Mini-Reviews of ROOFMAN and GOOD FORTUNE: Inherent Integrity

October 24, 2025

ROOFMAN

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Writer: Derek Cianfrance, Kirt Gunn

To buy gifts for his daughter, Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) broke into MacDonald's stores through the roof for two years, before he was finally caught and incarcerated. He eventually used his smarts to break out of jail, but still could not see his kids. Meantime, he hid himself in the premises of a Toys R Us store in Charlotte. While bunking there, he noted the plight of single mother employee Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) under her strict manager Mitch (Peter Dinklage).

It was amazing to find out that this new film was loosely based on the criminal activity of a real-life convicted robber named Jeffrey Manchester who escaped prison and actually hid out in a toy store. Throughout its 126 minute run time, writer-director Derek Cianfrance brought us from tearful family drama to violent crime action, which can be jarring. All the while, he still kept things light with an overall comedy flavor, given the toy store setting, the holiday motif, and Peter Dinklage playing Grumpy.

Despite the light general mood, playing Jeffrey Manchester was a tough vehicle for Channing Tatum as an actor, both physically and emotionally. Despite the illegal activities he had perpetrated, Tatum's Jeff remained likable enough that we may even hope he can get away with his crimes and live happily ever after with Leigh. Tatum channeled the vibes of Leonardo di Caprio's Frank Abagnale in "Catch Me If You Can" (2002), but with less sophistication. 7/10

GOOD FORTUNE

Director: Aziz Ansari

Writer: Aziz Ansari

Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) was a lowly angel with small wings, only assigned to alert people who text while driving to prevent accidents. One day, he saves the life of Arj (Aziz Ansari) and was drawn to monitor his unlucky life, taking in any odd jobs just to earn a living. Arj was down and out when lost his PA job with wealthy IT guy Jeff (Seth Rogan). Gabriel sincerely wanted to help Arj work find his own worth, so he broke the angel rules and revealed himself.

Frankly, when I first saw Keanu Reeves with tiny angel wings at the back, I thought this would be childishly corny. However, once I got into its groove in the first act, I was surely get hooked in by Reeve's disarming and delightful aw-shucks innocent charm. Even if he sported the same grim John Wick facial hair here, Reeves' performance as Gabriel was truly endearing, especially in those scenes where he was like a little boy being reprimanded by his superior Martha (Sandra Oh). 

Writer-director Aziz Aznari also stars as Arj in an underdog role that we can all identify with, yet this character definitely also had flaws. Arj may have been a victim at first, but turned out to be quite a jerk himself when the tables were turned. Seth Rogan's Jeff could easily had been the typical heartless rich guy here, but we could see that he was also a good man within. Keke Palmer was charming as labor advocate Elena, Arj's inspiration. 7/10

Review of WALONG LIBONG PISO: A Prickly Price to Pay

October 23, 2025

In 2007, Dante Balboa (Paolo Gumabao) was an up-and-coming actor starring in sexy films produced by Seiko Films with titles like "Karelasyon" and "Kasiping."  He had already received an award for his acting for his very first film. He was regularly being interviewed in TV talk shows. He regularly interacted with his fans online on Friendster. One night, while resting in his room after coming home from a guesting in a TV dance show, Dante received a call on his mobile phone from a fan, a lawyer named Rommel (Edward Solon). 

This film was basically a performance of the original play first staged just last August, caught on camera -- only one actor in one room for an hour and a half straight. Before we reached the main point of the story, first, we had to endure Dante's preening for his mirror, taking a cold shower, macho dancing, watching TV, chatting with his manager, or shouting to his mother. Several scenes were gratuitously sexualized, a queasy watch, definitely not for everyone. Anyhow, the nostalgic references to 2007 -- the bar phones, Friendster, The Buzz, etc. -- were fun to watch. 

Paolo Gumabao was the first actor to play Dante in the stage version, so he should already this part like the back of his hand. But since Dr. Balboa decided to shoot his debut feature in a single long continuous shot, Gumabao also had to get his blockings perfect, especially with his daring scenes. Kudos should also go to Edward Solon, the actor playing Atty. Rommel Gonzaga over the phone, as it was his good-natured and engaging voice that drew Dante in and got his trust. Despite the call being interrupted several times, Dante simply got hooked.

This film began with a disclaimer that any similarities between the characters and events of this film in real life are purely coincidental. However, exactly like the "fictional" Dante, Dr. Dante Balboa (2 PhD degrees -- one in Philippine Literature and one for Tourism and Hospitality) was also actually a professor at FEU in 2007 under his real name Elmer Anisco while also starring in sexy films in the aughts, thus earning him the nickname "The Educated Hunk." We see three movie posters of the real Dante Balboa on the walls of this bedroom. 

Because of this association, it would be fair to surmise that this "fictional" experience of Dante could likely be a real-life experience of Dr. Balboa as a young bold actor caught in the glare of the klieg lights, ripe to be victimized by unscrupulous predators. With his script, Balboa was basically criticizing the superficiality and hypocrisy that was rampant in Philippine showbiz, at least during his time at the turn of the millennium. He also took aim at his own foolishness and carelessness in order to give aspiring actors a fair warning about the blinding lure of fame. 4/10

 

 

Review of EVERYONE KNOWS EVERY JUAN: Sibling Squabbles

October 22, 2025

After the death of Mrs. Juaning Sevilla, her youngest daughter Miraquel (Alessandra de Rossi, age 41) took over the care of the old house with her husband Alfred (JM de Guzman). They had two helpers: the oddball maid Anna (Angeli Bayani), and the gardener Jacob (Kevin Miranda) whom Juaning was very fond of. On the day before her first death anniversary, the day of the town fiesta, her other five older adult children came over for a lunch reunion. 

The eldest was Tupe (Edu Manzano, age 70), a celebrity plastic surgeon with a teenage wife and a pet iguana. Second was Josie (Ruby Ruiz, age 64), a housewife who was now in an affair with a lesbian. Third was Rosalinda (Gina Alajar, age 66), who was currently running for town councilor. Fourth was Ramil (Ronnie Lazaro, age 67), a fanatic member of a religious cult. Fifth was Roel (Joel Torre, age 64), a hot-headed musician, the black sheep who left with their father. 

The scenario of estranged family members getting together after a parent's death is not exactly new. However, as conceptualized by lead star Alessandra de Rossi, she decided to direct this film in only one very long continuous take where the camera was in constant motion following the actors as they move from one location to another. This was certainly an ambitious undertaking for a director in only her second feature film after "My Amanda" in 2021.

De Rossi's cast was a formidable list of illustrious, award-winning dramatic actors. Surely, the continuous shot concept pressured them for perfection, as comedy was out of their comfort zone. There were no cuts. There was no room for error, lest they had to reshoot all over. This was solid ensemble work by the lead and supporting actors, along with the silly cameos (like Jaime Fabregas, Empoy Marquez, Jerald Napoles, Kim Molina).

