Netflix: Review of EXTRACTION: Hemsworth Hardy and Hectic

April 26, 2020

Ovi Mahajan Jr. (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of India's biggest drug lord Ovi Mahajan Sr., was abducted and held for a substantial ransom by Bangladesh's biggest drug lord, Amir Asif (Rudhraksh Jaiswal). A black market mercenary group led by Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) and her tenacious recruit Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) embarked to rescue Ovi Jr. Meanwhile, fearing for his family's safety, the senior Ovi's right-hand man Saju (Randeep Hooda) launched his own mission to bring his master's son back.

This was a much-awaited Netflix original movie because it reunited "Avengers" directors the Russo brothers and their star Chris Hemsworth. However, in this project, just like how it was with "21 Bridges" with "Black Panther" Chadwick Boseman, the Russo brothers were the producers (along with Hemsworth), and not the directors. However, unlike "Bridges," the story of "Extraction" was credited to the Russos, with the screenplay credited solely on Joe Russo, who was also one of the co-authors of graphic novel "Ciudad," from which the script was adapted. 

Chris Hemsworth was such a cool guy as the god Thor, and here, as a very mortal Tyler Rake, he still brought that same level of fearlessness in the face of certain death. To be honest, Tyler's stamina and skills can come across as unreal and superhuman, but being Hemsworth, he exuded that believable aura of invincibility. Tyler was also given a tender backstory to somehow ground the hero with some vulnerability, and Hemsworth showed off the heart behind his gruff bravado as only he could deliver.

Among all the action scenes in the film, the most harrowing and exciting was that seemingly seamless 10-minute frenetic car chase scene with police through narrow alleys and on foot through a residential apartment building. This would later segue into a prolonged hand-to-hand fight scene with Hooda, which ended on the busy market below. That whole painfully brutal sequence was exhilarating to watch as it must have been exhausting for cast and crew to execute and shoot. There were also some graphically violent scenes involving teenage boys which were difficult to watch. 

"Extraction" will find it difficult to escape comments that it perpetuates the "white savior" trope. For some reason, there just had to be this Caucasian character in order for Ovi Jr. to have been rescued. However, going beyond that, "Extraction" had all the thrills and spills adrenaline-junkies crave for in an action film. Having rather one-dimensional characters, it hovered precariously near B-flick territory, only taken up a notch by Chris Hemsworth's star power and stunt-coordinator Sam Hargrave's instinctive direction for action. 6/10.

Netflix: 3 Mini-Reviews: PK, DANGAL, SECRET SUPERSTAR: Aamir's Aces Pt. 2

April 24, 2020

I just watched three classic Aamir Khan films from the first decade of the new millennium, and I wrote about them in my last article (LINK). After enjoying this Bollywood experience, I looked up the updated list of the biggest box-office hits among Hindi films to see what I should see next. I was amazed to see that three of the Top 5, all within this current decade) were actually all on Netflix, and all also starred Aamir Khan. Therefore, it was logical that these were the three films I had chosen to watch and write about for this article. 

PK (2014)

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani
Written by Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi

In a remote arid area in India, there was a human-like alien who set down by his spaceship. Unfortunately, his remote communication device was stolen by the first human he encountered.  Since then, the alien (who had since earned the name of PK, or "Tipsy," because of his strange drunken behavior) went into a long arduous search for this precious item, all the way to New Delhi. A female TV journalist named Jaggu saw him on the train distributing leaflets looking for "God" When she heard his story, she thought his unusual alien logic would be a big hit on TV news. 

With a worldwide gross of $140M, this is now the 4th biggest grossing Hindi film of all time. It was the first Hindi film which broke the $100M ceiling back in 2014. When I first read the synopsis that it was about an alien and saw Aamir Khan's Mr. Bean-like facial expression, wide-open eyes, raised eyebrows and all, I thought that this was going to be a wacky comedy. Well, there were a lot of comic moments, some even raunchy gags (like the "dancing cars" and the brothel). However, I was really surprised at how deeply philosophical the central topic of religion had been dissected by the script. That incredible montage of PK joining ritual practices of various religions was one simply epic sequence of images. Talking about religion is tricky business and potentially offensive, but the popularity of this film proved that the filmmakers' bold risks paid off. As the naively confused yet sensitively perceptive alien PK, Aamir Khan gave what could be the most powerful performance I've seen him in. The side story about Jaggu (the elegant Anushka Sharma) and her Pakistani boyfriend Sharifar (a charming Sushant Singh Rajput) was such a touching romantic aspect. 9/10. 

DANGAL (2016)

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari
Written by Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Meharotra

Mahavir Singh Phogat, was a national level wrestler who was forced by his father to give up the sport in order to work in an office. Since then, he wished for a son to pursue his dream of winning India a gold medal in an international competition. He gave up his dream when he and his wife only had daughters. One day, his older daughters Geeta and Babita beat up two boy bullies, which made Mahavir then realized that his dream may not dead at all. Despite all the taunting they received in their neighborhood, he began to train his two girls to become wrestlers.

