‘Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank’ Beach Screening

taken from Cinema One facebook page

Walang Sinehan. No Movie Theatres. That’s a hard fact about Boracay Island that one would have to live with should he decide to reside here. And for a cinephile like me, that’s one big problem having to miss all those movies on theatres in the city and having to settle much much later on DVD copies. I bet you can only imagine how delighted I was to know that there’d be a one night beach screening in the island. But Last Saturday, 31^st of March, was my final independence day from my job, also the first year anniversary since appearing on Inquirer’s Youngblood column but most of all it was the day I finally got the chance to watch a movie on the big screen for the first time in a long long time.

Cinema One, which according their poster is the country’s number one cable channel, was in town once again for their sixth consecutive years of hosting a beach screening – a.k.a. free sine with stargazing. This year they brought us the award-winning 2011 Independent film “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank” (The Woman in the Septic Tank)that bagged the major awards in Cinemalaya and many more adorations outside the country. The film is directed by Marlon Rivera and it stars Eugene Domingo who recently won an Asian audience choice award for Best Actress opposite the great Andy Lau (WTF with Andy Lau of Infernal Affairs!). The beach screening was held at White House Resort in Station 1 and the particular event also observed the Earth Hour so we have to wait an hour before seeing the film.

There were special appearances also by Kapamilya stars Jake Cuenca and Megan Young to the delight of the crowd. The event was hosted by John Lapus and Cai Cortes who also starred for the movie. Supporting actor Kean Cipriano was also there to perform with his band Calla Lilly. The dude can act. I told it’s free sine with stargazing. Haha.

The movie was very nice indeed. I’m not really a big fan of Filipino films, you know growing up watching those terrible commercial mindless movies of the 90’s onwards, but hey Septic Tank made me a believer that somehow there is still hope for the Philippine movie industry – a huge statement for someone who had long given up watching the local scene.

So here’s my obligatory review, and if you have other things to do, do it and just come back again haha:

Septic Tank takes us on a journey of the three ambitious young filmmakers trying to make the film that will change their lives forever, and (according to them) the film that will be their ticket to Cannes, to Oscars and to international stardom. The title of their film is “Walang Wala” (With Nothing), a story of a widowed mother of seven children who one day was forced to sell one of her children to a pedophile. Their problem is, well, they have a lot of problems, i.e.budget, production crew, castings, script issues, egos, location, and everything.

The film star rockstar Kean Cipriano, Cai Cortez, Eugene Domingo and JM de Guzman

Kean Cipriano plays the director of the film – the visionary, the brain of the project. He’s a pure artist, who just wanted to tell his story in the clearest cinematic way. But his downside is him being naïve to the game of production, where to get this and that, who’s going to do this and that (He even wanted to cast Mercedes Cabral as the widow just because he got a crush on her). JM De Guzma played the producer of the film who does the dirty works for the film. He deals with people and financiers, he negotiate with them and sometimes when the going gets really tough he’s force to compromise the vision of the project just to get that project done. Never mind the third filmmaker; I really don’t know how to make of her. She doesn’t even have a dialogue.

Septic Tank has a unique and clever storyline because it is composed of two interlocking story arcs; one is the one that plays tricks to the audience’s perception of the fictional world that houses the adventures of the trio of filmmakers that blends effortlessly with the  castings involving the real life Eugene Domingo and other cameos from real actresses. The second story arc is the story within “Walang Wala” – the film within the film – which houses the story of Mila the widow and mother of seven.

Eugene Domingo played dual roles for Septic Tank, both as the real life The Eugene Domingo and Mila. The accolades and adorations she got from the Septic Tank  seems legit and certainly no fluke as she delivers one unforgettable performance; having both characters in multiple angles giving each a distinct personas. I think it’s not only the story or the dual roles she got but it’s one of the rare kind of films where overacting and no acting at all gets away in a spectacular fashion.

The filmmakers (as in the real one who made Septic Tank) successfully fused these two-story acts into one entertaining, educative and thought-provoking narrative. It’some kind of a mock documentary of the Indie Scene vs Mainstream Philippine industry, it’s the only film puts up a clean and humorous take on  definitions of the two industries from their concept, the content, the production and almost everything that differentiate them and of course their inevitable similarities. Watching is like having a case study of the Philippine movie industry.

