The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)

The melancholy of consolation.

Film Review Archive (date seen: September 14, 2010)

I have once read a list of controversial films on filmsite.org and I remember seeing "The Last Picture Show" on it. Although the film's main theme is mainly about innocence and bleak nostalgia in a barren town, it's very explicit in its portrayal of adolescent sexual exploration. But for me, to deliver a message, I think sometimes, one soul must cross the lines and brave through criticisms, and that's what director Peter Bogdanovich did.

For some reasons, "The Last Picture Show" reminds me of "Magnolia", both set in a melancholic place with its populace trapped than properly dwelling, merely grasping on existence than living. And for further effect of isolation, even us viewers are enclosed in the town, held in an emotional and cultural limbo for 2 hours (with a trip to Mexico reduced only to its aftermath). But in that running time, the town, although how empty and distant it was, had exposed its very heart and soul.

Though the film has a very impressive cast (a factor almost non-existent to teen films today), it's Timothy Bottoms who gave the most heartfelt performance, with his physical exterior seems always ready for mindless fun but deep inside consumed by sadness, desperation, and a clamor for escape.

The title of the film is an urgent allegorical elegy to the end of the adolescent stage, to the very town built and aged by memories, to the people that had the choice to escape but ultimately stayed, and to the old picture house that solely served as its dusty epitaph.

The wind blows, the marquee finally empty, some left without goodbye, but as time passes by, one of them may come back, linger and say, "I remember".

FINAL RATING

Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)

Gene Kelly is singin' in the rain.

Film Review Archive (date seen: September 14, 2010)

"Singin' in the Rain" might be the closest a film can get to a perfect musical. Some films of the kind, although impressive in its showcase of its extravagant production values, lacks the pure magic of telling a memorable story, drowning the project instead with countless song numbers to conceal the deficiency of the material itself, even so that some of them won Best Picture awards. Enter "Singin' in the Rain", a film that may look just like the others initially: style but no substance. But this film dared to remove the 'no', and succeeded.

The plot of the film may easily drift into some melodramatic musical numbers pertaining about the passing of old times and the silent era silenced forever by the emergence of the title card-less, full-fledged "talkies"; themes that can be effortlessly turned into a sad swan song of sorts for the said era. But with its mood and atmosphere departing from the typical treatment of the material, the film, directed by dance virtuoso Gene Kelly, along with Stanley Donen, flourished with almost uncontainable joy and genuine laughter, usually rooted out from the mishaps of transforming a silent film studio into a try-hard talkie producer. Add up Jean Hagen's unforgettable performance as Lina Lamont, a satiric attack for larger than life stars with smaller than penny brains, then you have a classic.

A concept that could have easily resulted into a tearful elegy about the transition of eras and the changing times always prevalent on the movie industry, but instead turned into a colorful celebration of film and music and of the successful passing of torch of two different cinematic deviations. Both proven by time as essential and significant to its (cinema) meteoric emergence as the prime medium commonly associated with "entertainment".

FINAL RATING

The Fighter (David O. Russell)

Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale as Mickey Ward and Dickie Ecklund.

"The Fighter" is a boxing biopic that, unlike any other films of the said sports sub-genre that endlessly attempt to revolutionize fight sequences, is more concerned about Mickey Ward's (Mark Wahlberg) family's several dysfunctions than his boxing career and his professional fights. Dickie Ecklund, portrayed by Christian Bale in what may be one of the best performances of 2010 and arguably of his career, is Ward's brother and trainer whose uncontrolled carelessness and involvement with drugs made him one of the many reasons of their familial problems.

"The Fighter" is quite a riveting film that also depicts reality in small town America; a set of mundane existences that contains brawls, shouting contests and countless police arrests but always comes out as a human comedy showing folly as a way of life and the only mode of progression. Christian Bale's performance was so overwhelming in its screen presence that Wahlberg's portrayal of which should have been the central character of the film looked very, very pale in comparison. While Bale loses himself within the persona of Dickie Ecklund, Wahlberg is just Marky Mark being Marky Mark playing Mickey Ward.

Though the boxing sequences itself weren't really anything that evoke power, blood and in-ring claustrophobia ("Raging Bull" captured that perfectly), the slightly grainy HBO television broadcast visual look of the said sequences fully suggest of the film's realistic approach to the sport of boxing rather than a cinematic punch ballet ala "Cinderella Man" (though it's quite great).

I have no other problems with "The Fighter", I thought it was a great 2010 film filled with great performances (particularly by Melissa Leo and the bunch of actresses that played Mickey Ward's sisters). Maybe I just got too connected with the brothers' lives and their trying times outside the squared circle that when the screen went black with Ward's London victory succeeded by the obligatory title cards of "what happened next", I thought it should not have been the way it ended.

