(Reposting, thanks to Titus Levi)... set in different areas in--and aspects of--mindanao, pasions bwaya and del mundos kna, the dreamweaver take pains to soak in as much of the textural and chromatic world of their localities as they can, while in the same breath drawing from autochthonous mythic energies--of the manobo and the tboli peoples, respectively. both projects are commendable in this regard: simply put, local cinema can certainly stand to re/present more images and stories coming from these little-known (and little-seen) corners of the philippine reality. whats clear is that these two directors are admirably meticulous in their visions, taking care to render by turns visually beautiful and authentic--necessarily a problematic artifice--their films, within the purviews of their respective projects. in bwaya, pasion recurs to the metacinematic preoccupation of his earlier jay, and luxuriates in the handy and irresistible metaphor of the ravenous crocodile (that indeed kills a poor schoolgirl somewhere in the impoverished agusan marshland, but is also the aptly named moniker for the greedy and the shamelessly corrupt public servants in our midst). in kna, del mundo taps into the familiar and archetypal story of sacrificial love: daguios wedding dance comes to mind (albeit here the one who suffers more and immolates himself is the man), as well as a lovely kenyan story by grace ogot (namely, the rain came, a modernized and happy retelling of a well-known african legend, also about a mythic lake and a princess who is called upon to perform an ultimate sacrifice in order to bring happiness and peace back to her troubled land). both directors are visibly earnest in their intentions, and in this sense, are equally challenged by their materials respective constraints. in pasions case, these would be the givens of the newsy and true-to-life story that both bequeathed the films easy metaphor and entrapped its emotional and narrative logic. this entrapment proves ultimately vexing: on one hand, not even the shamanistic voiceover of an ancient monobo crocodile story can render the tragic incidents actual (deadly) reptile mythically resonant; on the other, theres that commonsensical question that isnt remotely answered by the film--of how this horrific event couldnt have been the first that this riverine community has had to face, and yet it seems to be that way, going by the films dramatic focus on the mothers singular and bottomless grief (a role played exceptionally well by the increasingly formidable angeli bayani). in del mundos case, the commitment to the trope of dreaming and dream-weaving proves less than wieldy, as well as less than effective: this otherwise promising trope doesnt really take magical flight in this nativist drama (the gratingly untrained and audibly twangy tboli dialogue being mouthed by the leads certainly doesnt help its cause any), even as its figurative pursuit is visibly and eagerly indulged in by del mundo, to the detriment of such basic narrative requisites as motivation and inner depth: to be frank, the characters in this film just arent realized enough, for they act too much like the mythic types that they are (this is where the comparsion with ogots story may prove productive: her revision precisely shatters the well-known storys typicality, by twisting the foreordained conclusion away from what is proper and expected)... in any case, these two films undoubtedly stand out in this years cinemalaya, both for their visual splendor and the difficulties their makers bravely faced (and grappled with), in order to actualize it. props to pasion and del mundo, then, who are among the bright lights in the firmament of contemporary philippine cinema. clearly, going by these flawed but remarkable films, they deserve to be wholeheartedly supported and encouraged by all.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 07:18:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015