But the wild card of this movie, and almost the strongest part, is the script. Not only did it fuse two different story arcs but it blended multiples style of filmmaking in one picture. There’s one particular scene in Walang Wala where the director and the producer (Kean and JM) visualizes what that scene will look like if they’ll show it as adocumentary, a poverty-porn Indie flick, a Glee-ish musical and a commercial-heavy mainstream picture – that’s one scene shown on four different approaches. And the result is simply brilliant, as in, Wow! What an experience.

Don’t worry there is a real septic tank scene in the movie with The Eugene Domingo in it (it’s really gross). You won’t be disappointed with this must-see film. Two thumbs up. Indeed the best things in life come in free.

‘The Secret World of Arrietty’ Film Review

Growing up, I always believed that the best movies are the ones coming from Walt Disney (and later Pixar) with their age proof and heart warming animated features about fairy tales and great adventures that highlights the greatness of friendship and the triumph of good against evil. They have great movies for the family, that’s one of the fact that remains today. But Disney is not alone. Because somewhere in the eastern hemisphere lies a great kingdom calledStudio Ghibli who have also fascinated countless young minds of the great tales of fantasies, magic, bravery and the beauty of life through coming of age stories. My only regret is I never got to know the studio and the legendary storyteller Hayao Miyazaki sooner. But their lineup of great animated films are as impressive as those of Disney’s and Pixar’s. And their latest masterpiece is the heartwarming tale of a brave little girl in ‘The Secret World of Arrietty.’

The Secret World of Arrietty was written and produced by Hayao Miyazaki, the mind who brought us Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.  Based on Mary Norton’s 1952 novel The Borrowers, the film tells the story of a free-spirited young borrowernamed Arrietty who lives with her parents under the floorboards of a rural suburban house. Borrowers are tiny people who lives peacefully in people’s houses who borrows basic supplies like sugar, tissues and cookies while keeping their existence secret to humans. But when her maiden borrowing into the big world of the human’s kitchen went terribly wrong, their survival and their way of life now hangs in the balance.

But in the face of disappointment and unprecedented danger Arrietty and the boy name Shu, who jut came to the house for a vacation and rest for an upcoming heart surgery, forged a mutual respect to each other’s existence that soon blossoms into an unlikely friendship between the minute borrower and the gigantic human boy – a forbidden friendship that defy all norms that will change their lives forever.

I never really expected the movie will be great because of Miyazaki didn’t direct it, Spirited Away is still number one, a girl is the main character, the trailer was not so good and this and that, etcetera etcetera. But only a few minutes into the film I completely fell in love with it.That’s when I started to take notice of the beautiful and enchanting soundtracks early on. The music was something that is soothing and nostalgic that suddenly brings back those warm memories of summer. The notes simply hits the right spots of the soul, something truly magical. I never knew I have a weak spot for music. Here’s a soundtrack of the film, the English version of ‘Arrietty’s Song’ played by the French singer Cécile Corbel:

Studio Ghibli has always been for its visual concepts of its films but in ‘Arrietty’ they raised the bar even higher. The signature hand-drawn animation was truly stunning especially the rich colors they used promising a feast to the eyes. The concept designs of the environment is really beautiful. The character interaction is simply impeccable conveying a deep sense of reality. Although earlier works of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have always been visual by blowing things up out of proportions into a grand spectacle of high fantasy like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo By The Sea, this time however the elements of the story are practically locked into reality,well, of course except the tiny borrower family.

A family of borrowers: Homily, Pod and Arrietty.

But the story remains true to the Ghibli tradition of presenting a heart warming coming of age tale filled with mysteries and dangers in one unforgettable adventure. It is intelligently written, a bit toned down but still very captivating. This a tale of friendship as both Arrietty and Shu have to trust each other to fight for their survival. I think the existence of borrowers and their role to the human inhabitants parallels our  social issues of today where giant nations like China exerting their dominance by trying to dispute territories already marked by smaller nations. But at the end of the day it is in mutual respect for each other holds the key to a peaceful living. Even the film has a trace of environmentalism and preservation of living creatures around us.

The Secret World of Arrietty is truly a cinematic achievement that sings the human soul’s determination to survive. It’s now one of my favorite animated films of all time. Simply one of the many gifts only Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki can offer. I truly recommend this film for everyone, especially to little children, to watch with their families.

‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Film Review

Instead of making a fourth Spiderman sequel, Sony Pictures decide to start all over again. Not that the Sam Raimi’s Spider-man franchise sucked, in fact it is the studio’s most successful films, it’s just  they want to make money.  Sam Raimi and Tobbey Macguire’s tab is just too big for a studio on the brink of bankruptcy to keep up with. So they hire a fresh (and cheap) brilliant director and fresh talents. So here comes another origin story of Spiderman just ten years apart from the first one: The Amazing Spider-Man, which is surprisingly amazing to watch.