This currently holds the record for the biggest ever box-office earnings for a Hindi-language film with a massive $311M take worldwide (more than $210M from China alone). This is also said to be the highest-grossing sports film in the world, which is another amazing statistic. The story was based on real-life female Indian wrestling champions from this decade. Like all sports film, it followed the usual formula of the protagonists' experience of how they triumph despite severe adversity. However, the familial and cultural aspects in this story gave it an extra sting. Aside from his usual intense acting performance, Aamir Khan really bulked up to have a paunchy "dad-bod" to play Mahavir. Geeta was played by then 14-year old Zaira Wasim in her debut film as a young girl, and Fatima Sana Shaikh as a young lady. The execution of all the wrestling action was incredibly real yet dramatically powerful, especially from these two young actresses. 8/10. 

SECRET SUPERSTAR (2017)

Directed by Advait Chandan

Written by Advait Chandan

Insia Malik, a 15 year-old Gujarati Muslim girl, who dreamed of becoming a famous singer, a dream which her selfless mother Najma (Mejer Vij) fully supported. However, her abusive father (Raj Arjun) only wanted her to concentrate on her studies, and was very much against her music. Insia posted a video on YouTube of her playing the guitar and singing her own composition, while wearing a niqab to hide her identity. Her music videos soon became viral, eventually catching the attention of a notorious big-time celebrity music producer based in Mumbai, Shakti Kuman, who soon offered her a recording deal. 

This is currently ranked #3 in the list of all-time biggest box-office hits among Hindi films. If Aamin Khan's character in "PK" seemed to be inspired by Mr. Bean, his character here was an exaggerated Simon Cowell. He was brazenly cocky and outrageously loud (in behavior and costume) as pompous music producer Shakti. However the main protagonist here was Insia, played by Zaira Wasim. If Wasim's wrestling skills were very realistic in "Dangal," so were her guitar and singing skills here as "Secret Superstar." (Those crystalline vocals were actually rendered by Meghna Mishra.)  If there was one familiar sub-theme I had observed in many of these Bollywood films I had seen recently, there was always an abusive father as an antagonist, and the same is true here. The focus of the film was unexpectedly turned to another character at the 11th hour, which gave the film a richer emotional impact towards the end. 7/10. 

Netflix: 3 Mini-Reviews: LAGAAN, RANG DE BASANTI, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR: Aamir's Aces Pt. 1

April 20, 2020

Before there was Netflix, the only Bollywood film I had watched was "3 Idiots" (2009), starring Indian superstar Aamir Khan. That was a wacky comedy about three engineering students as well as a satire about the Indian educational system, . Now that there is Netflix, we now have access to a lot more Bollywood films than ever before, something I did not realize right away until this quarantine period. The first films I had chosen to watch were three famous films were submitted as India's entry to the Oscars Foreign Language Film category in their respective years (but only "Lagaan" made it to the final nomination list). All three films also starred Aamir Khan. 

LAGAAN (2001)

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced by Aamir Khan
Written by K. P. Saxena, Ashutosh Gowariker

It was 1893. The farmers in the village of Champaner could not grow crops because of a long dry spell. When the farmers went to protest their double taxation, they saw the British officers playing a game of cricket. A spirited young farmer named Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) joked that cricket was just child's play for him. Incensed, British commanding office Capt. Russell challenged Bhuvan to cricket match, a victory of which will free their village from tax for three years. However, if they lost, they were going to be levied triple their present tax. 

When I first saw that the running time of this film was a formidable 224 minutes, I admit to have been intimidated. I would soon realize that the running time would be so long because of multiple musical numbers which were interspersed throughout the film. I knew nothing about cricket, so I cannot really follow the games being played and the rules being imposed, but those scenes were quite entertaining. Aside from the sports aspect, there was patriotism (national unity), acceptance (caste system) and romance (inter-racial attraction) in the mix. As the bold and noble Bhuvan, Aamir Khan was ever the charmer as he was torn between two lovely ladies -- his neighbor Gauri (Grace Singh) and Capt. Russell's sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley). This was the maiden venture of Khan as a producer. At that time, its budget of $5M was unprecedented for a Hindi film. 7/10.

RANG DE BASANTI (2006)

Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Written by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey, Rensil D'Silva

James McKinley was a British prison guard during the 1931 hanging of Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his friends. In the present time, his grand-daughter Sue (Alice Patten) went to New Delhi to film a documentary about these revolutionaries with details based on her grandfather's diary. When she met her friend Sofia's (Soha Ali Khan) rowdy group of friends -- Daljit "DJ" Singh (Aamir Khan), Karan Singhania, Aslam Khan and Sukhi Ram (Sharman Joshi) -- she decided that she had found her perfect cast of actors for her film. 

