Review of NUUK: Snowbound Secrets

November 7, 2019

Usually, if a Filipino movie is shot in a foreign country, it is to take advantage of its festive scenery and exotic romantic ambiance. But this one is very different. Nuuk is the capital and largest city of Greenland, an island territory of Denmark, three-fourths of which are within the Arctic Circle. This location was chosen for its seemingly perpetual bitter cold and snowy winters, which was just the perfect backdrop for this story of desolation and depression. 

Elaisa Svendsen is a middle-aged Filipina woman who lived in Nuuk. She had been a widow twice-over already. She had a very testy relationship with her rebellious young adult son Karl Kleist. She had been estranged for some time because her interference with his love affairs cost him the girl he truly loved. 

One day, while desperate for her Prozac fix, she met a visiting Filipino seaman Mark Alvarez at the pharmacy. Friendly and caring, Mark lent Elaisa a helping hand with her many problems. Just when Elaisa thought some sun was shining through in her life, it appeared that a blizzard was threatening to cause further havoc.

Alice Dixson had the showier role as Elaisa, and she went for it unrestrained. She was a lonely woman whose struggle to make a meaningful connection with her son had wreaked damage to her delicate psyche. Her vodka and her Prozac pills were her only friends in her tough times. In the final act she had a number of intense breakdown scenes, a couple of them set outdoors in the snow which definitely raised the level of difficulty. 

For most of the film, Aga Muhlach played Mark as Elaisa's supportive friend and potential Romeo. Initially, his performance felt rather tentative and unnatural, which was unusual knowing the caliber of actor that he is. However, by the time the final act came around, everything fell into place so well that we understand the rationale of the acting choices he made to make his character more believable. 

The third actor in this drama is Greenlander filmmaker and actor Ujarneq Fleischer in the role of Karl. This was a difficult and thankless role, playing a troubled character not easy to like or sympathize with. Based on Karl's life, the image of life in Nuuk was not too rosy compared to life in the Philippines. Comments on the high rate of suicide among the youth and the easy morals of girls further cast Greenland in a rather unfavorable light.

Every carefully-chosen scene location emanated a sense a sinking feeling of distance, misery and isolation. The bluish tint cast over the white outdoor scenes made the whole atmosphere feel all the more bleak. The pacing of the story telling was purposely slow to build up more tension. However, there were scenes where momentum flagged (like some awkward romance scenes) or felt repetitive (like those Karl scenes at the bar). 

The first film by director Veronica Velasco that I had seen was "Through Night and Day" (2018), a rom-com which she shot in Iceland. However, in this new project, she went even further north into Greenland and shot this psychological noir in sub-zero temperatures. This was a commendable effort to tell a complex story not commonly tackled in Filipino films in a technique not commonly used by local filmmakers particularly for mainstream films. 7/10.

3 Mini-Reviews: PARADISE HILLS, DOOR LOCK, THE ADDAMS FAMILY (2019)

October 30, 2019

PARADISE HILLS

Director: Alice Waddington

Uma (Emma Roberts) woke up one night on a luxury island resort cum reform school called Paradise Hills, where she was served hand and foot by costumed attendants. The elegant head mistress Duchess (Milla Jovovich) taught her guests, all rich girls with attitude problems, proper social graces and behavior. However, ever the rebel, Uma, and her new friends, the overweight Chloe (Danielle Macdonald), the inferior Yu (Awkwafina) and the pop star Amarna (Eiza Gonzalez) felt there was something sinister and underhanded going on. 

The first thing that will strike you about this film are its remarkably ornate and ostentatious set design, with the all the ultra-luxurious furniture and fancy decorations. The cast wore elaborate avant-garde costume designs, with corresponding flamboyant hair and make-up styles to match. The story was quite confusing at the beginning up to maybe the first hour, I was ready to give up on its bizarreness. However when the plot peaked at the climactic revelation, I honestly cannot say that I saw it coming. That was as original a twist as it could get, and I appreciated that even if it came a bit too late. 5/10. 