We get to see Peter Parker’s origins as a very young boy who lost his parents for unknown reasons, the next minute he’s a high school kid with all the worldly problems of an ordinary teenager until he was bitten by a radioactive spider. He hasn’t met MJ yet during this time so we are introduced to a new love interest in Gwen Stacey played by Emma Stone. One of the improvements that director Mark Webb((500) Days Before Summer) created a darker and grittier story of Spider-Man. In this film we get to see prominently what makes the superhero amazing; the incredible speed and agility, Peter’s deep intellect in creating stuffs including his artificial web-shooters, superhuman strength, and that funny big mouth trash talking personality. Andrew Garfield did a great job portraying those parts and those parts where he gets beaten up and bruised up ugly.

One of the most noticeable highlight of the film is the great fight scenes. The choreography is impressive featuring raw and physical fight scenes that focused on Spider-Man’s amazing speed and agility and the Lizard’s raw brute strength. I like that scene where Spidey was overrun by several police officers and he somehow beat ‘em all up despite covering his head low because he lost his mask. Another amazing in this movie is the musical score composed by James Horner which sounds really powerful and grand but somehow feels intimate and exclusive of ambition. If this film will is ever to win an Oscar, it’s going to be on what the musical score have achieved. The director, Mark Webb, erased all doubts that he can also handles big projects having only one small film on his sleeve. I just love the way how he took the reboot, it’s darker and grittier but not like Christopher Nolan in Batman Begins; the way he incorporated the heavy emotional aspects into the film; and just the superb job by giving us a respectable film though it borrows a lot of plots from the original film because both are faithful to the comics, but took on a different feel that certainly not like Raimi’s all-things-bright-and-wonderfuladaptation. Emotional. Intimate. Serious. Humorous. Contemporary.

The new cast did well too especially Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey who is a strong and intelligent young woman who doesn’t need of saving. Emma was simply charming with her funny persona she brings in the picture and their onscreen chemistry with Peter Parker is spot on. The villain of the film is The Lizard a.k.a. Dr. Curtis Connors played byRhys Ifans. I found Connors/the Lizard as an interesting character who doesn’t seem to be a completely like The Joker who just wants to see the world burn, but is just a man trying to help fix the world that made a bad decision. He’s a good guy who unfortunately changed into and later overpowered by the lizard’s aggressive nature.

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield shared remarkable chemistry in the film. A chemistry they too shared off-screen.

But the film does have some issues that we all have to deal with. One is the obvious miscast based on the age of Andrew Garfield who at 27 is portraying a seventeen year old. He doesn’t look that young, and did poorly in portraying Peter as an outcast by choice because he looks cool anyway. But the major drawback of the film is the storyline’s lack of cohesiveness and direction. The film’s main theme according to the tagline was about something that is missing in our lives, but they never developed this aspect, instead it quickly turned into a messed-up and predictable narrative of revenge that ultimately turned into saving the world before midnight. Another theme that goes like this “We all have secrets; the ones we keep, and the ones that are kept from us” seems rather nonsense as audiences ended up asking more questions than secrets getting answered (those bastards, they’re trying to make another franchise again!)  And the film, amazingly, lacked some memorable scenes unlike the upside down kiss between Peter and MJ from the original.

But overall The Amazing Spider-Man is really great film for everyone to watch. It’s a different story of how Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man told all over again this time on a heart-warming  emotional tone about coping up with guilt, growing up, falling in love, and protecting those you love. Sometime having great powers doesn’t have to mean greater responsibilities. Sometimes becoming a hero is a choice that comes from our moral obligation to help other when you have the power to help them. I think that what makes Spider-Man truly amazing.

 

‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ Film Review

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté) is a 2005 French noir-drama directed by  Jacques Audiard about a man torn between his family loyalty, his job and his desire to become a piano artist. Tom at 29 (played by Romain Duris) is living in a dangerous world as real estate thug; chasing squatters and illegal immigrants, and sometimes his father ask him to beat up creditors who does not pay. For him, getting angry and stepping on other people’s lives are his way of life that puts him following on his father’s footsteps. Until a chance encounter of his late mother’s music agent made him believe that he can be something other than the one he have – as an artist – and perhaps another chance to life.

