltburn for the summer. And it is here that the mind games begin. Felix’s sister, Virginia, is outed as a sexual misfit and Oliver catches her walking just under his window of his room late at night in a see-through lingerie. Felix’s cousin, Farleigh never stops putting Oliver in his place, reminding him constantly that he does not belong in that world. Felix’s parents attempt at being cool and progressive but are unable to hide their elitist prejudices and fragile fears.

Courtesy of MGM and Amazon Studios | Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC

All of this proves to be too tempting for Oliver, who begins to entrench himself into the Catton household and the schemes and plans start to unfold.

As a social commentary, ‘Saltburn’ seems to have a lot to say about the British class divide, but there’s a fantastical, almost fanfiction like approach to how Fennell depicts British aristocracy. There’s no grounding element here – what is present is an idea of upper-class excess and indulgences. The Catton parents – played by Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant – are the type of people who’ll throw a 200-guest party for their son’s friend, whom they only met that week. They live in a castle that replaces a broken mirror the very next day that it is destroyed. Each character living in that house is broken and are either in denial that they are ruined to the core or completely oblivious to it.

This is the sort of innocence that makes the upper class in ‘Saltburn’ so despicable and somehow allows you to keep your eyes glued to the screen as Oliver twists and turns this family inside and out. The family is unaware of their effect on the world around them and even with all their good intentions, they seem unaware of the damage that they do and Fennell understands our need to sympathise with these people, because in truth, Fennell posits that, like Oliver, we want their level of excess. It makes us curious. It arouses us. We hate them. We hate this world, but we are also very much fascinated by it.

It’s what makes ‘Saltburn’ not an easy film to digest. It’s a visual treat but it’s also overwritten but it connects with all our basic desires – whether it is wealth, power, or beauty – which is represented by the Cattons. It’s why sex becomes a focal point of the film, it’s primal and without reason. It’s infused in the film’s visual language, and in the way the camera is obsessed with the physicality’s of its characters. So, while the story and even lines of dialogue is meant to shock you – sometimes even in ways that are so obviously scripted or staged and not at all organic – it is still something you cannot take your eyes off of.

Unfortunately, there is a big narrative twist at the end, one that is clunkily handled. The reveal is on-the-nose, and its lack of cleverness finishes the film on a sour note (though saved by its visually stunning final image). ‘Saltburn’ is bold and daring and brave; a true scintillating visual treat that serves as a mirror of our ugliest desires in relation to beauty and wealth and power. It’s not an easy film to watch but it is spellbinding in its allure.

My Rating:

‘Saltburn’ is now streaming on Prime Video, watch it here!

January 9, 2024
MOVIE REVIEW: Bro, Where’s My Seahorse: A Review of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’

As the final film in the now defunct DC Extended Universe that was headed at some point by Zack Snyder, ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ had a lot of expectations hanging on it. The first installment was extremely popular and grossed over a billion in box office receipts but as the last film of the DCEU, it is the last time we will see this iteration of this comic book universe. How it goes will be the lasting impression for that era of Warner Bros.

As ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ opens and it catches us up to the five years between this film and its predecessor, I was surprised at how much the film’s essence and core has been greatly influenced by lead star Jason Momoa’s offscreen persona. The movie begins with a narration that Arthur Curry, known as the superhero Aquaman, is now a father and is juggling between his time on land with his family and his duties beneath the waves as the king of Atlantis. Here, the tone of Momoa’s persona permeates throughout the film. It’s almost as if there’s no difference between the Momoa we see in interviews – a fun-loving, family man with a big, boisterous personality – and the character in the film. Momoa’s Arthur Curry is a man who would prefer to be a dad and fight with pirates and people damaging the oceans than to deal with the politics of Atlantis, which he seems ill-suited for (and not particularly interested in).

© 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

There seems to be a positioning that having fun, being a “cool dad,” and busting up bad guys is better or the preferred choice than that of ruling Atlantis and working out its politics – not that the film presents the politics in a particularly complex way, either – and it all ends up feeling like a very bro movie all through-out.

© 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The main villain, David Kane (otherwise known as The Black Manta) wants to destroy Arthur Curry for having killed his father in the first movie. It drives him to search the earth with the help of a marine biologist Stephen Shin for Atlantean technology to fix his suit when they stumble upon the lost kingdom of the title and a powerful Atlantean artifact that gives Kane a much-needed power boost to take on Aquaman.

This artifact, the black trident, opens Kane to old technology of Atlantis that threatens the safety of the whole world. To find Kane, Aquaman must free his brother, Orm, as he may be the only lead to finding Kane.

© 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The film then pivots to a story of the two brothers – one who seems more suited to be king and the brother, who is king, who also seems more suited to be a superhero – and how they must reconcile with each other (Orm tried to kill Aquaman in the first movie) to save the world.

Throughout this movie, the narrative puts Momoa’s Aquaman at the preferential position. He doesn’t have a plan as he enters any situation, which Orm is against, but Aquaman always manages to punch his way through. He is best described as a brute who prefers to muscle his ways in and out of a problem as opposed to the more refine Orm, who is not above using his intellect to figure out a solution first. But, in every step of the way, the film is set to make Aquaman the better choice.

It is what hunkers this overblown film down. It feels so infused with Momoa’s personality – not surprisingly, he is given producer and story credit – that it feels less of a film than it does as a way for Momoa to have more fun with the character. There’s a lot of care placed in the big battle sequences that litter the film, but it makes no effort in deepening the relationship of both Orm and Arthur. It is made clear that they should reconcile because they are brothers, but it never deals with the harder questions of who should rightfully lead, whether the rift in their relationship was valid in the first place, and so on and so forth.

The bonding of the brothers is essential for this movie but as screenplay and the direction prefers to express itself via large action sequences and funny gags rather than really exploring relationships in a profound manner, the film ends up feeling very bro and lightweight.

Sure, it’s expensive and has some very interesting use of CGI effects and battle choreography. They manage to write Mera (Amber Heard) out of the film so that she is present but really not, giving more of the tender heart moments to Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna. There’s no depth Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to work on for his portrayal of Kane, he’s a one-dimensional character and the one who looks like he’s having as much fun as Momoa is Patrick Wilson as Orm.

It’s weird to watch an obviously made-for-sequel character and story play out knowing that there’s no continuation to this. The film doesn’t feel like a big finale (like, say, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’) and so no matter how the film turns out, there’s no investment or attachment that it creates. The struggles of the DCEU overshadows whatever the film attempts to do, and it doesn’t help that the bro-ness of it all doesn’t appeal to audiences like me. I would like to have as much fun as Jason Momoa shouting “Woohoo” while riding a giant glowing CGI seahorse, but this isn’t how I imagine brother-bonding superhero tales should play out.

My Rating:

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

December 30, 2023
MMFF Review: ‘GomBurZa’ stoking the fires and making waves

While it opens impressively, ‘GomBurZa’ struggles in its first act. It’s impressive because it opens with the story of Hermano Pule, an “indio” who was repeatedly denied entry into the priesthood. The film takes a theatrical approach to this telling: it exits in an impressionist oblivion space with no backdrop and only a few props and a lot of motion to create the world of the story. It struggles, though, because as we enter into the world of the people telling the story – of the Philippines nearing the end of the Spanish occupation in the late 1800s – the film then has to establish the history of the land and the people. It takes a whole 30 minutes to familiarize ourselves with the political struggle and who the main operators are in this period political drama.

Director and co-writer Jose Lorenzo Diokno III (with co-writer Rody Vera) takes us into the battle of secular priests, Spaniards who were born in the Philippines, and the full-blooded friars as they battle over who gets to run the parishes in the cities across the islands. Even if they are Spaniards, or carry Spanish blood, having been born in the Philippines has made them victims of discrimination by the Spanish who come directly from Spain.

