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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. 

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!

‘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.

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: