The Sibak: Midnight Dancers, Burlesk King and Twilight Dancers Trilogy and How They Explore Gay Poverty in the Philippines

Sibak: Midnight Dancers, Burlesk King and Twilight Dancers are films directed by Mel Chionglo, shown in 1988, 1999 and 2006 respectively. In a sense, each film from Chionglo’s trilogy depicts gay poverty in the Philippines through three different decades.

Sibak: Midnight Dancers revolves around the lives of three brothers, Sonny, Joel and Dennis. Joel and Dennis work as call boys. At 23, Joel is ready to retire and settle down with his wife and gay lover. Dennis, on the other hand, is part of the gang subculture and is involved in some drug deals. Sonny, the youngest, is forced to enter the world that his two other brothers exist in, due to desperation in finding a job. Almost overnight, he transforms from being an innocent University student to a call boy. At a glimpse, the film appears to be a mere depiction of the 80’s queer scene in Manila. The audience gets to taste a slice of the lives of call boys, prostitutes, pimps, junkies, drag queens and even closet queens. But looking at the big picture, it deals with more multi-fangled issues faced by the struggling youth. First off is loss of innocence in exchange for survival. In the film, Sonny could just be like any good boy next door, but he had to peel off that image and sell himself in order for his family to survive. We see that Sonny’s motivation in doing this is not selfish. Sonny’s character is an allegory of the basic Filipino value of giving importance to family and having close family ties. According to critic Amos Lassen, “The film shows how poverty and destitution have led to a gay sexuality intertwined with prostitution, as many gay and straight men are forced to work as call boys to support their families.” Issues beleaguering the community are also interplayed in this film. It shows characters struggling with AIDS and drug addiction. Like other social realist films of this time, Sibak: Midnight Dancers is shot in a documentary-like style, with minimal make-up and underrated acting. It is reminiscent of Brocka films, which brashly but remarkably shows how poverty corrupts people’s perspectives regarding the world and themselves. In the film, a paradox is evident. The audience get to sympathize with Sonny as he loses wastes away his youth and innocence while he earns easy money to keep his family alive. He seems to think that what he does is justifiable because it is for a good cause, but he seems oblivious of the consequences. Little by little, he loses grasp of his own identity, both on sexual and personal levels.

Burlesk King revolves around the life of a young, rebellious lad named Harry. He has an American father who used to pimp him and his mother. One night, he witnesses his father killing his mother. With his best friend James, he follows his father to Manila, vowing to kill him. In the meantime, Harry and James end up working in as macho dancers in a gay bar. Harry meets a slew of different people: from star-crossed lesbian lovers to a seemingly straight man who falls for his straight roommate. He also meets Brenda, a prostitute who captures his fancy. Soon, he starts pimping her. He slowly follows his father’s footsteps unconsciously. He then traces where his father lives. He is now skin and bones and dying of AIDS. Harry finds out that his mother is not dead at all. He reunites with her and both forgive the dad. Much like Sibak: Midnight Dancers, the film delves on loss of innocence, but this time it is not merely catalysed by poverty, but by angst as well. The film shows Harry not entering the Manila gay subculture as a rite of passage. It simply highlights the fact that he was trapped in this world to begin with. Whether it’s in Olongapo or Manila doesn’t matter because his exposure to this exploitative world is deeply rooted. In a sense, he was born into it, and he struggles to escape it before it consumes it. The ending of this film is a bit contrived though, because character development on the part of Harry and his father are too drastic. Also, the resolution is a bit too convenient. The Deus ex Machina element used did not work because in real life, such can never happen that easily. It is a bit anti-climactic, because all throughout the film save for the ending, the social realist feel was executed well.

Twilight Dancers, much like Sibak: Midnight Dancers revolves around the lives of men caught up in the perils of working as dancers in gay bars. It follows the lives of Dwight, Bert and the bizarre love triangle they have with Madame Kristela and Dani. Unlike the two other films, this film shows life after working in gay bars. Dwight ponders on leaving his spot at the gay club because he thinks he can make it on his own, given that he has saved quite sufficient money from being a popular dancer. Bert turns to being a bodyguard of a lust-driven and corrupt businesswoman in the person of Madame Kristela. He crosses paths with Dwight, who in turn becomes Kristela’s lover. Like little chess pieces, they are both manipulated by Kristela, using her power and wealth. The point of this film delves on the fact that one can never leave the system, once they plunge themselves into it. This film is more political than the other two. It says that in the world beyond the underbellies of the Manila gay club scene, there will always be more powerful and more manipulative people. The previous system just repeats itself.