In the middle of all of this is Father Jose Burgos (played by Cedrick Juan), a liberal secular priest who dared to challenge the discrimination of the Spanish church and ended up becoming a martyr that helped sparked the revolution that won our country its freedom. This is not an unknown story to us. We were taught about this in general terms, broad stroke terms in our grade school civics and Philippine history classes. What the film ‘GomBurZa’ sets out to do is to show the events – no matter how small or inconsequential – that lead up to the revolution. The movie also humanizes these characters and situates it into the realm of the human. The film turns history into something relatable.

Images from GOMBURZA Film FB

What is most striking about Diokno’s direction is how universal he makes it all seem – that the persecutions and the corruption that plagues this era is still prevalent until now – and this is the true triumph of ‘GomBurZa’ as a movie.Holding this film together is the spectacular performance of Cedrick Juan as Burgos. He just recently won the Best Actor award for the MMFF and you can see why. Despite the film’s positioning of the events of this movie, Juan manages to infuse Burgos with so much humanity. He’s not some fictional character. As a teacher, you can see him beam up with pride when his students show off their brilliance. When he turns serious, there’s something turning behind the eyes as he is considering the bigger picture. As Burgos starts to become more popular with the people, you can see a bit of pride bursting from his chest; he likes the attention though he tries to hide it. He’s made Father Burgos someone real.

After the thirty-minute mark, when the world and the politics (and the stakes) have been established, Diokno and his crew – including the fantastic cinematography of Carlo Mendoza that plunges this world in a sort of medieval darkness) – then starts to unravel this narrative of rebellion and freedom. We see how one little battle over who gets to run the parishes – whether it’s the Spanish friars or the secular priests – builds up into the eventual Philippine revolution. Diokno handles this with care as he knows that all of this is inevitable, but he tries to set up each scene as if it were just in that moment – nothing bigger than what it is at that moment. No wonder he won the Best Director award at the MMFF awards night as well.

But at 112 minutes, I actually wanted more from this film. The story merely takes us to the classrooms where Burgos teaches, the meeting rooms between the friars or the secular priests or the upper class of rich Philippine-born Spanish, who are also suffering from discrimination having been born in the country instead of the colonizer’s homeland. What I felt was missing is the world of the indios – the Filipinos – who are absent in this story. And, yes, they were nowhere near active agents in this political game that lead to the martyrdom of the three priests, but to see Burgos or any other priests’ interactions with them would have helped create a stronger relation to the film’s finale. As an historical epic with such a grand scope and vision, it could have afforded another 15 minutes to bring the story to the people whose lives were radically changed by the events that happen in the film.

‘GomBurZa’ is a very well-made film that can be demanding to its audience – it plays out in three languages: Spanish, Filipino, and Latin – and situates the world in all its political turmoil. It boasts of fantastic performances: Cedrick Juan, Enchong Dee, as the charming and carefree father Zamora, Elijah Canlas and Tommy Alejandrino as students of Father Burgos, and Ketchup Eusebio as one of the rich, Filipino-born Spaniards, who becomes a key figure in the story. It’s an important film that reminds us to learn from our history – that we have within us the power to rebel and to fight back against any sort of discrimination or oppression that stops us from living our best lives. The film reminds us that the little things count – from the way schools are taught to the way justice is meted out to the people – and that we have the power to overcome our oppressors if we just woke up to it.

My Rating:

GomBurZa is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

December 29, 2023
MMFF Review: The Sentimental ‘Rewind’ Is Rescued by Two Strong Performances by Dingdong and Marian

There’s a simplicity in the story that pushes the narrative of ‘Rewind’ forward. It’s the story of a man that is so devoted to his work (and with anger management issues) that he pushed his family away and gets a chance to do it all over again after the tragic loss of his wife. It’s a story about not taking for granted what you have in cherishing the things that you are working so hard for and not forgetting them while they are still there in front of you. I love simple stories, really. Some of the best movies out there have very simple narratives and are just told extremely well.