The entirety of the film narrated how Tom balances the two contrasting worlds; the dark side of the city and the gratifying world of music. He decided to audition for a piano concert just like his mom did when she was alive, but ten years of no practice is a lot a gap to cover. So he hired the aid of Miao-Lin, a beautiful Chinese music student who just arrived in Paris. He juggled his piano lessons with his shadowy job that often involves planting sacks of mouse in apartments, carrying baseball bats to ward off the squatters and beating other people up. A loyal son by day, a music student by afternoon and a thug by night, then add to the list are his problematic temper, his father’s awful involvement with a Russian mob, and his budding affair with his boss’ wife. Life wouldn’t be so messed up for Tom. And it all started when he discovered his passion for music.

This film focuses on Tom’s perspective about his struggles in life, his descent to a life of crime and his attempt to get back his lost soul. His decision to get in touch with his musical was probably his way of redeeming himself. This is a story of a man torn between two worlds which he knows he must choose only one of them. Either to make dirty money or to become a musician.  Even his attempt to regain the once-forgotten musical talents also had its obstacle courses because of the increasingly difficult piano classes spiced up by his short temper and the language barrier with Miao-Lin who doesn’t speak any French. But their unusual circumstances brought an unlikely friendship with his piano teacher that could make or break his dreams.

The film used classical music including  Bach‘s Toccata in E minor. Romain Duris was trained by his sister and pianist  Caroline Dubais for the role. But the film did not really focus on the musical element of the story with performances in the piano are far out and limited. Even the musical score is minimal and something viewers won’t realize that it’s there at all. But the thing keeps the film together is the remarkable performance of Romain Duris who gave Tom – a hardened, merciless thug – a soft and compelling human side desperately trying to have his life back and become who he really wanted to be.

The general atmosphere of  ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped‘ is a flat-out European character driven picture. It’s not really a film I could recommend to everyone because the story isn’t something pleasant or exciting to watch, although it’s still good film for me. The pacing of the story is slow and filled with silent gaps and close-up views. It has a tendency to bore people out if they take it as an exciting romance flick. ‘The Beat’ is a powerful drama that features a darker aspect of the urban life and an interesting study of into the soul of man in his quest for redemption, forgiveness and love.

‘HUGO’ Film Review: Fixing Things and Capturing Dreams

How do we define a Martin Scorsese film? What comes to mind are gangs, mobs, mafia, Leonardo Di Caprio and a picture of someone getting whacked at. Definitely not the movies you’d like to see with your 8 year olds. But then came his latest film Hugo – his first movie for the family and a grand salute to a great filmmaking pioneer. And he did it in spectacular fashion; an instant classic, a masterpiece!

The story is about an orphan boy named Hugo Cabret (played by Asa Butterfield) who lives in a train station and secretly moonlights as the clock keeper of  the station (and survives from stealing leftovers and abandon stuffs). Hugo is determined to fix an abandoned mechanical model/robot which we later found out as an ‘automaton’, believing that it has a hidden message from his late father (Jude Law). His father was a clock doctor who also taught Hugo how to repair clocks and other machines. But to make the automaton function again he must pick some parts from an old man named George  Meiles (Ben Kingsley) who runs a toy store inside the station. But one day he was caught and his notebook that contained his father’s studies about the automaton was confiscated. In order to get the notebook back, he enlisted the aid of the oldman’s neice, Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz), who later helped him in unlocking the mystery of the automaton. And so began a great tale of adventure for our young heroes, but little did they know the secret message they are chasing will lead them to the life of cinema’s pioneering filmmaker and all the way home.

 

(The legendary filmamaker, Martin Scorsese (center), in the set of Hugo.)

Just seeing this movie made me believe Martin Scorsese is a real filmmaking genius. The world he created around Hugo is something dreamlike: lavish, dazzling and elegant. Yes, it is set on a French train station but the color scheme, the special effects, and the cinematography used contributed to a magical atmosphere of the place. The colors used are particularly bright and highly saturated making the motion picture a sense of ease and relaxing yet somehow with a trace of golden nostalgia. The special effects are first class from the scenes with the clock-works, the bird’s eye view of a 1920’s Paris, the train station itself and the train crash. The cinematography and the angles used is nothing but a visual fest. I can only imagine how great this movie looked in 3D. This is really the kind of film you can’t just talk and describe to others, you have to see it to experience it’s magic.

