Film Notes: May 2012

Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan? (Danny Zialcita, 1982) 5/5 Great dialogues, great visuals, exceptional acting. (parang mga nakaquote lang sa poster, pero ganun talaga eh.)

Villa Estrella (Rico Maria Ilarde, 2009) 4/5, signature Ilarde film, napagmukha niyang marunong umarte si Jake Cuenca at Geoff Eigenmann, yun lang, sana nagkaroon din ng fight scene na mahaba yung monster, like in other Ilarde films.

Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo (Gerardo De Leon, 1951) 3/5. para sa kopya yung score. Maganda yung mga kuha (like in any other Gerry de leon film), yun lang nasayang ng pangit na kopya. I wonder kung meron pa nitong ibang kopya somewhere. Pero, as it is, medyo di ko nahabol yung kwento. maganda yung konsepto ng paglapat ng supernatural sa period love story.

Headshot (Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 2011) 5/5. Dahil gusto ko siya, uulitin ko bukas.

Nang Gabing Maging Singlaki ng Puso ang Bato ni Darna (Jon Lazam, 2012) 5/5
Haiku (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2009) 4/5
Thirdworld (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 1997) 5/5
Phantoms of Nabua (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2009) 5/5

Gemini (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1999) 4/5. not really satisfied with it, or it's just that, it felt more like a short film. Still the same Tsukamoto fun ala Tokyo Fist with a softer tone and monster-like costume design.

The Cardboard Village (Ermanno Olmi, 2011) 5/5. God, justice, black, white. God, science, church, black white. God. God. God.

Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog, 2011) 5/5. brought some tears to me. Herzog's documentaries are great not just because of the bigger picture of the main subject but because of those little stories he filmed incidentally in the process.

Walang Ala-ala ang mga Paru-paro (Lav Diaz, 2009) (rewatch) 5/5. Mas ok nga yung 61 min cut kesa dun sa 45 mins. :D

San Lazaro (Wincy Aquino Ong, 2011) 5/5. Ong tried to brand this one a "black comedy", but I perceived it closer to Japan's "serious humor" fiction subgenre, with the atmosphere he made both on sound design, scoring and cinematography, made it feel closer on what I felt from the first 20th Century Boys film. But not that I cared about genre.
Loved Nicco Manalo's performance here. And this is the best use of Bianca King in a film. Her presence is all over her scenes, even that crime scene is so erotic.
A road film without wrong turns is the way to go. Here's something to compare to the other "road" film.     

Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949) 4/5. Not really as memorable as the other films I've seen from him, but there are moments that you should take notice. That chase scene at the near end in contre-jour is fantastic.  

Election (Johnnie To, 2005) 5/5. what a gangster film should be.

Jim Henson Short Films
Ripples (1967) - 4/5
Wheels that Go (1967) 4/5
Cat & Mouse - 5/5
King of Eight - 3/5
... Idea Man - 5/5
Queen of Six - 3/5

Time Piece (1965) 5/5. rewatch. Seems more fun watching this for the second time. gusto ko yung "music-video"-ish vibe niya. yung paglalaro niya sa sound design, at pagmumukhang tanga ni Henson sa sarili niya. "Help!"

Puting Paalam (Sari Dalena, 1997) 3/5.

Dinig Sana Kita (Mike Sandejas, 2009) 5/5. felt like watching a modern-age Lamberto Avellana film. So into the emotion. +1 more point for Albert Banzon's photography.

Hearts of Darkness: a Filmmaker's Apocalypse (Fax Bahr|George Hickenlooper, 1991) 5/5. Revealed how my favorite Coppola film was made and how it got to where it is now. Also, despite of him being as crazy as the footage of his wife has shown, there some moving lines from Coppola for the would-be filmmakers of the future.

Satan's Brew (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976) 5/5. mahirap i-explain yung pelikula. hindi ko alam kung ako lang ang nakapansin nito, pero, yung buong pelikula parang interpretation ng isang anarchist sa mundo at sa mga nakapalibot sa kanya. Dahil ba yun sa main character o dahil mismo sa gumawa? hmm

Sanda Wong (Gerardo De Leon, 1955) 5/5. Hong Kong production ng Ang Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo. hehe. malaki ang similarity, pero ibang iba ang kwento. mas aksyon kesa sa Sawa, pero na-miss ko yung seaside shots ni Gerry.

Faust (F.W. Murnau, 1926) 5/5. how I wish I could see this too projected in 35mm

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki, 2011) 5/5 - Magandang pang double feature sa Cardboard Village. Love the look at Arrietty's face at the near end.

The Forbidden Door (Joko Anwar, 2009) 3/5 - should've given this a 5 since I really have this affec...tion for weak protagonists being fooled on, but... that kicker at the end made it all fail. Parang nakakita ako ng ganitong short film sa UP Thesis Defense nung March. Hmm.....

12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995) 5/5. I have been wondering if that person who lent Chris Marker the film camera never took it back earlier, would La Jetee be the same?

 

Radyo (Yam Laranas, 2001) 4/5. rewatch after ten years.still felt good, but never really like when I first saw it when I was younger. Mali pala yung tono ng Pineapple Juice song pag kinakanta ko.

20th Century Boys - The Last Chapter: Our Flag (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, 2009) 5/5. this film (and the comic book it's based on), is very tricky. It has this simplicity in it and also a bit of complexity. Mature, yet childish. The whole universe live in bipolar extremes. it's clear division of it's yin and yang while blending it is something that only a genius could think of (all hail Naoki Urasawa). Also, kudos to the screenwriters for this, they've compressed into 9 hours my month's load of reading the whole comic book series without missing what was important to it. We don't need more films like this. This one's enough.