Cast: Sid Lucero, Cogie Domingo, Rocky Salumbides; Director: Adolf Alix, Jr. Screenplay: Jerry Gracio; Running Time:100 minutes; Location: Baguio; Genre: Drama/ Adult
Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 1
Rating: For Viewers 18 years old and above
Magsisimula ang kuwento nang dekada 70. Pagkalabas ng seminaryo, si Jun (Sid Lucero) na ang namahala ng kanilang inn at humalili sa yumao niyang ina. Mahihikayat si Jun na sumali sa isang komunistang kilusan na naghahangad ng pagbabago mula sa diktadurya, at dito ay magkakaroon siya ng relasyon sa kapwa lalaki nilang lider. Sa kasamaang palad ay masasawi ang kasintahan niyang ito at ibubunton sa kanya ang sisi kung kaya’t siya’y ilalaglag ng samahan. Makikilala naman niya ang abugadong si Errol (Cogie Domingo). Magsisimula sila sa kaswal na pagkakaibigan na hahantong sa isang sekswal na relasyon. Lilipas ang panahon at makakapag-asawa si Errol at magkakaroon ng dalawang anak. Minsan isang taon ay umaakyat si Errol ng Baguio upang makipagkita kay Jun kahit pa ito’y may iba na ring kinakasama. Sa pagdaan ng mga taon ay hindi malilimot nina Jun at Errol ang isa’t-isa ngunit may kani-kaniya na rin silang buhay pamilya at pag-ibig, at ang kanilang relasyon ay hindi rin tanggap sa lipunan. Magawa pa kaya nilang mapanindigan ang kanilang pagmamahalan?
Ang Muli ay uminog sa iba’t-ibang panahon ng kasaysayan ng Pilipinas mula dekada 70 hanggang sa kasalukuyan. Maganda sanang panimula ito at tila isang bagong bihis para sa isang kuwentong pag-ibig na namamagitan sa dalawang lalaki. Ninais ng pelikula na pagsabayin ang paghahayag ng kalayaan ng bansa mula sa diktadurya at ng kalayaan sa paghahayag ng piniling kasarian o sekswalidad. Ngunit hindi ito naging maliwanag sa kabuuan ng pelikula dahil hindi gaanong naipakita ang malinaw na koneksyon ng dalawa. Pawang lumalabas na nagkataon lamang na naganap ang kanilang kuwento sa nasabing panahon. Ilagay man ito sa ibang panahon o lugar, hindi pa rin magbabago ang takbo nito. Hindi naman matatawaran ang husay ng mga nagsiganap lalo na si Lucero na naging kapani-paniwala sa kanyang papel. Maging is Domingo at iba pa ay pawang mahuhusay din. Nabigyang buhay nila ang kani-kanilang ginampanang tauhan. Yun nga lang ay nagkulang ng kaunti sa hagod ang karakterisasyon kaya lumabas na napakababaw ng kanilang mga pagkatao. Mahusay naman ang kuha ng camera at paglalapat ng musika.
Maraming ibinatong argumento ang pelikula sa lipunan at simbahan. Pilit nitong inilalarawan ang namamayaning kaapihan ng mga mamamayan, sa larangang ekonomiya man o sekswal, na nag-uugat sa gobyerno at lalo na sa simbahang Katoliko. Naging talamak , tahasan at talaga namang lantaran ang ginawa nitong pagkukuwestiyon sa turo ng simbahan ukol sa relasyon at sekswalidad. Pinalabas nitong makitid at sarado ang isipan ng simbahan sa usaping homosekswalidad. Hindi isina-alang-alang ng pelikula ang kahalagahan ng pamilya. Bagkus, malabis nitong binigyang pansin ang sekswal na relasyon ng dalawang lalaki na wala namang lalim kundi nakaugat lang sa pagluluto ng isa ng kaldereta. Bukod dito, wala nang makitang dahilan kung bakit nila minamahal at inaantay ang bawat isa. Sa tuwing sila’y magkikita, pagtatalik lang naman ang inaatupag nila. Walang malalim na kumustahan, walang matinding pinag-uugatan ang kanilang pag-iibigan. Naipakita naman kung gaano katindi ang naging epekto kay Errol ng ginawa niyang pagsisinungaling sa asawa ngunit sa bandang huli’y niromansa pa rin ang pag-iibigan nina Jun at Errol. Kung magiging ganito ang basehan ng wagas na pag-ibig, wala nang pamilyang mabubuo at ang lahat ng pagkakaibigan ay parati na lamang mag-uugat sa kababawan o tawag ng laman. Hindi marahil nauunawan o natatanto ng mga gumawa ng pelikula na ang simbahan ay sadyang maunawain at maawain sa sinumang nagkakasala. Ngunit ang kanilang isipin at palabasin sa pelikula na walang masama sa relasyong homoseksuwal ay siyang tunay na nakakabahala. --Rizalino R. Pinlac, Jr.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Resident Evil: After Life
LEAD CAST: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts DIRECTOR: Paul W.S. Anderson SCREENWRITER: Paul Anderson PRODUCER: Paul Anderson RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes LOCATION: Tokyo & LA
Technical: 2.5 Moral: 2 For viewers 18 and above
Resident Evil opens with gripping scene showing umbrellas on a rainy day in Tokyo. In the middle of all this hustle and bustle stands a girl, dripping wet and apparently stoned. Soon she sinks her teeth into the neck of an innocent passerby—aaah, so she’s “one of them,” a newly converted zombie, one of those that will engage Alice (Milla Jovovich) in her battle to save the world from the bad guys.