Even if I was not aware of this episod of Indian history, the way this film was presented had been very engaging as it shifted from present (in full color) to past (in sepia tones) events as a film within a film. As they were in the process of filming about revolutionary heroes, the four young friends underwent a gradual passage from foolish mischief to selfless maturity. Aamir Khan may be playing the bad boy leader of the gang DJ, but I was more drawn to the portrayals of the other guys, especially Siddharth Narayan as the jaded rich boy Karan, Kunal Kapoor as the friendly Moslem Aslam, and especially Atul Kulkami as Laxman Pandey, a conservative activist at odds with the Westernized lifestyle of DJ's gang. This film boldly delivered a very strong statement about corruption in the Indian government. The musical interludes by A.R. Rahman add to this film's cultural statements and value. 8/10.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR (2007)

Directed by Aamir Khan
Produced by Aamir Khan

Written by Amole Gupte

Ishaan Awasthi was a 8 year-old boy who hated school because he could never read, write or do math the way his teachers liked. Midterm, he was transferred by his strict father (Vipin Sharma) to a boarding school hoping it could whip Ishaan into shape. However, the strict policies in the new school were even more unbearable for the poor boy. One day, a non-conformist substitute teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) took over their art class. He eventually recognized that Ishaan had a learning disorder which was causing the child's worsening depression, which in turn was suppressing his talent for painting. 

The first hour of this film was very difficult to watch because of its relentless negativity. Ishaan was already having obvious problems in school, but his teachers and father had been harsh and even physical when they dealt with Ishaan's failures. By the time teacher Ram came into the scene, then the whole tone of the movie turned lighter and positive. This was the film debut of child actor Darsheel Safary and it was a stunningly realistic performance of autistic behavior (which won him a number of Best Actor awards). This film was Aamir Khan's directorial debut. He wisely took the back seat to his child main actor, but his portrayal of an inspirational teacher with innovative teaching and guidance methods provided touching heart-warming moments. 7/10

Netflix: 3 Mini-Reviews: LOST GIRLS, THE LAST THING HE WANTED, HORSE GIRL: Focus on Flawed Females

April 11, 2020

LOST GIRLS

Director: Liz Garbus
Writers: Michael Werwie, based on the book by Robert Kolker 

Mari Gilbert (Amy Ryan) was expecting her daughter Shannan to join her for dinner, but she never showed up. It turned out that Shannan was out working as a prostitute that night in a gated community in Long Island, and never came home. Police Commissioner Richard Dormer (Gabriel Bryne) did not seem to be working hard enough on Shannan's disappearance.  Because of Mari's dogged persistence, the police found the abandoned bodies of over a dozen other murdered sex workers in the same general vicinity.

This was really Amy Ryan's show all the way. Ryan was all-grit as she portrayed low-brow single mother Mari Gilbert, who was unrelentless in her search for her missing daughter. She was coarse or ruthless, she did not care. She just wanted to get to the bottom of things as she still had to deal with her other two daughters, the neglected Sherre (Thomasin McKenzie, who was Elsa in "Jojo Rabbit") and the schizophrenic Sarra (Oona Lawrence). The investigation of the Long Beach serial killer murder-mystery was maddening and disgusting, but remained fascinating to follow to its uncertain ending. 7/10. 

THE LAST THING HE WANTED

Director: Dee Rees
Writers: Marco Villalobos and Dee Rees, based on the book by Joan Didion

Elena McMahon (Anne Hathaway) was a veteran D.C. journalist who passionately covered violent events in Central America, even when the US government wanted to keep these things under wraps. When she was assigned by her newspaper to cover the 1984 US elections,  she reconnected with her estranged father Richard (Willem Dafoe) who dealt in smuggling illegal arms. To bring herself back in the thick of the action she craved, Elena agreed to fly to El Salvador for her ailing father to complete a covert arms deal for him. 

This looked like a very serious political movie at first, with Anne Hathaway giving a dead-serious portrayal Elena McMahon -- dedicated journalist, absent mother, guilty daughter, breast cancer survivor, newbie gun-runner. However, the plot began to get unhinged as it thickened into an incomprehensible mess. Rosie Perez was effective as Elena's gritty work partner Alma. Willem Dafoe gave an amazingly realistic performance as Elena's father Richard who was beginning to lose grip on reality. Ben Affleck's government agent Treat Morrison was a dull emotionless question mark from his first scene to his last. 4/10.

HORSE GIRL

Director: Jeff Baena
Writers: Jeff Baena and Alison Brie

Sarah (Alison Brie) was a shy, introverted young woman who worked in an arts supply store. After work, she visited Willow, the horse she used to ride as a child. She had just been set up with a guy named Darren (John Reynolds) who seemed to share her quirks. She was a devoted fan of a sci-fi television series called Purgatory which she watched on repeat. Later on, she began to have strange dreams which began to convince her that "Purgatory"'s plot about aliens and cloning was actually happening in her real life. 

