Ang Sandata ni Mama
Directed by Vynce Genica Ong, Grae Dela Cruz
Matt Ordonez – 4/5
The story is a clear allegory and adaptation of Voltes V, a children’s show that was censored by President Marcos during the Martial law era. It blends both subtly and cartoonishly. The film shows more ways to fight dictatorship than direct confrontation. Perhaps this is what the title of the story pertains to, Ano ba ang Sandata ni Mama? Early in the story, the son immediately compares Xavier X to his mom and is often skeptical of her methods. In history, there have been many people, like the boys mother, who fight in covert ways in academia, activism, underground journalism, and art that communicated anti-dictatorship sentiments in hidden codes. Hopefully, the film would inspire audiences to explore the history this story is based on. However, the story certainly stands on its own even, showing unlikely heroes undermining the evil dictatorship in subtle ways.
The film shows a boy enjoying his favorite cartoon, Xavier X, which eventually gets canceled due to their president finding it too violent for children. Soldiers begin burning action figures and posters of Xavier X while the boys mother tears posters of Xavier X off the walls of the boys room. The boy is naturally angered by the world taking away his hero and lashes out at his mother. His mother then tells the boy that she has been fighting the dictatorship in her own way. She also reveals that the boy’s father is missing but continues to fight.
Ralph Regis – 3.5/5
Ang Sandata ni Mama is a film about Martial Law from the perspective of a cartoon, Xavier X, being mysteriously banned on TV. The film centers on a young boy with his curiosity that would soon unfold that there is more villainy than what they see in the cartoon. Ultimately, the film can serve as a learning material for future generations to never forget through the lens of a child.
Vinson Gabato
While the 1976 calendar and the robot anime are dead giveaways, Ang Sandata ni Mama goes for a softer approach which feels different. This film is well shot and designed.
Mac John Bautista – 2.5/5
A film that banks on its metaphor to really sell its impact. Nothing completely novel in a narrative sense, but for a film so blunt and straightforward as this, a heartfelt performance in a lead like Prince Nathaniel España is exactly what it needs to hit the viewer’s emotional core like the X on Xavier’s chest. He doesn’t make us doubt for a second that Xavier X/his mother is one badass figure truly worth sacrificing for, saving himself from malfeasance and finding his real family in the process.
Bata, Bata Ka Lang
Directed by Karl Cedrick Marquez
Matt Ordonez – 3.5/5
The students of Malabanan face the potential closure of their school. They eventually come together in song and convince the adults otherwise. It is quite rare to find a short film musical.it is even rarer to find children fearing the closure of their school as most often, the average child would dread school. The choreography and vocal performances of the ensemble cast of Children are energetic and earnest even if the lyrics are somewhat clunky. It still forwards the clash between childish optimism with the weight of the adult world attempting to change theirs. The story is resolved in an overly-simplified view of local politics just to show children can have agency in defending their space. It can seem like a fairy tale to us cynical adults. Then again, fairy tales such as these are necessary to inspire children to be active and aware citizens.
Ralph Regis – 4/5
“Bawat bata may magagawa.” This short film pulled off the musical aspect with flying colors. There is a sense of solidarity among the child actors with their performances of working together to save their school. Although musical films aren’t for everyone, there is the universal theme of how children can make a difference in one way or another. This shows promise as a feature-length film.
Vinson Gabato
While it’s far from perfect, the fact that this is a musical, with original songs, sung by an ensemble of kids is just amazing. Even though this has this futility tragically through the eyes of children, I just smiled through it.
Mac John Bautista – 3.5/5
A genuine surprise considering this contains some of the most delightfully staged musical sequences to ever grace Philippine screens. This happy-go-lucky determinist musical is wrought with the same amount of saccharinity as your typical Hollywood family picture, but parlaying our education system’s social struggle to a greater formal ambition, drawing a child’s passion sweet enough to win me over. Cherished friendships are hard to let go, especially if they’re ones who can share a song and dance with you anytime.
BULUBALISKAD
Directed by Crispel Jhun Ducay
Matt Ordonez – 3/5
This story is about two sibling thieves. One is an older brother who dreams of being a singer/rapper. The other is a younger sister who dreams of becoming a teacher. They work in tandem stealing rice and the wallet of a seemingly wealthy individual. They are both chased by abarangay tanod but managed to escape in the end. In stories of urban poverty, simplicity of story and story-telling can be a strength. Bulubaliskad is a very tight and simple story but still has some noticeable gaps. One glaring gap in particular, is a scene where the tanod clearly caught the little girl . In the next scene, she is shown to have escaped the tanod without explanation. The film is about how children continue to have dreams despite resorting to a life of crime. It is a very common and short story but its brevity only highlights some of its own flaws and ordinariness.