These three films by Mel Chionglo could be analyzed within the framework of Third Cinema. Third Cinema, according to Solanas and Gettino, is “the cinema that recognizes in the struggle the most gigantic cultural, scientific and artistic manifestation of our time, the great possibility of constructing a liberated personality with each people as starting point-the decolonization of culture.” Third Cinema is characterized mostly by its being revolutionary and its explicit ways of fighting the System, which cannot assimilate such films. In Chionglo’s films, the characters are trying to go against poverty and survive, but end up falling into the trap of selling themselves to provide for basic needs. Third Cinema films are constructive, in the sense that they construct living reality which recaptures the truth, and destructive, in the sense that they crush the fantasy of the bourgeios, neocolonial universe, as well as their perception that the masses are lazy, indolent and dangerous. This is clearly evident in each of the films forming the trilogy. Form-wise, Third Cinema films have documentary qualities, in the sense that they bear witness to the truth. They also do not compete or conform with Hollywood styles and conventions, as Third Cinema films have their own original style borne out of experimentation by the filmmaker/s. Third Cinema films make use of improvisations implemented through guerilla filmmaking. Third Cinema shows that revolution can also come in the form of a film, and a unique one at that. Third Cinema also allows the viewers to experience something out-of-the-box that is neither Hollywood nor formulaic mainstream in nature. Ultimately, all of these were manifested in Sibak: Midnight Dancers, Burlesk King and Twilight Dancers. The problem with the utilization of 3^rd Cinema by Filipino directors is that they change 3^rd Cinema into 3^rd World Cinema. While trying to be alternative and innovative style-wise and going against the system form-wise, they consciously or unconsciously take advantage of the poverty situation in the Philippines and overuse such as a backdrop for films that deal with youth-driven issues like sex and drugs, with gay people often being the drug pusher, pimp, or sex offender. Represenation not only of gays, but also of Philippine society becomes totally distorted, because such situations are not generally applicable.

Chinglo’s  three films could also be analyzed within the framework of Orientalism. According to the Edward Said, there are 3 different definitions of Orientalism: academic discourse- in short, anything involving the study of the Orient; a style of thought based upon the ontological and epistemological distinction made between the Occident (West) and the Orient (East); and last, as a Western style for dominating and having authority over the East. In general and simple terms, Orientalism deals with images of the East. Because the Western point of view has dominated culture studies in theory and criticism, Western orientation favors the Westerners and colonizes the view of non-Western cultures. For instance, with the East always comes the stigma of being barbaric, uncivilized, backward, lazy, traditional, emotional and politically naive, while the West is perceived as educated, sophisticated, technologically advanced, progressive, civilized, liberal minded, objective, intellectual and politically competent. This is where culture specificity and exoticism comes in. Because of gay poverty films like the trilogy by Chinglo primarily appeal to the art community and catch the fancy of film festivals abroad, a certain formula is followed. Using poverty as a backdrop for gay sexual workers becomes a sort of freakshow for Westerners who interpret them as such, since the images are intriguing and unfamiliar. Thus, the exotic becomes erotic. And because poverty and exploitation become culture specific to Filipino gay films, the Philippines becomes exoticized as a breeding country for such. Tying this with the 3^rd Cinema perspective, being a 3^rd world country and having harsh realities like drugs, sex, prostitution, especially among gays becomes a commodity. This patronage of exoticism by Westeners affects the filmmaking strategies of directors in the Philippines who want to make a name for themselves abroad. Instead of focusing on more relevant issues, they try to be pseudo- auteuristic by making gay sexploitation films, in an attempt to get the attention of film festival jurymen abroad. It is sad to think that the desire to make films becomes personally-motivated, instead of trying to create something that could portray Philippine society in a good light, despite the many social issues surrounding it. Another effect of the exoticising is giving an ego boost to Westerners while degrading our own culture. Upon viewing gay poverty films, Western jurymen would think that the Philippines is a miserable 3^rd world country, with equally miserable gay people, unlike their economically stable, 1^st world countries. Exoticism in gay poverty films just reinforces that the West is indeed better than the East.

In a nutshell, Mel Chionglo’s Sibak: Midnight Dancers, Burlesk King and Twilight Dancers reinforce the idea that poverty makes its sufferers vulnerable, making it almost inevitable for them to be eaten up by the system. Adding a gay tinge to these films makes them more controversial, but sadly more exotic and orientalised. While most of the issues therein are reflective of the harsh realities of every decade starting from the 80’s, interpretations of them, especially when shown to the Western audience could take on a culture-specific mould that could smear the image of Philippine society. While Chionglo is a respected director and could be considered as part of the social realist wave during the 70’s and 80’s, it does not justify the fact that his films do exploit. This is the biggest problem faced by independent and art cinema at present, because young, ambitious directors join the Brocka-Bernal social realist bandwagon even if these social realist themes are not relevant anymore to the present issues being faced by the country. Brocka and Bernal are both dead; they have already gotten their points across when they were alive, and they did it remarkably. The industry doesn’t need any more poor Brocka and Bernal imitations. There is more to Philippine society than poverty-stricken gays.