 

Though the visual and technical aspects of the film were a real treat (that hauled some Oscars), it is the characters and the story that make this film a timeless classic. The performances from the young actors are incredible particularly Asa Butterfield breathing the boy Hugo who was forced to grow up to support himself and who’s eyes sparked that overwhelming determination. Yet at the end of the day this boy is still a pathetic, helpless and lonely lost soul. That’s when Isabelle comes to pick up what Hugo doesn’t have –  her resourcefulness and friendship (and bit of romance) which serve as the catalyst of unlocking the mystery. Once again Chloë Grace Moretz proved she’s on the top of the best child actors around today by giving Isabelle those qualities and  grace. Ben Kingsley plays the toy maker whose earlier career was the great filmmaker George Meiles, and he played that character with versatility both as the frail old man trapped in a toybooth and the young visionary in his prime. And another interesting character is the menacing Train Inspector played by Sacha Baron-Cohen who’ve had the spotlight in those funny and awkward scenes and yet plays with the audience to hate a character who’se not particularly a bad guy but someone who is just doing his job.

 

 

But the story is the real meat of this story. The script is powerful that encompasses an adventure in Hugo’s perspective and a biographical account of the life of the visionary filmmaker George Mieles, one of the first to realize that films have the power to capture dreams. The film gives flashback scenes of Mieles’ glory days on how he become a filmmaker from a prominent magician, giving the audience a rare chance to experience how movies from those era are made, CGI-free yet still capture the vision we thought only exist in our dreams. The other prominent theme in the story is about fixing things. This movie is not your average family movie, this one digs deeps into our souls touching those inner desires for redemption and healing of things broken in our lives. Here we are given an immense thought about our purpose in life, our roles in which we are playing in Life. And Hugo tells us all that maybe our purpose in life is to give others the chance to fix the lives of others and capture their dreams.

Note: All the pictures are taken from RottenTomatoes.com. Here’s a link for more infos: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

The Fighter film review

They say the more movies you watch the more you’ll love drama. People call drama boring, farmers of Leyte call these movies full of Holy Rosary “Nag-rosaryo na pud”. Personally I love drama and I absolutely agree that dramas are lovable as your movie collection files up. I’ve been doing movie marathon the past three years (even during the crucial days of board review) and I still can’t get enough of this genre. I can’t even rid myself of them because they are found in every type of films: war, crime, romance, biopic, sci-fi, road, slasher, musical, period and sports films. The past year the drama scene has never been so blessed with such a great line-up . And my pick goes to the sports drama The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

The Fighter tells the story of real life boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward and his struggle towards greatness (i.e. a bitchy mother for his manager and an irresponsible crack addict brother for his trainer). He was a mediocre boxer with a devastating left hook during his earlier years of boxing handled by Team Ward – his dysfunctional family. Yes, he used to take serious beating from bouts with mismatched weight difference and the general lack of training thanks to his brotherDick “Dicky” Eklund , the guy who knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard back in ’78. Dicky, though a good trainer has cost Ward much trouble in and out of the ring than helping him because of his drug addiction and misdemeanor until he was sent to prison. Micky Ward, now trainer-less with a serious hand injury, began his descent from life and a long hiatus in boxing. Thus the story progressed into a poignant character-driven narrative. And so we have now a good guy badly beaten up and a real loser in life. End of the 1^st part of the story.

The next part is a tale of redemption not only for Ward, but also for his brother. Thus begins the overused Hollywood sports drama cliché where our hero gets the second chance to get back to his feet and complete the underdog story. But one more sentence deeper into the plot and I am likely to spoil you, my readers. But anyways some might still remember Micky Ward as one of the great boxers of the late 90’s  – the same guy who waged war with the late Arturo Gatti in three wild fights of the year – one of the greatest Trilogy in boxing history (don’t worry the movie omits these part). But they sure left that most unlikely knockout of all time for the audience to wonder. Trust me this is a great film.

Mark Wahlberg portrayed the titular role of Mickey Ward along side with Batman star Christian Bale and Amy Adams, the Enchanted singing princess. Wahlberg, a friend of Manny Pacquiao, trained at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles  to prepare for the film. Christian Bale once again transformed himself into a walking skeleton (he was worse in The Machinist) to portray the malnourished-looking Dicky and delivered his best performance to date to steal the  show. Geeks will probably assassinate the jurors if he doesn’t win the Oscar Best Supporting Actor trophy next month.

One of the many transformations Christian Bale went through to portray his roles. I think this time he finally deserves his Oscar.

