#51: Life of Pi

I have given you two stories. Which story do you prefer?

12 March 2013

#51: Life of Pi

Directed by Ang Lee

Starring Gautam Belur (Pi, age 6), Ayush Tandon (Pi, age 13), Suraj Sharma (Pi, age 16), Irrfan Khan as the adult Pi, Tabu (Gita Patel, Pi’s mother), Adil Hussain (Santosh Patel, Pi’s father), Ayan Khan (Ravi, Pi’s older brother age 7), Mohammed Abbas Khaleeli (Ravi, age 15), Vibish Sivakumar (Ravi, age 18), Gerard Depardieu (the Cook), Po-Chieh Wang (Sailor), Rafe Spall (Writer/Yann Martel), Shravanthi Sainath (Anandi), Andrea Di Stefano (Priest)

Screenplay by David Magee

Produced by Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark

I have never read the book but as I saw its title on the bestseller’s list when I was twelve, I thought it was about a man who was named after Pi, the mathematical symbol and thought it was a book about that. After a great interest in this year’s Oscar list (in which I notice all of them are about two hours long), I found myself immersed in this film’s trailer alone, wondering what the experience was to watch this, and then catch up with the book afterwards.

It is one of the greatest cinematic experiences I’ve ever enjoyed in years. The film begins as a writer played by Rafe Spall (One Day, Prometheus) visits Pi Patel after being referred to him by his uncle to tell him of the incredible story of his life. At this point, Pi is played by Irrfan Khan (New York, I Love You) as an adult. He looks at the writer with doubt but proceeds with telling him the story of his youth.

Piscine Molitor Patel was apparently named after a famous French swimming pool in which his uncle considers to be the cleanliest swimming pool he’s ever been on. But as he grows up in the French district of India, he changes his name to “Pi” after being teased as “Pissing Pi” and automatically becomes a school legend after he explains to everyone in school how his name is related to the mathematical symbol and jots down the entire meaning of the symbol in its numerical order during his first day in Math Class.

His family used to own a zoo, as he tells the writer his fondness for animals. One particular animal has caught his interest, a bengal tiger named Richard Parker. As he attempts to see the tiger eye to eye by handing him a piece of meat with his bare hands, his father runs in angrily telling him that animals are unreasonable beings. “They have no soul and they do not think like we do.” By proving his point, his father an ever reasonable man brings in a goat, ties it on Richard Parker’s cage and within a few minutes Pi and his brother along with their mother witness the tiger devouring goat. He was born a Hindu, but he is also a Catholic and a Muslim. He explains to the writer that “You never know your God until you are introduced to Him.” And that all he’s ever really wanted to do was to love God and to understand him in all three. His faith in God plays a vital role in the story.

Soon his father decides the family must move to Canada since the family business can no longer flourish in India, they set off for Winnipeg, Canada on the ship called Tzimtzum, a Japanese Freight ship along with all their owned animals. The only noted scene where Gerard Depardieu appears is when the family gets their meal. Since they are all vegetarians, Pi’s mother requests to get a vegetarian meal but the cook (Depardieu) continuously prepares rice/porridge, sausages, with gravy and garnish on top. Pi’s father takes rage on the cook insisting that they be given proper food. But the cook reminds them that he cooks for sailors, not zoo owners. Thus the entire family feed on rice and gravy on top. Later on while the whole family is asleep, Pi wakes up to a noise he hears from outside. He tries to awaken his brother but he refuses to wake up. He steps out of their cabin and sees that there is a storm outside. Several of their animals are released, two Toucans and a struggling zebra among others. He admires the storm, watching the marvelous waves struck against each other. Up until he witnesses one of the crew members fall into the ocean and half of the ship being devoured completely by the ocean. His instincts tell him to rescue his family, in which he attempts to do. He goes back into the cabin and we are sent into a 3D masterpiece of including the usual setting when one gets into the water, where all sound is mute and desolate. I admired this part, because although I didn’t see this on 3D, I felt Pi’s panic when he jumped into the water to attempt to rescue his family. Though he searched deep into the ship, he was not able to find them. He swims back out, still in search of his family, but he is immediately taken by a crew member to take the lifeboat. A panicked Zebra jumps into the Lifeboat and the cook and Pi falls into the water.  But Pi swims back up and gets into the lifeboat.