*****

DOOR LOCK

Director: Lee Kwon

Kyung-min (Gong Hyo-jin) was a mousy contractual bank employee. She always felt there was an intruder in her apartment where she lived alone, but did not have any evidence of this when she reported these incidents to the police. One day at work, Kyung-min had an altercation with a rude customer Gi-jung (Jo Bok-rae), who seemed to be stalking her. That night, a gentleman visitor was found mysteriously murdered in her apartment. Only now did the police led by Detective Lee (Kim Sung-oh) pay her attention. 

This film was shown as part of the "Sine Sindak" horror film festival in SM Cinemas, which ran from October 22-29 this year. However, this was not really the usual horror film with ghosts, but more of a crime suspense thriller. The plotting of the story included small details which I thought were red herrings but turned out to be vital clues that fit right into the whole fabric of the mystery. The lead performance of Gong Hyo-jin effectively made us feel the fears and paranoia experienced by women. 6/10. 

*****

THE ADDAMS FAMILY (2019)

Director: Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan

Gomez and Morticia Addams moved to New Jersey after their wedding so they can live the macabre lifestyle they led without being bothered, and had done so for 13 years. Their son Pugsley had to prepare for the family rite of passage. Their daughter Wednesday got to experience the outside world by going to junior high school.  Meanwhile a reality-TV home-improvement personality Margaux Needler wanted to get rid of the Addams dark mansion because it clashed with the brightly colorful community she was creating for her show. 

This new computer-animated film reintroduces the classic American cartoon family created by Charles Addams in 1938. The ghoulish brand of humor is very weird and bizarre. Yet, this franchise had survived 80 years and several incarnations over the years, including a TV series in the 1960s, a movie series in the 1990s, and a Broadway musical in 2010. Despite the stellar voice cast led by Charlize Theron, Oscar Isaac, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bette Midler and Allison Janney, the main home-renovation story they chose to go with was flat, not so funny. There were lessons about family unity and cultural acceptance for kids to take home. 5/10. 

Review of TERMINATOR: DARK FATE: Failed the Franchise

October 31, 2019

The "Terminator" franchise had been going strong since the first film debuted in 1984. It is about a future where the world is taken over by machines under Skynet, and human John Connor leads a resistance movement against them. Skynet sends an android assassin called the Terminator back to the past to kill John Connors mother Sarah to prevent him from being born. The subsequent films in the series would follow the same basic formula of Skynet sending Terminators back in time to alter history to their favor. For me, only the first two films really mattered, the next three were forgettable. 

From the year 2042 (a future where Skynet and John Connor never existed), a technically-enhanced human soldier Grace (Mackenzie Davis in a breakthrough performance) was sent by the Resistance back to the year 2020 to protect a young Mexican woman named Dani (a bland Natalia Reyes) from an advanced Terminator called the Rev-9 (an even blander Gabriel Luna). Just when the Rev-9 was getting the upper hand, Sarah Connor appeared to rescue them. With the Rev-9 hot on their heels, the three women crossed the border into Texas to locate Sarah's source of information about Terminator arrivals. 

The very beginning of this sixth film followed the events of "T2" in 1998. In this version, the young John Connor was successfully killed by the T-800 assassin, and Skynet never was. So, this is yet another attempt at a franchise reboot like "Terminator Genisys," for which the planned sequels had been shelved because of poor box-office performance. Here in "Dark Fate," the filmmakers went further into the future, creating yet another AI aggressor called Legion, and the another human resistance fighting against it. 

Despite the exhilarating action CG-enhanced sequences of "Dark Fate," everything felt oddly tired and rehashed and unsatisfying. Even the Rev-9 terminator not too much of an advancement over the Academy Award winning liquid metal T-1000 which amazed us back in "T2." Its current innovation of being able to split into an exterior and its black endoskeleton was not as visually-impressive. What's worse was this Rev-9 seemed deficient in hand-to-hand fighting skills especially apparent when he went one-on-one against Grace, only to be saved by its ability to regenerate -- lame.