Director David O. Russell has taken the audience into a strange poignant imagery of a boxer dissecting Ward’s every goddamn pain, disappointment and failures in a ‘slowly but surely’ character driven fashion. The film is so compelling it felt like I was inside the screen watching the scene in real-time. And to add authenticity to the film the filmmakers used actual footages in some of the films fight scenes and interviews. They used pay-per-view cameras for the fight scenes to replicate the ringside viewing experience.

There have been great boxing films from the past like Stallone’s Rocky films, Robert de Niro’s Raging Bull, and Russell Crowe’s Cinderella Man just to name a few. Surely The Fighter will join their ranks in no time. It’s a towering reminder that great movies does not need to have loudest gunfire or the most advance CGI because sometimes people just wanted a tale of simple treat of a warm piece of life. That is what dramas are all about.

All Iz Well: 3 Idiots Film Review

Contrary to popular culture belief the film Slumdog Millionaire, one of the most successful independent movie of all time, is technically a British film – its no Bollywood guys. So the bragging rights of being the best Bollywood film goes to Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 IDIOTS.

I was forever hesitant to watch this film for more than a year now due to the title’s lack of sense despite the massive popularity it received from the word-of-mouth alone. I finally gave in when my dormmates who are engineering students reviewing for the board exams convinced me. And man after watching the film I was full of regret I didn’t regrets it earlier. The film is so good that it leaves you breathless long after the movie was over. All is well, very very well.

The story started with two friends embarks on a quest for a lost buddy. As they make their way through the jaw dropping photographic landscapes of India, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend – the irrepressible free-thinker Rancho [Aamir Khan], who, in his unique way, touched and changed their lives.

The 3 Idiots: Farhan, Rancho and Raju

Who was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? The friend who influenced and inspired them to think creatively and independently, even as the conformist world called them three idiots. Where is the original idiot now?

Rancho is the rebel among them always questioning things and believing that learning is more than just the usual mode of education. Despite his fun and frolic, Rancho always surprises everyone by topping the class. He even manages to win the affections of the director’s daughter Pia. But Rancho’s greatest contribution lies in making his friends realize their true calling.

And then one day, suddenly, Rancho vanishes…

3 IDIOTS belongs to everyone. Is a story of friendship, hope, aspirations and most importantly the goodness of life. Everyone can relate the character’s situation in many ways. There’s the tale of friendship of the three idiots who stand by each other through thick and thin. It also got some of the most memorable and funniest scenes… never had a good laugh for a long time. There are scenes that’ll make you shocked, they’ll make you cry and they’ll make you think. I suddenly missed my college years after watching the film, it makes me proud to know that I have my fair share kalokohan and rebellions against the school officials (psst!), but I think I did have a set of good grades too.

The actors who portrayed the characters in the movie did a very good job breathing life to the story. Number one is the amazing actor Aamir Khan who portrayed the free-spirited Rancho. His mannerisms, his appeal and even the way he dressed make the character so real and influential. I could hardly belief Aamir Khan is portraying a character “half his age”. Then there’s the great soundtracks and songs, and the lavish production numbers that sprouts out of nowhere. They make the film so vibrant and lively at the same worked effectively in establishing the right tempo of the narrative. Another standout in the production is the cinematography that is so viciously yummy kind of visual feast featuring the scenic scenes in India – first class photography man. And of course two thumbs up to Rajkumar Hirani the very talented director who made this film possible.

3 Idiots is a glorious tale about life that penetrates deep within our souls. It is Bollywood’s gift to the world that amidst the struggle and darkness in our environment there are souls out there, so pure and bright that will illuminate hope and breathe a new spark of life.

All iz well.

‘SECRET’ Film Review: A Tale of Music, Love and Closure.

In every interests in life there are elusive things that no matter how hard you try somehow it always slips out of your grasp. For an athlete it might be that elusive championship trophy, for a writer a cover feature in a newspaper, for an artist that rare wave of inspiration to create a masterpiece and for a movie fan it can be that movie you waited and searched so long to watch. I have these dilemmas and maybe to almost everyone else because we all want something in this life, only not all the time that fate is on our side. That elusive movie on my part is the ‘Secret’.

Prolougue: SECRET is a 2007 Taiwanese film starring the talented Jay Chou, who also debuted as a writer and director for the film. It’s a simple but very beautiful story that transcends time, music, teenage dream, and LOVE. Jay plays a talented piano major student who just transferred into a prestigious Art School. On the first day he met Rain, who is also a piano major and a classmate. From there they developed a special relationship that’s been clouded with mystery because there are things Rain kept from Jay. The good thing is they both leave those secrets as it is and let them unravel in their own terms which allowed their relationship blossom.  “Let’s just cherish the moment that we are together.”

