2010: an achievement as a cinephile

As a cinephile, 2010 has been a great year for me.

With more than a 100 films watched and screening attendance at different theatres and moviehouses, plus lesser consumption of hollywood films made my year so good. 2010 make way for me to see and focus more on Filipino Cinema on all eras and genres. I seem to get interesting films day by day.

I think the first one I saw last year was Raya Martin's Autohystoria (2007) (which I remember watching on new year's day) and Maicling pelicula nañg ysañg Indio Nacional (2005). Since then, I get to see more films from classics to recent contemporary Filipino Cinema.

One of my memorable moments on film watching was a one-seater on Lav Diaz' Melancholia (2008) and Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino (2004), which has insanely long runtime of 8 hours and 11 hours respectively, but as I ventured through the film, I see now why Diaz decided on those long runtimes. I also had the opportunity to catch Lav's early works at Regal, Serafin Geronimo (1997) and (my favorite) Hubad sa Ilalim ng Buwan (1999).

My discoveries on the classics include Zamboanga (Eduardo de Castro, 1937), Tunay na Ina (Octavio Silos, 1939), El Robo (Manuel Conde, 1957), Malvarosa (Gregorio Fernandez, 1958), Noli me Tangere (Gerardo de Leon, 1961), and Anak Dalita (Lamberto V. Avellana, 1956).

On the recent Filipino cinema, I loved these films that I saw this year: Pangarap ng Puso (Mario O'Hara, 2000), Huling Balyan ng Buhi (Sherad Anthony Sanchez, 2006), Foster Child(Brillante Mendoza, 2007), Manoro (Brillante Mendoza, 2006), Sa North Diversion Road (Dennis Marasigan, 2005), Independencia (Raya Martin, 2009), and Anacbanua (Christopher Gozum, 2009).

I always loved Mike de Leon's Batch '81 (1982) and Bayaning 3rd World (2000), that's why I was also happy to see his other acclaimed works such as Itim (1976), Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980), Sister Stella L. (1984), and his masterpiece, Kisapmata (1981).

Of course I also do have great experiences on world cinema. Last year, I've met Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008) and Ta'm-e gīlās/A Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997), two of the films that opened my eyes on the possibilities that can be explored in cinema.

On the screenings that I've attended, the most memorable would be the monthly Tioseco-Bohinc Film Series at Fully Booked Bonifacio Heights wherein they've been screening Filipino films, programmed by film critics Richard Bolisay, Francis Cruz and Eduardo Dayao. The memorable ones from my attendance would be the screenings of Mga Lihim ng Kalapati (Celso Ad. Castillo, 1987), which I think was the most surreal filipino film I ever saw, and Possible Lovers (Raya Martin, 2008).

Possible Lovers might have the largest number of attendees ever in my attendance. There are people sitting on the stairs. What's awesome about the screening is the mixed reactions by the audiences, including the three programmers, while me and my friend Kenn Cepres has been discussing our analysis on the film while it's on-going. I found it really fascinating, and I must say, it really brought out the genius out of Martin.

I've seen a lot of past films but not a lot from the past year. So, my list of films to recommend to you to see that was released last year was limited only to the few once that I saw, haha. Or, baka lahat na ng napanuod ko since unti lang sila.

2010 on cinema:

Watching this made me remember Pi. I don't know if Aronofsky is repeating himself, yet, I still think this one is a good watch. But I still consider removing this one from the list. Haha

I'm so in-love with this so-average feature. I never thought intentional inputs of cliches would be this fun.

This has made Saw and Hostel look gay. One of the few gore-flicks I've ever liked.

As I mentioned before at the Cinephiles group at facebook, I'm a sucker for good endings. I think without that last scene, The Social Network would be something different. At least, it's not as bad as Fincher's last film.

Again, a good ending. Plus a mix of documentary and metaphysical fiction. It has most of the things that I love in a film. Not to mention, a midget.

I miss playing video games. I haven't played in a while. It felt like I relived those times by watching this. Wright never failed to make me smile.

The letter hurts, hurts a lot. Just like critic Dodo Dayao says, it hurts that you could never tell the difference between a love letter and a suicide note. Then, a brink of lightness when you realized, the characters were from a former tv-show that you used to watch.

It's difficult for me to watch this after re-watching Bong Joon-ho's Mother. But in either of them, I can only feel one thing, love.

It's sort of a meditative work for me. I really love how they come up with such an idea. Those ghost are the coolest ones I've seen.

One of the few note-worthy mainstream filipino film from last year. Martinez made comedy possible again.

It's offensive. And it's Khavn's masterpiece. I believe that the book was made possible for Khavn to film it. But, as Khavn told us before the screening, the film was not directly taken from the book. But then again, this sick musical is something to be remembered for a long time.

I got this one. I know what Godard is up to. haha. I love the way this film wants to reach it's audience. I think most of the time, Godard failed here, but, then again, the message of this one is something that's not just being given to anyone. Be thankful those of you who've seen it.

The best Filipino feature from last year. A film telling stories of love, as Torres always want to tell. He really has a poet's heart.

Who would've thought that a ghost film might also be a feel-good film? Joe really knows his stuff. This film really has a lot to tell. From politics, to culture. A good call for giving the Palm d'or.

Though Uncle Boonmee won the top prize, I still think that Kiarostami's latest is still the best that I saw from last year. It touches me where it feels good.

There are still films I need to watch, especially those that has been screened at Cinemanila, Cinemalaya and Cinema One Originals last year. I'll update this when I saw them. :)