Overall, watching this film was very entertaining, despite its rough spots in the execution of the continuous shot, like shaky camera, awkward focusing, erratic lighting.  Seeing their zany interactions, while struggling to keep a straight face at the funny jokes, was a lot of laugh-out-loud fun. Being a Pinoy family melodrama at its core, Carlo Enciso Catu's delightfully messy script also had bittersweet sibling confrontations for emotional sentimentality. 7/10

Review of BLACK PHONE 2: Vivid Visions of Victims

October 18, 2025

The original film recounts a series of kidnappings and murders of young boys perpetrated by a mysterious masked man dubbed "The Grabber" in North Denver, Colorado in 1978. Finney Blake (Mason Thames) was abducted by The Grabber and locked in a basement room. He had a sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) who manifested psychic abilities in her dreams.  With the help of the spirits of previous victims, Finney was eventually able to kill The Grabber. 

This sequel happens four years after the events of the first film. Finney was fighting back his bullies at school, while drowning out the trauma of his abduction by smoking weed at night. Gwen was having more vivid dreams in her sleep, where dead children were reaching out and asking her to find them. Ernesto (Miguel Mora), brother of Finney's best friend and Grabber victim Robin, asked Gwen for a date to a Duran Duran concert. 

After that emotional set-up, the more scary things happen when Finney, Gwen and Ernie were stranded at the Alpine Lake Camp by a blizzard. There were only four people left behind there -- camp supervisor Armando (Demian Bichir), his niece Mustang (Arianna Rivas), employee Kenneth (Graham Abbey) and his Bible-thumping wife Barbara (Maev Beaty). Then the ghost of the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) came into the scene to whip up his mayhem.

This was a reunion of the three child actors -- Thames, McGraw and Mora (who played Robin before) from the first movie -- so it was great to see how they have matured in how they look and how they act over the four years since. There was more focus on McGraw in this sequel because it was Gwen who had vivid visions of the missing dead boys. She was also able to talk on the phone with her late mother Hope (Anna Lore) who used to work at the camp.

Totally changing from a true-crime type horror (with limited touches of the paranormal) into an all-out supernatural ghost-story type of horror (with scenes akin to demonic possession) could disappoint fans. The first film was widely-admired for its reality-based tension-building aspects. Since The Grabber was a ghost from the start, we are aware everything in this sequel was automatically supernatural. The flesh and blood threat of the first film trumped that. 5/10

Netflix: Review of THE TIME THAT REMAINS: Constant Champion

October 16, 2025

One night, 88 year old Filomena "Lilia" Reyes (Bing Pimentel) was shot in the abdomen in her home in Baguio City. The ER nurse Isabelle Pineda (Beauty Gonzales) told Ms. Lilia that it was a 30-ish man with long hair brought her, and assumed he was her son. However, the old woman teasingly told her that he was not her son, but her boyfriend Matias (Carlo Aquino). When they got comfortable with each other, Lilia began to tell Isabelle her life story.

This new film, directed and co-written by Adolfo Alix Jr., was mostly set in Baguio City. Lilia's story spanned decades starting from 1941 when the Japanese invaded and she was moved out of Baguio by her parents, and ended in 2018 when she was shot in her home. There were episodes in between, set in 1954, 1960, 1971, 1975, and 1986, when important stages in the epic love story between young Lilia (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) and Matias. 

There was a subplot about a senior policeman Inspector Rafael Angua, Jr. (Bembol Roco, Jr.), nicknamed "The Collector" in his precinct because he never solved a case. Angua suspected that they was dealing with a long cold case of a serial killer whose spree started since 1970s. This was all fine, except that the casting of 71 year-old Roco creates confusion because a scene showed him to be only a small child in the 1970s. 

Another subplot involved Ami (Cristine Reyes), the owner of the Black Cat Tattoo Studio. Her look was all Goth, in keeping with the eerie medieval castle ambience of her place of business. Old Lilia needed two units of type A-positive blood. Matias knew Ami kept blood in bags in her refrigerator, and lo and behold, two units of this supposedly rare blood type was right there in the very front! How she got them was never explained. 

The acting performances of the lead cast could not be faulted, especially Aquino, Pimentel, and the ever-ravishing Curtis-Smith. Aquino was hampered by the ugly wig he had to wear as Matias. He never changed his thick mullet with bowl-cut bangs hairstyle, ever since he was a native warrior during the Spanish era! Because he did not vary his do to fit the times, he was suspiciously distinct, such that Angua even recognized him from a photograph taken in the 1970s.

The locations Alix chose to shoot in were very scenic and appropriate for the story he was telling, from Lilia's beautiful houses in Baguio, the old mansion with the tall corn fields in Batangas, to the hanging coffins of Sagada. It was too bad that he stuck with time-worn cliches -- shapeshifting into a black cat, sleeping in a coffin, melting in the sun, etc... -- for the creature Matias was to be, coming off as unintentionally funny in the process. 5/10

Review of THE KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (2025): Cold and Camp

October 16, 2025

It was 1983 in an Argentina still under a military junta. Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay man working as a window dresser, was imprisoned for doing indecent acts with a minor. In prison, he was assigned to share the cell of political prisoner Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna). To keep the mood light in their cell, Molina told the story of her favorite movie "Kiss of the Spider Woman" starring his favorite actress Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez) in a dual lead role.

This film written and directed by Bill Condon is an adaptation of the 1992 stage musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Terrence McNally. That musical was in turn an adaptation of a 1976 novel by Argentine writer Manuel Puig. The novel had already been adapted into a 1985 dramatic film by Hector Babenco, one of the first LGBTQ-themed films nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor at the Oscars.  William Hurt won as Best Actor.

The two films told basically the same story of the book, with a different spin on the ending. The main difference between the two films was the nature of the movie that Molina was telling Valentin in prison.  In the original movie, it was a wartime love story starring Leni Lamaison (Braga) as the femme fatale girlfriend of a German Nazi officer. Braga also portrayed the titular Spider Woman in a second unrelated story Molina told Valentin on his final night.  

In the new musical version film, the brightly-lit, glossy, and colorful movie scenes looked very different from the actual dark, dank and drab prison scenes. Jennifer Lopez went all out to play the actress Ingrid Luna and her two bombastic characters in the movie -- the alluring magazine publisher Aurora and the legendary village-protector Spider Woman.  Lopez is attracting Oscar buzz again, but this was mostly a song-and-dance performance piece, not much acting.

Another big difference was that the actors playing the cellmates were also playing roles in the Ingrid Luna movie. Tonatiuh played both Molina and Aurora's personal assistant Kendall, while Diego Luna played both Valentin and the dashing photographer Armando. These two actors show off their versatility here in scenes of extremely different nature -- engaging JLo in campy musical numbers, as well as each other in the very serious prison scenes. 7/10

Review of QUEZON: Commonwealth Chameleon

October 13, 2025

This film about Manuel Luis Quezon has been highly-anticipated ever since it was announced as the third film of the "Bayani-verse" trilogy by director Jerrold Tarog. Starting with "Heneral Luna" (2015) and "Goyo" (2018) set during the Philippine Revolution of 1896-98, Tarog's third installment will take a significant time-jump to the 1930s, tackling the story of the rise to power of the charismatic politician who would be elected President of the entire Philippines. 

The present generation of Filipinos have a shallow knowledge about Quezon -- his name, the province and the city named after him, the P20 bill and coin, his advocacy for the Philippine language and the Philippine Commonwealth of which he was the first President. This new biographical film paints a multifaceted portrait of this complex man by detailing the conflicts he had with his contemporary political personalities on the way to the presidency.  

The first conflict was a fictionalized one -- Quezon vs. Joven Hernando. The fictional character of Joven Hernando is the string that connected all three films of the trilogy as he wrote about their lives as a journalist and as their friend. Hernando, now played as a middle age man by Cris Villanueva, had just his newspaper called Alerta closed down, and he believed that none other that Quezon himself caused that to happen. 

The second conflict was between Quezon and Sergio Osmena. While Quezon was the Senate President (following his role in the passage of the Jones Law of 1916 that put the Philippines en route to independence), Osmena, played by in a simpering manner by Romnick Sarmenta, was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Their scenes together had an unexpectedly comic tone as their relationship was compared to a bickering married couple. 

The third conflict was between Quezon and American Governor-General Leonard Wood. Wood is played by Scottish actor Iain Glen, more widely known as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO series "Game of Thrones." He was sent to determine if the Philippines was ready for independence. Quezon felt insulted when Wood called him an "unscrupulous chameleon," and tried to discredit the American even if it meant getting retired Emilio Aguinaldo involved. 

The fourth conflict was between Quezon and Aguinaldo (still played with intensity by Mon Confiado), who actually ran against each other in a heated first national presidential election in 1935. As early as back then, underhanded tactics were already being used. Two of this film's most memorable scenes happen in this chapter -- Aguinaldo's campaign parade in Malolos, Bulacan, and the stressful presidential mudslinging face-off in Bagac, Bataan.

Tarog also touched on early Filipino filmmaking with the character of Nadia (Therese Malvar), Hernando's daughter, Quezon's god-daughter. She was an aspiring filmmaker whom Quezon commissioned to create campaign short films for him. Nadia's films were silent and in black and white as she was a fan of Murnau and Lang. Quezon also namedropped Harris and Tait, producers of "Zamboanga" (1927), Americans with top-of-the-line movie equipment then.

Jericho Rosales was an inspired choice to play the charismatic president, who spoke, argued and cursed with oratorical flair and passion. This film was certainly not romanticized nor haigographic.  Rosales played him as domineering, devious, dishonest to achieve his noble goal of independence. In so doing, he inadvertently promoted a toxic political culture that still pervades even almost century hence. Rosales's Quezon was fiercely egotistical up to his ultimate declaration of "I am the Philippines!" before the final fade to black. 

With this final installment, Tarog continues the high technical, production and entertainment value, signature of the whole trilogy. Cinematography, production design, hair and make-up, and musical scoring were all top-notch.  As before, there were lots to learn about the less well-known details about the country's political scene during that time. Don't leave right away after the last scene as Tarog inserts an exciting mid-credits surprise. 9/10 

Review of GOOD BOY: Canine Commitment

October 13, 2025

Todd (Shane Jensen) brought his pet dog Indy to his late grandfather's house located in a wooded area in New Jersey. Todd is seriously ill with a chronic lung disease where he had violent coughing fits. He would only get occasional visits from his sister Vera (Ariel Freedman), who believed that this house was haunted. As Todd's condition worsened, Indy saw a tall sinister-looking figure covered with mud lurking in and around the house. 

This horror film co-written and directed by Ben Leonberg is very unique in that the whole film was shot in the point of view of the pet dog Indy. Therefore we only see human characters at the level of their legs, even barely seeing their faces at all. The dialogue from the human characters is only treated as background noise, only establishing situations, not elucidate plot, since the dog does not really understand what they are saying anyway. 

This original concept made this film completely engaging and fun to watch, especially for those who have a dog of their own at home. Leonberg cast his own a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Indy to be Todd's dog. It must have taken Leonberg a very long time, patiently waiting for Indy to have that perfect facial expression for the right emotion, or react just the perfect way to respond to the stimulus, and making sure the camera caught them.

I am sure a large part of Indy's acting was not exactly because he was an exceptionally talented dog actor. The "performance" we see on the big screen was because of Leonberg's astute camera work and meticulous editing of Indy's various random shots, picking out the right shots for the right situations. The illusion is then completed by the appropriate choices of sound effects and the eerie musical score by Sam Boase Miller. 

One memorably harrowing scene was that Indy was chained down in the pouring rain, when suddenly a ghostly hand appeared and was pulling the chain and the dog into the doghouse.  How Leonberg trained Indy to act frightened and figure out a way to get himself out of that trap was truly impressive. The final sequence had Indy running around the house and basement in an attempt to rescue his master out of danger. That was truly heartwarming to watch. 7/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of CHILD NO. 52: Fanatics Forgive and Forget

October 9, 2025

Max Garcia (JM Ibarra) is a 17 year-old high school student from Pinili, Ilocos Norte who lived with his mother Alicia (Rochelle Pangilinan-Solinap). He was a very active content creator on the PokPok app, where he posts live streams of himself as @BabyKana2dMax. He believes he is the son of superstar fantasy action actor Maximo Maniego (Vhong Navarro), best known for playing the superhero Boy Kana in a series of films.

When his girlfriend Marie May (Zairene Fernandez) suddenly dropped a bombshell on him, Max rode a bus to Manila to seek his father out, wanting to learn important life lessons which only a father can give. His quest did not go exactly as he was planning. However, he did discover new things about his parents, just in time to make an important decision between accepting responsibility or achieving a lifelong dream.

This film directed and co-written by Tim Rone Villanueva (his feature film debut!), was really light-hearted, fun and funny. There were clips of old Boy Kana films complete with glaring color quality and primitive special effects. There was also a great scene of Max breaking into his father's mansion depicted as a video game. Highlighting Pinili's cherished heritage cottage industry of weaving Inabel cloth was a very good touch. 

This is the big screen debut of 2024 Pinoy Big Brother housemate JM Ibarra, and he goes straight to playing the lead role here. Good-looking and charismatic, Ibarra knew how to tickle the fancy of his female fans, yet he was also able to deliver the goods in the dramatic parts of the film. It was not clear though why he only saw his mother as his basher when she had obviously dedicated her whole life to raising him, yet he yearned for an absent father.

I only knew Rochelle Pangilinan-Solinap as one of the Sex Bomb Girls 20 years ago, and now here she is playing a mother to a teenager. She mostly played it serious here, and she did well as the emotional support of her son as he came of age. Playing a smaller yet marked role as Boy Kana's fan club leader Mother Betty is Irma Adlawan, particularly in that one delightful scene she had reminiscing with Max and Alice -- my most LOL scene of the whole film.  7/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of REPULIKA NG PIPOLIPINAS: Memos on a Micronation

October 8, 2025

50 year-old Corazon D. Vitug (Geraldine Villamil) was a widow and childless. The carabao she considered her son for 17 years had also passed away. Now, the municipal government of Pulong Palay was laying claim on her farmland, but she would not cave in and sell out. Exasperated, Cora declared that she and her farm are seceding from the Philippines, calling herself the President of her own micro-nation, the Republic of Pipolipinas. 