Real life fashion model Milla Jovovich slips back into her black tights as Alice for this fourth entry in the series based on the video game. In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Alice is armed with an arsenal of high-powered guns and flying knives to fight off zombies infected with a virus developed by the Umbrella Corporation (with headquarters in Tokyo). Whatever the zombies’ role is in the bad guys’ attempt at world domination is obscured by their clicheic participation—mobbing after humans, waving their arms and sputtering monosyllables which together may be taken to mean they want the humans as snacks, just as moviegoes crave popcorn and soda.
Clearly, Resident Evil relies on its main attraction Jovovich to make a story out of a video game. If there is an attempt to make a moral pronouncement, it is pitifully overshadowed by the stylish presence of its main star, shown throwing flying knives are people in an obviously choreographed way, and in all-too-often close-up shots that distract from the story with her parted lips. Even if you didn’t know that Jovovich is a five-star fashion model whose face and figure has appeared in so many high-end advertisements, you’d wonder here if she’s a heroine out to save humankind or an endorser selling guns. One question pops up: is it okay to be killing so many people on the way to finding the real culprits? What happens to the families of those killed? But what do you expect when a video game is given flesh and blood via a full length feature film? Forget about the justice and the value of human life and the consequences of killing. The lesson Resident Evil: After Life incidentally teaches is: if you want your kids to grow up smart, cut down their video game playing.
Going the Distance
GENERAL INFORMATION
TITLE: Going the Distance LEAD CAST: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Christina Applegate DIRECTOR: Nanette Burstein EDITOR: MUSICAL DIRECTOR: GENRE: Romance/Comedy DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes LOCATION: USA
Erin and Garrett meet in a Manhattan watering hole on the very night when Garrett's girlfriend has broken up with him, citing his insensitivity and commitment phobia. He just hasn't met the right girl yet. Enter Erin, a Stanford graduate student in New York for a summer internship at a daily newspaper. They sleep together, but in the morning realize something more meaningful than a one-night stand is possible. After a six-week idyll, she must head back out West and they agree to attempt a bicoastal relationship. Over the better part of a year, when they aren't texting or saying goodbye in the airport after brief visits, Garrett banters with pals Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day), while Erin fields advice from her protective older sister Corinne (Christina Applegate). Erin has been burned before after dropping everything for a guy. Garrett, who works as a talent scout for a record company, tries to find a job in San Francisco without success. Unless something gives, they're doomed. In addition to whining about being apart, Erin and Garrett lament the beleaguered state of the newspaper and music industries—a plaint that will resonate most with so-called media elites. Lacking authenticity, the graphic language and unsavory situations overlaying the plot, by contrast, will ring false to a cross-section of viewers. For two educated, presumably intelligent people, Erin and Garrett have limited vocabularies and imaginations. Ditto their cohorts. The copious amount of alcohol everybody consumes may be a contributing factor.
One positive element of Going the Distance is that it implicitly endorses committed, monogamous relationships. Still, there's no indication Erin and Garrett will marry in the end. (From the USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting)
Technical: 3 Moral: 2 For viewers 18 and above.