REFERENCES:

Gettino & Solanas (1985). Towards a Third Cinema. 121-122.

Lassen, A. (1994). Retrieved October 5, 2009, from gayinterestfilms.blogspot.com: http://gayinterestfilms.blogspot.com/2009/08/sibak-midnight-dancers-1994-philippines.html

Gay interest films. (2001). Retrieved October 5, 2009, from gayinterestfilms.blogspot.com: http://gayinterestfilms.blogspot.com/search?q=burlesk+king

THE FLOWERS OF WAR: Accidental Heroism and Role Reversals

The Flowers of War (2011)

Directed by Zhang Yimou
Cast: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi

     Wars are fought among men, but wars are also fought within men. All wounds can be treated. All wounds can be healed; but every time one looks back at what caused the pain, there is a realization that the pain, though ignored, has been there all along. The remnants of pain fuel the human spirit to strive for triumph and survival.

     Nostalgic, melancholic and surprisingly sensual, The Flowers of War is a poignant yet beautiful spectacle. An experience quite unlike any other, The Flowers of War gives its viewers a painful glimpse of the traumatic past through the eyes of a 13 year old convent girl. Set in 1937 China, the film depicts the historical Rape of Nanking, and the atrocities brought about by the Japanese invaders. At the center of the story is an American mortician, John Miller (Christian Bale), whose task to embalm the priest of a Chinese convent, turns into a huge responsibility of protecting the convent girls, as well as the beautiful courtesans seeking refuge in the convent.

     Miller  sets out on the dangerous battlefield in search of the convent headed by the now deceased Father Ingleman, whose body  he is supposed to embalm. Stumbling over a slew of dead bodies and civilians running for their lives, Miller almost gets killed, but is left alone after he introduces himself as an American. Hiding in one corner are two English-speaking Chinese convent girls, who lead Miller into Ingleman's convent. Ingleman's body is nowhere to be found, and Miller demands cash from the Ingleman's assistant and convent caretaker, George. Unable to give this, Miller joins George and the convent girls in seeking refuge at the convent. His rude behavior and heavy drinking annoy George and the girls, but things begin to change as soon as beautiful courtesans come to take refuge at the convent as well. The courtesans' stunning leader, Yu Mo (Ni Ni), catches Miller's fancy. She flirts back, but will not sleep for him for cash. She urges him to help them escape to Nanking by fixing the truck left by Ingleman, and promises that she will thank him in ways he can never imagine. Miller shrugs this off, gets drunk and ends up wearing Father Ingleman's priest wardrobe. He wakes up to a conundrum. As the courtesans hide in the cellar, Japanese soldiers go after the convent girls and attempt to rape them, until Miller intervenes, appearing to be the head priest of the convent. The Japanese soldiers leave, and two convent girls die from the encounter. Over the next few days, Miller continues to pose as a priest and develops a mutual attraction with Yu Mo, the convent girls and courtesans start to get along, a lone soldier gives his life to kill all enemies surrounding the area, and a Japanese officer arrives to give the convent dwellers "protection". He stations guards by the convent and encourages the girls to practice singing. Meanwhile, Miller secures tools to fix the truck, with the help of the father of Shu (convent girl who is narrating the story), who has become an ally to the Japanese in order to ensure his daughter's safety. Shu's father also manages to get a pass for Shu, which will expire soon and will enable her to leave for Nanking. He entrusts this to Miller. The series of events that take place after this  involve drastic role reversals and intense heroic display by each character until the very end.

       I found the film to be very character-driven, and I see this in a positive light. I do not understand why this film is critically panned because of centering the story on a white character. In my opinion, making the mortician masquerading as a priest American is called for in the story. Had the character been Chinese, no lives would be spared because Japanese soldiers were more lenient or even subservient to Americans during that time. Therefore, there would be no story to begin with, if Bale's character were to be Chinese. Christian Bale's character is the most essential of all. His nationality and skills as a mortician really played a significant part in the story. It also helped that he was a sort of reluctant and accidental hero. He was a drunkard, he had the hots for the courtesan, Yu Mo, he disrespected the deceased Father Ingleman by wearing his priest attire, he demanded George for non-existent money, and yet he was reformed little by little. His character's transformation was believable. It made the character deeper than your usual cookie-cutter, all-righteous hero. He was indifferent, yet he was humanized. His lack of an in-depth backstory does make his character enigmatic, but it works. All we know about him is that his daughter died at an early age, and she was the first corpse he's ever worked on. We sense that he is a damaged individual, and that, for me is enough back story, as looking back more would be quite irrelevant.