After the storm he finds himself in the lifeboat with an injured zebra, and riding on a net filled with bananas is an orangutan they named Orange Juice. Pi asks Orange Juice where her baby is but the orangutan just gives him a smug. Out of the blue a spotted hyena emerges from beneath the lifeboat’s tarp and taunts Pi. Pi swings the boar at the hyena but it spots the injured Zebra. With all the occupants of the lifeboat starving from seasickness, the hyena attacks the Zebra and then later on attacks Orange Juice which immediately rages Pi. Suddenly the tiger Richard Parker emerges from the tarp and attacks the hyena. Pi immediately thinks he might be next and so he swings the boar at the tiger. Richard Parker takes his swing at Pi and throws him off the boat. The next few scenes I won’t reveal but all I can say is that the only animal left is the tiger.

He adopts several survival plans, attempts to outwit Richard Parker but fails, and oftentimes succeeds. A scene in which they finally share the boat is remarkable, both cinematic and story-wise.

 

I have found myself asking if it is possible for a man and an animal to communicate in this way. The relationship between two survivors are evident: they have to stick with each other so they can both survive. When Pi attempts to steal the boat from Richard Parker after hunting for fishes, he suddenly finds himself caught in a situation on whether to trust his instincts or to stick with his conscience. This animal did somehow save his life earlier. And so they both stick with each other, even after discovering a floating island that literally gives meaning to the term Virgin Island. On their 227th day of being shipwrecked, they land in Mexico where they both part ways, almost half dead.

But what Pi couldn’t understand, and even us the audience could not understand at this final moment between the two is when Richard Parker walks, away from the boat, without even looking back at Pi, but stops before he jumps into the jungle. He stops for a moment, and you would expect him to look back, but he doesn’t. Pi tells the writer how devastated he is when Richard Parker just left him there by the shore. When he is rescued by the villagers, he cries out loud, not because of hunger, but because of the pain this tiger has left him.

Yet another heartbreaking part of this story is added, when Japanese investigators visit him in the hospital for the ship’s insurance. Since he is the only living survivor of the ship, he is asked of how the ship sank and how he survived. But as he tells them of the story which includes the animals, his family sleeping in their cabins, lost away into the depths of the sea, none of them believes this. And so, Pi makes up a story, a less fantastic account of sharing the lifeboat with his mother, a Buddhist sailor with a broken leg, and the cook. The cook kills the sailor in order to eat him and use him as bait. His mother later struggles with the cook and pushes him to a smaller raft and the cook stabs her and she falls overboard. He returns to the lifeboat and kills the cook. The writer notices the comparison between two stories: Pi’s mother is the orangutan, the cook is the hyena, the zebra was the sailor, and Richard Parker the tiger was Pi himself. Pi asks the writer which story he prefers, with doubt and cynicism one would chose the second, but the writer attempts to mask his doubt and tells Pi that he prefers the story with the tiger in it because “it is a better story”. Pi grins back at him to which he responds “And so it goes with God.” The writer asks if he doesn’t mind that he use that story, Pi tells him that the story is his, it’s up to him to do whatever with it. As the writer glances back at the insurance report and sees that they have written in their report that Pi survived with an adult Bengal Tiger for 227 days.

Suraj Sharma’s performance as the 16-17 year old Pi Patel is remarkable, especially in parts wherein he had to react with the tiger. I haven’t seen any of his works yet but his performance is astonishing, one must look forward to the part in which he weeps upon killing a fish, and although he is supposedly hungry and tired, him making up the second story while weeping in parts that needs weeping to is just impressive.

It was perhaps a good decision to adapt the film into mostly 3D effects to capture that poetic, and epic masterpiece in which most scenes had to be shot in water. I must read the book to get some facts straightened up. A must-see movie for fans of the book, for those who like Action and Adventure, and for those who plan to go back to their faith in God.

Lone Auteur

Been here last night. I’ve been invited here before but due to the location of the venues (last year I think it was at B-Side in Makati) I never went. But thankfully, since I now live in Quezon City I had no other reason not to go. And so I went alone and took the pedicab from home to Freedom Bar. The event, which is organized by the University of the Philippines Cineaste Studios, the country’s first film related organization.

I was looking forward to the silent film competition called “Haute Auteur Silent Video Competition 2013″ and last night was when the winner for the said competition was announced.

Apparently since I had somewhere else to go by 11pm I left at 9:30 but was satisfied with what I saw among the finalist in the Silent Video competition.

One of my favorites would have to be Ramon Raquid’s Figures which features a guy brushing his teeth but this would appear as “figures” due to the Solarized format of the  video.