I felt the best thing about this film was the nostalgia factor of bringing Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger back together onscreen again in their iconic characters as Sarah Connor and T-800. Despite looking very much older, Hamilton still somehow projected the strength and fire for which remember her Sarah Connor best for. Schwarzenegger attempted to be the comic relief at first when we first see him as domesticated Carl, but of course he would also figure in big action scenes before the film ended. However by deciding to lose John Connor early on in this one made the emotional heart of the first two classic Terminator films stop beating as well. 5/10. 

Review of MIDWAY (2019): Turning the Tide

October 28, 2019

Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 had been the subject of many notable films in the past, like "From Here to Eternity" (1953), "In Harm's Way" (1965), "Tora Tora Tora" (1970) and "Pearl Harbor" (2001). The US turned the tide back to their favor months later in the Battle of Midway, and there had been films about it as well, like a couple of John Ford documentaries (1942), "Midway" (1976), "Dauntless" (2019) and this latest big-budget film by Roland Emmerich also entitled "Midway".

This film is a straightforward retelling of the events in the first months of the War in the Pacific beginning with Pearl Harbor and culminating in the Battle of Midway (June 1942). In between, it also touched on Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo (April 1942) and the Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942). The story was told mainly from the point of view of two American soldiers, namely pilot Lt. Dick Best (Ed Skrein) who led his dive bomber squadron at Midway, and intelligence officer Lt. Comm. Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson) who with his code-breaker team predicted the Midway attack. 

Along the way, we meet other famous American soldiers: Admiral Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson) Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet; Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey (Dennis Quaid) who led the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise; Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance (Jake Weber) who took over the Enterprise for the Battle of Midway; Best's fellow aviators Lt. Comm. Wade McClusky (Luke Evans), Lt. Comm. Eugene Lindsey (Darren Criss) and Lt. Comm. Jimmy Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart); cryptographer Commander Joseph Rochefort (Brennan Brown) and Aviation Machinist Mate Bruno Gaido (Nick Jonas). 

The side of the Japanese Imperial Army and their unique military culture were also given fair screen time in this film.  Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyokawa) of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Commander in Chief of their combined fleet, was portrayed with calm and quiet dignity. We also get to meet other Japanese officers and their own brands of leadership Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi (Tadanobu Asano) who commanded the Hiryu with nobility, and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo (Jun Kunimura) whose controversial battle decisions had negative impact against the Japanese campaign. 

The execution of the critical battle scenes are the main draws to watch this film. Director Roland Emmerich will always be remembered as the man who brought us "Independence Day" (1996) and "2012" (2009). Of course, there are big explosions and massive destruction here as well. The massive scenes showing fiery exploding seacraft and aircraft were rendered with crisp cinematography and meticulous visual effects to create impressive screen spectacles. The aviation scenes, particularly the dive bomber runs by Dick Best, were excellently staged, shot and edited to elicit an exhilarating rush. 

For its 2 hours 18 minute run, the story of the crucial naval battles and the heroism of its real-life protagonists were front and center here in "Midway." There were no fictional characters or cheesy love stories like in the first "Midway" film or "Pearl Harbor." While seeing some popular young actors like Criss or Jonas can be distracting, the all-star cast generally rendered honor and respect to the heroes they portrayed. Focusing on soldiers of lesser rank allowed for some intimate personal drama in actual battle situations, perhaps with not much depth as possible. As this movie is rated PG, so do not expect to see graphic injuries at the level of "Saving Private Ryan." 7/10. 

