Summer Film School

Respeto goes to show how it’s possible to use cinema to open viewers to various issues plaguing our country. Despite living in Pandacan, I’m actually surprised that I’m not that aware that even in my community, Oplan Tokhang is happening. All I know is that it’s true that people in our community have used policemen as a panakot to unruly children and that there were talks and fear of Tokhang during Duterte’s first year.

What I actually like about the film is that Doc’s son, despite being a victim of policemen during martial law, chose to become a policeman himself. This reminds me of what my Chem 16 professor said regarding professors who had terror professors: you either try to be a better professor so that their students wouldn’t have to go through what they went through OR they become a terror professor themselves since they believe that it’s only fair that other students experience what they experienced as well. I think the latter was the case for the son of Doc.

What I find fascinating about Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria is not the fact that it’s one continuous shot, but the fact it tackles a subject that’s rarely discussed. 

We have to admit, what happened in the film probably happens every day in various parts in the Philippines. Parents making kids their retirement plan, Filipinos being forcefully married to foreigners, and kids having to stop going to school due to poverty. It’s a sad reality that most of us in the metro do not realize and since we do not experience it, we quickly assume that the Filipinos we see in malls and parks with foreign husbands or wives are just in it for the money. We do not realize that behind the forced marriage is a desire to have a better life not only for them but for their families as well.

I probably watched Slumdog Millionaire for two or three times now, and with its Academy Award for Best Picture and dutch shots, my biggest problem with it still is that it’s an Indian movie directed by a white guy.

I’m not an expert on Indian culture nor filmmaking, but isn’t it weird to have your culture represented by someone’s who’s not part of your culture? Imagine a Spaniard writing a book about Filipinos in the post-colonial Philippines and then winning multiple awards. Sure it may be critically acclaimed, but it does not mean that what he wrote was truly representative of what Filipinos are. This problem can be found in different forms of media: women and LGBT characters written by men, Asian characters portrayed by American actors, so on and so forth. Because people wouldn’t do research, what they see or read will probably stick with them and this is a problem because stereotypes and misinformation will spread.

There’s a distinction between the Filipino-Chinese and Chinese-Filipino community. My Kas 1 professor said that the former corresponds to those who consider themselves Filipino first, while the latter corresponds to the opposite. In the film, Mano Po, it was difficult whether the characters considered themselves Filipino first, but it became clear in the end.

Despite being born and immersed in Filipino culture, the Go family had low regard for fellow Filipinos. This was exhibited multiple times in the film: when Raf was asked by Vera to come, the kidnapping of a kid, and the bribery of a high-ranking police officer. For the Go’s, all that the Filipinos want for them is money but this is clearly not the case. Raf loved Richelle not because she was Chinese and rich, but because she was different. They were not a target of kidnapping because they were Chinese, but because they were rich. Perhaps it’s the Go’s who have been problematic all throughout the film and not those around them. They had this idea that Filipinos were othering them when in reality, they were othering themselves.

No, I’m not referring to the new Spider-Man movie, I’m talking about OFWs. OFWs who leave their families behind and do odd jobs just like the Filipinos in Paper Dolls.

This has to be the movie that I liked the best. I don’t if it’s the emotional connection with the people being documented or it’s because it reminded me of the time my dad had to go to Israel to work as a caregiver. All throughout the film, I kept thinking: “did my dad go through this?” Discrimination and the loneliness that comes from leaving your family behind. That’s what I kept thinking of. On the other hand, I felt bad for the Paper Dolls and the additional judgment that comes from being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. I felt bad that they felt more comfortable to express themselves in another country because they’re not accepted here in The Philippines.

Even though I’m a fan of musicals, watching The Wall felt like I was watching an edgy music video rather than a feature film. It had zero to little dialogue which made it difficult to follow the story without reading the plot on Wikipedia.

The Wall (according to what I’ve read) represents key points in the protagonists that made him feel more and more secluded. Based on what I watched though, the film wasn’t able to clearly portray this idea. It’s just a never-ending music video that just doesn’t make sense. I guess it would make sense if you’re a fan of Pink Floyd and you’re familiar with their songs.

Rather than talking about the film’s “Rosebud,” I want to talk about why a lot of people consider Citizen Kane as the greatest movie ever.

In my honest opinion, there are films out there that are better in terms of the story and technical aspects. What makes Citizen Kane stand out though is that during the time that it was released, people haven’t seen anything like it before. I searched around the internet and found out that since this is Orson Welles’ first feature film, he was ignorant of what people would consider as “traditional filmmaking.” This results in Welles’ trying out new filmmaking techniques that are entirely new to the majority of filmgoers before. Instead of the story being linear, the story jumps back and forth to tell the story of Charles Foster Kane through accounts of the people he interacted with. It’s also considered as innovative in terms of editing, cinematography, sounds, and music during the time it was released.

Colorful, bizarre, and questionable: this is how I would describe the film Amélie. The movie was interesting to watch because there’s always something interesting happening in the frame. Mix this with a bizarre story and I’m hooked.

What’s questionable for me though is how Amélie helps people. Some people find it good-natured, but for me, it felt like Amélie was playing God. I understand that Amélie found joy in helping people, but are you really helping people when you‘re just actually manipulating them? It’s messed up to give someone false hope or directly intervene with their personal lived. It felt like Amélie was doing this not because she wanted to help, but because it made her feel good.

I liked Cinema Paradiso and how it showed technological advancements in cinema as Toto grew up but I feel like Cinema Paradiso’s runtime could be shortened to 1 1/2 hour. Nonetheless I liked the story but found the ending to be too weird for my taste.

Throughout the film, Alfredo served as Toto’s father figure and like a true father, he thinks he knows what’s best for his son. For me, Alfredo overstepped by not letting Toto know that Elena came. Who is he to tell that Toto will not be successful if Toto ends up with Elena? Chasing your dreams and being with the woman of your dreams are not two exclusive things. At the end of the film, Toto may be successful, but he was miserable that his one true love got away.

This is how I would describe Brillante Mendoza’s Serbis due to the film’s depiction of the lives of a struggling Filipino family and because literally, the film is riddled with so much sexual scenes set in a run-down cinema.  

To be honest, I had a hard time following the story since most of the time, I can’t hear what the characters were saying because the ambient sounds were too loud. For me, it felt like the film focused too much on making the audience feel disoriented and bothered that at the end of the day, all you remember about the film are the loud ambient noise, sex scenes, and dizzying camerawork; you simply no longer care about what the film was trying to say.