I had one free beer and saw a long time friend along with her boyfriend who was one of the finalists. I wasn’t able to meet Radioactive Sago Project but I was satisfied that I went and at least try to enjoy every bit of ht show.

Good luck to all finalists.

Baybayin: The Palawan Script

Baybayin poster, courtesy of http://Baybayinalive.blogspot.com

 

Baybayin: The Palawan Script

Written and directed by Aureaus Solito

Music and Sound by Diwa De Leon

Starring Alessandra and Assunta de Rossi, Adrian Sebastian and Sue Prado

 

Alba and Alban are half sisters who share the same name when written in “Baybayin” (which I’ve learned was incorrectly referred as “Alibata” but is known as the Tagalog/Filipino Script). Alba’s father is Canadian, while Alban’s father is a Palawan who died a few years back due to malaria. Their mother is a healer who at the beginning of the film cures a young boy named Bagtik from being sick and possessed. Upon being cured, Bagtik decides to never speak again and chooses to write in Baybayin as a means of communication for the rest of his life.

Alba and Alban form a friendship with Bagtik and they grow a fondness for him and his innocent ways. Their mother and their father notice this and had once talked about how their friendship might be like an old fable about two sisters falling in love with one man. A few months later, their mother dies from Malaria. As a tradition in the Palawan culture, when a family member dies the family left behind must leave their home and build a new one elsewhere, so that they can leave the past and move on. Alban being the oldest is left with her relatives, while Alba is taken by her Canadian father.

A few years later, Alban and Bagtik are now older, played by Assunta de Rossi and Adrian Sebastian. Their fondness has bloomed into love and so they decide to live with each other. Assunta picks the spot at her former childhood home, a lovely spot beside the shore and a shoreline that connects their home to the other island, which seemed to be traced by God Himself.

Alba is now played by Assunta’s real life sister, Alessandra de Rossi, who also played a part in Solito’s Busong. She is now clad in modern clothes and speaks Tagalog more fluently than Palawan. She makes a stop first by a relative’s birthday party wherein she meets a soldier who introduces himself to her. This man is played by Mon Confiado who reprises his role as, well, a promising villain. Alba ignores his attempts to woo her and he seems to be dissatisfied by this. On the evening of her stay, he attempts to rape her but she manages to fight back and run away into the forest. In the forest she is found by an old friend who takes her to her sister.

What I don’t like much about previous Filipino films is that when there is a necessary shot in the forest, especially at night, you will anticipate a fight with the darkness. You will be left clueless as to why there is a scene in the forest although there is nothing you could see. Independent and mainstream cinema has improved and we can now see into the dark spaces, unless it is a required technique that everything has to be dark and the acting is really blah.

 

Unless the projector used is really dull, I assure you that although some scenes were shot during dawn or at night, you can see that the acting (especially the locals) is really natural. I was worried at first that I might not see Alessandra properly making her way out of the forest, but I was not disappointed. The “innocent” love scenes between Alban and Bagtik are also impressive. Since it is told in the movie that Palawans do not kiss but rather they feel each other’s presence, and that is enough. It felt romantic and important, not cynically depressing.

The people’s love for tradition and their island is not always evident in all places. This pretty much describes our whole country in general. While others strive to protect our Indigenous people, others are blinded by what money, modernism and image can do. Aureaus succeeds in showing us the beauty of own country, our own traditions, our own language, and that love is innocent and kind, if that is what this movie attempts to show us about.

Mon Confiado’s character along with the American tourist and his stout, colonial-mentality infused wife help make the movie real, by trying to steal this Paradise from its caretakers. There is one scene in which Mon and his troop find their way into the elders’ ceremony and steal their gongs just because he heard that the gongs are expensive when sold and that the sound of these have irritated him for the past three years.

The de Rossi sisters are effective as Alba and Alban. I have never heard of them being in love with one man in real life but if they have been able to translate it to the film quite convincingly. They are both known to be loud and outspoken in real life but they have a way of being their exact opposites in the films they star in. Not that I am offended by them being chosen in this role. I was actually excited to see them act together again. They are effective as a team, along with Adrian Sebastian, because they understand each other. A normal person, let’s say that person has been brought up in values of this dog-eat-dog world, would not allow this situation to happen. But since Alba understands that Alban and Bagtik have been taught growing up that this kind of situation happens. That kind of innocence and naivety can exist. This kind of idea may sound threatening to most of us, but the three makes it seem harmless. That as long as love exists, in both sisters and their love for one man, and their love for cultures and traditions, it doesn’t really matter.