Review of ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP: Amusing Apocalypse

October 26, 2019

"Zombieland" was a hit comedy-action zombie movie back in 2009. This year, 10 years later, here comes a sequel with the same director Ruben Fleischer. The original group of characters, all named after US cities, are back -- Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock, all played by the same actors who had since then all been nominated for an Oscar or even won one. It was subtitled "Double Tap," #2 on Columbus' list of rules to survive a world overrun by zombies, which meant to always shoot a zombie twice to make sure it is dead.

Our main gang of four took over an abandoned White House to hang out after disposing of the zombie horde outside it. Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), now a young lady, decided to hook up with Berkeley, a hippie musician she met on the road going to a blissful zombie-free zone called Babylon. Meanwhile the other three picked up a ditzy new companion, a dumb blonde named Madison and met the sultry kickass Nevada (Rosario Dawson) and her friends in the Elvis-themed Hound Dog motel along their way to reunite with Little Rock at her destination. 

From the very start, we will already see zombies graphically killed in all sorts of ways in the first confrontation. After sensibilities have been numbed by that long opening sequence, there would be no more shock as the zombie death toll climbed with nearly every scene that came next, no matter how gory or messy they were. To up the challenge, this sequel featured more bullet-resistant zombies, which they called "T-800," a reference to the "Terminator" movies which Columbus loved. This meant they needed to come up with more imaginative kills against these persistent mutants. 

The rest of the time I was just enjoying the crazy comedy offered up the these funny actors. Woody Harrelson (as Tallahassee) and Eisenberg (as Columbus) were a perfect comic tag team (who looked like they did not age in 10 years), with each line they threw practically a punchline. Emma Stone (as Wichita) kept right up there with them with her dry sarcastic wit. Zoey Deutch was a riot in pink as wacky bimbo Madison. Avan Jogia's best scene as hippie Berkeley had something to do with weed. Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch (as Albuquerque and Flagstaff) were hilarious in being uncanny carbon copies.

This sequel actually followed the same format and spirit from the original movie, with Columbus narrating the story, laying out his rules and naming the "Zombie Kill of the Week". Both stories also involved a road trip across states, fighting off zombies en route to reach a safe haven. This was Pacific Playland amusement park in Los Angeles in the first movie, and pacifist hippie commune Babylon in this sequel. Bill Murray, who was a celebrity cameo in the first movie, also makes a flashback-type appearance in this one, so do not leave right away as the end credits roll. This was still very much the entertaining gross-out zombie film we enjoyed 10 years ago, and then some. 7/10. 

Review of THE CURRENT WAR: Electrifying Encounters

October 24, 2019

He was the pioneer in the field of electricity whom I only know by name and by his inventions like the light bulb, phonograph and motion pictures, but honestly know very little about his life or his personality. That was why when there was this film about Thomas Edison I knew this was my chance to get a glimpse into this genius' life, and how he related to other famous contemporaries in his field, like Tesla or Westinghouse. 

It was the 1880s and Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch in another one of his stereotype portrayals of savants, like Dr. Strange, Alan Turing or Sherlock Holmes) was already a celebrity scientist. Together with his staff, Edison developed the long-lasting light bulb to much acclaim, and now going to light up entire cities using direct current electricity. George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon, barely recognizable under all the heavy facial hair), wealthy from his invention of the air brakes system for steam trains, insisted that alternating current electricity can supply electricity at a much cheaper cost. 

While Westinghouse criticized the high cost and limited coverage of direct current, Edison hyped up on the riskiness of alternating current for causing deaths (and even inspired the invention of the electric chair). Edison was shown to be an obsessive technological prodigy with a flawed moral compass. He was a media darling, but his financial acumen and commitment to family were wanting. Westinghouse had a dry yet upright personality, more business savvy, and an aggressively supportive wife Marguerite (Katherine Waterston) behind him. Beyond the contrast in personalities, the film was about the race of Edison and Westinghouse to bid to illuminate the Chicago World Fair of 1893. 