Director Jeff Baena took pains to build up the character of Sarah to mundane details in order to deeply immerse the audience in her world. When the story later turned to the psychotic, knowing Sarah so well made sure we would still be along for the weird ride. With her wide-eyed innocent face, Alison Brie had an affecting and totally transformed portrayal of Sarah. She was going in and out of sanity so effectively, we cannot tell which things were real or not. This is not an easy film to get through because of its strange twists and turns, but Brie held us in all the way to that bizarre ending. 6/10. 

Netflix: 3 Mini-Reviews: SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL, 6 UNDERGROUND, FRACTURED: Attention on Action Actors

March 31, 2020

SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL

Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Sean O'Keefe, Brian Helgeland

Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) was a Boston policeman who was thrown into prison for assaulting a high-ranking officer named Boylan (Michael Gaston). Upon his release five years later, he bunked in the home of his old friend Henry (Alan Arkin), with a heavyweight MMA fighter named Hawk (Winston Duke) as his roommate. Coincidentally, right on the night of Spenser's release, Boylan was murdered and another young officer was accused of killing him.

I thought this was a remake of old TV series "Spenser for Hire" (which starred Robert Urich) which was also about a Boston cop. Turned out this Spenser was the same character created by Robert Parker, but this adventure was based on a book by the writer who continued the series after Parker, Ace Adkins. This is director Peter Berg's fifth film with Mark Wahlberg in a row. Wahlberg is so at ease in this type of serio-comic action character, it felt like he had done him several times before. It was the supporting characters Hawk, Henry and Spenser's old girlfriend Cissy (Ileza Schlesinger) which give this a more distinctive flavor. The way the characters were built up, this felt like the pilot of a possible continuing franchise. 6/10. 

6 UNDERGROUND

Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese

An American billionaire faked his own death, called himself One, gathered an extraordinary team of skilled "ghosts" who were willing to completely lose their identities to work with him in extraordinarily dangerous missions. Two (Melanie Laurent) was a spy. Three (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) was a hitman. Four (Ben Hardy) was a parkour thief. Five (Adria Arjona) was a doctor. Six (Ben Franco) was a driver. Together, they worked on an elaborate plot to overthrow Rovac (Lior Raz), the brutal dictator of Turgistan, and replace him with Murat (Peyman Maadi), Rovac's erudite brother.

Being by Michael Bay, this film was one explosive action scene after another from beginning to end, accompanied by a frenetic loud pop music soundtrack. There are frenetic scenes of physics-defying car chases, gory injuries and senseless deaths. The impossible scenes of precise parkour (especially that when Four was jumping from one steel column to another) were breathtaking to watch. One was a dapper Deadpool-like character who had comedy and violence as only Ryan Reynolds could deliver. His testy interactions with the "Mission Impossible"-like team beside him also added to the popcorn entertainment value. 6/10. 

FRACTURED

Director: Brad Anderson
Writer: Alan B. McElroy

Ray Monroe (Sam Worthington) was on road trip with his wife Joanne (Lucy Rabe) and daughter Peri (Lucy Capri). During a rest stop along the way, a freak accident caused Ray and Peri to fall into an open construction site sustaining injuries. Ray went to the nearest hospital where Peri was assessed to need a cranial CT scan to rule out a hematoma. However, when Ray woke up from a deep nap in the waiting area, Joanne and Peri were nowhere to be found. To make things even more confusing for Ray, the hospital had no records that they were even there at all.

This entire film made me queasy and uncomfortable the whole time. There were many scenes where I could not bear to look at the screen because of the extreme tension it was delivering. Even in that first scene alone with the family driving in the car and during their rest stop, I was a nervous wreck. The atmosphere of uncertainty was wound so tightly, you never really knew how it was going to end until that climactic reveal. The gore shown in those final scenes were not even necessary to . The slick slimy script, suspenseful editing and gritty lead performance by Sam Worthington elevated this one over other similarly-themed thrillers. 8/10. 

Netflix: 3 Mini-Reviews: THE PLATFORM, THE OCCUPANT, MARK OF THE DEVIL: Suspense in Spanish

March 29, 2020

THE PLATFORM

Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Writer: David Desola and Pedro Rivero

In the hope of earning a diploma, Goreng (Iván Massagué) volunteered to spend six months in a special self-management facility. It was a vertical structure with a rectangular hole in the middle of each floor. Everyday, a bountiful table of food and drinks was passed down from floor to floor. The ones at the top floors can get a hearty meal, while the two occupants of each floor going downward had to content themselves with less and less, until only empty plates were left at the lowermost floors. The inmates were shuffled from floor to floor every month, so everyone got a taste of feast or famine.

This was a very disturbing movie. This was not only because of all those disgusting scenes of eating messy leftovers, with all those unpleasant chomping sounds. There were also scenes of raw violence as the base instinct to survive of the inmates would overtake their civilized sensibilities. Goreng learned life lessons from the different people he met inside the hole: the ruthless Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), the altruistic Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan), the cheerful Baharat (Emilio Buale Coka) and the persistent mother Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay). At the end of all this exhausting chaos, there may after all a glimmer of hope, in an uncertain kind of way. 6/10. 