Ward's first encounter with the late Arturo Gatti would have given the film's thoroughly invested emotions a perfect fight companion and may also serve as the ultimate exclamation point to Mickey Ward's uphill climb story of an underdog making it big. Granted, the film has ended on a high note, but it never did try to reach the highest one there is.

FINAL RATING

Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)

A teary-eyed Hitler.

Epic mosaic of war-time Germany in the brink of Nazism's fall and can also be an ultimate film portrayal of extremist pride. I was quite surprised at how expansive the film has been in terms of parallel narratives, be it the brief story of a Hitler Youth's father or Traudl Junge's (played by Alexandra Maria Lara) observant but deeply emotional involvement with the life within the claustrophobic bunker. All of these pieces converge and circle around Adolf Hitler himself and his central deterioration from being a brain-washing, all-knowing tyrant/political rhetorician into a man grasping helplessly for desperate pride and twisted ideologies.

The Fuhrer to which the story focused its attention most of the time was brilliantly played by Bruno Ganz. Yes. Bruno Ganz. That sweet philosophically lovelorn angel in "Wings of Desire", now portraying the "worst ethnic cleanser the world has ever known". There has been numerous transmutations (even an alternate reality) of Hitler's cinematic persona, but after seeing "Downfall", with his undying ego and his stubborn final salvo for what he calls 'principle' perfectly portrayed by this film inside out, surface and within, no other cinematic evocation of Hitler and his life would be as definitive as this one.

"Downfall" never intended to entirely humanize Adolf Hitler (though I spotted some tears in his eyes). It merely gave a personification of a seemingly invincible prime ruler of the Aryan race and stripped him off of all the enigma and occultic intrigue. What we have is a Hitler stumbling and shouting his way into his defeat; a headfirst descent into ruins reciprocated by last-minute theatrics disguised as unswayed authority.

FINAL RATING

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)

The Swan Lake acid.

After his masterpiece "The Wrestler", Darren Aronofsky, arguably the best director working today, had, in some ways, combined the paranoiac overtones of "Pi" and the relentless nerve-wrecking style of "Requiem for a Dream" to create "Black Swan", an unsettling film experience exploring the dark psycho-sexual journey of a woman consumed by theater and sexual repression.

Now we've all seen the more abhorring side behind the theater curtains via Joseph Mankiewicz's "All About Eve", a classic film about ambition and fame and the unthinkable ways one would do just to attain them. But "Black Swan" departed itself from the common direction of being a thematic typecast, tackling instead the individualistic theme about a person's self-triggered cerebral destruction (and inner metamorphosis) heightened and brought to the extremes by the clamor for stage perfection. Natalie Portman looked right as Nina, a consummate ballerina seemingly ideal for the part of the Swan Queen but lacking the inner motivations of emotionally letting go to suit it.

Though her physique is naturally thin, Ms. Portman's embodiment of a ballet dancer's body (resembling an alarming look of the pre-anorexic stage) was very impressive. She also did great on the acting department, maintaining a certain look of naivety and disorientation to put a perfect contrast to her numerous dances that require every facial expressions but that. Vincent Cassel of the "Irreversible" fame (more like infamy) was outstanding as the stage director, and Mila Kunis, aside from being almost visually perfect, was also good as that 'other' Swan Queen aspirant that was also the non-existent cause of Nina's jealousy, mania and desire.

We always hear about the line "Life imitates Art" and vice-versa, but "Black Swan", chillingly enhanced by the atmospheric Clint Mansell score, takes us through the downside territories of that famous phrase back and forth, puts us through excruciating mind trips, until it places us into an abstract perspective of the two being one and the same. Forget about theatrical choreography and appropriate movements. When the grayish psyche finally interferes, nothing, even the alluring bright lights of the center stage, would really matter and perpetual distortion as constant reality will surely take over.

FINAL RATING

Secret Society, Celebrities, Politics, the Devil, and a random citation of the film "Megiddo"...

Conceptual art of Obama as the Anti-Christ

Alright, before anything else, this is not an article about any conspiracy theories or nostradmus-esque predictions of the impending doom. This is just a firsthand experience inside the quiet confines of a library about overhearing some senseless conversations and how irritating it can really be.

It started like this:

(On a very serious, all-knowing voice, and yes he said it in english:)

Student 1: "Religion is separated in many different factions: There is the Catholic church, the Protestant blah blah..." (insert other religions and pedestrian words like 'evangelical'.)

My schoolmate (this is Student 2) listening intently to this man, urged me to join the little forum. I did not answer. But okay, I'll give it a try.

At first, it goes fine, just the way you would expect the 'internet generation' talk about things outside school requirements.

But then it suddenly went into a conversation closely resembling this one:

Student 1: Kilala mo si John F. Kennedy? Illuminati yon. Ibinenta nya ang kaluluwa niya sa demonyo para maging sikat at makapangyarihan. (You know John F. Kennedy? He's an Illuminati. He sold his soul to the devil to obtain fame and power.)