Meanwhile Serbian immigrant and eccentric genius Nikola Tesla (a debonair and charismatic Nicholas Hoult) shuttled between Edison to Westinghouse, selling them his fantastic machines "which worked perfectly in his head" that have yet to become realities. Also prominently in on all this action was banker John Pierpoint (or more popularly known as J.P.) Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen with a prominently big red nose), whose financial support was badly needed by the competing scientists to make their ambitious projects come to life. Edison's secretary Samuel Insull (played by a mousy Tom Holland) had one moment to shine as he represented his boss at a product presentation. 

A film about the AC v. DC electricity distribution may sound dry on paper, but director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (with all his camera tricks) was somehow able to tell the story with a sense of simmering excitement and drama. The image of the American map gradually getting lit up was an effective device to show the progress of the "war." It was clearly evident that the more interesting Nikola Tesla and his genius deserves a movie of his own. Of course, we are wary of cinematic license use to heighten the drama (they did start with a disclaimer that this was "inspired" by true events), so further reading will have to straighten out the factual details. 7/10. 

Review of UNFORGETTABLE: Heartwarming Homecoming

October 24, 2019

Jasmine Mijandro Lagman had been living with her grandmother Lola Olive in Baguio City ever since both her parents passed away. She had a prodigious photographic memory which enabled her to memorize anything precisely. On the other hand, she had some behavior which others may find unusual. She was extra sensitive to loud noises. She was very honest to the point of being brutal. She would throw tantrums when she got upset.

Jasmine was in Manila with her sisters when Lola Olive's illness took a turn for the worse. She took off to find her way back to Baguio City on her own. She wanted to bring her grandmother this new dog whom she named Happy because it looked like her Lola's favorite pet dog when she was younger, believing it would help her Lola get well. However, going to Baguio was not going to be easy for a special young lady like Jasmine and her spunky canine companion.

Sarah Geronimo already proved last year that she could carry a film on her own without a love team with the huge success of "Miss Granny" last year. This time, Geronimo played Jasmine and her idiosyncrasies with so much commitment and with so much sincerity. There were nothing false or pretentious about this performance, it was all heart. Geronimo will make you feel Jasmine's fragile vulnerability so much that you will want to reach into the silver screen to protect her and help her get through her odyssey. She had an easygoing chemistry with Milo, her handsome Jack Russell terrier co-star with a cute expressive face. 

Gina Pareno played her gentle grandmother Olive who was always on Jasmine's side. Ara Mina and Meg Imperial played Jasmine's sisters Dahlia and Violet, who did not always know how to deal with her special needs. Kim Molina and Yayo Aguila appear as Chuchay and her mother Nanette, who helped Jasmine when she lost her way. All throughout the film, there would be surprise cameo guest appearances of several big stars in offbeat bit roles. The Regine Velasquez carinderia scene seen in the trailer was just one of them. Even Sarah Geronimo's father Delfin had one such quick scene. 

This was a sweet, old-fashioned idealistic little film about a girl with autism and her pet dog. When you've seen its trailer, you knew it would be a feel-good, tear-jerking family drama, and it was exactly that. Jasmine and Happy would experience some perils on their long circuitous road trip, but you somehow knew everything will turn out well eventually. You can already see the bittersweet ending from the get-go, but directorial tandem Jun Lana and Perci Intalan provided some delightful little adventures to keep the film interesting along the way. 7/10. 

Review of ISA PA, WITH FEELINGS: Solitude of Silence

October 21, 2019

Mara Navarro took sign language lessons to be able to communicate with her niece Hailey who was deaf. When she was depressed over an unexpected career setback, her deaf sign language teacher Gali Pastrano (who just so happened to also be her next-door neighbor in their condo) became her close friend. When Mara accepted Gali's invitation to be his partner for his dance recital, their friendship would seem to have blossomed into love. However, anxieties arise questioning if a deaf person can really have a serious long-term relationship with one with normal hearing?