THE OCCUPANT

Director: David Pastor and Àlex Pastor
Writer: David Pastor and Àlex Pastor

Advertising executive Javier (Javier Gutierrez) could not find a new job. To cut costs, Javier had to give up his luxurious condominium unit.moved to a cheaper apartment in the poor side of town along with his wife Marga (Ruth Diaz) and son Dani. Despondent, Javier stalked the new occupants of his former condo, the family of Tomas (Mario Casas), Lara (Bruna Cusi) and their daughter Monica. Pushed over the edge, Javier then concocted a complicated plot of deception in order to get himself back into the life he once enjoyed. 

This was quite an uncomfortable movie to get through, like "Parasite" (2019) but without the comedy parts. This was because of you were always aware of Javier's evil machinations and you see it come to fruition to destroy the life of hapless Tomas. The role of pervert gardener Damian (David Ramirez) provided some more tension in the story, which frequently saw Javier's plan coming together so perfectly. Despite the discomfort, you'd be held in to the very end to see the ultimate outcome. Javier Gutierrez played his namesake character Javier with such an unruffled icy coolness, it was an understated yet extremely compelling performance. 7/10. 

MARK OF THE DEVIL

Director: Diego Cohen

Writer: Ruben Escalante Mendez

A philology professor Cecilia (Lumi Cavazos) brought home an ancient book to study over the weekend. However, her two curious daughters Camila (Arantza Ruiz) and Fernanda (Nicolasa Ortíz Monasterio) secretly read off some Latin passages written on the pages. Unknowingly, they activated an ancient curse. A drug-addict priest-exorcist Fr. Tomas (Eduardo Noriega) and his wild urban cowboy ward Karl (Eivaut Rischen) were called in to help the demon possessing the girls. 

This was a B-grade horror film of the exorcism sub-genre from Mexico. The acting of the entire cast was purposely over-the-top in order to bring to life very poorly-written characters. The worst of the lot was the absurd character of the chronically demon-possessed Karl which was simply on a level of incomprehensible campiness all his own. All the lame jump scares and the disgusting special effects could not lift the corniness of this forgettable project. There was even an extra scene in the middle of the end credits maybe to hint about a possible sequel, but no thanks. 2/10. 

3 Mini-Reviews: Cinema One on YouTube 2: LILIA CUNTAPAY, UPCAT, ROME & JULIET

March 26, 2020

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM LILIA CUNTAPAY (2011)

Director: Antoinette Jadaone
Writer: Antoinette Jadaone

Lilia Cuntapay had been a bit player in countless Filipino films, big and small, for the past 30 years. A filmmaker was following her around to make a documentary about her life when she received an unexpected nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the film "Sangandaan," alongside the likes of Rio Locsin, Raquel Villavicencio and Mercedes Cabral. For the first time in her long career, she is enjoying her brief 15 minutes of popularity. 

Peque Gallaga handpicked long time anonymous extra Cuntapay to play a ghost in a "Shake Rattle and Roll" film and only then did she became sort of famous. Antoinette Jadaone made an auspicious feature film debut with this delightful mockumentary which immersed us in the simple joys and frustrating heartbreaks of an unheralded movie extra. In the lead role for the first time, Cuntapay embraced the spotlight on her and gave a memorable performance so humble and realistic you could not distinguish which was fact from fiction. 7/10.

UPCAT (2008)

Director: Roman Carlo Olivarez

Writers: Alfred Reyes, Inna Miren Salazar 

High school senior Lucas (Felix Roco) wants to pass the UPCAT to be with his girlfriend Jane (Hiyasmin Neri), daughter of the mayor (Mark Gil). He reviewed with neighborhood artist and UP graduate Michael (Richard Quan) along with his best friend Joaquin (Joseph Roble). However, for reasons unknown to him, his parents (Bembol Roco and Malou Crisologo) were very much against his decision to study in UP. 

This was just a simple coming of age film about a high school boy taking a college entrance test, but there were some lapses in the storytelling. At times it felt like, some scenes were lost in the editing. It took too long to tell the reason why the dad was so against Lucas going to UP, it felt anticlimactic in a way. With his naturally energetic performance, supporting actor Joseph Roble actually upstaged lead actor Felix Roco. The post-credit scenes, featuring a cameo by Arnold Reyes,  tied loose ends up quite well. At best, it worked to bring back UPCAT memories for UP grads in the audience. 5/10.

ROME & JULIET (2006)

Director: Connie Macatuno

Writers: Connie Macatuno 

Prim and proper pre-school teacher Juliet (Andrea del Rosario) was engaged to be married to young hotshot local politician Marc (Rafael Rosell). She hired stylish florist Rome (Mylene Dizon) to supply their flowers and be their wedding planner. As they spent a lot of time together, the deep friendship between the two women blossomed into romantic love -- a love that the people around them all could not accept. 