Sinister (2012)

There is an absolute difference in watching Horror movies at home or at the cinema. At home, you can reduce the illusion caused by our vision to perceive the images as real by simply putting the lights on. And of course you can always have the opportunity of controlling the remote to push fast forward. If you happen to find a horror film on cable, and you either saw the incomplete part of it then most likely the effect of it isn’t there. When you’re in a theatre and you choose to sit at the farthest, there’s unlikely chance of you perceiving that illusion of a visual.

I will not contest with you to be an avid fan of horrors or suspense. There is an entirely different ground to that and I don’t think I am in the position to tell you how to watch something. But here’s a quick review on the suspense horror film directed by Scott Derrickson whose body of work include The Exorcism of Emily Rose. He also co-wrote this with C. Robert Cargill.

At first I thought this would be yet another Oren Peli film because at this point the use of family and handy cam videos are getting on my nerves. It is however an excellent gateway to a perfect horror film. It may all lie in how well the film would be executed, in which it should be in it’s raw format the way Paranormal Activity was first introduced.

But then again this isn’t an Oren Peli film.

The story is about a true crime author Ellison who moves into a house that was once vacated by a family mysteriously killed while their daughter has been missing. Ellison is played by Ethan Hawke who, apart from acting, is a writer in real life. Upon moving he discovers a box filled with home videos each dated apart and goes as far back as the late 60′s. His kids are young and his wife worries that they might be living in yet another blood-bathed home but Ellison denies this with the hopes of getting the bestseller story he needs for his family’s future.

He begins his research on the missing girl, Stephanie, but gets curious about the videos on the box. He sets up the projector and begins to watch a seemingly wonderful family hanging out in the backyard. A few minutes later, with the film being cut directly to the horrific ending.

During his investigation, Ellison gets help from an unlikely fan whom names himself as Deputy So and So played by James Ransone . He  may be the only one who should be providing parts of the connection between all the family videos and the disappearance of Stephanie and all the other kids and his part in the movie is enough to feed us information on how the movie will then progress. But no, apparently the entity that Ellison chooses to put the blame on is a goon called Mr. Boogie.

Cheesy. But that’s not all.

A sign shows up on all the videos and voila, it’s a pagan story. Mr Boogie apparently is also known as Bughuul.

I was horrified as I got out of the cinema. To be honest I even had a bad dream after watching this. It’s not as scary as a black and white silent horror film or Suspiria but I was taken by the time a figure had appeared in the pool. (That’s it. That’s the end of the details) I was impressed by the timing of the suspense scenes in this, I have to say though I got bored during the parts wherein drama had to be added to show tension in Ellison’s family, the ending was something I had already expected but I guess I was too excited to even pay attention to the movie poster to realize something important in the film I did not expect that person to do that.

All in all, I appreciate the fact that I was scared. Whether it was because of that other boy in the box, or all the dead families. The timing as I had mentioned was good. Its just that when all the kids had to be revealed it wasn’t that scary anymore (again, depends on you) additional pagan insights were full of shit but probably relevant in some way but not a really fun way to add it on the movie just to prove that everything has to have a reason. Everything that’s added to have a reason is no longer scary but anyway, you guys already had me scared even before that part.

Ang Nawawala (what isn’t there)

Marie Jamora might be best known for her wonderful direction of music videos for Imago, Sandwich, Urbandub and that Eraserheads MV for their song Maskara (Well at least in our household she’s known for that.) and other local bands in the industry. It is evident that she likes to play with lights and sounds in her debut film for this year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival called Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There), this film definitely deserves the Audience Choice Award & Best Original Music (New Breed Full Length Feature).

Ang Nawawala is an eye-candy hipster bred film. That is to describe it in a few words. But in more than a few, it has that feel of a thesis film come true, being shown in a full length feature. When you take a vow of silence, like the film’s main character, Gibson Bonifacio has done since he was ten, and you just want to tell the world everything without losing someone, and something of yourself, you can always turn to music and photography to gain back that “voice”.

Gibson has returned to Manila after his studies abroad. Now twenty years old, he and his family and friends have yet to deal with an enduring past that has kept him silent for ten years. Being confined in his room, he begins to talk to his twin brother, Jamie, which seems like he is the only one Gibson talks to for ten years.

His mother also seems to have been hurt by this past, yet his entire family has tried best to keep everything together.

Gibson has been able to escape this estranged feeling with his family by being introduced by his closest friend Teddy to the local art and music scene. He is also introduced to a pixie-sized femme named Enid who is interested in his “mysterious” silence which paves way for her to try and forget an ex-boyfriend.

Through music, photographs, vintage records and unsaid words, the two begin to develop an unfleeting relationship towards each other. Without fully divulging the nature of the Bonifacio family’s story, the film sends us back to that past that has changed all of their lives entirely through excellent use of camera moves and takes.

The soundtrack helps as well. It actually seemed to have made a huge impact on the film because, well, not to spoil it this much, but the characters were somewhat related to music or closely related to music. Not only did they have the best local bands to help out (Itchyworms, Cambio, Sandwich, The Strangeness, Ang Bandang Shirley, Hannah + Gabi to name a few), the use of vintage OPM sounds. (I will edit this post once I get a DVD copy of the film. I was so enthused when they played these on the film.) One thing to note and to have you look forward to are a few Eraserheads songs that were TIMELY(yes, I mean it) featured in the film. Another thing to note of are the vintage and modern cameras that cameo’d in the film.

The elemental kilig of making first love a memorable experience was effectively captured on film. The film may be a bit on the verge of being too young, and too thesis-like. Which isn’t bad for a first featured full length film for people who cherish music in this way. But it’s the kind of thesis film that you would want to watch all over again just because of it’s eye-candiness. There is however something missing in it’s story entirely.  On both the family and the romance side of the film.

Starring Dominic Rocco as Gibson, his twin brother in real life Felix Rocco as his twin brother Jamie, the lovely Dawn Zulueta in her first indie film as their mother, Apo Hiking Society’s Buboy Garovillo as their father, and Annicka Dolonius as the wittingly sexy Enid.

A film about family, first love, getting lost in a trance of wonderful music, and a clear visual of Edsa at night and during Christmas, the young music-lover in us has a voice in this film. I would watch it again, give it a rate of 3.6/5, and keep it in my book of Great Soundtrack films. Catch this soon on dvd, or for local screenings, visit it’s website at http://www.angnawawala.com

Paranormal Activity 3

30 October 2011

Directors by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman surely have had to up the ante in the third installment of this home-video-horror. Set 18 years prior to the first two films, wherein we trace back where the “activities” begun, I expected this to be a bore.

But alas, I was proved wrong.

True to its form of providing us that raw experience of horror, the film starts like how every horror ride begins. Katie and her younger sister Kristi reunite during Kristi’s pregnancy. Katie delivers a box of home videos to her which ends up being mysteriously burglarized a year later in Kristi and her husband David’s home.

We’re then switched to go backwards to 1988, a young Katie and Kristi live with their mother Julie and her boyfriend Dennis, who makes a living out of video coverages of weddings, parties, and the like. Dennis notices a strange noise one evening and then plans to videotape the entire evening on both his and Julie’s room and the kids’. He then finds a footage of Kristi waking up in the middle of the night talking to an invisible entity.

Like the previous Activities, Dennis videotapes the next few evenings and a couple more strange occurrences are caught on tape including a creepy take on the Bloody Mary game. From strange demons lurking in the closet to the most scariest add-ons to a horror flick: creepy single women cult, Paranormal Activity 3 is scarier than the first, much more sensible than the second.

A Very, Very Long Post (A Late Contribution to the Late Tioseco’s Wishful Thinking for Philippine Cinema) Part 1

7 September 2011

I wish more non-filmmakers from the Philippines would get to travel to festivals.

And in this time when pinoy indie films were filled mostly with gay (almost on the brink of pornography) films, it’s still refreshing to find more and more filmmakers who not only produce and create films that visualize the human sensuality but also several works that depict the human condition.

It is not a secret that most mainstream filipino films are mostly comedies. You can’t really blame Mother Lily or Star Cinema for that. They seem to have this idea in their mind that Filipinos love a good laugh. What they don’t seem to realize is that this repetitive formula has left most moviegoers from inside the cinemas to purchasing ten pesos worth of its bootlegged version (yes, in the infamous Quiapo Cinematheque mostly and/or at the local bangketa) because after all, once you begin the summary of it’s plot as something that goes like “..Boy meets Girl in this place. They play coy at one another by playing hard to get. Another event leads them to meet each other again.. They fall in love, turns out a huge unrelenting twist is placed, thus depicting The Climactic point, they regain their love and voila! they end up marrying each other.. or they end up tragically apart due to another twist that will only leave the audience overly confused and insulted because they spent an hour and forty-five minutes of nothing but cheesiness and desperation to sell actors.”