This is the first time I had seen Maine Mendoza in a film since I knew her first as Yaya Dub on the Eat Bulaga TV show. With her famously expressive face, she nailed the various dramatic situations Mara got herself into, and she was good. However, this film was a bigger acting vehicle for her co-star Carlo Aquino than it was for her, and Mendoza fully embraced that in her supportive portrayal. Once more, Aquino proved his prodigious acting talents as Gali. He certainly rose to the enormous challenge of portraying a deaf character very convincingly, we fully empathized with his frustrations and insecurities. 

The main love story in itself was very simple. Hearing girl meets and falls in love with deaf boy. Will their relationship work or not? I don't know how commonly deaf-hearing relationships occur, but one can imagine the immense strain of coping with the impaired communications. The film presents a lot of very real difficulties encountered by both parties involved in such a special relationship, both in social and personal situations. My work exposes me regularly to people who are hard of hearing, so I really appreciated the film's effort to shine more light on their condition. 

This is a very brave Filipino to have one of its main protagonists Gali to be profoundly deaf. This meant that all his lines will have to be either in text via their mobile phones, or more frequently, in sign language. It taught us how to sign basic words, but there were entire scenes with no spoken dialogue at all. There were even some scenes in complete silence, without musical score. I appreciated those immersive scenes when all the sounds fade to mere beats and murmurs to simulate how the deaf Gali perceived the situation he was in.  

I thought this full commitment to a portray quiet disability like deafness was pretty risky for a mainstream film like this one. When Mara was signing, she would also say what she meant. However when Gali signed, we needed to read his lines off an LCD screen or off the subtitles. Merely reading a line does not have the same effect with hearing a line delivered with the proper timing and voice inflections. This may not be easy for certain viewers used to hearing their "hugot" one-liners spoken out loud. Because of this challenge, there had been very few films with a hearing-impaired protagonist, like Oscar-recognized "Children of a Lesser God" (1986) and the Ukrainian arthouse piece "The Tribe" (2014), and their posters were prominently displayed on Gali's wall. 

Director Prime Cruz was able to make us feel how it must be to be deaf, and now we know that it definitely is not easy. It emphasized the special way the deaf perceive certain things which hearing people would perhaps take for granted, especially music (like JK Labajo's sensual hit "Buwan") and dance. Over and above telling a simple love story, this film is eye-opening and educational about our deaf fellowmen as it worked to promote understanding, compassion and respect about their misunderstood disability. 8/10. 

Review of MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL: Misunderstood Martyr

October 21, 2019

The first "Maleficent" film (2014) (MY REVIEW) presented us with a re-imagined backstory behind the horned witch who was the villainess from the original "Sleeping Beauty" classic animated film (1959). Featuring Angelina Jolie as the title character with those computer-generated angular cheekbones, "Maleficent" was a big box office hit that year, hence five years later, a sequel was made and released. 

Five years after the events of the first film, Aurora was now ruling as Queen of the Moors, the realm of fairies and various other magical creatures. One day, Prince Philip suddenly came and proposed marriage, which Aurora excitedly accepted. However, her godmother Maleficent was not thrilled at the prospect as she felt humans and fairies cannot coexist in peace. When a curse suddenly befell Philip's father King John, his mother Queen Ingrith accused Maleficent to be the one responsible. 

The whole film tackled the touchy topic of world peace and unity, in this case between humans and fairies. To make matters more complicated, Maleficent discovered that there was an entire race of fairies called the Dark Fey, all winged and horned like her, who lived in an underground cave as refuge from human destruction. Warrior leader Borra (Ed Skrein) thought they should go to war with the humans, and diplomat leader Connal (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wanted to pursue more peaceful means. 

Angelina Jolie was still in great form as Maleficent, with her nice vocal inflections which liven up her lines with rich personality. The prominence of her computer-generated cheekbones went overboard in a lot of scenes in this sequel. We get to see Maleficent without her head wrap, so we see her with her long black hair down, and confirm that those were really horns growing on her head, and not part of a headdress. We also get to see Maleficent's bare shoulders and legs in some unexpected skin-revealing scenes. 