The buildup of the brave story was very good for the first two acts as it took its time to build the romance between the two lead female characters, and the attitudes Filipino society had for and against their lesbian relationship. It was just too bad that by the third act, Macatuno decided to squeeze in all the usual tropes of Filipino melodrama, such that the ending scenario felt contrived, unconvincing and unsatisfying. Mylene Dizon totally dominated the screen as the seductive Rome, above the rest of the attractive cast (del Rosario, Rosell and Mico Palanca) who all delivered well in their daring roles. 6/10. 

3 Mini-Reviews: Cinema One on YouTube: YANGGAW, CONFESSIONAL, SA NORTH DIVERSION ROAD

March 23, 2020

YANGGAW (2008)

Director: Richard Somes
Writer: Richard Somes 

In a rural town in Iloilo, there lived the family of Junior (Ronnie Lazaro) and Inday (Techie Agbayani), who had two adult children, namely Toto (Gio Respall) with his wife and two kids, and Amor (Alleera Montalla).  One day, Amor was afflicted by a strange malady which caused her to display bizarre behavior at night. Consult with a local healer Lazarus (Erik Matti in an offbeat performance) revealed that Amor had become a blood-thirsty aswang. Despite this terrifying fact, Junior however remained staunchly defensive and protective of his daughter. 

This film used the lilting Ilonggo tongue, and the whole cast seemed very at ease and natural with the language. Lazaro was excellent as the father who would do anything to keep his daughter safe and satisfied, even when it meant putting the rest of his household and neighborhood (including Joel Torre as his friend Dulpo) in mortal danger. His decisions may be unreasonable, yet you can still empathize with his predicament. For me, this film worked better as a family drama than a horror film. That pivotal scene when Junior made his ultimate choice was a hallmark of extreme tension. 8/10

CONFESSIONAL (2007)

Directors: Jerrold Tarog, Ruel Dahis Antipuesto
Writer: Jerrold Tarog 

Ryan Pastor (David Barril, screen name of Jerrold Tarrog himself), a film editor from Manila, went to Cebu with his live-in girlfriend Monet (Owee Salva) to film a documentary about the Sinulog Festival for submission to a contest. One of the people he interviewed for his project was a wealthy man named Lito Caliso (Publio Briones III), a former mayor from Mindanao, who had lived in Cebu for five years now. After talking about the Sinulog, Caliso inexplicably went on to tell Pastor all about heinous criminal activities he had done before. 

This film started off slowly with mundane stuff about Ryan and Monet relationship, then about the Sinulog itself. However, once the character of Lito Caliso came into the scene, it becomes totally riveting. I knew Publio Briones III from his recent film "A Short History of a Few Bad Things" (Keith Deligero, 2018). He was the best part of that film as he was the best part of this one. He had a screen presence like no other, so sinister yet so mesmerizing. That ending was so powerful it will shock you. The final image of Ryan holding the camera even made it to the logo of Cinema One itself. Director Jerrold Tarrog made his feature film directorial debut with this one, and we all know where he is now. He had fulfilled the promise he made with this stunning debut. 8/10

SA NORTH DIVERSION ROAD (2005)

Director: Dennis Marasigan
Writers: Dennis Marasigan

A man Tony and his wife Mae are driving in their sedan along the North Diversion Road (now known as the NLEX or North Luzon Expressway). They were arguing all along the way because the wife found out that her husband had been engaged in an affair with another woman Charmaine. Along the long drive at every exit, we will witness this marital spat proceed in 10 different iterations by 10 couples each with their own unique idiosyncrasies. 

Based on a play by Tony Perez, this cinematic adaptation by writer-director Dennis Marasigan, all 10 couples were brought to life by only two talented actors, namely Irma Adlawan and John Arcilla. As the conversations in their car turned from melodramatic to slapstick, from profane to absurd, Adlawan and Arcilla were always on point as they shifted with their varied characters giving each one their own distinct style and personality.  Marasigan's gimmick made this film a very engaging one, showing us how many different ways a couple could bicker with each other, yet all these scenarios still came to the same sobering outcome. 7/10

3 Mini-Reviews: TBA Studios on YouTube Part 2: K'NA, WATER LEMON, DORMITORYO

March 19. 2020

Part of 1 of this review set is posted HERE.

K'NA THE DREAMWEAVER (2014)

Director: Ida Anita Del Mundo
Writer: Ida Anita Del Mundo

K'na (Mara Lopez) is the princess of a T'boli tribe in South Cotabato who had been anointed by her grandmother Be Lamfey (Erlinda Villalobos) as the gods' choice to become the next dreamweaver, someone whose skills in weaving could tell about the dreams of her people. K'na had fallen in love with her friend Silaw (RK Bagatsing). However, her chieftain father (Noni Buencamino) had her betrothed to the son (Alex Medina) of the chief of the northern tribe (Bembol Roco) in an effort to achieve lasting peace.