     Newcomer Ni Ni makes a breakthrough performance as Yu Mo. She portrayed the character effectively. Despite her character's courtesan background, the audience somehow sympathizes with her, knowing that she only got into the trade after being raped by her stepfather at age 13. Ni Ni played the role with subtlety, and her underacting worked wonders. She did not have to shed tears or become sentimental in dealing with the convent girls just to show that she can relate to them, that she was once like them. Despite the red lipstick and the colorful, shiny qipao she was in, the audience could still sense the goodness and nobleness hiding behind her facade. Her chemistry with Christian Bale is also commendable.

     My only problem with this film is the brash, totally unrealistic characterization of two courtesans, who fled the convent and braved the bloody battlefield outside just to get some pipa strings and a pair of earrings that they left behind at the brothel. There is no logical way to explain this, and no person in the right mind would risk his or her life for these shallow things. Maybe it was a tool to make the film more melodramatic, but this did not work for me.

     Critics may have had problems with this film's mise-en-scene. The world outside the convent only makes a few appearances in the film. There are not enough war scenes, not enough death and not enough cruelty according to some critics. They found the film to be contrived, even escapist, because it only presents a narrow view of the goings on during the Rape of Nanking. They think that the film focuses too much on the sexual tension between John Miller and Yu Mo. The cinematography is too rich, colorful and lavish; and the gaze is rather sensual. They think that the treatment of the film watered down the severity and bleakness of what was actually happening during that time.While I agree with what they are saying, I will reiterate that this film is not a documentary. It is not very fact-driven, but is heavily emotion-driven. It focuses on the plight of a minor unit of society (convent girls), and their societal opposites (courtesans). Juxtaposing these two opposite sides of society and showing that they share the same humanity is like saying that they are just two sides of the same coin. This, for me, is absolutely genius.

     The film is also rich in symbolism that ultimately give the film more depth. Early in the film, we see John Miller giving flour to George and the convent girls for them to make bread. Then he proceeds to Father Ingleman's quarters to drink his wine. Eventually, he wears Father Ingleman's clothes. The bread and wine alludes that John Miller is to become the savior of the students in the convent. His wearing of Father Ingleman's clothes marks the start of him literally putting himself in Father Ingleman's place. The bullet-punctured hole in the church's glass window serves as Shu's peering hole into the harsh reality outside of the convent- where people are raped, killed brutally and left to rot in the street. It is also a reminder that everyone in the convent is still part of that reality, and that they are eventually bound to face it successfully or otherwise.

     As is expected of Zhang Yimou, the cinematography was absolutely breathtaking, and this is not to be expected of a war film. The slow motion shots of the courtesans laughing and giggling in the cellar screams sensuality, but I see nothing wrong with it because that is how they really are supposed to be. Zhang Yimou knows how to appreciate and showcase beauty, and it would not be a Zhang Yimou film if there is not at least one element that serves as visual candy.

   
     Heartbreaking, beautiful and powerful are the only words that come to mind when asked to describe this film. The Rape of Nanking is a war among men and within men. In war, there is no triumph, but the human spirit triumphs in remembering heroes who have sacrificed themselves to save the youth. Heroes are not just good people. Anyone can be a hero, so long as there is humanity within. Con-artists can be heroes. Prostitutues can be heroes. Political traitors can be heroes. Whatever the facade, whatever the label, whatever the form, heroes will be heroes.
   

 

Emotional Fare x Teenage Angst

Eiga Sai's 'The Bandage Club': a film review

by Samantha Anne L. Portillo

Posted at 08/20/2010 9:57 AM | Updated as of 08/20/2010 9:59 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The statement “Misery loves company” does not necessarily mean wallowing in endless sorrow with other people while waiting for the world to end.
At least, that is what the film The Bandage Club (2007; directed by Yukihiro Tsutsumi) strives to impart to its audience. Part of this year’s Eiga Sai Japanese Film Festival, the film follows the lives of a group of teenagers who call themselves The Bandage Club.

They run a website that receives requests from different people who want their emotional wounds healed They then wrap bandages around the particular location where these people got hurt, and upload a picture of it on their website.

The philosophy behind The Bandage Club’s advocacy is understanding other people’s pain and healing it even in their own little way. As the recurring line in the film goes, “If tying a bandage can change the world, that’s awesome!”

Delving deeper into the film, it explores the idea that everybody hurts; that we each have burdens to carry. The personal pains of the characters move them to seek bandage together, thus conceiving The Bandage Club.