TITLE: Going the Distance LEAD CAST: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Christina Applegate DIRECTOR: Nanette Burstein EDITOR: MUSICAL DIRECTOR: GENRE: Romance/Comedy DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes LOCATION: USA
Erin and Garrett meet in a Manhattan watering hole on the very night when Garrett's girlfriend has broken up with him, citing his insensitivity and commitment phobia. He just hasn't met the right girl yet. Enter Erin, a Stanford graduate student in New York for a summer internship at a daily newspaper. They sleep together, but in the morning realize something more meaningful than a one-night stand is possible. After a six-week idyll, she must head back out West and they agree to attempt a bicoastal relationship. Over the better part of a year, when they aren't texting or saying goodbye in the airport after brief visits, Garrett banters with pals Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day), while Erin fields advice from her protective older sister Corinne (Christina Applegate). Erin has been burned before after dropping everything for a guy. Garrett, who works as a talent scout for a record company, tries to find a job in San Francisco without success. Unless something gives, they're doomed. In addition to whining about being apart, Erin and Garrett lament the beleaguered state of the newspaper and music industries—a plaint that will resonate most with so-called media elites. Lacking authenticity, the graphic language and unsavory situations overlaying the plot, by contrast, will ring false to a cross-section of viewers. For two educated, presumably intelligent people, Erin and Garrett have limited vocabularies and imaginations. Ditto their cohorts. The copious amount of alcohol everybody consumes may be a contributing factor.
One positive element of Going the Distance is that it implicitly endorses committed, monogamous relationships. Still, there's no indication Erin and Garrett will marry in the end. (From the USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting)
Technical: 3 Moral: 2 For viewers 18 and above.
Two Funerals
LEAD CAST: Tessie Tomas, Benjie Felipe, Xtian Lim, Robert Arevalo, Epy Quizon, Mon Confiado. DIRECTOR: Gil Portes. SCREENWRITER: Eric Ramos. PRODUCER: Teamwork Productions. GENRE: Drama, Social/Political Commentary. DISTRIBUTOR: Cinemalaya RUNNING TIME: 80 minutes. LOCATION: Tuguegarao, Nueva Ecija, Bicol Region
Technical: 3 Moral: 2 Rating: For viewers aged 14 and above
Following a fatal bust accident, a funeral home mixes up two of the bodies, sending them to the wrong places. In Nueva Ecija, the Buensuceso family receives the body of criminal Dodong. Meanwhile in Sorsogon, Mulong Buenviaje (Benjie Felipe) receives the body of the Buensuceso daughter, Charm. Charm’s fiancée Gerry (Xtian Lim) and her mother, Pilar (Tessie Tomas) take the road trip to Sorsogon, rushing to get Charm’s body back before the Holy Week is over. Mulong, on the other hand, has been convinced by his con man buddy that they can use the body as a means to make money.
Two Funerals caricatures our country’s ills: corrupt policemen, warring politicians and philandering priests, but neither develops nor suggests solution to societal problems. Perhaps it merely wants to call attention certain practices like our lack of solemnity in the observance of Holy Week, our disrespect for the dead, etc.
Technical: 3 Moral: 2 Rating: For viewers aged 14 and above
Following a fatal bust accident, a funeral home mixes up two of the bodies, sending them to the wrong places. In Nueva Ecija, the Buensuceso family receives the body of criminal Dodong. Meanwhile in Sorsogon, Mulong Buenviaje (Benjie Felipe) receives the body of the Buensuceso daughter, Charm. Charm’s fiancée Gerry (Xtian Lim) and her mother, Pilar (Tessie Tomas) take the road trip to Sorsogon, rushing to get Charm’s body back before the Holy Week is over. Mulong, on the other hand, has been convinced by his con man buddy that they can use the body as a means to make money.
Two Funerals caricatures our country’s ills: corrupt policemen, warring politicians and philandering priests, but neither develops nor suggests solution to societal problems. Perhaps it merely wants to call attention certain practices like our lack of solemnity in the observance of Holy Week, our disrespect for the dead, etc.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Splice
By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
Cast: Adrien Brody; Sarah Polley; Delphine Chanéac; David Hewlett; Brandon McGibbon; Simona Măicănescu; Abigail Chu as Young Dren. Director: Vincenzo Natali. Writers and screenplay: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror
Technical: 3.5 Moral: 2.5 Rating: R 14
Genetic engineers and live-in partners Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) specialize in creating new life forms by splicing genes from different animal species, in the hope that the results would contain new nutrients that will solve ills (like hunger) and cure illnesses (like cancer). They work for Nucleic Exchange Research and Development (NERD), which takes pride in the couple’s creations, Fred and Ginger, “designer species” that look like blobs of raw animal fat but which, being male and female, are expected to procreate.