Student 2: Oo nga, kaya nga siya inassassinate eh, kasi dun sa isang speech nya, ibinunyag niya ang mga sikreto ng Illuminati. Tapos habang rumoronda siya (yes, that's the term), ayun pinapatay siya nung secret society. (Oh yes, that's why he's assassinated. He once revealed the Illuminati's secrets in his speech. Then while he is patrolling over the streets, he was killed by the secret society.)

(Student 1 nodding in agreement)

Student 1: Si Obama, Illuminati din yon. (Obama. He's also an Illuminati.)

Student 2: Oo, tama, alam ko may video yun. Nakikipag-anuhan siya sa isang lalaki. Ritual daw yun ng Illuminati. (That's right, and from what I know, he has some kind of a video of him sodomizing a man. They say that that's an Illuminati ritual.)

(From that point, I was shaking my head, (while I let it appear that I'm reading one of Jessica Zafra's "Twisted" books) while silently questioning how these two appear to say all of it with utter conviction, confidence and a straight face as if they've witnessed all of it firsthand.)

Student 1: Si Kobe at Lebron. Ibinenta din nila yung kaluluwa nila sa demonyo para maging sikat at magaling sa basketball. (Kobe and Lebron. They also sold their souls to the devil so that they can be famous and great at basketball.)

Student 2: Oo nga, nagtataka ako. Andaming magaling sa NBA, pero sa kanila lang lagi yung atensyon. (Yes, I wonder. There's so many great players in the NBA, but the attention is always focused on them.)

Lebron with the mysterious hand sign.

Wow, even the simple athletic skills of basketball was indebted to the dark side? How about Jordan, Magic, and Bird? Have they also dealt squarely with the horned one?

Then student 2 approached my classmate and recommended to him that he should also be researching about the concerned matter.

My classmate: Wala akong panahon para dyan. (I don't have time for that.)

I just laughed. Then after some time, student 1, who started it all, said goodbye to attend a class.

After another 5 minutes or so, all of us (including Student 2) started to talk about the financial potential of selling sari-sari store goods on Ebay, and how Brad Pitt and other celebrities would look like while eating 'Muncher' and other local junk foods. We also visualized 'Taho' vendors roaming the streets of L.A. every morning. We had a good laugh. The Illuminati intrigue was finally squashed.


(Note: Student 2 also mentioned Oprah in the 'Illuminati' conversation, but I rather not in this post.)

Rosario (2010, Alberto P. Martinez)

Jennyln Mercado as the titular character.

I must admit that prior to seeing "Rosario", the last MMFF entry I've watched was "Lastikman" way back in 2002. Even though there wasn't much to catch up with this film festival (an annual Shake Rattle and Roll? Vic Sotto making those fantasy films with virtually the same tired jokes? Come on), "Rosario", by all means, must be seen by every Filipino moviegoers, critical or just plain escapists alike. The masterful cinematography was very crisp, capturing all the necessary colors and heightening them to create an almost "Amelie-esque" transformation (remember those Parisian streets oozing with vibrant hues?) of the 20's.

I do not know what's the basis of the said film festival for picking nominees, or maybe they were just too engrossed by the family-oriented Ai-Ai de las Alas starrer that they considered the immoral undertones of "Rosario" an immediate condemnation that may have led to its snobbery. And do not even get me started about Jennyln Mercado's performance that suffered the same fate. Really? Marian Rivera preferably nominated in a gay lingo-infested remake of a cheesy 80's comedy over Jennylyn's? Laughable. "Rosario" had its share of flaws, of course, such as Philip Salvador's pointed, obviously glued mustache, that jumping forearm attack (!) by Sid Lucero (great performance, nonetheless), and the unemotional, almost hollow appearance of the film's producer (and the man behind the story that eventually evolved into this feature film), businessman and Studio 5 head honcho Manny Pangilinan. They really should have gotten an actor instead.

I always remember how Bong Revilla's films (such as his CGI-driven reboot of "Panday") always boasts of its special effects being world class and all as if desperately playing a one-sided 'catch-up' game with Hollywood (yes, that's the mainstream Filipino film industry's constant, unabashed goal). "Rosario" need not any of those, and though it had its share of CGI, does not need any verbal proof of its technical sophistication. Because after all, "Rosario" is indeed a great film all on its own. No wonder why director Albert Martinez is quite calm and silent. Through the artifice of awards nights, the subsequent craze for the winners and beyond the snobbery, he is fully aware of his film's quality, and he is quite secure.

(Note: Many said that Dolphy's award-winning performance in this film was more of a pitiful final honor to his legacy than a genuinely deserved award. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really do think it's the latter.)

FINAL RATING