Wara, a disillusioned high school student, accidentally cuts herself while preparing food. At the hospital rooftop, she crosses paths with a patient named Dino, who asks her if she plans to jump off. Wara’s bandage slips off and Dino ties it around the railings and tells Wara that in doing so, he has treated her heartache.
Wara does the same thing to her friend Tanshio, who is crying over a break-up while hanging out with Wara in the park swings. Wara ties a bandage around the swing, alleviating Tanshio’s heartache. As Tanshio uploads the picture of the bandaged swing online, a lot of people get touched by the gesture.
Gimo is one of these people, and he meets up with Tanshio. Tanshio and Gimo suggest putting up a website with the same concept to Wara. Wara seeks out Dino to ask for permission since the whole thing was his idea. Dino agrees, and The Bandage Club is formed.

Later on, Wara and Tanshio try to convince their former middle school friends, Tempo and Riski, to join the club. Tempo refuses, while Riski gives in after much persuasion. The Bandage Club enjoys moderate success, until someone tips them off to the cops for trespassing. What will become of The Bandage Club? It is best to watch the film to find out.
What else makes this film worth watching aside from its exploration of teen angst, friendship and human emotion? While the film is melodramatic and tear-jerking for the most part, the film’s treatment makes room for comedic moments. Dino’s self-destructive attempts and Wara’s deadpan humor is something to watch out for.
Also, the cinematography is impressive, given the presence of stills in between shots and aerial shots toward the end. The musical scoring coheres very well with the other elements of the film, as the recurring humming voice of a woman makes the audience feel every drop of pain and despair that the characters in the film experience.
A huge bonus is the film’s all-star cast. Japanese TV star Satomi Ishihara and Cannes Film Festival 2004 Best Actor Yuya Yagira topbill the movie as Wara and Dino, respectively.

In a nutshell, the film is very emotional, but not the kind that would leave the audience heavy-hearted after. It is very relatable, not only to teens but to every age group. It is not surprising that it enjoys rounds of applauses from the audience at the end of every screening. Simply put, it is a movie that moves.

*cross- published in http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/08/20/10/eiga-sais-bandage-club-film-review

Death and Self-Discovery

Two Funerals (2010)
directed by Gil Portes

It is said that life is a journey that ends in death. Along the way, we cross paths with a slew of different people, events and memories that add up to our experiences. How do we come to terms with this journey, if it somehow leads us to an unexpected direction? The film, Two Funerals seeks to answer this question. Brainchild of Director Gil Portes, Two Funerals juxtaposes the journey of two corpses who get mixed up, and the journey of a mother who would go to great lengths to track down her daughter’s corpse. 

The film starts off with a mother mourning before her daughter’s coffin as it is brought to the family home by her daughter’s fiance. The coffin was brought straight from the funeral parlor. The rest of the family mourn with her but alas, as the coffin is opened, it turns out that it is a body of a middle aged man! The grieving mother storms to the funeral parlor and pressures the management to track down her daughter’s corpse. It turns out that there was a mix-up, and her daughter’s corpse was sent to the family of the man in the coffin because both corpses have similar family names. It is discovered that the daughter’s corpse is in Matnog, Sorsogon- literally poles apart from Tuguegarao, Cagayan, where the mother and the rest of the family is based. Meanwhile, in Matnog, the brother of the middle aged male corpse rejoices after he finds out that his brother is dead. When he was still alive, the middle aged corpse brought shame to his family by raping the Barangay Chairman’s old mother. He also was a notorious hitman. But as the coffin is opened, it is discovered that the corpse inside is a young woman. The middle aged corpse’s brother and his friend come up with a plan: to seal the coffin, tell everyone that the corpse is charred beyond recognition and get the Barangay Chairman to pay for the funeral. Everything goes according to plan, and they even manage to make money out of the funeral by putting up videoke booths and tables for gambling. Towards the end, their foul play is discovered, and the grieving mother finally tracks down her daughter, after a long drive crossing paths with a wounded politician and a woman in love with a priest. Secrets are exposed, and it is revealed that the daughter, Charm, was in a relationship with the town Congressman before she died. Issues are resolved and the two families reflect and pray for their deceased, in the spirit of peace and a Holy Week backdrop.

Personally, I liked the treatment of Two Funerals. It was many things rolled into one. It was a journey film, a film that criticizes Philippine politics and represents institutions like family and religion. All of these are done in a satiric mood, while offering comic relief. I shall go into these points one by one. Its journey film aspect was also multi-purpose. It showed how the female corpse’s mother and fiancé dealt with the situation. Throughout the journey to Matnog, they consoled each other and revealed to each other the unsaid about the daughter and fiance’s relationship. The fiancé apologized to his would-be mother-in law and revealed that he once dated another girl during Valentine’s day and feels guilty about it. Towards the end, the `mother reveals to the fiancé that her daughter was the Congressman’s mistress- a secret she hoped that her daughter would take to the grave. Besides the journey from Tuguegarao being an emotional one, it also vouched for something that could be a tourism booster of some sort, as key places like local churches from Tuguegarao to Matnog were shown. Its criticism of politics in the Philippnes was reflected through the portrayal of the Congressman who is a corrupt womanizer. There’s also that Mayor who is seemingly tough and honorable while speaking before the townspeople, but is actually a flambuoyant gay. There’s also that politician who hitches a ride with the mom and fiancé after having been wounded at a political brawl with the rival party. The concept of a Filipino family was portrayed through the different families in the film. It was shown to be close-knit. Parents are really protective of their children, as shown in the mother’s character and the Barangay Chairman’s character. The brother of the middle aged corpse, who initially wanted to make money out of his notorious brother’s demise repented in the end, following his wife’s advice to respect the dead and immerse oneself into prayer and reflection during the Holy Week. The portrayal of religion in this film was an expose of taboos, but was done in a comedic way. It showed the immorality of some clergymen through the priest and his lover who hitched a ride with the mom and fiancé. This is truly a reality, though I would not say that it is confined to just our country. 