Clive and Elsa want to take their experiments to the next level—splicing human genes—but NERD prohibits them, fearing backlash from morality groups. The couple proceed in secrecy, however, working nights and using an artificial womb, and in time their “baby” is born. The new species looks like a sweet, helpless hatchling but is as agile and untamed as a wild monkey. Extremely difficult to restrain, the little animal wreaks havoc in the laboratory, prompting Clive and Elsa to smuggle it out and confine it in their old barn. They name it “Dren”—“nerd” spelled backwards—and treat it like their own offspring although they would not take it home to live with them.
Elsa (who lost her daughter some years back) lavishes attention on Dren who has grown up looking like a bald but comely little girl with kangaroo legs and webbed feet. Elsa dresses her up with her own daughter’s clothes retrieved from the attic, gives her dolls and stuffed toys, puts up with her tantrums and eating problems, but also disciplines her as she would her own child. Clive thinks Elsa is getting dangerously devoted to the indefinable creature whom they have seen devour a live squirrel; he suggests they put her away, but Elsa’s reawakened maternal instinct would render her deaf to it.
Dren (Delphine Chaneac) develops alarmingly fast and blooms into adolescence. She shows good mimetic skills but possessing no power of speech, she can only chirp like a bird. Elsa the mother continues to dote on her, applying make-up on her face and clothing her with jewelry to match, but when Dren starts to exhibit rebellious teen tendencies and kills a cat, Elsa the scientist punishes her creation as only a spurned creator can. Clive is torn between pity and fear: particularly when the increasingly attractive Dren poses a bigger menace, having sprouted retractable wings and a deadly blade at the tip of her tail. Meanwhile, Dren, now outgrowing Barbie dolls and teddy bears, begins to get bored indoors and sets her eyes on Clive who is in turn unnerved to discover the reason behind his strange attraction to Dren: in creating Dren, Elsa had used her own DNA.
It is not known whether the makers of Splice had intended the movie to be a warning against human cloning and procreation, but it certainly delivers a strong message to genetic engineers to stop “playing God”. More of a sci-fi than a horror film, Splice may be seen as a timely challenge to scientists, lawmakers, priests, teachers and parents—people who are bound by ethics and morality to moderate thought, reason and decision affecting the creation of life in laboratories.
Splice would have been another B movie were it not for the elements that elevate it from the mundane. Brody and Polley give A-class performances , matching director Vincenzo Natali’s mature handling of what in lesser hands would have been obscene episodes. The CGI of Dren—from its endearing guinea-pig like appearance in infancy to its wickedly seductive teen form—also suggests such a species may in fact already be existing.
Far from being another shriek movie, Splice is of a genre which is in reality counter-cultural. While governments and “forward looking” citizens the world over laud the advances of genetic science and the advantages of stem cell research, movies with genetic engineering and human cloning themes, from Frankenstein onward, flash a red light warning to scientists, “Hands off!” Is it because movies are the mouthpiece of the human conscience that sees what science cannot?
While the whole movie proffers no clear ethical or moral resolution on the timely issue of human cloning, the fate that Elsa suffers in the end validates the Catholic Church’s teaching that creating life outside of what Mother Nature has intended is none of man’s business. The script contains gems that alert individuals would recognize as fertile grounds for debates or discussions on good and evil, for they reflect the ambiguity of man when it comes to the limits of experimenting with the creation of life in test tubes.
Listen well to the arguments of Elsa and Clive, delivered with conviction by Polley and Brody, and you might find yourself asking questions like: Being their creation, is Dren the child of Elsa and Clive? If so, would copulation then between Clive and Dren constitute incest? Is the live entity resulting from genetic engineers’ experiments theirs to do as they please? If human cloning is illegal, would splicing animal with human DNA be considered human cloning? Would such cloning be justified to give hope and wellness to the hungry and the dying?
If you missed it in the theatres, try to get a DVD copy, but watch it only when you’re in the thinking mode. Splice may not entertain but it can provoke deep thought about the meaning of creation.