First half: For the first part of the movie viewers are immersed into a sweet love story one would come to expect from great Korean or Asian movies. You can’t help but like Jay and Rain’s chemistry; he lacking that passionate emotion but makes up by impressing everyone with his savvy piano skills and that Kaede Rukawa personna – the silent type, good-looking and insanely talented guy –  she on the other hand is this mysterious girl popping in and out of the story. These two make an unlikely romantic pair that successfully conveyed the sweet innocence of a  fist love and that first love kiss (nevermind if both actors are already in their mid-20’s portraying high schoolers).

I know I sound  a lil’ bit cheesy but the movie is something much better, it’s just the only way I could describe their beautiful romance. Strong point is its simplicity and the story’s ability to convey emotions not just thru character interactions between the lead characters but also with the movie’s overwhelming music display. You rarely see a movie using music, classical music , as its main element and not a background. There’s a piano battle scene between Jay and a character called the Prince of Piano, it was so intense and so fun to watch, err hear. Also one major highlight for the movie is the sweet piano collaboration from Jay and Rain, it was so magical, never seen anything like it since the Ice Dance scene in Edward Scissorhands. Hat’s off to the music.

Second half: In most Asian romance stories, the first half serves as the sweet icing in the cake setting up for the real deal of the story in the second half – where things got a lot serious, sometimes out of hand, and emotionally heavy as the story progress. It’s also the case for Secret, the second half is where you stop liking the story and move on to actually fall in love with the story. There the plot got thicker, the characters turned into lost souls and the tensions got going in its rightful cinematic place. And that’s when viewers get glued to their seats for good. ‘Secret’ is a classic case of Cinematic 101.

The twist came in sooner and downright unexpected at the pivotal one hour mark. I was surprised on how the story moved into a different direction as Rain’s ‘secret’ starts to unravel. I cannot divulge any plot details without spoiling the future viewers of this movie, but let’s just say Jay Chou made a ‘Midnight in Paris’ magic in his very first directorial début. This guy is one heck of a talent.

The Search: As I have said I was searching for this movie for two years. I spent a lot of hours by the Manong Dibidi stands of Quiapo, Binondo, Divisoria and Legarda in Manila, in Colon in Cebu, in the slums Ilo-ilo, and in the heart of Southern Leyte. I was even ready to buy an original DVD copy in major  video dealers, tried it in almost every mall I’ve been to. And I wasn’t stupid not to look for a digital copy on the internet. I did, I really did tried to browse on dozens of English language sites… blogs, mediafire, fileserve, media upload and finally torrents. Yeah, this movie is a pain in the ass to find: there are online streams with no subtitles, torrents without subtitles or no sounds at all,  zipped files divided into broken links and everything nastiness. That and more in two frustrating years of searching and I did it all for the love of a woman.

CLOSURE: Now that I’ve finally downloaded the movie into my notebook it’s when I lose her. RC and I planned on watching this movie two years ago after I recommended her “Cape No. 7” which was a fantastic movie too. And if you search for Cape No. 7, changes are  “Secret” comes into picture. My only regret is I couldn’t find it sooner for her. She’s gone now.  She would have loved seeing this movie, I could feel her giggle and amazement as Jay and Rain played together the piano. I can guess she’d cry somewhere in the movie, and I wish I could tease her for that. But hey I cannot turn back time and undo the bad things that fell. I cannot even tell a piano to take me into a place where I could meet her in a younger and healthier state. My only closure is that maybe in a different life, in a world where cancer is curable and all babies are born normal, I’d meet her, fall in love again and perhaps we’ll watch this movie together.

BEFORE SUNSET Film Review

I hope you wouldn’t consider this as a spoiler but at the end of Before Sunrise the characters Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delphy) decided to meet up in the same train station six months later before they part ways with him flying back to America and her back to Paris. Both of them didn’t bother to exchange phone numbers and communication. It was a love perhaps forever lost with 0% chance of meeting again. Six months later the French bitch didn’t show up.  Nine years later the hapless American successfully published a best seller about that one magical night they’ve shared in Vienna. The book toured in Europe, the last stop was Paris, and with just a few hours before his flight they met.