Also, the knack of Filipinos for entertainment was shown through the funeral in Matnog. The people at the funeral were having snacks, playing cards, gambling and singing at the videoke. It seemed they were celebrating rather than mourning. I have been to funerals that had similar activities, and I believe that there is a right place and time for these things- certainly not in a funeral; that is why I agree with the filmmaker in criticizing this aspect of Filipino attitude. 

 Delving into the technical aspects of the film, I find its sequential style of shooting remarkable. It was in a way self-reflexive, as the film crew also went through the journey that the characters went through. Shooting started in Tuguegarao and ended in Matnog, according to Direk Gil Portes during the Q&A portion after the screening in UP Film Center. Not many films are shot in this guerilla manner, but I must say that they were able to pull it off. Acting-wise, I’d say hats off to Tessie Tomas. She totally stole the show. Her portrayal of a grieving mother was convincing, and she managed to make me laugh as well through her side comments. Her acting was very natural. Xian Lim, on the other hand, was quite unconvincing. I found him to be too good looking for his role, especially since the actress who portrayed his fiancé was plain looking. They just don’t have chemistry. There was a lapse in casting. But I’d give him the benefit of the doubt since he’s a newcomer and this is his first film. There’s a lot of room for improvement. 

What I did not like about this film is its boxed, one-dimensional portrayal of gays. In the film, gays are either closeted or transsexual. Jeffrey Quizon’s character (Congressman’s staff) was a married man who is totally submissive to his wife. He claims to have been a former homosexual, but it is hinted that he secretly desires Xian Lim’s character, as well as the driver, whom he even peeped at when the latter was taking a shower. The Mayor of the town was also a closeted gay. He was manly in front of his people, but totally gay when talking to friends. In the funeral in Matnog, there were gay performers and they were dressed in drag, complete with ultra thick make-up and flashy clothes. I did not like how gays were portrayed, simply because in this post-modern age, not all gays are flambouyant. I know of people who are openly gay, yet still engage in masculine activities like basketball, boxing, martial arts, and some even play DOTA. I think the portrayal was stereotypical and discriminatory, and I did not like the fact that gays were used for comic relief. Story-wise, I liked the film. It was a good take on death, and I liked how they put a comedic spin on a film that is supposedly about grieving.

In a nutshell, Two Funerals was a soul treat. It tells its viewers to move on and look forward, whenever an unexpected direction tweaks whatever was planned. Things may go array, but with a supportive family to back you up, every step of the way won’t be as tough. In the midst of political and religious turmoil which might take time in solving, a little smile and positive thinking would not hurt or get in the journey of life ahead. 

What's odd enough to be REAL

Ilusyon (2005)
directed by Paolo Villaluna and Ellen Ramos

When we are confronted with realities, bitter or otherwise, we succumb to weakness but somehow there is a feeling of wanting to arise from the dark abyss that collapses our being. We deny the darkness and choose the light. We gather what enough puissance we have, find out in the most impossible of ways and try to win over whatever our choice demands. In our constant search for self-actualization, we stumble upon realities that are dream-like and illusions that turn out to be real. 


“Ilusyon” is an out-of-the-ordinary visual depiction of man’s search for answers on his questions about life, love and himself. It revolves around the central idea that WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET. It delves on the human response on concepts like beauty, love, dreams, deceit and self-identity. 


“Ilusyon” is about a young man named Miguel, who leaves the province to search for greener pastures in Manila. His father, a modernist painter, entrusted his house to Miguel while he was away. Miguel found a job as a house painter a day after he arrived in Manila. He also crossed paths with a lot of quirky personalities during his stay. There was the English-speaking mailman, the stout, hot-headed foreman, the nagger landlady and the young, flirty niece of the landlady. The core of the plot unfolds when Miguel meets Stella, a beautiful nude model who was supposed to be the subject of his father’s paintings. Struck by Stella’s beauty, Miguel does the unthinkable by pretending to be his father. 