I regret to say that I used to be a part of the 75% who hates watching even mainstream pinoy movies in a theatre. When I was even younger I pictured myself to be a female version of Quentin Tarantino (during his younger, hair-filled days) who spends most of the earnings just to watch films. The first filipino film I saw in a theatre was the 1999 film Pepeng Agimat. At nine years old, I remember hating the effects (“it’s trying hard to feel like a hollywood blockbuster film!”), hating the way the cinematographer loves the dark too much that the fight scenes seemed like boys playing around in costumes. Since then I just hated the experience and felt that filipino films would be just like that: a plot that’s got repetitive formula, uncanny twists, and very predictable acting and script. I know, it’s hard to make a film. But wouldn’t it be worth it if you’re making something sensible for the masses?

And so here I am, Princess Kinoc, a non-filmmaker, couch potato, cinema lover, and well, author of this blog about anything under the tree is so glad to have finally experienced a film festival that fits my busy work schedule. As a first time attendee to the Cinemalaya, a Philippine [independent] film festival, I was able to get to know this other side of the world where I feel that I belong. Several other cinephiles have come together to watch, criticize, be amazed at this year’s latest contributions to the Philippine Cinema by the country’s best, most courageous directors, writers and producers.

I saw this film by myself..

#368: San Lazaro (6 August 2011) was one of the first NETPAC entries I’ve ever seen in the UPFI that was included as a NetPac selection for Cinemalaya 2011. Being familiar with the names Wincy Aquino Ong (he’s in a band called Us-Two-Evil-O) who directed and co-starred the film, and Ramon Bautista (internet superstarrrr, he frequents music videos by Radio Active Sago Project and one very funny video from Tuesday Vargas), I was interested to find out what the film was about. THE RESULT is a horror film that slips away from norm. It’s funny and scary at the same time, but although it’s not the type that would leave you shaking in the night, it’s a story that would leave you thinking and laughing for days. The special effects are actually good, like the cringing worms in Bubuy’s cheeks and the bathtub scene (well I guess that scene was perfectly orchestrated by the actor Nicco Manalo) was just genius. People who saw this as well at the University of the Philippines’ Film Institute kept saying that it was like a Film Student’s thesis project. I didn’t exactly felt that but maybe it depends with your perspective of a film student’s work. Mine’s one that was shot using a very old digital camera shooting most of the scenes in the woods and then gets lost and dies along the way until a group of campers picks up his camera and releases it to a local  blockbuster producer.

I was not disappointed with this film. The characters are well created, the script is very rich with geek paraphernalia, the cameos are well crafted as well. I enjoyed Eli Buendia’s take on an investigator filled with doubts, Bianca King apparently is a good actress as she plays Cheska, the girl with the split persona. All the other cameos include Kean Cipriano who plays a cocky gym instructor who I still think should act and never come back to singing. The film has heart, cares for its viewers by rocking us back and forth from reality to the past, even while one of its main characters is suffocating from a choke. If you’re interested in watching a horror flick that’s purely pinoy and original, you better get your hands on a copy of this film.

#367: Busong (Palawan Fate) is another one that I’ve seen before San Lazaro. Amazed by the beauty of the film and it’s depth that had taken me a while to understand, I am just proud that it won the  FIPRESCI prize at the Eurasia Film Festival. This award was the same prize that the film Purple Rose of Cairo won back in 1985.

#344: Patayin sa Shokot Si Remington (Sep 4) is another NetPac film that everyone seems to have been waiting for (me included). Written by Raymond Lee (All My Life, Milan..), It’s continuous commercialized trailers, bus posters and movie posters makes me feel excited to see an indie film being shared to everyone of every age and “cinematic understanding”. I’ve laughed out loud and kept mindful of every gay lingo muttered in this film. This film’s got heart and it is mindful of it’s audiences. Although in the end it did have that formulaic twist, it was in a way a better ending than just to leave everyone in the cast swamped by gay zombies. The best part was to have to sit through the premier seating of an SM Cinema, although it was a Saturday and only the premier seats were filled, to laugh along with the audience that wasn’t filled with film enthusiast or directors but normal people who came there to get a good movie experience. It’s main cast Martin Escudero who plays Remington, a young man who was cursed by a grieving gay (played by icon Roderick Paulate) when he was young for mocking almost every gay in their town. I had no idea he could act that well. He was just so convincing with the part. Same goes to his co-stars Lauren Young and Kerbie Zamora. Lauren, who does all the crying in an afternoon drama plays the role of Remington’s love interest amazingly speaks in straight tagalog and is just as confused as Remington about how she feels about him. Kerbie on the other hand plays the tall, dark, and handsomely charming bestfriend of Remington.