While Cora bravely faced the aggressive tactics of the Mayor Prospero Dakila IV (Omar Perez) and his minions, she had at least two young people on her side -- Ekay (Natalie Maligalig) and Ogie (JM Salvado). Ekay considered Cora her second mom because her real mother, town hall employee Juliet Lipana (Kakki Teodoro), was always busy at work. When Cora's plight went viral online, it attracted the attention of actress Alessandra da Rossi to help her cause.

Majority of writer-director Renei Dimla's body of work had been on TV. This is only her third feature film screenplay, and is the first full-length feature she directed. She called this film a mockumentary, as the subject and event covered was purely fictional, with an intention to satirize. We hear her voice as she and her camera followed Cora around her daily routines and through all her political travails, while she interviewed the townspeople with her.

As this was a satire on the subject of citizens standing firm against political oppression, the humor was on the darker side. We cannot bring ourselves to laugh out loud at Dimla's absurd situations because deep inside we can relate to and feel Cora's difficulties. This film also takes a timely and pertinent shot at corruption at the level of the local governments, here in the form of garbage disposal company supposedly owned by a foreign national.  

When there were more members of Pipolipinas, we felt bad when President Cora gets pushed back by the more educated, more opinionated and more popular. Unfortunately, this is the way our democracy works. When someone nominated actress Alessandra de Rossi (playing herself, tongue-in-cheek) for president, we applaud that anonymous man who bravely clapped back, saying "Filipinos do not want actors in politics anymore because they are corrupt." 

One of the surprising things I learned when watching this film was the existence of an organization called the Association of Micronations in the Philippine Islands, represented by the current president of Kaleido, who had a cameo in this film. So, now we know that micronations actually exist in the Philippines, and there are more than one of them. I did not seriously think that Dimla's concept of Pilopilipinas was not so far-fetched after all. 

I had seen character actress Geraldine Villamil playing the title role of Mother Courage in a Dulaang UP production of "Nanay Bangis" last year. She had been in numerous local films and TV shows since 2009, and it is about time that she gets her very first lead role in a film. She was well-cast in the role, as she was able to achieve that difficult feat of balancing Cora's kindness of heart with strength of character and audacity of action.  7/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of OPEN ENDINGS: Cause to Commit

October 7, 2025

Gen Z lesbians Charlie (Janella Salvador), Hannah (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), Mihan (Leanne Mamonong) and Kit (Klea Pineda) had been lovers with each of the others in the past.  While they were technically were all exes of each other, yet they remained very close friends. One day, Hannah announced her engagement to her client Matteo (Migs Almendras). She didn't think that her upcoming wedding would triggered a sense of regret in one of the girls.

The cast was led two mainstream movie stars, Janella Salvador and Jasmine Curtis-Smith. They are already well-known quantities as actresses and they delivered on their portrayal of their respective characters as expected. Salvador's Charlie was a "real talk" type of friend, the talkative one, the active one. Curtis-Smiths's Hannah was the beauty of the group, both of face and of heart, so she was the easiest one to love among the four. 

This is Klea Pineda's first major film role, as she had mostly been acting on TV since winning StarStruck in 2015.  A lesbian in real life, Pineda was striking with her morena beauty and her height. However, Kit's current relations within their friend group had been purely platonic.  To lengthen her screen time, Pineda's Kit was a pre-school teacher who had a clandestine affair with Alexa (Yesh Burce), the mother of one of her students. 

The major spotlight was shone on lesbian musician Leanne Mamonong on her promising feature film debut. Her Mihan stood out because she was the only one of the four who wore a suit and pants when they tried out their wedding outfits. She had a mother Rina (Jackie Lou Blanco) who fully supported her. It was Mihan's emotional journey which was tracked most fully in this story, and Mamonong's sincere portrayal made us root her on. 

With the big name stars and the lush cinematography, this Nigel Santos film was a very mainstream type, than a typical "Cinemalaya" indie. While there have been a number of GL films before, this was probably the only one where the four main lesbian characters all were ex-lovers. This gave this film a unique psychological milieu upon which the story of these friends revolved. Writer Keavy Vicente's ending was just as the title said it was going to be -- I wish it wasn't. 6/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of RAGING: Repression and Release

October 6, 2025

19 year-old Eli (Elijah Canlas) lived in a small hut in a remote forested area in Sibuyan Island, Romblon Province. Lately, he was being haunted by nightmares about himself wallowing in what looked like mud. Apparently he had experienced something traumatic about weeks ago which he kept to himself. He would just record himself verbalizing his thoughts day by day on cassette using his precious Walkman and listened to the drone of his voice on playback.  

This film was very much a slow-burn drama set in a rural community -- pretty much the signature style of works by writer-director Ryan Machado, whether it was his one-act plays or his debut film "Huling Palabas" (Cinemalaya 2023). This one felt even slower because the audience had no idea what happened to Eli, and nothing much was happening to give us any clue. The first mention of the incident was ever so subtle, as if it were just an afterthought. 

This traumatic incident that tormented Eli was also a metaphor for the ongoing abuse of Sibuyan by mining companies that continue to exploit nickel and other minerals illegally despite being officially banned. The area around the tallest peak Mt. Guiting-Guiting was supposed to be a protected natural park, but the Mayor himself oversees illegal mines there, mirroring the political corruption seen elsewhere in the country. Menfolk, like Ely's Tatay Manuel, are forced to endure dangerous work conditions in the mines because of their poverty. 

The language used in this film was the Ini language spoken on Sibuyan Island. Machado wrote the original script in Tagalog, then let Rodne Galicha translate to Ini, which Machado did not speak. It was remarkable that all the main actors, who only received their audio guides just days before the shoot, delivered their Ini lines in a very natural-looking manner, thanks to Galicha who was also the language coach on the set.  

This was practically a one-man show for skilled young actor Elijah Canlas. As he would in most of his past films, he also fit into the character of Eli like a glove.  Canlas convincingly portrayed the deep repression Eli subjected himself into, followed by the slow process by which he steadily extracted himself out of this funk. This consuming feeling of extreme shame quietly built-up within Eli, inevitably percolating into a violent eruption of pent-up rage. 

Reynald Raissel Santos played Eli's gay childhood friend Jepoy, a role that broke the monotony of grief that hung over the first two acts. Santos's Jepoy was a ray of sunshine, as she was smart and confident, a reassuring presence for constantly depressed Eli. The other supporting actors include Ron Angeles who played neighborhood ruffian Arjo, and Glenn Sevilla Mas, who played Mayor Bernardo, who thought Eli was crying wolf. 

The slow-burn, long silences approach may not sit well with impatient viewers. However for me, this deliberate groping-in-the-dark approach, this very gradual, very restrained revelation of the mysterious trauma that caused Eli's titular raging was precisely the best part of the movie-watching experience.  Because of this, I wonder why the synopsis of the film on the Cinemalaya website spoiled it outright by mentioning it in the very first sentence. I am glad I never read it before going in. Go into this blind. 7/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of CINEMARTYRS: Mesmerizing and Mystical Memories

October 5, 2025

Filmmaker Shirin Dalisay (Noor Hooshmand) screened her film about the a bloody episode during the Philippine-American War in the Ilocos before a panel of critics (Soliman Cruz, Rolando Inocencio, Emmanuel dela Cruz) in an effort to qualify for a full grant. She was recommended to fill in the "gap in historical perspective" by filming about another bloody episode during the Philippine-American War, this time in the south, in Sulu. 