True to its avant-garde nature, “Ilusyon” does not flatly present a predictable storyline; nor does it have embedded ideas that need no further interpretation. A streak of depth envelops “Ilusyon” as several untangibles come into play in the film, “Ilusyon”. Each intangible are representations of the different illusions that the main character comes face to face with. First is the concept of beauty. For Miguel, beauty is something that is aesthetically pleasing, symmetrical and proportional, just like Stella’s body. Beauty is art, and because Stella was his art, Stella was beautiful. But when Stella contacted a strange skin disease and started to have dark blotches around her chest, Miguel saw a different Stella- an ugly Stella for whom he felt disgust for; a Stella whom he cannot stand to paint.. From this it can be seen that Miguel’s perception of beauty is limited to what the eyes can see and not from what the heart can feel. This makes Stella an illusion of beauty; for her beauty is not permanent, she no longer is ideal because she was grimed by the smears of skin disease and worse, grimed by Miguel’s rejection. 


Love is another concept unconventionally explored in this film. Miguel experiences “love at first sight” the moment Stella knocked at his door. He fell in love with a beautiful stranger and had an almost talk-free breakfast with her. He adores her as he draws and paints her. However, his so-called “love” for Stella wears off for a flimsy reason such as a skin disease. After lying to Stella that he is a real painter and after having intercourse with Stella for multiple times, a few brownish, red, blotches change his mind. This shows that Miguel’s feelings for Stella cannot be qualified as love, but as infatuation for Stella’s former beauty. This is evident by the fact that the level of relationship that Miguel has with Stella is merely physical. He takes penchant looking at her and having sex with her, but that’s it. Stella is an illusion of what a “beloved” should be in Miguel’s point of view. In this film, the concept of self-identity comes hand in hand with self-deceit. He takes on his father’s identity as a Modernist painter; quits his job as a house painter to let himself fit into the “ideal man” image that 1950’s Philippines calls for: educated, Manila-bred and has a remarkable field of expertise. Miguel believes that his pseudo life in the shoes of his father would make him one step closer to everything he yearns for: his dream of being a real painter and his dream of spending the rest of his life with a beautiful woman. By assuming his father’s identity, the treatment of reality for Miguel suddenly becomes dreamlike. In the blink of an eye that he totally eliminates his own identity, he believes that self-actualization is his ultimately, but his notion of sudden success is just an illusion.


Each sprouting character in “Ilusyon” represents harsh realities that exist in Miguel’s life. The landlady, in her loud clothes and nagging nature, always bugs Miguel to pay the rent. Her annoying character represents the reality that in this world, nothing is easy and nothing is free unless you work hard to get something. Another manifestation of avant-garde qualities in this film is the talking carabao that Miguel always dreams about. The idea of talking animals is not very original, as such appeared in other films such as “Amelie” and “The Mirrormask”. It is evident, however, that the inspiration for the talking carabao was drawn from other avant-garde films such as those mentioned. The carabao is not simply a recurring character in Miguel’s dream sequences; though irksome and pessimistic to Miguel’s views, the talking carabao is an illusionary representation of Miguel’s subconscious self or his conscience. The mailman who speaks only broken English takes penchant in poking fun at Miguel’s being a “painter”. He often compares Miguel to his father and thinks that Miguel is inferior to his father. It may be that the mailman’s role is to give a comedic angle in this film; but primarily, the mailman represents the voice of reality that makes Miguel realize that he is deceiving himself by pretending to be a painter and pretending to love Stella though his attraction to her is mainly physical. Even the childish, flirty niece of the landlady who hula-hoops all the time has a representation to contribute to this film. Her hula-hooping alludes to the cyclical nature of life and her bubbly disposition is a manifestation that life is simple and should not be complicated by self-inflicted superficialities. 


Dialogue-wise, the characters in “Ilusyon” do not say much. But whenever they say something, their statements are deep and have an underlying meaning to them. Take for instance the statement of the Doctor (Boots Anson-Roa in a cameo role) regarding Stella’s skin disease says a lot more than just the disease: “What Stella has are discolorations. They don’t itch, they don’t hurt and they absolutely won’t do her any harm. You see, diseases infect people. There are so many diseases that some of them don’t have any names yet. Some diseases are internal, and they often are ignored. But there are some that are external, they are visible, that is why they are given so much attention. There are more important things in life that need to be pondered more upon than minor, harmless diseases like this one.” The Doctor’s statement serves as a wake-up call to Miguel that he doesn’t have to destroy others and himself just because of the appearance of dark blotches on Stella’s body. Breaking up with her is useless because whether she has the blotches or not, she is still the same Stella inside. The statement of the mailman also bears so much meaning to it. When Miguel told him that he is not his father, so the mailman should stop comparing him to his father, the mailman’s reply was: “Of course, you’re not your father. Your father is a painter and you’re….I don’t know what you are.” Simple and casual as it may seem, the mailman’s reply is factual: Miguel is indeed nothing because he is deceiving himself.


In a nutshell, “Ilusyon” was ironically able to contradict the idea that “everything is an illusion”. With the mixture of art and ingenuity, the most vivid of its messages struck me like a beautiful painting. The last words of Miguel will forever linger in my mind: “A PAINTING CAPTURES THINGS THAT DO NOT LAST: FAMILY, LOVE AND MEMORIES THAT GIVE MEANING TO LIFE. IT MAKES ME THINK THAT LIFE IS AN ILLUSION, THAT NOTHING IS REAL. BUT NO, EVERYTHING IS REAL.”

Through Infinity and Beyond

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
directed by Stanley Kubrick


The fertilization to create an ideal human world is not just strictly and statistically through technology as there is a beyond; a bit further still to comprehend the depths of one’s humanity: the genuine intelligence of man.


2001: A Space Odyssey is a magnificent visual treat that divulges into the evolution of man vis-à-vis the milieu of his worldly existence. It revolves around the central idea that: HUMAN RATIONALITY IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF INTELLIGENCE IN THE UNIVERSE. 


The story is divided into four parts. First of which is the “Dawn of Man”, which chronicles the way of living of pre-historic man-apes. It shows the appearance of the first monolith and the invention of the first tool. The second part does not have a title. It is set in year 2001, 4 million years after the first part. It chronicles Dr. Heywood Floyd’s mission to Clavius crater in the moon as he endeavors to explain the appearance of the second monolith. The third part is entitled “Jupiter Mission, 18 months later”. It is about the quest to Jupiter of 2 astronauts, 3 hibernating crew members and a supercomputer whose aim is to find out why the second monolith sent signals to Jupiter. A third monolith is found in Jupiter. The fourth part is entitled “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite”. It tackles David Bowman’s experience in a different dimension of space and time. 


More than any other formal technique used in the film, the Mise-en-Scene ultimately depicted the overall message, symbolisms and theme of the film. The spatial aesthetics and sound effects rendered by the mise-en-scene in the entire duration of the film upstaged the 40-minute dialogue in telling the audience what 2001: A Space Odyssey is all about. Viewers are left to make a subjective reflection on the visual imagery telling the story. Every aspect of the mise-en-scene shaped the dimension of the film. The overture begins with a black, blank screen that continues for a minute or more. In itself, the blackness and blankness of the screen was a setting portraying nothingness, for nothingness existed before anything was created. Following this was the vertical alignment of the moon, earth and sun in deep space, wherein the camera gives a panoramic view of the Moon in the foreground. The perspective is from behind the moon. In the distance is a view of the Sun rising over the partially-eclipsed Earth, with Richard Strauss’ “Zarathustra” playing in the background. The music being played in crescendo gave an intense feeling of something massive and important arriving before your eyes. The use hard quality lighting in defining the shadow cast over the earth made it appear crescent-like, suggesting that the earth has a dark side, the struggles of man to find the light and develop themselves into a civilization. The vertical alignment of the three heavenly bodies is a symbolic representation of the passage of time from past to future, pictured from the darkness of the earth to sunrise. It is also a visual manifestation of foreshadowing the fact that these heavenly bodies will appear as motifs in the film. 


The other formal elements backed up the mise-en-scene in shaping the dimension of the film. The 40-minute dialogue and the limited acting scenes were well-suited since the visual imagery served as the language of the film. Even the mediocrity of the artists’ acting served a purpose. They served as the background to the visual journey in the film, which was the main attraction. Editing-wise, the fade-ins and fade-outs employed in most scene transitions made the transition of time more dramatic. The jump cuts connecting the start and end of each of the four parts were highly commendable. In fact, 2001: A Space Odyssey is critically-acclaimed for using such long jump shots. Cinematography-wise, the panoramic tilts thoroughly defined the vertical alignment of heavenly bodies in the 4 parts. The anamorphic processes applied made outer space look more vast and grand. The angle, level, height and distance of framing matched the mise-en-scene really well. The soundtracks such as the “Zarathustra”, the “Blue Danube Waltz” and “Gayne Ballet Suite” made the of the scenes they accompanied really prominent and credible. The sound guided the rest of the aspects of the mise-en-scene well.


In a nutshell, 2001: A Space Odyssey is more than just a miscellany of shapes, colors and dimensions. It is beyond visual candy, for every sight and sound bears unfathomable meanings to it. It is a journey through time; a journey that delves into the true core of humanity. Thanks to the mise-en-scene, a clearer picture of the past and the future will forever be etched in our minds; in the words of Buzz Lightyear, "THROUGH INFINITY AND BEYOND".