What happens next is a plot so thin you can all write it on a table napkin.Two people talking in Paris. But no worries if you loved their first encounter then there’s no way you’re going to hate the 2004 sequel –Before Sunset – a tale of two lost lovers trying to catch-up all those nine years they’ve lost. Director Richard Linklater teamed up once again with his two creative leads (Hawke and Delphy did co-wrote the first film too but were not credited)  for the second time visiting another installment of the unique Jessie-Celine love story. In Sunset we now have the two lovers now in their thirties and it’s amazing to see them matured not just the way they looked but the way their conversations have grown filled with experiences and ideas. The cinematography improved a lot offering us another picturesque view of the streets (and river) of Paris. The script got a lot meatier and broader as the film talked about climate change and environmental awareness upfront – topics I have only heard of the past couple of years.  I could write a different post about how much the Sunset differed from Sunrise but simply put a lot have change since the first film. But there are things that remains the same: the undeniable natural chemistry between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy (they really look like they are real soulmates) giving us another unforgettable performances. Sometimes the best acting are done with no acting at all.

Now let’s answer the question, What if you had another chance with the one that got away? For Jessie and Celine they did what they shared best: they talked within an unfairly small amount of time. The two takes us once again into a beautiful, wonderful marathon conversation as if we are there with them and before the running time is over we’d get to know what happened to them over those long years of separation and how they came to be. But incredibly the more we learned about them the more we got to know about ourselves in the way we view issues in our lives, about love, our romantic fantasies, about the perfect relationships, how we should handle frustrations and the concept of a life of what-could-have-beens. It feels bad how much a single night could pave the way into years of secret bitterness and deep holes in their hearts. But the film mercifully teaches us about forgiveness and moving on. But at the same time holding on to that shared wonderful memory I think we all can relate. As what the film critic Dan Jardine of Cinemania.com “The film takes a miraculous healing turn at the end, and the characters rise above their ruefulness, and use it as a springboard into hope.” 

This is a beautiful  must-see movie. Period.

Possible sequel. Just recently I’ve read that Ethan Hawke is flirting with another Before sequel but there was no details of the project. But rumors is that the trio collaborated again for the screenplay and will start filming this very summer setting up for a 2013 release:

“All of three of us have been having similar feelings that we’re ready to revisit those characters. There’s nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again so we’re really started thinking that would be a good thing to do. We’re going to try write it this year.”

It’s a pleasant news for the fans of the franchise eager how the characters went on after another nine years. Definitely the Before series is truly one of those remarkable cinematic gems that successfully touches the heart of the viewers. A simple tale of love, with no big idea, nor budget and special effects… but just a pure testament of the power of heartfelt conversations.

Before Sunrise: Film Review

One question: What would you rather have: marry the wrong one then spent all your life pretending or have one magical night with The One and never see each other again? That’s one of the interesting premises of this beautiful 1995 romantic film titled “Before Sunrise”. I haven’t really heard about this movie until now but the movie got a rare 100% and 91 % Rotten Tomatoes rating for Critics and Audience respectively. A remarkable statistical achievement, and yes this time numbers do tell the truth. I love this movie a lot.

The story is simple it begins when Jesse and Celine, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphie, met on a train and decided to spend the night in the city of Vienna and ends with the two parted on separate ways.  The film is also even simpler; it’s just two people walking around talking to each other and nothing pretty much happens.

But what is really impressive about it is how these two strangers get to know each other, the way they reveal their real selves. I love the way the two characters talks about life, relationships and love. The dialogues are long but at the end of the movie you’d wish they’d have more time to talk things more. Jesse’ and Celine’s conversations are not your ordinary romance-flicks we’ve all seen before, first they don’t bore you out but rather gets you mesmerized into it as they explores the human nature and of that special relationship we all want. It’s wonderful to see their topics are as relevant more than ever in this generation’s young people. With, smart and engaging dialogue and put into mix was the amazing chemistry of the very young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy whose performance not only made the film so real, but made those two young lovers look real young people. I have never seen anything like that before with such vivid characters and believable interaction between them.

Seriously, Before Sunrise is one of the best romantic films ever made. I’m just glad I saw something beautiful as what Jesse and Celine had shared on one evening; you know those interesting conversations they shared, the seemingly Practical Dating 101 scenes, the places they went, the things they did all in one magical night. It is so good without trying to do something big. And to answer the question above I think I’ll go pick the one night love affair, at least it’s real, something you can cherish for the rest of your life rather than fall in love with a person you’ll live with only to see the flame falter out. That scares me.

This is a quick review because I really can’t wait to watch the sequel Before Sunset, set nine years after Jesse and Celine parted ways. Now that’s going to answer another question: What if you had another chance with the one that got away?