Ralph Regis – 2/5
We get a repeating cycle of how despite their dreams and aspirations, two siblings turn to the world of crime to make ends meet. The film starts off promising but ends up feeling lazy with the execution and overall payoff.
Vinson Gabato
More storytelling workshops would be better.
Paul Enicola – 2/5
How “BULUBALISKAD” tackles its timely messaging is really problematic. As a short film, it could have shaved a couple of minutes off those chase scenes involving the siblings and a very incompetent law enforcer, and instead fleshed out the siblings’ stories more. We don’t get to further touch upon their aspirations to be a rapper and schoolgirl, respectively.
Alas, what we have is basically a live-action endless-runner game that — despite it being a short film — doesn’t feel like one. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Mac John Bautista – 1.5/5
Nothing more but a chase with high stakes, depicted with what feels like none.
Dakit
Directed by Prym Cabral
Matt Ordonez – 3.5/5
Dakit seems like a simple human drama that deals with a series of traumatic events, specifically the death of a mother. A young woman is living in domestic bliss with her boyfriend and all is well until her brother announces that they sold their mother’s house without her knowledge. It is revealed that she is haunted by a malevolent spirit.
The movie excels in human interactions. Even without dialogue, each of the actors portray clear tension and resentment despite using mostly muted performances. They maintain the intensity of their performances when switching between Tagalog and Cebuano. However, the scenes with the spirit are somewhat mishandled. The ghost is best used sparingly such as jump scares or simple caressing of the main character’s hair with a black hand. The makeup on the spirit is actually impressive but there are scenes where the camera lingers too long on the spirit, breaking the illusion of her being a ghost and making it clear to the audience she is an actress in make-up. The editing also breaks the emotional momentum of the story. The movie tries to show ambiguity on the identity of the ghost or whether the protagonist is conscious, dreaming or haunted or all of the above. Then the movie abruptly ends. The story feels like it mishandles its talented actors and make-up artists and gives the audience a needlessly disorienting experience. The supernatural elements are not clearly integrated with the human drama. Dakit was close to having a solid supernatural twist but misunderstands the dynamics of horror filmmaking. It would have been much better if they got rid of the ghost entirely and focused on the human drama or maybe used the ghost more sparingly.
Ralph Regis – 2.5/5
As a horror film, the opening few minutes up until the mother’s ghost first appears is solid. The make-up work of the mother is the film’s highlight. Obvious inspiration from Mike Flanagan’s work but it could’ve been better if the house itself was maximized more as a character.
Vinson Gabato
It could (should) have gone for the unnerving tone, complete with the lack of music and exposition. Remembered one of the segments in Ju-on where the character sees her father in another room but it’s in the past. Mommy’s make-up was straight-up nightmare fueled. While the ending was lackluster, the preceding act was fun.
Mac John Bautista – 2/5
Cabral is a director who’s really, really interested in (depicting) grief but I, myself, am not. This is a sophomore effort completely brimming with potential, as its depiction of space as a parallel to emotional turmoil genuinely recalls Kiyoshi Kurosawa, bathing light and dark in an ethereal atmosphere, washing away so much of the thematic disarray in its frames. The depictions of its ghosts feel so awkwardly placed, however, as its design feels completely out of place for the narrative it was going for.
Desilya
Directed by Toni Cañete
Matt Ordonez – 4.5/5
Desilya begins with Rowena and her grandmother, roaming around their hometown, processing and bonding over the disappearance of Rowena’s missing mother. The grandmother begins explaining how the men in their family tended to run away and that Rowena’s mother represented her generation. They eventually find her and engage in an emotional climax while questioning what a good mother is.
