Part of 1 of this review set is posted HERE.
Director: Ida Anita Del Mundo
Writer: Ida Anita Del Mundo
K'na (Mara Lopez) is the princess of a T'boli tribe in South Cotabato who had been anointed by her grandmother Be Lamfey (Erlinda Villalobos) as the gods' choice to become the next dreamweaver, someone whose skills in weaving could tell about the dreams of her people. K'na had fallen in love with her friend Silaw (RK Bagatsing). However, her chieftain father (Noni Buencamino) had her betrothed to the son (Alex Medina) of the chief of the northern tribe (Bembol Roco) in an effort to achieve lasting peace.
Admittedly, the story being told by this film was very familiar and common. However, the gorgeous cinematography was the pinnacle achievement of this film. The bright colors of all the fabrics and fibers literally jumped forth from the screen with uncommon brilliance and verve. The way the actors spoke in the mellifluous T'boli tongue made everything sounded very poetic as translated in the subtitles. Lopez and Bagatsing had realistic romantic chemistry, while veterans Buencamino and Villalobos portrayed their roles with ample gravitas. This was the winner of the Special Jury Prize and the best production design (Toym Imao) of the Cinemalaya filmfest 2014. 8/10.
Director: Lemuel Lorca
Writer: Lilit Reyes
Filemon (Junjun Quintana) was a young man with Asperger's syndrome who lived in the sleepy seaside town of Mauban, Quezon. While stressed out by his bizarre behavior, his mother Josefina was very supportive of her son's interest in science, particularly about water levels and climate. His colorful childhood friend Bertha (Meryll Soriano) had a serious crush on him. However, Lemon would rather hang around in the internet cafe run by the sassy Maritess (Alessandra de Rossi) and her kind grandfather Ume (Lou Veloso).
This film was certainly a most charming and entertaining depiction of rural life. The full credit goes to the amazingly dedicated cast of actors gathered together. There were no role too small, everyone gave such effortless performances of real people we see around any Filipino neighborhood. Quintana never deviated from that flat affect and dry delivery of his wordy nerdy lines. Soriano, de Rossi and Veloso gave such delightful quirks to their respective characters. Tomas gave a touching portrayal of a worried mother and longing widow. This film won Best Screenplay (Lilit Reyes), Best Actress (Tomas) and Best Supporting Actor (Veloso) awards of QCinema 2015. 9/10.
Director: Emerson Reyes
Writer: Emerson Reyes
Aling Linda (Ces Quesada) owned a dormitory with some odd tenants. One stormy night, engineering student Charles (Charles Aaron Salazar) was passing his sleeplessness with sexy magazines and eavesdropping to his dorm mates. Bum fine arts student Max (Mas Celada) was with his nurse girlfriend Sheen (Sheenly Gener). Gay businessman Steven (Wowie de Guzman) was with his policeman lover Ramon (Jun Sabayton). Secretive Jenny (Kate Alejandrino) was with her brusque boyfriend Alex (Vandolph Quizon).
This was not an easy movie to get through at first because it seemed so pointless. For maybe the first hour, people were just talking to each other about the most mundane personal stuff. If you are not fond of such voyeuristic pursuits, you could actually zone out of this film completely, save from occasional funny moments. Things only got going for me when Steven and Ramon, then Jenny and Alex entered the scene with their more interesting stories to tell. Everything would then build up to one tension-filled peak, then suddenly end in a way which will shake you up. This film won the Gender Sensitivity award and Best Supporting Actress for Sheen Gener at the QCinema awards of 2017. 4/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment