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Cinemalaya 2024 Pocket Reviews: On Disappearances, Elections, Weed, Confusion, and Reconnection
By means of Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
NOW that the 20e edition of Cinemalaya enters its closing weekend, Business world has watched half of the ten feature films in competition.
Select Ayala Malls Cinemas in Metro Manila – Trinoma, UP Town Center, Greenbelt, Market! Market! and Ayala Malls Manila Bay showcase the best of what the local indie film scene has to offer. Compared to mainstream stories, these films often deal with pressing issues in society.
Here are the reviews of five films we were able to watch:
ALIPATO AT MUOG
Directed by JL Burgos
It’s a pleasant surprise that what is perhaps the best film of the bunch is a documentary. What isn’t delightful are the circumstances behind its existence.
Alipato at Muog (translation: Flying Embers and a Fortress) is both heartbreaking and infuriating. It challenges those of us who are not involved desaparecidos, or people forced to disappear by the state, to feel the suffering of their families. Through the film we experience the events together with his mother, Edita, and his brother, the director himself. It makes us feel as if activist-farmer Jonas Burgos is our own brother, and that we have been looking for him for almost twenty years.
It is distressing, to say the least, to see the military personnel responsible for the disappearance walking free and even rising in rank as the family hunts down one after the other. Animation is used sparingly to convey the dark thoughts that permeate their minds about what may have happened to Jonas.
Director JL Burgos said through the film and in the post-screening talkback that this is all about seeking the truth. After the countless reports, articles, court files and documents that have already emerged to solve the case, what will it take for the truth to emerge? This movie demands answers; it requires action with a loud cry.
BALOTA
Director: Kip Oebanda
Reading the log line of Balota, which follows a pollster who exposes the reality of the Philippines’ dirty elections, you’d expect a “serious indie film” – and it certainly hits some of those beats – but this one surprisingly has an overall in-your-face satirical show.
Here we see Marian Rivera taking on the role of a beautiful activist turned teacher and pollster named Emmy. As a major star, Rivera is so famous that she doesn’t always disappear convincingly into the role, but she still injects a distinct flavor of fierce and idiosyncratic into it. Supporting her is a strong ensemble, including Sue Prado, Joel Saracho, Sassa Gurl and Royce Cabrera.
While entertaining, much of it feels anachronistic and evokes 1920s sensibilities, even though the story is set in 2007 and is loosely based on actual stories of violence during that year’s elections. Accurate one-liners and exaggerated character traits are a nod to an informed, contemporary audience that already knows the Philippine elections are a sham.
It seems like director Kip Oebanda wants to create a cathartic adventure where a strong woman is supported by queer activists and a committed, fed-up community that will fight corrupt politicians – as campy, surreal and fantastical as it may be. The tone is completely different from what you would expect from a socio-political Cinemalaya film about a violent, flawed election, so perhaps you can chalk this critical review up to poorly managed expectations. Young adults in the crowd resonated with it, perhaps reflecting a frustration with the state of our elections that many would like to see on screen.
GULAY LANG, MANONG
Directed by BC Amparado
For a fun and even riotous viewing experience, this is the film to watch. It’s the perfect mix of entertaining stoner comedy and a heartfelt treatise on the unfair perception of medical marijuana. It also touches on how farmers are not valued enough and agriculture is a thankless source of income.
Controversial for obvious reasons, Gulay Lang, Manong provides just enough insight into the lives of the colorful characters that the events unfold naturally – from Ranzel as the easy-going, weed-selling little person to Perry Dizon as the honest greengrocer who takes care of his stoner grandson. Cedrick Juan plays the narcissistic cop (so frustratingly attractive) well as his character falls by the wayside of a dysfunctional police system.
Although the film is an absolute riot and the ideal conversation starter for discussions surrounding the legalization of medical forms of drug use, the struggle of farmers is depicted very subtly. It is seen in small trials that reflect a larger reality: a competitive market, negligent haggling, the fragility of the products.
The casting, screenplay and soundtrack are all brilliant. New director BC Amparado and the entire production can be proud of this remarkable film. It manages to destigmatize cannabis while portraying the reality of an unfair world. A true gem in this edition of Cinemalaya.
HEARING
Directed by Lawrence Fajardo
The way everything plays out The hearing feels rough, disjointed, alienating. First-person point-of-view shots place the audience front and center, showing the characters’ various struggles with language barriers, communication breakdowns, and searching for meaning in the faces of others.
This uneasy flow of interactions describes the experience of Lucas, a deaf-mute boy who has to testify in court that he was raped by the pastor. The film deftly takes on the sensitive nature of the central conflict by questioning the lack of real, smooth communication in our society in general. Characters with standard hearing slog through unnatural-sounding legal language used in the courtroom, enduring the blatant dismissal of their thoughts by an indifferent spouse or a strict religious neighbor.
If the bureaucracy of the current system is annoying to the average person, how much more so to a deaf-mute in a country that has no support for people with disabilities? This film tackles these issues effectively.
Enzo Osorio as Lucas is devastatingly expressive, his confrontational eyes piercing through the boredom of silences. Ina Feleo’s sign language teacher and interpreter has her own struggles that serve as bookends to this moving story, while Mylene Dizon as a mother is just as painfully raw to watch as she does everything she can to support her son. If the progression of this film feels rough, it’s because the characters’ experiences are such, making this a difficult film to sit through, albeit for good reason.
KONO BASHO
Directed by Jaime Pacena II
Kon Basho is a healthy Filipino take on Japanese cinema in the style of Hirokazu Koreeda (known for films like Sample And our little sister). It’s the gentlest, kindest film of the bunch, highlighting the beauty of the environment as the characters try to connect and heal. Particular use is made of record keeping, with short video montages of crashing waves and rebuilt houses that have a calming and almost cathartic quality, a testament to artist and debut director Jaime Pacena II’s keen eye for still images and art.
Gabby Padilla and Arisa Nakano play half-sisters forced to connect. They shine in their roles as they each reveal and face their inner demons, first alone and then together. One sister has a chip on her shoulder from being abandoned at a young age, while the other sister has mental trauma and codependency from facing disaster at a young age. (The disaster in question is the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that destroyed Rikuzentakata, the city where the film is set.)
It’s not pretty when the two characters try to connect at first. The former’s unwillingness to listen and the latter’s seemingly manipulative self-loathing do not sit well together, a dynamic that is understandably unpalatable to many viewers. But they get through it.
For the two girls and the slowly recovering city they find themselves in, grief and memories are an endless cycle that comes in waves, sometimes large and compelling, sometimes rough and frightening. The best parts are when the water finds a peaceful calm. Kon Basho is a pleasant film that takes the audience on a journey to find that peace.