"Cinemartyrs" is said to be based on writer-director Sari Dalena’s own experience making her first feature length documentary “Memories of a Forgotten War” (2001), about the Philippine-American War, a war that killed more Filipinos at the hands of American soldiers than in 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. Here, Dalena recreates the challenges faced by female film directors like her from misogynistic colleagues and critics. 

The film started with production assistant Oscar (Giancarlo Abrahan) was going around gathering cast and crew together so their remote location shoot in Ilocos can get going. They had light-hearted moments before the shoot, with stars Angel Aquino (as Mother Mary) and none other than Lav Diaz (as Kristo). Tensions rise when suddenly all the cameras fail to function at a critical moment of the shoot, invoking a sense of supernatural protest. 

In between the Ilocos and the Sulu shoots, we see Shirin frolicking with her boyfriend Kevin (Cedrick Juan) in the UP Film Center, and their encounter with National Artist Kidlat Tahimik talking about his "dwende." There was also a sidebar to Shirin's mother Prof. Lena and her research on three pioneer female film directors -- Consuelo Osorio, Carmen Concha, and Susana de Guzman, all played by Raquel Villavicencio!

The highlight of the whole film was Shirin's shoot in Patikul, Sulu with an all-Tausug cast led by Laila Urao as the bride Karsum. In obedience to Islamic rules, Shirin had to designate the imam's son Medzfar (Bong Cabrera) to bark out her orders. It started smoothly enough, with a reenactment of a Moslem wedding feast that ended in tragedy. As a famous photograph of the resulting carnage was recreated, a terrifying mystical experience engulfed the whole crew. This was a most mesmerizing sequence, especially since this eerie episode of possession really happened in real life. 

The bizarre editing choices for the varied eclectic elements of this film may prove confusing for mainstream viewers. Between a full-length Muslim dance led by 82 year old Ramon Magsaysay awardee Ligaya Amilbangsa and a montage of local pre-war Filipino films directed by women, Shirin had an extraordinary scene of radiant birth that you need to see to believe-- a startling metaphor about filmmaking that no viewer would soon forget. 8/10

 

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of PAGLILITIS: Hyped-up on Harassment

October 4, 2025

Jonalyn Samuel (Rissey Reyes-Robinson) worked as the second executive assistant of Eduardo Guzman (Leo Martinez), CEO of Mother's Pride, makers of infant milk formula. Over the three years that she had been working for him, there had been several instances that she was alone with him in his office, being ordered to do things that made her feel sexually harassed. When she threatened to report him, she was immediately fired.

Two years later, Jonalyn's case was brought to the attention of Atty. Sylvia Ardenia (Eula Valdez), who had been actively posting her advocacy against sexual harassment in the workplace on social media. Jonalyn had already moved on and found work as an online virtual assistant, so she was hesitant to file the case. However, upon prodding by her mother Myrna (Cherry Malvar) and younger sister Jasmine (Barbara Miguel), Jonalyn acquiesced. 

The title suggested that this second feature film directed by Cheska Marfori would be a courtroom drama. However, this case of sexual harassment and wrongful termination never really reached any courtroom. This was a trial in the court of public opinion via social media. Despite promises made by Atty. Ardenia about , details about Jonalyn's case still leaked out on the world wide web for the netizens to comment about and feast upon. 

Playing the character at the center of all this turmoil is Rissey Reyes-Robinson in her first lead role in a feature film.  She had two memorable scenes that sears into the hearts of viewers. The first scene was Jonalyn narrating her traumatic experiences in first recorded testimony with her lawyer. The second was a painful scene of Jonalyn slowly breaking down in tears when she realized that she might have made wrong decisions. Impressive deeply-felt acting.

Eula Valdez gave Atty. Ardenia a nebulous character that Jonalyn, and all of us, could never really figure out. Was she doing this for Jonalyn, or was she doing this for herself? Jackie Lou Blanco played Eduardo's deeply religious wife, Mrs. Mildred Guzman. She channeled Glenn Close's Marquise de Merteuil wiping off her makeup in front of a mirror, followed by a powerful wordless scene of her clearing out her husband's cabinet of his porn collection.

Over the final scenes, Marfori flashed statistics of women who have experienced sexual harassment in their welfare, and that there was probably a lot more who never reported their traumatic experiences at all. Ironically though, most of this film just showed all the reasons exactly why women decide not to fight for their rights in these cases. When Marfori tried to offer a solution at the end, she never came around to telling these women what to do. 6/10

Cinemalaya 2025: Review of HABANG NILALAMON NG HYDRA ANG KASAYSAYAN: Deconstructing Disinformation

October 4, 2025

When Eleanor Robles (Frances Makil-Ignacio) lost her bid to be president of the Philippines in the 2022 elections, her campaign manager was Kiko Consuelo (Jojit Lorenzo) and her speech writer was David Cruz (Zanjoe Marudo) were disillusioned. Kiko shared his frustrations with his wife Bea (Dolly De Leon), who held the family of new president-elect responsible for the disappearance of her father during the past oppressive regime of his father. 

Greek mythology professor David resumed writing a book using the Hydra as a metaphor for the myriad of problems that beset Philippine politics. Meanwhile, he met election lawyer Mela (Mylene Dizon) on a dating app. The two of them hit if off very well on the first date, so much that it eventually led to their engagement. On the day that his book was formally launched, David learned a fact about Mela's family that threatened their upcoming wedding.

This new feature film is like a spiritual sequel to writer-director Dustin Celestino's acclaimed Cinemalaya opus "Ang Duyan ng Magiting" (Cinemalaya, 2023). When compared to "Duyan," the technical aspects of "Hydra" felt more sophisticated even as the several of same crew worked behind the scenes. The cinematography by Kara Moreno looked more stylish here, while the musical score by Paulo Protacio was more prominent and pulsating. 

Like "Duyan," the true star is Celestino's screenplay. The story was also divided into chapters, this one had eight, each named for a memorable line within that chapter. Each chapter contained astutely-written dialog about political disinformation and injustice that challenge our own convictions. Aside from the titular Hydra, four other characters of Greek myth -- Sisyphus, Cassandra, Pandora and Tantalus -- were utilized as universal metaphors.

Again, like "Duyan," the ensemble of actors all understood their assignments. Two tense excellently-acted scenes make it to my list of best scenes of 2025. One was that post-book launch meal where the exchange of pleasantries between Bea and Mela turned from cordial to bitter. The other one was in the penultimate chapter where Bea faced the man she hated all her life. In both scenes, Dolly de Leon poured out heart and soul in gut-wrenching manner.