My biggest issue with ‘Rewind’ is that the film lacks any sort of restraint – both in the direction and in the screenplay – and it detracts from the film’s simplicity. The script, by Enrico Santos and Joel Mercado, has a tendency of explaining everybody’s feelings and emotions and constantly repeats the values that the film wants to espouse. It’s overwritten and can use some toning down. While director Mae Czarina Cruz has an affinity for extreme close-ups and some crazy angle shots that distracts us from the emotions of the scenes. There’s a whole lot of really tight close ups of lead actors Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera that, while does an excellent job at bringing us closer to the characters, what it does is that it takes us away from the moment.

While ‘Rewind’ is about the profound effects of loss, and even hope, and how it can push people towards making some powerful changes, the film is also how it affects a person and his relationships with everyone around him. The film needs to go further than the interior world of its characters – Dantes’ John and Rivera’s Mary – and the film could use more medium shots and long shots to establish place and time. The script could allow more space for us to see the man that John used to be (aside from a short intro, the film immediately brings us to him as a workaholic, angry, resentful man) and to see the full extent of what Mary gave up for John.

The filmmaking in ‘Rewind’ is meant to highlight the pure star power of its lead actors and thankfully, Dantes and Rivera are more than enough to carry this movie by the sheer power of their performances.

Images from ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc. (Star Cinema) FB

Marian Rivera’s Mary is loving, nurturing, and attentive. She’s spontaneous in all her scenes and it adds to the depths of emotions that happens when John loses her mid-film. She embodies the heart of any Filipino home without being corny or cloying. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t give her too much to do or showcase more of what she’s capable of. We don’t get to live in her world for too long so we don’t see the person she could have been (it’s implied but never really shown). Mary is not a lead character here and doesn’t get to really develop and grow but it says so much about Marian Rivera’s presence and skill to create a character so whole and believable with what little she was given.

Images from ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc. (Star Cinema) FB

Dingdong Dantes, on the other hand, is so fully committed to the character and to the story that he doesn’t even try to earn our sympathy. His John is so single-minded in his attempts at forging success that he’s really forgotten about the people he is doing it for. He’s gruff and dismissive and it really helps that it’s a performance that is polar opposite that of his other MMFF film ‘Firefly.’ It shows his range. So much so, that when he is given the offer to do it all again, we can see in his eyes the desperation for this mystical offer to be true. He really doesn’t believe it but wants to believe and then the utter joy in his face when it does come true. It’s such a committed performance that it brings this film – unrestraint cheesiness and all – to a place that is honest and true.

There’s a lot in this film that I’m not comfortable with – the unrestraint filmmaking with its on-the-nose dialogue and how the musical score is working too hard to make us feel things that’s already laid out for us by the performances of the actors – but even still I felt something in that theater as the film’s story unfolded. From the sheer talent and commitment of Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, the film still struck a chord with me and the people around me. We were crying when the movie wanted us to. I felt that the film is unambitious in its concept and presentation – it’s what I expected it to be when the film’s premise became clear after the first 20 minutes – but it was saved by the truth and honesty of Dantes and Rivera’s performances.

My Rating:

Rewind is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

December 29, 2023
MMFF Review: ‘Kampon’ and its issues with restraint

There are a lot of things that I liked about director King Palisoc’s ‘Kampon.’ It’s a cerebral horror that is unafraid to get weird and strange or even silly. It’s highly stylized with a generous use of wide-angle lenses to distort the imagery and amplified with a discordant musical score to underline its horror genre roots. It’s a complex story in a world that is rich with lore and a hidden, unexplained world that shrouds the film in mystery. What is unfortunate is that it takes an artful approach to horror, choosing to hold back, to be restrained when the film is in need of sentimentality and emotion.

For some reason, as the film unfolds, I felt that this film was better suited for Cinemalaya or QCinema than the MMFF. While all the narrative elements that were needed to create an unapologetic horror film was present, it was never delivered and instead it presented us with a film that fell more into the independent film mode and required more from its audience than what they might be expecting from a film in this particular festival.