Admittedly, the story being told by this film was very familiar and common. However, the gorgeous cinematography was the pinnacle achievement of this film. The bright colors of all the fabrics and fibers literally jumped forth from the screen with uncommon brilliance and verve. The way the actors spoke in the mellifluous T'boli tongue made everything sounded very poetic as translated in the subtitles. Lopez and Bagatsing had realistic romantic chemistry, while veterans Buencamino and Villalobos portrayed their roles with ample gravitas. This was the winner of the Special Jury Prize and the best production design (Toym Imao) of the Cinemalaya filmfest 2014. 8/10. 

WATER LEMON (2015)

Director: Lemuel Lorca
Writer: Lilit Reyes

Filemon (Junjun Quintana) was a young man with Asperger's syndrome who lived in the sleepy seaside town of Mauban, Quezon. While stressed out by his bizarre behavior, his mother Josefina was very supportive of her son's interest in science, particularly about water levels and climate. His colorful childhood friend Bertha (Meryll Soriano) had a serious crush on him. However, Lemon would rather hang around in the internet cafe run by the sassy Maritess (Alessandra de Rossi) and her kind grandfather Ume (Lou Veloso). 

This film was certainly a most charming and entertaining depiction of rural life. The full credit goes to the amazingly dedicated cast of actors gathered together. There were no role too small, everyone gave such effortless performances of real people we see around any Filipino neighborhood. Quintana never deviated from that flat affect and dry delivery of his wordy nerdy lines. Soriano, de Rossi and Veloso gave such delightful quirks to their respective characters. Tomas gave a touching portrayal of a worried mother and longing widow. This film won Best Screenplay (Lilit Reyes), Best Actress (Tomas) and Best Supporting Actor (Veloso) awards of QCinema 2015. 9/10. 

DORMITORYO (2017)

Director: Emerson Reyes
Writer: Emerson Reyes

Aling Linda (Ces Quesada) owned a dormitory with some odd tenants. One stormy night, engineering student Charles (Charles Aaron Salazar) was passing his sleeplessness with sexy magazines and eavesdropping to his dorm mates. Bum fine arts student Max (Mas Celada) was with his nurse girlfriend Sheen (Sheenly Gener). Gay businessman Steven (Wowie de Guzman) was with his policeman lover Ramon (Jun Sabayton). Secretive Jenny (Kate Alejandrino) was with her brusque boyfriend Alex (Vandolph Quizon). 

This was not an easy movie to get through at first because it seemed so pointless. For maybe the first hour, people were just talking to each other about the most mundane personal stuff. If you are not fond of such voyeuristic pursuits, you could actually zone out of this film completely, save from occasional funny moments.  Things only got going for me when Steven and Ramon, then Jenny and Alex entered the scene with their more interesting stories to tell. Everything would then build up to one tension-filled peak, then suddenly end in a way which will shake you up. This film won the Gender Sensitivity award and Best Supporting Actress for Sheen Gener at the QCinema awards of 2017. 4/10. 

3 Mini-Reviews: TBA Studios on YouTube Part 1: IISA, GAYUMA, PATINTERO

March 18, 2020

During the Enhanced Community Quarantine declared by the government on response to the insidious Coronavirus Disease 19, one of the directives for social distancing is the closure of all movie houses for one whole month. In response to this, TBA Studios has released 8 of their films on YouTube so Filipino film fans have something to enjoy in the next four weeks of being confined in their homes.

Of the 8 films, I had already seen and written reviews for two of them. These were: "Bliss" (Jerrold Tarog, 2017, MY REVIEW) and  " Matangtubig" (Jet Leyco, 2015, MY REVIEW). I the past two days I was able to binge on the other five films on their channel that I had not yet seen before. They were all of relatively short length, tackled interesting topics and had slick production values that made watching them one after the other in three days a breeze.

These first three films I will write about all had their Philippine premieres as films in competition at the QCinema Film Festival of 2015.

IISA

Director: Chuck Gutierrez
Writer: Arnel Mardoquio 

There was a major typhoon in the province of Compostela Valley, and the people were starving in its aftermath of its destruction. A group of NPA rebels, led by Monir (Perry Dizon), Mao (Mon Confiado) and Rufo (Jess Mendoza), were looking for food for the sustenance of their group. Meanwhile, Rufo's wife Ross (Angeli Bayani) was being accused of stealing money from their funds, and sought comfort from their spiritual leader Sister Jo (Rio Locsin).

This is very sad story of social injustice was framed with beautiful cinematography and a stirring musical score. The film opens with an elegant overhead shot of men stirring to life in a pit of mud during a downpour, a memorable scene which is depicted in the film's poster. The film closes with the camera on the ground facing the sky while rain is falling down on it. The haunting elegiac strings music playing during this scene was reminiscent of "Schindler's List." The veteran actors in the cast all performed with realistic grit. 7/10. 

GAYUMA

Director: Cesar Hernando
Writer: Cesar Hernando

Mike (Benjamin Alves) is the grandson of a famous painter and is a fine arts student in UP himself. He is in a relationship with Joy (Elora Espano), a film student in the same university. One day, his attention was drawn to Stella (Pheobe Walker), an elusive model he saw in one of the figure drawing sessions. As Mike's attraction to Stella eventually turned into an erotic obsession, he realized that there had been more passed on to him by his grandfather aside from his artistic talents. 