Even if it says that any similarities to real-life events were purely coincidental, it was quite obvious what this story was all about. In fact, everyone who watches this film will have gone through the same 2022 presidential campaign and elections. The memories and the feelings are still very fresh, making this indeed a one-of-a-kind movie experience. The enduring and eternal light of the final message touches everyone who shared that passion. 9/10

Netflix: Review of OUT OF ORDER: Sticking to the Script

October 4, 2025

Atty. Alex Roman (Alden Richards) practiced law in the rural town of Santa Blanca. He was down on his luck as his clients were generally unable to pay him enough, so his office was small, with a broken-down air conditioner. His staff consisted of one loyal assistant named Tolits (Nicco Manalo) whom he helped out of a legal scrape before. He just recently hired a receptionist, a film school dropout goth girl named Gabbie (Joyce Ching).

One day, he received a phone call from his estranged father, celebrity lawyer Atty. David Roman (Nonie Buencamino). He had been arrested on the suspicion of murdering a young trans-woman named Nadja Galang (Francine Garcia) inside a seedy motel. Despite being a partner of a big-time law firm, he specifically wanted Alex to represent him because he needed a lawyer he could trust. Alex accepted, for the sake of his late mother, and P500,000. 

This film produced by Viva Films was notable because it was the directorial debut of star Alden Richards, who also came up with the story.  The screenplay was written by Randy Q. Villanueva and Atty. Karen Lustica, likely for the legal aspects of the story. The best parts of this movie were the courtroom scenes presided over by Judge Wilhelmina Corpuz-Piedad (played by GMA executive and real-life lawyer Atty. Annette Gozon-Valdez). 

The film started as if it were a slapstick comedy. Alex was flirting with a waitress of a roadside eatery while eating noodles, then was chased down by a jealous ex-boyfriend with a bolo. It made a sudden turn into rom-com territory, as Alex confessed about a TOTGA over a round of beer, a pretty law school classmate who chewed the ends of her ballpens, who turned out to be the opposing counsel in his case, Atty. Jennifer Templo (Heaven Peralejo).

Richards tried a number of imaginative camera shots, like taking his reflection in the sideview mirror while he was talking to his staff in the car. However, some scenes had questionable choices in directorial style and execution. Why were the crime scene photographs taken with a red filter? Why was Gigi's not a higher class nightclub? I see Richards' intention to just colorize the red in the black and white flashback scene, but it was not cleanly done. Richards still has room for improvement as director but then again, he has just taken his first step.  4/10

Review of THE SMASHING MACHINE: Revelation of the Rock

October 2, 2025

In 1997, a 255 lbs, 6'1" Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial artist Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) joined the Pride MMA competition in Tokyo, Japan for the first time and won. In 1999, before his championship match with Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 7, Kerr mentioned in a pre-fight interview, that since he never lost, he cannot verbalize how it felt like. Little did he know that he was soon going to eat his own words. 

This biopic was written, directed and edited by Benny Safdie in his solo directorial debut. His previous directorial works, notably "Uncut Gems" (2019), were co-directed with his brother Josh. This was based on the 2002 documentary "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr" directed by John Hyams. The part where he explains about MMA to an old lady in a doctor's waiting room was recreated in this new film.

The main reason to watch this film is to see Dwayne Johnson play the role which early pundits are betting on to be one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Actor. I was ready to see the Rock basically playing himself, as he was a professional wrestler. However, impressively, Johnson (and his makeup crew) actually convinced us that he was another wrestler, whether with hair on his head or not. I won't be surprised if he did get cited for this acting performance, that went the distance with a range of emotions we typically do not see from him before.

Kerr was basically portrayed to be a good guy, congenial and calm, whose one major flaw was his addiction to injectable opioid painkillers, which eventually would eat into his relationship with girlfriend Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt.  Blunt's Dawn was written in a way that she was the villain in the career of Kerr. She came across as a self-centered drama queen who had meltdowns at the most inopportune situations, interfering with Kerr's focus.

Ukranian boxer Oleksandr Usyk, who played Kerr's nemesis Igor Vovchanchyn, is the undisputed heavyweight champion of boxing in 2025. American MMA star Ryan Bader, who played Kerr's best friend Mark Coleman, owned the longest streak of wins as heavyweight champ in Bellator MMA. Kickboxer-wrestler-MMA Bas Rutten who played himself as Kerr's trainer, was a veteran of action films since the 1990s, in his highest profile role to date. 

Also very notable in this film is its pop music soundtrack that included "Santeria" by Sublime, "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray, "Rhythm of My Heart" by Rod Stewart, "Just Another Day" by Jon Secada, "Tempted" by Squeeze, "Back at One" by Brian McKnight. Standouts were the cover of "Don't Be Cruel" by Billy Swan and "My Way" by Elvis Presley. There was also an electric guitar version of Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo" by Tomoyasu Osei, as well as a New Age harp version of the Star Spangled Banner by Nala Sinephro. 

This film documented the transition of MMA from a no-holds-barred, anything-goes combat sport to a "less brutal" one with no more biting, eye gouging, head butting, knee and kick to face when opponent is faced down allowed. These action sequences were very tightly shot, making us absorb the powerful impact of every takedown, slam, punch and kick, especially with the intense sound effects editing. Like "Rocky," there were also training montages here, but Safdie was not going to follow the usual sports film formula to the letter. 7/10

Review of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Fumbling Frantic Father

September 28, 2025

The French 75 was a group of left-wing revolutionaries constantly at odds with the military because of their criminal activities. Among the members were their leader Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun (Leonardo diCaprio), who were lovers. A hardcore, white-supremacist officer handling their case, Capt. Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), developed an ironic indecent obsession on Perfidia. 

Perfidia got pregnant and gave birth to a girl she named Charlene, whom she left for Pat to raise while she resumed her French 75 activities. When Perfidia got caught, Pat was forced to move out, changing his name to Bob Ferguson, a widower who raised his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) alone. 16 years passed unremarkably, until one day, Col. Lockjaw somehow managed to zero in on their location, forcing them to go on the run again.

Far from his usual screen persona of cocky confidence, we see a deglamorized image of Leonardo di Caprio here -- disheveled, disoriented and dubious. Another rare aspect of di Caprio that we see here is his comedic side, tending to silliness, especially in his scenes with the eccentric Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro). It was almost slapstick in the last half of the film, with his unkempt topknot and ugly checkered robe, while fumbling with passwords. 

Sean Penn chewed up all his scenes here with his unnerving portrayal of Hitler-like Col. Lockjaw. He may as well be the Anton Chigurh (bowl-cut villain of "No Country for Old Men") of 2020s cinema with that shock of silver hair on his head which he kept down with his spit. He was effortlessly sleazy in his scenes with Perfidia, and was sickening when he faced off with helpless young Willa (ingenue Chase Infiniti was so radiant in that scene!). 

Once this latest film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson had its Hollywood premiere, there had already been quite a number of effusively positive reviews for it. Oscar hype for it ran high immediately, like his previous film masterpieces -- "Boogie Nights" (1996), "Magnolia" (1999), "Phantom Thread" (2017), and of course, "There Will Be Blood" (2007).  Better not watch this new film too high on the hype, lest you expect too much. 