‘Kampon’ is the story of a childless couple, Clark (Derek Ramsay) and Eileen (Beauty Gonzalez), who are plagued by society’s demands of completing a family unit with children. The societal pressure that comes from all fronts is a touchy subject for the couple. One rainy evening, a child knocks on their door looking for Clark, the former police colonel, and asks him to help her. She claims that he’s her father and this sends the couple into a tailspin.

Images from Quantum Films FB

Images from Quantum Films FB

Clark is on a quest to uncover the truth – after all, how can he have a child, he’s sterile – while Eileen’s own desires for motherhood are triggered and activated by the young girl, Jade (Erin Rose Espiritu). But as these films go, the child is not what she seems to be and as she entrenches herself into the lives of the couple, she brings with her sinister and dark forces at play.

Palisoc, with writer Dodo Dayao, create a world that is dark and full of terrible, horrible things. Clark is consumed by a memory from his police days that haunts him so much that he sleeps with a loaded gun by his bedside and has installed multiple CCTV cameras all over his house that he checks constantly. Echoing Jade’s own past, her mother (Zeinab Harake) was subjected to a dark ritual after she was hurt by some unexplained tragedy. What makes these two events so striking is that they don’t occupy the same space in the narrative. They are too separate stories that come crashing together in Clark. This is a bigger world, with a bigger lore behind it and one that is fascinating to explore.

Images from Quantum Films FB

Images from Quantum Films FB

It is in the filmmaking that the film finds uneasy ground. Pushing more for style and a cerebral tone, the film keeps its distance from its characters, We never get too close to them to truly empathize or feel with them. The film keeps the energy and tonal strength at a steady level that we never feel drawn into these characters and their problems. While I’m usually a champion of restraint, I would have liked a few moments of tenderness between the couple, a moment for me to fall for them, to care for them, and for me to cheer them on. I think it’s telling that when Jade tells the couple that her father is Clark, the audience’s reaction to my screening was that of laughter and “bro, you got caught!” rather than shock, surprise, and “oh no! Did he cheat?” There’s a clinical way in which the dialogue is delivered, a tonal issue, where there are pauses and gaps between lines that makes it sound scripted. It works for films like ‘Killing of a Sacred Deer’ that feels off-kilter, but other than the visual representation with the wide-angled lenses on certain parts, the film feels leaning more into that of realism than formalism.

Images from Quantum Films FB

There’s actually a lot about ‘Kampon’ that I really liked. I liked when it got weird – and it does – where it presents a frightening substory that is never fully explained just for the sake of the frightening imagery it creates. I love that level of confidence. I love how it takes a nightmare sequence and fills it with the prophetic warnings of present and deceased characters in the film all shouting their calls for caution and they are accompanied by an animal mascot that showed in an earlier scene. The magic of the world is unexplained, and I love that about this movie. But the core of this film is that of Clark and Eileen and because it keeps a distance from its main characters, I feel that I was distant from the story itself. I was more interested in the world the film created than the story that runs through it. This makes for an interesting film for one of the independent film festivals, like Cinemalaya or QCinema, but for an MMFF film, it feels out of place.

My Rating:

Kampon is now showingCheck screening times and buy tickets here.

December 28, 2023
MMFF REVIEW: The tender beating heart of Zig Dulay’s ‘Firefly’

While ‘Firefly’ plays out like a quintessential MMFF movie – it is family-friendly, idealistic, optimistic, and full of heart and tenderness – it never leans too hard into its sentimentality and grounds itself with strong performances, especially by Alessandra De Rossi, Epy Quizon, and Dingdong Dantes. The film showcases impressive CGI animation and a touching story about the powerful bond between a mother and her child and how this relationship seeps into the people around them and creates something beautiful out of something dark and tragic.