What seemed to be a sexy drama in its poster turned out to have an undercurrent of horror running though it. The old house where Mike lived made sure you feel that from the outset. While the camera visuals and the main actors may look good, the simple story was just too overstretched to be compelling. Most of you can already figure out what was the whole point maybe at the halfway point yet it still took its time. Along the way, we get nude sketching sessions, cantankerous arts professors and Cherie Gil as Mark's chic tita. 4/10. 

PATINTERO: ANG ALAMAT NI MENG PATALO

Director: Mihk Vergara
Writer: Zig Marasigan

Meng (Nafa Hilario Cruz) was the leader of a gang of misfits, which included her nerdy best friend Nicay (Lenlen Frial) and wimpy new kid Shifty (William Buenavente). The other kids in their school always made fun of them because they always lost in their favorite sport, Patintero. For the annual community Patintero competition, Meng convinced her team to join under the name of "Mga Patalo" ("The Losers"). A mysterious cape and mask-wearing kid who called himself Z-Boy (Claude Adrales) materialized out of nowhere to become their fourth team member. 

The most striking aspect of this film are the frenetic scenes of patintero, depicting the exaggerated game action with brightly-colored graphic designs and an energetic musical score. Of course, these animated scenes did get repetitive after a few times, but they were fun anyhow. The film went on a rather dark turn when it tackled the sibling rivalry between Meng and her older brother (Vince Magbanua), which stressed their chain-smoking grandmother (Suzette Ranillo) out a lot. Nevertheless, lessons on teamwork and sportsmanship make this a fun and worthwhile film for kids, which led to its win as audience favorite during the filmfest. 6/10. 



My Part 2 of this review set is posted HERE. 

3 Mini-Reviews: BLOODSHOT, GUNS AKIMBO, THE ROOM (2019)

March 12, 2020

BLOODSHOT

Director: David S. F. Wilson

US Marine soldier Ray Garrison was mercilessly killed along with his wife. He was brought back to life by scientists with his body enhanced by advanced technology that gave him super strength, extreme agility and self-repair. Time eventually came when he began to remember the moment when he and his wife were murdered and the man responsible for the heinous crime. He broke out of his training facility to exact revenge, but was he actually remembering the correct memories?

This was a very typical Vin Diesel action vehicle which may easily be interchanged with all his past vindictive tough-guy characters. The computer-generated special effects were a lot more obvious and cartoonish here than his other films, like "Fast and the Furious," "Chronicles of Riddick" or "xXx." Of course, you get your expected dose of high-octane, high-tech action Diesel is known for, this time with futuristic sci-fi production design, but not skimping on the gore. Adrenaline junkies will still enjoy this, but the story would be easily forgettable right after a while. 5/10.

GUNS AKIMBO

Director: Jason Lei Howden

An underground organization called Skizm organized live-streaming death matches for sheer entertainment. There was a nerdy computer game programmer named Miles enjoyed trash-talking in the Skizm chatrooms. This activity gained the attention of Riktor, the psycho owner of Skizm, who decided to convert Miles into one of the crazy warriors in his violent game. Riktor had guns surgically attached to Miles' hands, thus earning him the nickname of "Guns Akimbo" among the game fanboys. To make Miles' ordeal more extreme, he was pit against the deadliest Skizm figher of them all, Nix.

After being Harry Potter for the first 10 years of his career, Daniel Radcliffe's subsequent roles had been very unusual and offbeat, like "Horns" (2013) or "Victor Frankenstein" (2015). These roles were certainly as far form Harry Potter as can be (that seems to be the rationale for his choices), however, nothing particularly memorable, unfortunately. This current role as Miles is another one of these weird roles where Radcliffe was again deformed into some sort of a monster, but with his goofy charms still intact. This was certainly original, exhausting and oddly fun in its own way. 6/10.

THE ROOM (2019)

Director: Christian Volckman

Matt and Kate moved into a large house located in the countryside of New Hampshire. While exploring the house, Matt stumbled upon a hidden room which apparent can make any material thing he wished for a reality so he wished for famous paintings (since he is an artist) and loads of cash, among others. Kate, having had two previously miscarriages, wished for her ultimate dream -- a baby of her own. However, they were soon to discover that there is a twist to all these wonderful gifts they had been requesting for.

This was actually a very nifty story right out of the twilight zone. I liked how the story unfolded once the room had been discovered and eventually the secret behind it. The story then escalated into more and more bizarre scenarios as it reached its outlandish climax. This was an unexpectedly compelling little unheralded film which I was glad I was able to watch. Olga Kurylenko never actually had another memorable role after her splash as the Bond girl of "Quantum of Solace" (2008), so it was good to see her exotic beauty and strong screen register again as the confused wife, Kate. 7/10.