Anderson was able to mix character study, social commentary, political satire, family drama, crime action all together in in perfect harmony. The comedic elements were more prominent, while the dramatic elements were decidedly more subtle. After giving us so much chaos in the first two hours, Anderson saved the best sequence in the closing minutes, executing what could be one of the best shot, most heart-stopping car chases that I've seen.   8/10

Review of THE RIDE: A Desperate Drive

September 26, 2025

Barry (Piolo Pascual) was a member of a carnapping gang under his boss Vince (Gabby Eigenmann). Disgruntled, he wanted to move over to the gang of rival carnapping kingpin, Windsor (Ramon Christopher), which he planned with his senior gangmate Anton (Levi Ignacio). While this was going on, Barry picked up his son Leo (Kyle Echarri) and drove together to the province where his ex-wife Sally was dying from cancer. 

The exact reason why Barry decided to coincide his business coup attempt with his family road trip was not too clear. However, this serious lapse in Barry's critical decision making certainly resulted in a sure-fire formula for a night of violence that put both his and his son's life in danger. This shared experience of being on the run for their lives did push father and son closer together unlike any other time in their checkered past. 

This feature film runs for only a little over an hour, ending just as you were on the edge of your seats. Remarkably, despite the brevity of the run time and seeming simplicity of the plot, there were three writers credited for the screenplay -- Thop Nazareno, John Bedia and Dodo Dayao.  Director Nazareno went straight to the point, with no unnecessary fluff. However, there may have been some details lost, like who exactly Bossing (Joey Marquez) was. 

Kyle Echarri has gone a long way from "The Voice Kids" in 2015 where we first saw him. 2025 is his breakthrough year in film acting. He was just in "100 Awit Para Kay Stella," where he played the third wheel in the love story of the two leads. This latest one of his pits him with Piolo Pascual in a virtual two-hander story, and he was able to hold his own. While still giving off spoiled brat vibes, Echarri was able to show off more range here acting-wise. 

It has been about 30 years since Piolo Pascual broke through in TV soap opera "Esperanza." From being the quintessential romantic leading man, he'd gone on to do action ("On the Job"), horror ("Mallari"), experimental ("Real Life Fiction") and Lav Diaz ("Hele ng Hiwagang Hapis").  Now in his late 40s, he can now play the father of teenagers, like he did in a cameo role in "Sunshine" (2024), going full-length as a flawed dad in this latest one. 

Pascual did very well in the action scenes, like that frenetic shoot-out in the marketplace. However, his forte is really drama. His Barry narrated the story as it went along, his confession. He called himself a bad husband, a bad father, and a bad person in general. His scenes with Echarri's Leo were purposefully awkward, but we feel the sincere effort of this delinquent father to connect to his delinquent son, until he just gave it his all at the end.  7/10

SINAG MAYNILA 2025: Review of ALTAR BOY: Frailties of a Fil-Canadian Fellow

September 25, 2025

Daniel (Mark Bacolcol) was the 17 year-old son of a Fil-Canadian couple, Joseph (Pablo Quiogue) and Rose (Shai Barcia) Garcia. At home, his parents talked to him in Filipino and he answered them in English. They had frequent family reunions, where they partake of Filipino food and videoke singing. Rose was very religious and attended services in the parish of Fr. Simon (Steve Kasan), where Daniel was an altar server. 

This year, Daniel was not exactly doing well in his grades. However, he was accepted into the basketball team of their high school, Pacific Grove, together with his two good friends, Kyle (Denzel Brooks) and Ricky (Blake Canning). He also had a crush on a girl whom he often saw at church when he was serving. She was his pretty classmate Summer Stevens (Emily Beattie) who picked him as his partner in a school project.  

This Canadian production told a simple coming-of-age story about a teenage boy from an immigrant family. It tells his life at home with his family, and at school with his friends. It just so happened that this was about a Fil-Canadian family, so it should be more interesting for Filipinos, as it features Filipino language and culture. However, it was not really telling anything new, as we've seen variations of these same stories in many other teen films.    

Mike Bacolcol's Daniel is likable enough, despite his hang-ups and shortcomings. We know he is basically a good boy, so we root for him to win the girl, and get over his troubles. Bacolcol's lines were wry, sardonic, delivered with deadpan humor. He did not really look 17 anymore, but Bacolcol also wrote this screenplay, so we do have to give him credit for some neat scenes and lines. Ironic though that his being an altar boy was not dealt with with more depth.  

Viewers of the older generation will feel the frustrations of Rose as a mother raising a son in a foreign country. She tried hard to integrate values and practices into her son's life, making sure that he took them to heart without feeling forced to do so. The absolute best scene between mother and son was that dinner scene after things got awkward between them. Barcia's facial expressions had emotional weight there, and that catch-up kiss sealed the deal. 6/10

SINAG MAYNILA 2025: Review of MADAWAG ANG LANDAS PATUNGONG PAG-ASA: A Teacher's Tenacity

September 24, 2025

In 2019, a encounter between the military and rebels happened in Barangay Pag-asa, Quezon province. A teacher and a student lost their lives there. Because of this tragic incident and the pandemic that followed, the school never reopened. As the children were idle, barangay captain Merlinda "Indang" Sarmenta (Dorothy Gilmore) hired kids to be "scholars" in her video game business called Axis Divinity, where they earned good money.  

In 2022, a young teacher named Araceli "Ara" Lumawig (Rita Daniela) was sent by DepEd to Pag-asa to reopen the school and become their new teacher. Kapitana Indang took an instant dislike to her, but fortunately, Ara had parish priest Fr. Caloy (Jim Pebanco) and sari-sari store owner Ka Ambo (Lou Veloso) on her side. A troop of soldiers under 1Lt Randy Meneses (Jak Roberto) was assigned to provide security to the school. 

Rita Daniela gave a very dedicated performance as Ms. Lumawig, who reopened the school against all odds. Only five students came in on her first day of class, so she had to go house to house to try to convince hostile parents. Fortunately, her Ara was likable, sincere, and certainly tenacious with a never-say-never attitude. If there was anything jarring about her, it was that overdone kissing scene with her estranged activist boyfriend Teddy (Albie Casino).  

Jak Roberto was a bit too obvious as the lovestruck Lt. Randy. He did not find it embarrassing to lovingly stare at his crush in full view of his own men, or her students, not exactly subtle as military officers would likely be. Veterans Lou Veloso and Jim Pebanco can do no wrong with their good guy characters, though they could be too good to be true. Ara pet students Estong (Ynigo Delen) and Betchay (Felixia Dizon) were delightful.

The rural vibe of the whole film, the politeness and good-naturedness of it all, was very refreshing to watch. The Axis Divinity thing may be a bit too sophisticated a plot point, but it did serve its purpose as a source of serious conflict. The screenplay of Eric Ramos had some surprising revelations about Ara in Act 3 that led to a particularly tearful ending scene with her students, which director Joel Lamangan really squeezed for all its melodramatic worth.  7/10

Review of EXIT 8: Loopy Labyrinth

September 20, 2025

An old man was berating a mother with a crying baby on the train. Bothered by this, a young man decided to alight at the next station. While he was walking on his way out of the station, a young man received a phone call from his recent ex-girlfriend who told him that she was in the hospital. She called to tell him just found out that she was pregnant. This news unsettled the man to have an asthma fit, and the choppy signal made things worse for him. 

When the call was dropped, the young man eventually noted that he had been walking around in circles while trying to reach Exit 8. He kept on passing by a certain corridor with a series of posters on one side and doors and vents on the other side. He would see a tall man emerge on the other end of that corridor and he would walk past him. After going through the same things a number of times, he realized he was trapped in an endless loop.

This psychological horror film was based on a 2023 video game called "The Exit 8" developed by Kotake Create. Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura wrote and directed this film version, recreating the atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia that made the game popular. The object of the game was to spot "anomalies" in order to decide whether to go forward (if there was none) or to turn back (if there was one). An error would reset one back to Exit 0.

The numeral 8 was chosen for this concept because as seen on print, it is does not have a visible beginning or end, just one curving line crossing itself in the middle like a Mobius strip. One of the posters in the corridor was about an art exhibit featuring works by 20th century Dutch artist Mauritz Cornelius Escher. His famous work "Relativity" depict architectural optical illusion of people going up and down an endless maze of stairs -- an obvious inspiration.

At first there were only two guys -- the main character called the Lost Guy (Kazunari Ninomiya), and the Walking Guy (Yamato Kochi), who walked past Lost Guy every time he passed under the Exit 8 sign in the main corridor.  We certainly felt Ninomiya exasperation and frustration, as well as his asthma-induced dyspnea. Walking Guy was supposed to be an NPC (non-player character) only, but Kawamura also chose to give him a back story. Kochi

In the opening scene, Kawamura followed Lost Man in one amazing long single tracking shot from the train to the Exit 8 corridors. Being shot in Lost Man's point of view really made us feel his ever-growing anxiety and desperation. Kawamura then added the Boy, a helpless child in the loop who is likely a metaphor for Lost Guy's ex's pregnancy. While these dramatic detours added depth to the story, they did also distract much from the build-up of suspense. 7/10

Review of THE LONG WALK: Physical and Psychological Pressure

September 18, 2025

The US was still reeling from the effects of a major war and a failing economy. For the chance to win a grand cash prize, several young men all around the country apply to join an event called "The Long Walk," organized by the Major (Mark Hamill).  The fifty chosen boys would have to walk continuously, no stopping allowed, no sleep, no bathroom breaks. If ever someone' speed went below 3 miles per hour, he was going to be eliminated, literally.  

Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) was one of the boys chosen by raffle for the walk that year. Because the walk was being held in his home state, he was brought to the starting point by his mother Ginnie (Judy Greer). He quickly made friends with fellow walkers Peter (David Jonsson), Hank (Ben Wang) and Baker (Tut Nyuot). Other walkers were not too friendly, like Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer) or Collie (Joshua Odjick). 

The most memorable films in director Francis Lawrence's filmography are those in the "The Hunger Games" franchise, starting from the second film "Catching Fire" (2013) to the current reboot. Actually, "The Long Walk" had an uncanny "Hunger Games" vibe. There was a dictatorial military government who chose a representative from each state, and they will join an intense physical and psychologically-demanding contest to the death. Familiar, right?

"The Long Walk" is a 1979 novel written by horror auteur Stephen King, under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. It was the first novel King started to write as a college freshman, but only published four years after he released "Carrie." The novel started with 100 men, and the minimum walking speed was 4 mph. In the book, Ray meets his girlfriend in Freeport, instead of his mom as we saw in the film. Also, the final two guys differed in the two versions.

This film served as an introductory acting showcase for its cast of young actors. Cooper Hoffman is the son of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman. As Ray, he had certainly gone a long way from when we first saw him in "Licorice Pizza" (2021). He had a great rapport with the other actors, especially David Jonsson and Tut Nyuot, establishing genuine friendships with their characters. As sadistic Major, Mark Hamill was a fearsome symbol of their collective oppression. 7/10

Review of MAGELLAN: Conquest and Conversion

September 15, 2025

In 1511, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was part of the crew of Alfonso de Albuquerque, who sailed around the tip of Africa to reach Malacca, which was claimed in the name of King Manuel I of Portugal. In 1519, Magellan led his own expedition to Southeast Asia, this time going around the tip of South America, through the Pacific Ocean to reach Cebu island, which he claimed in the name of his new royal sponsor, Carlos V of Spain.

This historical biographical film was written and directed by Filipino slow cinema auteur Lav Diaz. It runs for 160 minutes, a modest length in the Lav Diaz canon, where at least 8 of his films ran for more than 5 hours long, 3 of which ran beyond 9 hours long. 

Even if the running time was relatively shorter than his usual, there were still those very long, languid steady camera shots with very little action happening, and puzzling, erratic editing. For his fans, this signature cinematic style is part of the charm of watching Lav Diaz film. People who are watching this film as their first Lav Diaz will likely get very restless, but believe me, this taste can surely be developed with more exposure.

This is only the third time Diaz shot in color, following two of his best-known works -- "Batang West Side" (2001) and "Norte, the End of History" (2015). However, the most powerful scenes had muted colors, such as those of the strong waves breaking along the beach as mothers mourned their dead children. 

For a film about a voyage halfway around the world by a fleet of huge four-masted ships, the scenes of ships at sea and the people on board felt strangely static, depending only sound effects of splashing water and subtle camera movements to create an illusion that they on rough waters. We won't see epic seafaring wide-shot scenes here, like those we saw in "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World" (2003) or even "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962).  

In the Cebu scenes, the costume of the natives were so randomly arbitrary. While there were those who were typically dressed as expected, there were several natives, men and women, who were completely naked -- from the opening scene of a woman catching snails in the river, to that moving scene of a funeral cortege walking towards the ocean. I was wondering why there had to be nudity when clothes already existed.

This had been chosen to be submitted for Oscar consideration for Best Foreign Film, a second time for Diaz after "Norte". However the choice feels rather ironic. Aside from telling the story of a colonizer, Diaz ended the film by going against a historical detail that every Filipino learned since their childhood. Many will sit through all the slowburn to see a climactic battle with Lapu-Lapu, only to be disappointed when he didn't show up as expected. At the risk of casting doubt on his very existence, Diaz boldly portrayed Lapu-Lapu as a collective spirit of native defiance against foreign invaders. 6/10

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Here are my reviews of the other Lav Diaz films I had seen before:

PHANTOSMIA (MY REVIEW)

ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE LAKE (MY REVIEW)

KAPAG WALA NANG ALON (MY REVIEW)

HISTORYA NI HA (MY REVIEW)

PAN, GENUS (MY REVIEW)

ANG HUPA (MY REVIEW)

ANG PANAHON NG HALIMAW (MY REVIEW)

ANG BABAENG HUMAYO (MY REVIEW)

HELE SA HIWAGANG HAPIS (MY REVIEW)

MULA SA KUNG ANO ANG NOON (MY REVIEW)

NORTE: HANGGANAN NG KASAYSAYAN (MY REVIEW)

FLORENTINA HUBALDO, CTE (MY REVIEW)

MELANCHOLIA (MY REVIEW)

EVOLUTION OF A FILIPINO FAMILY (MY REVIEW)