The movie begins with a journalist, played by Max Collins, who is interviewing a children’s book author and artist, Anthony “Tonton” Alvaro, played by Dingdong Dantes. The journalist is suspicious, even unnecessarily accusatory, about the origins and the authenticity of Anthony Alvaro’s authorship of his bestselling book. Dantes plays it cool, unaffected. There’s a story here that he seems interested to tell. This opening exchange is the only misfire in the whole movie – the journalist’s aggressive approach feels out of place, under-developed (why is she so sure he stole the work from someone else) while Alvaro feels secure and sure about the ownership, he is neither threatened nor offended – but what it does is it leads us into the story of Alvaro and his mother and a beautiful little modern fairy tale that takes us from Manila to Bicol.

The bulk of the story revolves around the past, as told to the journalist by Anthony Alvaro. The younger Tonton (with a strong performance by Euwenn Mikaell) lives in Tondo with his single mother, Elay (a fantastic Alessandra De Rossi) and while he is bullied by his classmates, his world is also filled with a lot of love from his mom and his aunt, Tita Linda (Cherry Pie Picache). Much of their bond is expressed by the stories that Elay narrates to her child that comes to life in vivid CGI animated moments that depict a magical world parallel to our own.

What is wonderful about director Zig Dulay’s approach to this film is that it puts the focus on the magic and the wonder of this story. He captures the beauty of the seaside landscape of Tondo and while we know this family unit belongs to the underprivileged, he never presents it as dramatic poverty. There is dignity in these characters, in all the characters of this film, regardless of their individual backstory or dark history. Screenwriter Angeli Atienza infuses so much heart in the screenplay that it never veers towards the maudlin or the dramatic.

The push and the momentum of the story is based on that of tragedy but the film revels in the beauty of hope and dreams and wishes. The foundation of the film is loss but what propels the story forward is love. As the younger Tonton takes a trip to his mother’s hometown to fulfill a promise, he meets three people on the way to help him in his journey – Epy Quizon’s Mang Louie, a man with a dark past who understands the ways of the world; Billy, played by Miguel Tanfelix, who is a young man who is suspicious about everything; and the street-smart and clever Erika, played by Ysabel Ortega – and the four create an unlikely group who help perpetuate the film’s presentation of the importance of a community.

‘Firefly’ is not without its dangers and its dark side. The group is not instantaneously formed – there are collisions amongst the personalities within – and the same mystical wolf that threatens the stories Elay shares with Tonton has managed to manifest itself in the journey as it chases after Tonton but this creates a space for the characters to grow and for revelations to spring forth from.

While Mikaell has the unenviable task of carrying this movie on his little shoulders, which he does effectively, what creates the most powerful emotional punches are those from Epy Quizon’s very naturalistic portrayal of a man who just wants to go home but is also duty-bound to do the right thing and he plays that tension with great precision and Dingdong Dantes, who has to narrate this whole story with conviction and authenticity. There’s a sparkle in his eyes as he serves as a chapter break for the narrative and it is filled with longing and experience and even joy. The world and the narrative are made real by his performance. It’s quite revelatory.

But the actor who really makes the film fly is Alessandra De Rossi. She fills the screen with this beating, tender heart that really pushes this story forward. Even when she’s not on screen, her presence is felt, and it permeates throughout the entire narrative. She is the push and the pull of the film and it’s an amazing quality of an actress who can do this.

Full of heart and hope and love, ‘Firefly’ is the perfect MMFF movie for the family.

My Rating:

Firefly is showing in cinemas on December 25. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

December 20, 2023
MOVIE REVIEW: A Problem with Prequels; how ‘Wonka’ plays it safe

There’s a trend in the Hollywood that has been going on for decades now; focusing on prequels of villains and attempting to give them nuance. There’s Angelina Jolie’s turn as ‘Maleficent,’ it reimagines the story as if it were told incorrectly. Or like Emma Stone’s turn as ‘Cruella,’ who does not shy away from her evil tendencies but paints her as an anti-hero to an even more nefarious enemy in that story. Just recently, ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ presents us with the origin story of President Snow, the main antagonist of ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy. While it does not shy away from his deeds, it does try to paint him as a sympathetic character.

While Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl’s book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ is not necessarily evil, there is a sinister flair to him. I’m more familiar with the 1971 movie ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ directed by Mel Stuart and starred Gene Wilder. Willy Wonka is an eccentric, to put it mildly. Children have been hurt or even perished in his factory on the day of the visit and he remains emotionally unaffected by these – as if the children’s weaknesses and moral failings made them deserving of such punishment.

© 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

It’s this characterisation of the title character – which I was told, that sinister quality, is taken to the extreme in th 2005 movie adaptation by Tim Burton with Johnny Depp – that creates a disconnect with the newly released prequel ‘Wonka’ directed by Paul King and starring Timothee Chalamet. Whereas all previous materials on Willy Wonka creates a dark and mysterious character, Chalamet’s ‘Wonka’ is very light-hearted and friendly. There is a touch of whimsy on all versions but while the Wonka of ‘Wonka’ leans towards the cutesy and relatable, all other versions are shifting closer towards dark or sinister.

There is nothing about Willy Wonka in ‘Wonka’ that even closely hints at the person he will become in ‘Charlie and the Cholate Factory’ or any of its movie adaptations. And that becomes emblematic of this growing trend. In order to milk any franchise or IP of its monetary value, they will extend any character’s narrative, both for prequels and sequels with the hopes that the familiarity of the character would ensure box office success. Throw in a huge star into the mix and they are hoping for a healthy returns in ticket sales.

What this does, though, is that it removes the mystery from that of the audience. A lot of the magic of these narratives – especially from the dark, twisted minds of a children’s book author like Roald Dahl – comes from the stories that don’t make it to the books. What caused Willy Wonka to become the eccentric, anti-social chocolatier that he is, who doesn’t mind punishing children in severe ways for having the worst qualities of being a child.

It is the parts that are not shown and not talked about that activates the imagination, that allows us to wonder and dream. But an exercise like ‘Wonka’ or any of the other films I mentioned at the start of this critique is not interested in wonder or mystery. They want everything explained because it is what they think the audience wants, and so it will sell.

So ‘Wonka’ is about how Willy Wonka got his start in the chocolate business. From the onset, he’s already whimsical and flighty as a character. He already also has magic – though unexplained – and instead it becomes a story about how he beats a chocolate monopoly run by a cartel. It’s about breaking oppressive systems by being just as sneaky – bending the rules because those in power don’t play fair. It sets itself as an underdog story complete with an orphan girl, Noodle (played by Calah Lane) and ragtag of other people were cheated out of their freedom by a sinister proprietress of a bed and breakfast (played by Olivia Colman).

© 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Like any material based on a Roald Dahl book, the villains are dastardly and cruel, and they don’t play fair. But without any real struggle, Willy Wonka and his ragtag band of misfits go toe to toe with both Colman’s Mrs Scrubbs and the chocolate cartel. What adds to the disconnect of the whole story on Willy Wonka is that this is a musical with only one really good, proper song. There’s even a song that attempts to rhyme different words with chocolate and instead of coming off as charming, it sounds annoying instead; and other than that, the chocolate is not symbolic of anything other than that of childhood dreams. Wonka is dead set on making it big as a chocolatier because of that connection with his mom but the film fails to create any real connection with the symbol (chocolates and chocolate-making) with the people around him.

The chocolates themselves are just a means to an end. What the film manages to establish is his connection with his band in the same struggles that they share but it has nothing to do with the chocolate itself. For a film as magical and whimsical as this, it would be nice if the chocolate actually meant something other than a setting or any interchangeable McGuffin. ‘Wonka’ is big and loud and wears its heart on its sleeve. It is tailor-made as a movie made for the entire family. It has not set out to tell us anything new nor is it in any danger of upsetting anyone or offending anyone’s sensibilities and as such, it carries very little mystery or wonder or any real sense of magic.

My Rating:

Wonka is now showing. Check screening times and buy tickets here.

December 8, 2023