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CHARACTER AND PSYCHOLOGY
Kasunduan (Cinebro, 2018) is a drama of the interpenetration of an ostensibly legitimate society - underground sports and the violent reign of organized crime. The central plotline is August...
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JUSTIFIABLE AMMO
The tragicomic absurdity of cultural morality is the target of filmmaker Joselito Altarejos' latest feature, Finding Daddy Blake (2076Kolektib, MC Productions, 2023), an unpredictable blast that...
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THROUGH UNFAMILIAR EYES
Making a virtue of simplicity and a vice of melodrama, Imbisibol (Sinag Maynila, Solar Entertainment Corporation, Centerstage Productions, Pelikulaw 2015) is a well-intentioned low-income drama....
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DANCING QUEEN
Not many movies can lay claim to being a cultural phenomenon. There are certainly hit movies—the ones that make a lot of money at the box office and stir a lot of initial interest—but even the...
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BROKEN PROMISES
It is the love Carmina (Dawn Zulueta) and Gabriel (Richard Gomez) share which builds the foundation for Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (Reyna Films, Inc., 1991), Carlos Siguion-Reyna's tale of broken...
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ON EVEN GROUND
Lawrence Fajardo's Raket ni Nanay (Creative Programs, Inc., Indiopendence, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2006) is the best film I have seen about the physical creation of...
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TIMID AND EVASIVE
Directed by Ma-an L. Asuncion-Dagñalan, Home Service (Viva Films, 3:16 Media Network, 2023) follows nursing student/massage therapist Happy (Hershie de Leon) as she goes about her business over...
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EMPATHETIC, HEARTFELT
The self-destructive nature of searching for meaning, for a partner has long fascinated Elwood Perez. In Lupe A Seaman's Wife (Viva Films, 2003), he strips bare that hopeless pursuit. In those...
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COMPLEX AND REVELATORY
The luminescent tryst between Baby (Vilma Santos) and Roy (Phillip Salvador) in Baby Tsina (Viva Films, 1984) remains to be Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s most complex and revelatory examination of...
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FROM FARCE TO EARNEST SENTIMENT
I must confess to a special fondness for comedies in which the rules of time, space and logic are suspended so that misguided people can straighten themselves out. Here Comes the Groom's (Quantum...
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NEVER AS BOLDLY WITTY
Supergirl (Prima Productions, 1973) is never as boldly witty as Lipad, Darna, Lipad! When it goes for campy laughs, it falls flat on its face. Even Odette Khan, who seems to be vastly enjoying her...
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SUPPRESSED VIOLENCE
Filmmaker Roman Perez Jr. is a genuine obsessive who directs like an avant-garde butcher. His films play off a central juxtaposition: At the same time his characters are behaving like pigs, his...
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GRIPPING PIECE OF WORK
Inday (Boo Originals, EpicMedia, 2018) is a scary movie with teeth, not just blood and entrails -- a gripping piece of work that jangles your nerves without leaving your brain hanging. And so, for...
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UNRELENTING MOMENTUM
A thriller conjured out of suppressed fears, Joselito Altarejos'Pamilya sa Dilim (ADCC Productions, 2076 Kolektib, 2023) is a concentration of ecstasy and violence devised in a perfect union of...
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TIGHTLY WOUND
Jason Paul Laxamana's Baby Boy Baby Girl (Viva Films, Ninuno Media, 2023) retains a stylish reserve that would not seem conducive to strong passions. However, the unexpected element here is humor...
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ABSORBING, TANGY
The astute new thriller Kamadora (Viva Films, 2023) is one of those rare movies that reinforce their themes with an insinuating, sustained tone. Its atmosphere becomes a stylistic precondition for...
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STARTINGLY MOVING
Lupita A. Concio’s Minsa’y Isang Gamu-Gamo (Premiere Productions, Inc.,1976) is one of those films whose great qualities put its elements in sharp relief. Proof is in Nora Aunor’s performance, a...
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OF PREDATORS AND VICTIMS
In Lino Brocka's Maynila sa mga Kuko Ng Liwanag (Cinema Artists, 1975), Manila is a libertarian dystopia where poverty breeds its own predators and victims as the city's poor grasp for the little...
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TANGIBLE DREAD
One thing is certain: director Bobby Bonifacio, Jr. comprehends stifling dread in the most profound sense. With a grief-soaked story of ancestral vulnerability (you can’t pick your relatives, can...
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DEFT DRAMATIZATION
Lino Brocka's Nakaw na Pag-ibig (Associated Entertainment Corporation, 1980) is a work of beauty, tenderness, power and insight. It is a tribute to deft dramatization that the principals are...
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