The dialogue is deeply layered with an exposition of their family history while touching on many important topics such as the role of women in society, superstition in provincial life, family resentment, regionalism in the Bisaya identity, the Filipino diaspora, gender and sexuality, intergenerational conflict. The scenes are very low energy but somehow engaging and magnetic. Rowena’s actress conveys a lot of emotion even during her silent scenes. The film is very talkative but somehow avoids being boring with exception to the last scenes. The characterizations of both Rowena and her grandmother perfectly matched their dialogue. Rowena looked like a child of both her mother’s eccentricity and rebelliousness while her grandmother embodies her traditional mindset and their contradictions. The weakest characterization is that of Rowena’s mother. Somehow, the actress of Rowena’s mother did not seem to live up to the vivid and quirky descriptions of her grandmother. Perhaps that is the point and showed that neither Rowena nor her grandmother really understood the Mother. The script and performances certainly provide ample opportunity for interpretation and discussion.
Despite the unevenness of the script and storytelling, Desilya presents a solid and complex family drama that I wish were a full-length film. The film simply ended too abruptly with only an implied resolution to the conflict. It certainly feels like a trailer to a longer movie I would like to watch.
Ralph Regis – 3/5
A family drama that focuses on the characters with close-up shots and the audience eavesdropping on their conversations as three generations of women give varying perspectives. A bit on-the-nose with the ending shot that reminds me of Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, but the film knows what it wants to say, despite not achieving it fully.
Vinson Gabato
While it takes a familiar route in telling and resolving trauma through a road trip, Desilya is a well-made film. Thought of Miko Revereza’s Nowhere Near on remembering after forgetting something because it’s deemed unnecessary to think of it.
Mac John Bautista – 1.5/5
Cañete is a writer who works with extreme layers of meta-frustration to motivate their films’ mumblecore sensibilities, so much so that it becomes extremely tiring and frustrating to watch. Every character feels like they were forced to speak every single one of their lines. It’s a good thing that the main cast tried really hard to create any semblance of chemistry in their relationship, or else I wouldn’t have gotten to the ending, which is also something not even itself can answer.
Guys! Action!
Directed by Jem Catabijan
Matt Ordonez – 4/5
A group of high school students try to make a film and enter the prestigious cinemalaya film festival. The film begins in a mockumentary format, highlighting the quirky and pretentious personalities of the director, the writer and cameraman. During the process of filming, they end up mistreating their schoolmates in the hopes of fulfilling their ambitions and lofty cinematic tastes. After the day of filming, they discover most of their footage is not usable. So they begin filming the mockumentary segments played earlier in the film. They eventually get the grant and are declared the “pride and joy of San Antonio” and yet they feel empty for “making things up.”
The film is an autobiographical satire of the director’s real-life experiences. It almost brutally pokes fun at middle-class cinephiles and gives a cynical take on the process of film-making. The actors played their roles well but seem like caricatures rather than real characters. The twist on why they used the mockumentary format somewhat humanized them in the end. However, the commentary and inside jokes regarding cinephiles and the middle class may alienate a lot of audience members. The film isn’t for everyone but it is a competent, self-deprecating look at filmmakers that may invite necessary reflection for aspiring filmmakers.
Ralph Regis – 3/5
The film embraces how it pokes fun at how student filmmakers can be so ambitious and goal-oriented without being realistic at times. The “documentation” captures the essence of who these characters are but it can also be over-the-top. But its meta-narrative serves well despite films about making films that have been overdone.
Vinson Gabato
Sometimes corny but Guys! Action! is funny when it pokes fun on pretentiousness on individuals involved in making a film and the art itself.
Paul Enicola – 3/5
A short film about the troubled production of a film, with some added behind-the-scenes featurette to boot; “Guys! Action!” is a delightful short-ception of some sorts that annoys and frustrates at the beginning, before pulling the rug for the third act that ties up everything neatly. It embraces its meta-ness to the hilt, warts and all, and offsets its wobbly execution (pacing, acting) with the chemistry among its three leads.
P.S.: But seriously, just enjoy the fucking moment, Manuel, you Kubrick wannabe.
Mac John Bautista – 2.5/5
It’s one thing to make festival bait, it’s another thing to make it meta with a complete grasp of its narrative sense. The film reliably tries to court you with both, but ends up biting off more than it can actually chew.
Indigo
Directed by Ace Balbarez
Matt Ordonez – 3.5/5
Indigo is a student with a stutter taking a college course in history.He is often embarrassed of his stutter every time he recites in class. He uses his ability to time travel every time he enters a bathroom stall to pass his exams and to perform better in class. However, he eventually travels too far back into the past and witnesses the first quarter storm. In the end he returns to his present time but ironically misses the lesson on Martial law and learns nothing of the period despite wanting to express his desire to learn about it in the beginning of class.
His powers are communicated in economic ways through visual cues such as the bathroom door, the behavior of background characters and lighting. It is a puzzle that bravely experiments with time travel. But the time-traveling element is disorienting to the audience as it is for Indigo. The story is like a puzzle or a mystery but the puzzle dilutes any possible message rather than potentially enhancing it. Perhaps by focusing too much on how he has perceived, Indigo misses out on learning about the substance of history. Perhaps Indigo’s journey is meant to ironically mirror the Marcos’ tendency for stylish embellishment regarding their wealth and power rather than provide substance for their reign. This is the critic’s interpretation as the film does not say its message as emphatically as it could have.
Ralph Regis – 3/5
Indigo aims to remind today’s generation about the importance of remembering history to avoid repeating mistakes. It uses time travel to help Indigo, a character with a stutter, improve his speech, which then becomes an abuse of power. While the portrayal of Indigo’s struggles with his speech condition provides intrigue beneath the overarching struggle of activism, the ending could have felt more satisfying and earned for his character.
Vinson Gabato
A fable on abuse and its implication even on a personal level. It’s too on the nose but this hangs on its urgency and relevancy. This is an otherwise optimistic film in this very problematic
Paul Enicola – 3.5/5
There’s a case that can be made against the film’s use of stutter as metaphor for one’s discovery of his own voice to learn from what happened in the past, in large part because of how it somehow trivialized this speech disorder to make a broader point. And that’s fair.
What “Indigo” manages to do, however, is to focus its messaging somewhere more topical. As a smart (and yes, a little careless) short, it’s an incisive film that asks the question, “If you could undo something to better yourself, how far would you go?” — then challenges its audiences afterwards, “Imagine you have the same power to make a change in the sociopolitical context.”
Last Full Show
Directed by Ivan Gentolizo
Matt Ordonez – 4.5/5
This movie touches an issue at the heart of all cinephiles or even all cinema goers, how can we afford to watch movies in a harsh economy? Is there a point to going to theaters when we have DVDs or, more accurate to today, streaming apps? Is going to the cinema still a worthwhile experience in this economy? This dilemma is portrayed through the perspective of Teban, a young boy selling fake DVDs of movies with his family. Despite the boy pleading his parents for a chance to go to the cinema, his parents point out their financial hardships and the impracticality of his desire. His friend, Maymay, begs for spare change so Teban can afford a ticket for himself. Though he initially regrets it, his wish is granted when a customer suddenly buys all the Nora Aunor DVDS from his mother’s stock, allowing all of them to afford tickets for the last full show.
The core story asks a powerful question with a simple script resembling and adapting the classic story, “The Gift of the Magi”. There are only a few minor issues that get in its way. First, the filmmakers clearly used the UP Film Center to replicate a more traditional cinema house. People familiar with the venue might notice this and break their suspension of disbelief. Second, the child actors seem a bit wooden in their line delivery. This is understandable considering their age. However, this leads me to the third issue which is editing. Some scenes linger on the face of Teban’s actor and only highlights his lack of experience in facial acting. A little trimming of these lingering scenes could have masked the flaws of Teban’s actor. Overall, these flaws are nitpicks and do not detract from the main message of the story: Cinema, as an experience, is best shared with loved ones.
Ralph Regis – 4/5
Through the lens of an 11-year-old boy and his curiosity for the world of cinema, the culture of piracy and access to films is documented. Anyone can say they support films and go to the cinema.
Films are for everyone, but going to the cinema to watch a movie is a privilege and luxury. Teban represents those who are interested in how movies can move and change people anchored by an inspiring musical score, Last Full Show is a tribute to the youth and even grown-ups who have forgotten their childlike wonders.
VInson Gabato
A sweet ode to one’s love for something that can’t be easily achieved – in this case, watching films. But really, it’s the struggle that makes it sweeter.
Pusoy Dos
Directed by Isaiah Omana
Matt Ordonez – 4/5
During the day, Two poor swindler friends earn a living by selling umbrellas they stole from various establishments. During the Night, they give their earnings to pay their overdue debts to Boss Django, a local gambling lord that pressures them to pay their debts by the end of the month. Their fortunes change when they scavenge the pockets of a dead body carrying a stash of drugs which they sell for a profit. It is later revealed they have been trading Django’s drugs, which enrages Django who hunts them down, leading to a violent final confrontation.