Elle Fanning was lovely and naive as ever as Aurora. Sam Riley was still very charming as the human form of Maleficent's pet crow, Diaval. Michelle Pfeiffer does a familiar turn as an over-the-top scheming Queen Ingrith. A new actor Harris Dickinson took over from Brenton Thwaites as Prince Philip, but was as bland as before. Even the animated Prince Philip was more dashing.as suitor or as royal. It was great to see 80s height-challenged actor Warwick Davis back in another fantasy creature Lickspittle, the alchemist pixie. 

Apart from that fateful "meet-the-parents" dinner scene, I was only mildly enjoying the first two thirds of the film. The whole sequence of Maleficent fleeing from King John's castle all the way to the scenes in the Dark Fey caves was inordinately very dark. It  was very difficult to see what was going on or which character was talking. Thankfully, the final battle scenes were all shot in broad daylight to give the film a much-needed boost in the final act. Even then, the action and the logic there were more of the juvenile, Rated-G variety. 5/10. 

QCINEMA 2019: Review of CLEANERS: Schoolkid Sentiments

October 18, 2019

It was 2007 in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province. Some students from Section IV-Rizal of St. Agnes Catholic School had memorable experiences during their senior year. Stephanie had her embarrassing dance number during Nutrition Month. Class president Angeli was grouped with the notorious Emo Boys to do the folk dance number for National Language Month. Francis proved to Britney he was her perfect date for the Prom. Junjun got an inside view of local politics when he ran for Youth Council president. 

The first thing you'd notice about this film was its very unique look. Director Glenn Barit chose to present his stories via 30,000 photocopied black and white images painstakingly edited together at a rate of 8 frames per second to animate them. The clothes of the main characters were colored with highlighters to make them stand out (Stephanie in green, the Emo Boys in orange, Angeli in yellow, Francis in blue, Britney in fuchsia, and Junjun in purple). This gave the whole project a sense of nostalgia as we have never seen before. 

It was quite impressive that the characters were not played by professional actors. The awkward attempts of these kids (and teachers) at acting created a most authentic vibe of high school life -- all its silliness and its frustrations.

The first two stories were light comic vignettes. Ianna Taguinod was fearless in making herself funny as Stephanie. That disastrous dance number to the tune of "Prutas at Gulay" was unforgettable. Leomar Baloran, Julian Narag and Carlo Mejia, as the Emo Boys Eman, Lester and Arnold respectively, were the audience favorites with their goth punk tough-guy looks. Gianne Emira Rivera was delightful as Angeli as she tried desperately to get her classmates' cooperation. All former class presidents will identify with her.

The latter two stories were more serious in tone. Francis (played by Allan Gannaban) faced bullying, and Britney (Charisse Mabonag) faced teen pregnancy -- both very real problems at that age. The character of Francis will forever be embedded in viewer's memories because of his daring scene with a pair of scissors. Junjun (Andrei Marquez) was the son of the current mayor Conchita (Sunshine Teodoro) and ex-mayor Alfonso (Jack Yabut). As he idealistically followed his parents' career path, he became painfully aware of all the dirty tricks behind the scenes in the process.

This remarkable indie film was a charming slice-of-life reminder of our high school days, which are said to be the best days of our lives, the years when many of our life-long friendships begin. We may not have the same coming-of-age experiences as wacky or as angsty as these characters had, but watching this will remind us of our own tricky transition from not-quite children to not-quite young adults, and make us smile and misty-eyed at the same time.  9/10. 