Cast: Adrien Brody; Sarah Polley; Delphine Chanéac; David Hewlett; Brandon McGibbon; Simona Măicănescu; Abigail Chu as Young Dren. Director: Vincenzo Natali. Writers and screenplay: Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror
Technical: 3.5 Moral: 2.5 Rating: R 14
Genetic engineers and live-in partners Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) specialize in creating new life forms by splicing genes from different animal species, in the hope that the results would contain new nutrients that will solve ills (like hunger) and cure illnesses (like cancer). They work for Nucleic Exchange Research and Development (NERD), which takes pride in the couple’s creations, Fred and Ginger, “designer species” that look like blobs of raw animal fat but which, being male and female, are expected to procreate.
Clive and Elsa want to take their experiments to the next level—splicing human genes—but NERD prohibits them, fearing backlash from morality groups. The couple proceed in secrecy, however, working nights and using an artificial womb, and in time their “baby” is born. The new species looks like a sweet, helpless hatchling but is as agile and untamed as a wild monkey. Extremely difficult to restrain, the little animal wreaks havoc in the laboratory, prompting Clive and Elsa to smuggle it out and confine it in their old barn. They name it “Dren”—“nerd” spelled backwards—and treat it like their own offspring although they would not take it home to live with them.
Elsa (who lost her daughter some years back) lavishes attention on Dren who has grown up looking like a bald but comely little girl with kangaroo legs and webbed feet. Elsa dresses her up with her own daughter’s clothes retrieved from the attic, gives her dolls and stuffed toys, puts up with her tantrums and eating problems, but also disciplines her as she would her own child. Clive thinks Elsa is getting dangerously devoted to the indefinable creature whom they have seen devour a live squirrel; he suggests they put her away, but Elsa’s reawakened maternal instinct would render her deaf to it.
Dren (Delphine Chaneac) develops alarmingly fast and blooms into adolescence. She shows good mimetic skills but possessing no power of speech, she can only chirp like a bird. Elsa the mother continues to dote on her, applying make-up on her face and clothing her with jewelry to match, but when Dren starts to exhibit rebellious teen tendencies and kills a cat, Elsa the scientist punishes her creation as only a spurned creator can. Clive is torn between pity and fear: particularly when the increasingly attractive Dren poses a bigger menace, having sprouted retractable wings and a deadly blade at the tip of her tail. Meanwhile, Dren, now outgrowing Barbie dolls and teddy bears, begins to get bored indoors and sets her eyes on Clive who is in turn unnerved to discover the reason behind his strange attraction to Dren: in creating Dren, Elsa had used her own DNA.
It is not known whether the makers of Splice had intended the movie to be a warning against human cloning and procreation, but it certainly delivers a strong message to genetic engineers to stop “playing God”. More of a sci-fi than a horror film, Splice may be seen as a timely challenge to scientists, lawmakers, priests, teachers and parents—people who are bound by ethics and morality to moderate thought, reason and decision affecting the creation of life in laboratories.
Splice would have been another B movie were it not for the elements that elevate it from the mundane. Brody and Polley give A-class performances , matching director Vincenzo Natali’s mature handling of what in lesser hands would have been obscene episodes. The CGI of Dren—from its endearing guinea-pig like appearance in infancy to its wickedly seductive teen form—also suggests such a species may in fact already be existing.
Far from being another shriek movie, Splice is of a genre which is in reality counter-cultural. While governments and “forward looking” citizens the world over laud the advances of genetic science and the advantages of stem cell research, movies with genetic engineering and human cloning themes, from Frankenstein onward, flash a red light warning to scientists, “Hands off!” Is it because movies are the mouthpiece of the human conscience that sees what science cannot?
While the whole movie proffers no clear ethical or moral resolution on the timely issue of human cloning, the fate that Elsa suffers in the end validates the Catholic Church’s teaching that creating life outside of what Mother Nature has intended is none of man’s business. The script contains gems that alert individuals would recognize as fertile grounds for debates or discussions on good and evil, for they reflect the ambiguity of man when it comes to the limits of experimenting with the creation of life in test tubes.
Listen well to the arguments of Elsa and Clive, delivered with conviction by Polley and Brody, and you might find yourself asking questions like: Being their creation, is Dren the child of Elsa and Clive? If so, would copulation then between Clive and Dren constitute incest? Is the live entity resulting from genetic engineers’ experiments theirs to do as they please? If human cloning is illegal, would splicing animal with human DNA be considered human cloning? Would such cloning be justified to give hope and wellness to the hungry and the dying?
If you missed it in the theatres, try to get a DVD copy, but watch it only when you’re in the thinking mode. Splice may not entertain but it can provoke deep thought about the meaning of creation.
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