Despite being set in the dark context of the war on drugs under President Duterte, this film is a lot of fun with heartful and genuine performances from the lead actors. Somehow it is a more convincing crime comedy with the higher profile film “Ang Pangarap Kong Holdap” where the characters were more cartoon caricatures played by experienced actors. These rookie actors managed to play slightly more believable characters that occupy the otherwise realistic world of the drug war in the urban slums of Manila. The Pinoy rap soundtrack also notably provides colorful energy to the urban poor atmosphere. Unfortunately, the ending did not really provide any new insight to the situation in our society. It only shows that violence and swindling begets more violence and swindling.
Ralph Regis – 2.5/5
I’m always seated for any Dylan Ray Talon performance and to no surprise, he’s charismatic in this one. However, despite the film’s abundance of visual cues from crime films that came before, there is nothing new to add to this kind of story.
Vinson Gabato
It has this air of dread throughout that makes its comedy off-putting especially with unlikable characters. There’s also the ending that’s indifferent, it just fortifies how tonally confused and jumbled this is.
Paul Enicola – 2/5
It’s hard to root for a film when it doesn’t give the audience something redeemable to see from its flawed, obnoxious leads other than their likeability. And as such, “Pusoy Dos” contents itself as an OK short that has the potential to say something socially relevant, but instead chooses to stand pat in its entertainment value.
Mac John Bautista – 2.5/5
Operates the same as any of the crime pieces in Guy Ritchie’s oeuvre as the characters here are written with the same sense of bumbling misfortune and hotheaded criminality prevalent in his works. Omana clearly tries to parlay Ritchie’s kinetic worldbuilding and characterization into a wider social struggle, using the resolution to quickly tie his film deeper as a Duterte subplot, only ending up for it to feel forced despite all efforts to make it seem like it was coming all along
Super Alaya: Ang Bagong Tagapagtanggol
Directed by Earvic Noay
Matt Ordonez – 3/5
A production team discusses how they can conceptualize a new female superhero. The men begin the discussion with one believing she should be progressive while the other believing she should be sexy to attract the predominantly male audience. Later, the women interns chime in and argue that women are more than what the audience perceives them to be.
The story has a simple premise of a relevant debate and verges on being preachy. It resembles many meta-commentary films on film creation such as the Babae sa Septic Tank series, Bayaning Third World, and Write about love. This specific sub-genre is slowly becoming cliche as more and more films adapt this format. They certainly chose a worthy topic for discussion, namely the representation of women in superhero films. However, this topic is somewhat already saturated with discussions in popular culture such as Marvel super heroines. Perhaps they should have incorporated at least recognized them while saying something new into the conversation to be more engaging.
The discussion is spliced with action scenes demonstrating how each of their versions of Super Alaya would play out. Despite the short runtime, the movie felt dragging every superhero scene which should have been the highlights of the film. Though production is understandably cheap and the costumes are actually decent, the movie would have worked if these scenes were a bit more energized and better choreographed. With each iteration of Super Alaya, the pattern became more stale and repetitive. The last scene, especially, should have been an exclamation point for the main thesis statement of the film but the message seemed unclear and flat because of the haphazard production.
Ralph Regis – 2.5/5
I commend the film for capturing the discourse on how a powerful female character should be portrayed in Philippine cinema. Two men are fighting over how their next project featuring a female superhero character should look like, with a young female intern having some input towards the end of the film. The film could’ve had a much longer runtime that stretches out more of what is left to say about the subject matter.
Paul Enicola – 2.5/5
While the action scenes are at times sloppy but mostly OK in terms of execution, ‘Super Alaya’ keys in more on the filmmaking choices and less on the titular character. Somehow this focus doesn’t really give weight to the short’s title.
Nonetheless: The fact that this short film is essentially a discourse about the appropriate representation of female empowerment in action films (in this case a superheroine) — and that the discussions can still generate sharply divisive opinions today — is telling.
Mac John Bautista – 2/5
A quick gimmick that banks on the meaning a superhero’s costume can hold in the media. I admire the costume department who conjured up exactly what a piece like this needs, yet for all the imaginativeness of its conceit the execution leaves much to be desired. As dualistic these board meetings might seem, these posits based on speculative audiences do not have enough strength to hit the spots where it hurts.