QCINEMA 2019: Reviews of 3 ASIAN NEW WAVE Entries: FLY BY NIGHT, THE LONG WALK, SUBURBAN BIRDS

October 17, 2019

FLY BY NIGHT

Director: Zahir Omar (Malaysia)

Tailo (Sunny Pang) was a gentleman taxi driver by trade, calling himself "Chinaman." However, together with his younger brother Sailo (Fabian Loo), Sailo's close friend Gwailo (Jack Tan), and ex-con family friend Ah-soon (Eric Chen), he ran an extortion operation targeting rich people who rode their cabs. After a Dato was victimized, the police under cool, dedicated Inspector Kamal (Bront Palarae) were on their trail.

While Tailo and Ah-soon were more careful, the two younger guys were rash and foolish, trying to do little heists on their own, like one involving Reanne (Joyce Harn), the mistress of a jewelry businessman. However, when the two majorly lost money and their tempers in a gambling joint, they had the sadistic hothead mafia boss Jared (Frederick Lee) on their heels over the huge debt they owed him. 

The story is very easy to get hooked into. With the crisp visuals and eclectic music, the unfolding of one exciting event after the other was riveting to watch. There was engaging family dynamics. There was insight into Malaysian Chinese culture. There was very black comedy. There was heart-stopping motorbike chase action. There were crazy criminal characters. There was even blood-splattering Tarantino-esque violence. This is as mainstream as festival entries can get. I really enjoyed watching this film. 8/10.

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THE LONG WALK

Director: Mattie Do (Laos)

In the near future, an old man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy), known as a healer and medium who can communicate with the dead, was seen walking and talking with a pale and mute young woman(Noutnapha Soydara). The same young woman was seen appearing to a little boy (Por Silatsa) whose daily routine involved walking to market with his ill mother (Chansamone Inoudorn). It turned out that the young woman was a ghost, while the old man and the little boy were one and the same person 50 years apart.

When an old woman with dementia disappeared from her noodle store, the old man was requested by Lina (Vilouna Phetmany), the old woman's city girl daughter, to look for her mother. On the other hand, the little boy grappled with his mother's failing health and his father's drunken abusiveness. The ghostly young woman eventually brought the old man back in time to help the little boy cope, bringing them face to face. However, his assistance may actually turn out to be causing more harm than good.  

I was engrossed with the complex time-traveling paranormal plot, with plenty of interesting ancient local folk practices, plus some sci-fi on the side. The cinematography was so lush and gorgeous on the big screen, such that even the disgusting was looking good. The eerie musical score built up a thick atmosphere of dread and suspense. Despite some confusing side details in the main plot, the lead performances of Chanthalungsy and especially 10 year-old Silatsa kept my attention the entire time. After two hours of this richly bizarre trip, director Mattie Do neatly cleaned up for a beautifully moving ending. 8/10. 

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SUBURBAN BIRDS

Director: Sheng Qiu (China)

In the suburban community of Wenjing, the land gave way and its buildings sank. The government official Jiang (Wang Xinyu) led engineers Mr. Han (Xiao Xiao) and his younger counterparts Ant (Deng Jing) and Xiahao (Mason Lee) to survey and assess the damage. Xiahao thought it was an underground water leak that caused the damages, however his boss did not agree and thought the young man was being foolish. 

In a parallel story, a pre-teen boy also named Xiahao (Gong Zihan) played around the urban debris and green woods around their city with his close gang of friends, including Fatty (Chen Yihao), Old Timer (Xu Chenghui), Coal (Chen Zhihao) and two girls Foxy (Qian Xuanyi) and Fang Tin (Xu Shuo). One day, the gang experienced a very long walk to the house of Fatty, which took a turn to the strange. 

I honestly do not know what to make of this unusual film. The seemingly unrelated stories of the two main threads both seemed to lead nowhere. Wer  the two stories were happening at the same time?. Or did Xiahao the kid grew up to be Xiahao the surveyor? This film by director Sheng Qui was more about experimental storytelling, rather than the traditional styles we are familiar with. By the time the film ended with a puzzling bird-watching scene, I realize that I did not fully understand what it was trying to say. I need more exposure to more arthouse films to gain more appreciation for their abstract style of cinematic art. 4/10.