I also loved John Regala’s performance. His inclusion in the twist is a bit predictable but the outcome is just superb. Zombadings I is not only a testament that small productions can carry itself just as well as long as it’s got a story that’s true and original, but it’s also a testament that people don’t want to sit through the same thing all over and over again.

For Alexis Tioseco’s Wishful Thinking for Philippine Cinema, click here

#336: Gigantic

11 September 2011

I was excited to get my hands on a copy of this film by Matt Aselan which stars Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, Ed Asner, and John Goodman. I haven’t heard of this until I stumbled upon a synopsis of this film thru wikipedia.

The plot is simple and very interesting: A mattress salesman plans to adopt a chinese baby. Although he’s applied to get one several times, he never gets qualified. His plans to adopt is temporarily set aside once a quirky woman arrives in the mattress shop to pay for the bed her father chooses to buy. After paying, the woman takes a nap on the bed. Soon they begin a casual affair, although as you find me typing in the words ‘casual affair’ and perhaps several images of meet-cutes in the park stream in your mind, these scenes are quite few in the film. Not that I want that conventional Hollywood rom-com thing wherein the lovers go everywhere hoping to make us feel all giggly. There’s a few of that in this film. So few that I was hoping for a breakthrough.

Brian Weathersby is the mattress salesman, played by Paul Dano in a pokerfaced babyface fashion. His face is mostly in a bit of a smug accompanied by wonder in a low-key performance. He’s often being attacked by a homeless man played by Zach Galifianakis, one time using a pipe and the other shoots him during a hunting trip. Their last encounter is in a fist fight which ends up as Brian stabs the homeless man. The homeless man disappears, making us understand that everything is just a figment of Brian’s imagination but leaves him in a beaten up state.

Zooey Deschanel plays Harriet/Happy Lolly, the girl who finds herself comforted by the mattress she pays for for her father. She lives a privileged life with her father, and works with her sister who’s a host at a local show. Deschanel’s performance is as usual fresh and quirky but unpredictable.

The film also stars Jane Alexander and Ed Asner as Brian’s parents who both live upscale outside of the city. Mr. Weathersby is somewhat cool and very unconventional. John Goodman plays Al Lolly, Happy’s father who refuses to pay the extra delivery charges after purchasing the $14,000 mattress. Both wealthy parents appear to be very unusually supportive.

This movie is very.. very… boring in a sense that you would still want to watch it just to find out why things happen in the film. If I might add the part at the beginning wherein Brian’s friend, a gerbil scientist, experiments with mice swimming in a tank. According to a review I read by Stephen Holden from the NY Times, this is Aselton suggesting that this is his approach to the world, as a scientist examining a species under stress. Reading this made the film a whole lot sensible. In a way, Gigantic isn’t just a blunt comedy trying to make a point but showing us that generational misunderstanding isn’t just about a film with kids on a rebel against their parents.

 

Writer’s Block

Or rather, TYPER’s block, eh?

Alright. So this crowd doesn’t enjoy such jokes.I’m about to publish several 500 films post. Just to give you an update, here are the recent films I’ve seen.

— 7 September 2011.. I’ll be adding the list from films 397 to 366

#397: A Clockwork Orange (July 1)
#396: Funny People (July 1)
#395: The Break Up (July 2)
#394: Pearl Harbor (July 3)
#393: Monte Carlo (July 3)
#392: To Catch a Thief (July 4)
#391: Before Sunset (July 5)
#390: Home for the Holidays (July 7)
#389: Toy Story 3 (July 8 )
#388: The Incredibles (July 9)
#387: Guys and Dolls (July 9)
#386: Burn After Reading (July 9)
#385: Date Night (July 10)
#384: Love and Other Drugs (July 11)
#383: Going the Distance (July 11)
#382: Salt (July 11)
#381: Let Me In (July 11)

