ShareThisThe contemporary cinema of the Philippines is a hidden treasure, a popular cinema that excels in passionate stories and rousing entertainment featuring an array of established and emerging stars. From September 6 through 27, the Gene Siskel Film Center presents Filipino Cinema: New Directions/New Auteurs, a sampler of five new works—all Chicago premieres—by directors making waves at festivals from Cannes to Toronto and beyond.
In the 1970s, the late Lino Brocka (MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT, INSIANG), internationally renowned auteur, created a model for a socially aware cinema in the Philippines that was simultaneously box-office dynamite. Brocka cannily employed the conventions of the melodrama, the soap opera, and the action film, and cast top stars alongside non-professional actors in stories that most often targeted social injustice and political corruption.
Today’s heirs of Brocka are similarly savvy in creating films capable of thoroughly engaging an audience. They are no strangers to satire or to social and political commentary and philosophical speculation couched in dramatic plots, or to stretching the limits of narrative in new ways. Director Lav Diaz, a rising star on the international scene, takes Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment as his reference point for NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY, a film as breathtakingly vast in its philosophical approach as in the mesmerizing quality of its epic-length storytelling.
Brillante Mendoza won Best Director at Cannes for KINATAY in 2009, beating out directors including Quentin Tarantino. His latest film THY WOMB, winner of three awards at the Venice Film Festival, among many honors, gives longtime star Nora Aunor one of her most moving roles in years as the wife of an infertile couple willing to sacrifice all to give her husband a child.
Both IF ONLY by Jerrold Tarog and RIGODON by Erik Matti use conventions of the screen romance to other ends. IF ONLY has the earmarks of a romantic comedy as a chaotic wedding day devolves, but Tarog is a sharp observer of the rituals of upper middle-class life, developing a larger look at love vs. happy-ever-after. RIGODON takes a dark and unsettling turn when an adulterous affair driven by unbridled eroticism is just the outward face of a man’s deeper problems with self-image, career, and longed-for fame.
The satirical comedy THE BIT PLAYER by Jeffrey Jeturian focuses on the hard life of the scores of unknown actors who work as extras in TV soap operas. Pointing up the class inequities and glaring exploitation behind an entertainment juggernaut in a humorous context, the film gives a plum role to Vilma Santos, yet another revered star.
The Gene Siskel Film Center thanks Joel Shepard and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for assistance in programming this series. Dedicated to the memory of David Overbey (1936-1998), a programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, who passionately advanced the cause of Filipino cinema in the West.
–Barbara Scharres
Chicago premiere!
NORTE, THE END OF HISTORY
(NORTE, HANGGANAN NG KASAYSAYAN)
2013, Lav Diaz, Philippines, 250 min.
With Sid Lucero, Angeli Bayana
Saturday, September 6, 3:00 pm
Saturday, September 27, 3:00 pm
“An extraordinary achievement, a truly staggering, even overwhelming film-going experience…its thematic breadth is universal.”—Calum Marsh, Village Voice
“A tour de force…able to present the chaos of life in a series of pictures that are at once luminously clear and endlessly mysterious.”—A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Exhilarating…a perfect gateway into the director’s work.”—Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, A.V. Club.com
This powerfully slow-burning riff on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment was a critical triumph at Cannes, putting an international spotlight on director Diaz’s epic work. An indolent blowhard of a law-school dropout (Lucero) murders a shrewish neighborhood moneylender, and the blame falls on a poor but honest family man. Over a luxuriously paced and utterly essential span of cinematic time, Diaz follows the fate of both men, one of them in a hell of his own making, the other staying the course in the hope of redemption. History, politics, philosophy, and ethics blend with ever-expanding moral dimensions in a setting of seascapes and haunting cityscapes. In Tagalog and English with English subtitles. DCP digital widescreen. (BS)
Chicago premiere!
IF ONLY
(SANA DATI)
2013, Jerrold Tarog, 100 min.
With Lovi Poe, Paulo Avelino
Friday, September 12, 6:15 pm
Sunday, September 14, 5:30 pm
“Well-written discreetly played…both moving and finally very mature in its emotional make-up.”—Derek Elley, Film Business Asia
“The plotting is smart; the symbolism is profound…the ending is not predictable.”—Fred Hawson, ABS-CBN News
IF ONLY takes place amid the chaotic last-minute preparations for an upscale family wedding, but director Tarog has a demystification of love rather than romance on his mind. To the astonishment of her female kin, bride-to-be Andrea appears glum and underwhelmed by her imminent vows with the ultimate catch, a wealthy rising-star politician. The arrival of a strangely inept wedding photographer becomes the catalyst for revelations about her mysterious year spent in Bangkok and the love of her life, who may not be the groom. In Tagalog with English subtitles. DCP digital. (BS)
Chicago premiere!
THE BIT PLAYER
(EKSTRA)
2013, Jeffrey Jeturian, Philippines, 111 min.
With Vilma Santos, Vincent De Jesus
Saturday, September 13, 5:30 pm
Wednesday, September 17, 6:15 pm
“Wise and witty…constant chuckles and a fair supply of big belly laughs.”—Richard Kuipers, Variety
“Never misses a target…peerless comic timing.”—Steve Gravestock, Toronto International Film Festival program
Behind the scenes on the soap opera “You Were Mine First,” long-suffering middle-aged extra Loida (veteran mega-star Santos) keeps a smile on her face while eternally striving to rise to the status of a bit player with lines. This alternately comic and poignant spoof on the indignities of the film business for those on the bottom rung is rife with funny pratfalls and cleverly couched social commentary. Santos turns on the heart-melting charm as her character’s sunny nature masks the true grit of a single mom trying to make a living. In Tagalog with English subtitles. DCP digital. (BS)
Chicago premiere!
THY WOMB
(SINAPUPANAN)
2012, Brillante Mendoza, Philippines, 100 min.
With Nora Aunor, Bembol Roco
Saturday, September 20, 5:15 pm
Thursday, September 25, 8:15 pm
“Just the right balance of exotic and the authentic.”—Guy Lodge, Variety
“Postcard-worthy landscapes and all-consuming spirituality…compelling and revelatory.”—Carlos Aguilar, Indiewire.com
In this tale set in the sea-and-sky milieu of an island Muslim culture, an emphasis on the intricate and colorful rituals of courtship and marriage by critically acclaimed director Mendoza (KINATAY) has a profoundly bittersweet edge. The happiness of a long-married couple is marred by the ironic inability of Shaleha (Philippine superstar Aunor in a masterful performance), the local midwife, to give her devoted husband a child. She devises a selfless plan to remedy the situation, unaware of the heartbreak in store. Winner of three Venice Film Festival awards, including Best Actress for Aunor. In Tagalog with English subtitles. DCP digital. (BS)
Chicago premiere!
RIGODON
2012, Erik Matti, Philippines, 85 min.
With Yam Concepcion, John James Uy
Sunday, September 21, 4:45 pm
Monday, September 22, 8:15 pm
The title comes from a quadrille-like dance, which aptly fits this tense, steamy drama of a cheating husband who artfully juggles life with a needy wife and elaborate courtship of an eager lover. Riki, a hunky former reality-show star reduced to modeling for a shopping network, also courts danger, living one step ahead of a loan shark as he leads on new girl Sarah with seeming promises of marriage and calms his wife with lies. Director Matti lets the film’s initial romantic conventions slide into darkness and erotic obsession, with graphic scenes of seduction and coupling made all the more realistic by the palpable chemistry among the three lead actors. In Tagalog and English with English subtitles. DCP digital. (BS)