#380: The Merry Gentleman (July 14)
#379: Along Came Polly (July 17)
#378: Daybreakers (July 17)
#377: Iron Man 2 (July 17)
#376: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 23)
#375: All About Steve (July 24)
#374: Cars (July 24)
#373: Post Grad (July 25)
#372: Mary and the Secret Garden (July 31)
#371: Interview with the Vampire (July 31)
#370: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (July 31)
#369: The Good Girl (July 31)
#368: San Lazaro (Aug 2)
#367: Busong (Aug 3)
#366: Under the Tuscan Sun (Aug 3)
#365: Carrie (Aug 3)
#364: Once (Aug 4)
#363: Thank You for Smoking (Aug 6)
#362: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Aug 5)
#361: Maid in Manhattan (Aug 6)
#360: Shadow of A Doubt(Aug 8 )
#359: The Birds (Aug 10)
#358: My Giant (Aug 10)
#357: Superbad (Aug 10)
#356: Goodfellas (Aug 11)
#355: Nowhere to Hide (Aug 11)
#354: Magnifico (Aug 14)
#353: Inglorious Basterds (Aug 14)
#352: Crazy, Stupid, Love (Aug 20)
#351: MacGruber (Aug 21)
#350: Scott Pilgrim VS The World (Aug 22)
#349: Pan’s Labyrinth (Aug 22)
#348: Apt Pupil (Aug 23)
#347: Dear Manang, I Love You (Aug 25)
#346: Being There (Aug 28)
#345: The Virgin Suicides (Sep 3)
#344: Patayin sa Shokot Si Remington (Sep 4)
#343: You Again (Sep 4)
#342: Dahil Sa’Yo (Sep 5)
#341: Hindi Sa Atin Ang Buwan (Sep 5)
#340: Ex Press (Sep 5)
#339: Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution (Sep 5)

#352: Crazy, Stupid, Love

20 August 2011

As I’ve promised myself when I saw the [short] sneak peak of this film on HBO’s Movie review stint, I am very much happy to say that I have just seen this film.

I haven’t had enough sleep to stretch the nerves of my brain on a smart film. And lately, I have been feeling a bit depressed to either talk to myself or listen to any advise anyone can give about anything. So, I settled to watch (and pay..) for something whose plot I read at the movie board and summary I’ve seen in HBO to be just simple and charming.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is a film that I would agree to be refreshing, irrational, cute, funny, a bit witty, and would most likely be a favorite among the popular kids these days. It’s film begins with Julianne Moore and Steve Carrell as Emily and Cal Weaver sitting in restaurant deciding what to eat until one of them breaks the ice and asks for a divorce. The person whose heart had just been torn to pieces and perhaps might spend the week with his kids during weekends would have to be Steve Carrell. Soon after his wife announces she wants to split, he tries to regain himself by leaving the house at night and talk to himself at a bar. He wallows as he imagines and constantly repeats to himself that his wife had just screwed David Lindhagen, her co-worker.

Ryan Gosling’s character Jacob notices Cal and immediately becomes his life guru. He teaches Steve to get up on his Salvatorre Ferragamo shoes and date women so he can move on with his life and on his ex-wife.  Another story builds up a couple of nights before when Jacob sees Hannah (played by Emma Stone) at that same bar. He tries to play the game on her but she seems smart enough to fall for his tricks, and also since she’s in love with a co-lawyer played by Josh Groban. Since he can’t figure out why she seems so different than all the women he’s met, she becomes his impression of a dream girl.
Meanwhile, newcomer actress and former America’s Next Top Model contestant Analeigh Tipton who plays as the babysitter Jessica for the Weaver’s. Apparently, Steve and Julianne’s son is in love with her and constantly bothers her either at school or at home by constantly professing his love for her while admitting to him that she’s in love with someone older and mature.
Anyway, before I’m about to spoil you with everything, I’m gonna stop right here. What I like most about this film is that it consistently brings that fresh perspective on a romantic film. Directed by Glenn Ficara and John Requa (both responsible for I Love You Phillip Morris)and written by Dan Fogelman (responsible for Cars and Tangled). Although Steve Carell and Julianne Moore didn’t exactly seem like the perfect team up, they were alright to represent the roles they were provided with. Steve Carell’s acting makes it a lot more funnier with drama and depression mixed in his face. I should credit Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as well for playing their characters so well that at the back of my mind I couldn’t help but get giggly with it.
I had a couple of laughs while watching this film. Mushy parts are to be expected of course. It kind of reminds me of the pinoy film Got to Believe and it feels like a mash-up as well between that film, Valentine’s Day and any John Hughes film without trying to be John Hughes. I tell you you must watch this film. And bring your parents, too.