#kisapmata

I’ve watched a lot of media this year so i have a separate post for tv shows or series.

1. Kisapmata / In Just The Wink Of An Eye (1981)

I’ve been craving for an authentic horror this year (coz i want to feel something) and realized that this movie has been sitting on my watchlist for so long. It took me years to find courage to watch this because i know that this is based on a true story. It’s scary not just because it was real, but because of the direction from Mike De Leon, the acting especially from Vic Silayan and the meticulous production design. Everything was so unsettling and it really defines what horror is. ▶️ Youtube

2. Sinners (2025)

My favorite things in one movie: Music, History and Vampires. Vampirism being used as a metaphor for Culture appropriation is such a genius idea with flawless execution. It has all the perfect ingredients for a brave masterpiece. I cannot describe enough how great the storytelling is, but i guarantee that your brain, heart and soul will be satisfied. ▶️ HBO Max

3. Sunshine (2024)

I was anxious the whole time watching as i was fully immersed. I felt like i was the character who was going through all of it. That’s how great the actress and the movie overall. I don’t remember fully, but i have seen and read contents that discussed about abortion and i can say that this film has the most perfect articulation of women’s struggles in relates to not just abortion, but also motherhood, family, relationship, finance, religion, healthcare, ambition and society. ▶️ Netflix

4. Kwentong Barbero / Barber’s Tales (2013)

This should be listed on the best feminist films in the world. Women’s roles in uprising especially during Martial Law is often overlooked. I already know Eugene Domingo can do drama (most comedians do), but the depth of the character was really made for her. Bonus: WLW. ▶️ Netflix

5. One Of Them Days (2025)

Chaotic, stressful and hilarious! I remember watching this in public so I couldn't laugh out loud, but there’s a lot of gasp and facepalm. They also gathered the funniest people you can imagine. I was cursing at SZA’s character the whole time that i felt my blood pressure’s going up. Crazyyyyyy. ▶️ Netflix

6. River (2023)

This is why I always come back to Japanese movies and series. They make the most creative concepts that unlock your brain. It felt like paying a fun puzzle. ▶️ Tubi / Loklok

7. Green Bones (2024)

Watched it in the cinema (it was actually late last year but it didn't make my 2024 annual list) and i cried the whole second half. Some people didn't like it and said it was predictable, but i don’t think it was meant to be a full blown mystery. It didn't pretend to be too subtle to cater to "film connoisseurs". It is simple and directed to the masses. ▶️ Netflix

8. As One (2012)

Ok, a little spoiler: It's lowkey gay. I didn't even expect them to be that cute. I watched it coz i just want to see women in sports as motivation and ended up rooting for them to get married. ▶️ Netflix / Disney+

9. Kontrabida Academy (2025)

Was so excited to watch this coz the concept is very fun and camp. It is led by the great Barbie Forteza and Eugene Domingo and directed by Jun Lana. And it did not disappoint! It has 'The good place' feels. Philippines should make more conceptual comedies like this. ▶️ Netflix

10. Kakabakaba Ka Ba? / Does Your Heart Beat Faster? (1980)

The same person who directed Kisapmata. This man is versatile. The whole film was an eye candy with that color grading + gorgeous main cast. The editing and the film score were also ahead of its time. ▶️ Youtube

11. Young Woman And The Sea (2024)

There's really a magic when Disney makes an inspirational biographic film (not to be a capitalist bootlicker) and i know not every detail was real and yeah dramatized yada yada, but it was heartwarming to watch. ▶️ Disney+

12. Balota / Ballot (2024)

Just like ‘Green Bones’, it's “In your face”, but in a good way. Sometimes, when we are desperate to educate the masses, it's not bad to spoonfeed. And the ending was super realistic and eye-opening. ▶️ Netflix

13. Gomburza (2023)

I am really glad that Philippine cinema has the Bayaniverse (Just like MCU, but for our national heroes and martyrs) coz our educational system here is not good enough for our citizens to be deeply informed about our history and its lessons. ▶️ Netflix

14. Bullet Train Explosion (2025)

I hesitated watching this coz disaster movies are really not my thing, but i like this one specifically because the problem solving, politics, moral dilemma and coordination are not far from reality knowing it's depicted in a country that actually makes technological solutions for their citizens. ▶️ Netflix

15. Mondays: See You This Week (2022)

Similar to ‘River’. I just can't get enough of these kinds of movies and i hope they make more. This one in particular succeeded in showing how robotic the routine of japanese workers through the loop concept. ▶️ Loklok

16. Misteryo Sa Tuwa / Joyful Mystery (1984)

Content warning: R scene near the ending and also everything was mostly gore. It's really creepy and disturbing when the premise is based on reality. I don't know if it's labeled horror, but for me, the lengths humans will go through for greed is scary enough. ▶️ Youtube

17. Nyad (2023)

Yeah, another women in sports movie. Cliché, but sometimes, you need to be crazy and delusional if you want to be successful and break boundaries. ▶️ Netflix

18. Queen Of Walking (2016)

What if you have a chronic car sickness so you have no choice, but to walk anywhere??? Women in sports, but like the unusual category. ▶️ Prime

19. Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings (2011)

We learned yesterday of the passing of one of the greatest Filipino directors, his family confirmed to French film distributor Carlotta Films (they released a box set of his films in France).

Mike De Leon's path in filmmaking is already a part of him. He's the grandson of LVN Pictures founder Narcisa "Sisang" De Leon, the matriarch who established their family's film business and gave it a commanding presence in the years following World War II in the country. When her son, Manuel De Leon took over, he pursued social-realist stories veering away from his mother's taste for popular romances mixed with song and dance (traditional awit and corrido).

De Leon emerged as one of the leading filmmakers in "Second Golden Age" of Philippine cinema along with directors Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. Directors in these era experimented with new techniques despite tecnological constraints and persisted with their bold political themes as Martial Law threatened and prevented a creative renaissance in local filmmaking.

He first started as a producer and cinematographer. He produced what is considered as the greatest Philippine film of all time, Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Light - 1975). Collaborating with Lino Brocka and Clodualdo A. del Mundo Jr.

Then he made his first directorial debut with Itim (1976), starring Charo Santos in her first film role. Despite being a commercial failure, it has garnered favorable reviews over the years and provided insight in his style and vision. His next film, Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising (1977), a romance drama he dedicated to his grandmother's centennial birthday and perhaps a nod to her love for romance movies, which helped make their studio well-known.

Itim (1976)

Kung Mangrap Ka't Magising (1977)

A visionary and known for his razor-sharp social commentary, De Leon didn't hesitate to expose the problems in society that lies within normalcy, often critiquing his upper class upbringing and institutions. From domestic violence that simmers within a single home perpetuated by a tyrant father, outwardly symbolizing the Marcos dictatorship in Kisapmata (In the blink of an eye - 1981) to using fraternity life as lens in the nature of fascism and how even intelligent minds can sacrifice their humanity and free will in order to comply and belong in Batch '81 (1982).

In his lighter moments, he laced his work with biting satire in films like Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (Does Your Heart Beat Faster? - 1981), a closer look on how foreign control influences the Philippine economy. Aliwan Paradise (1993), a black comedy short part of the anthology film Southern Winds, set in semi-futuristic Philippines that critically examines and unsettlingly predicted the fixation of the entertainment industry in showcasing "poverty porn" and current trends to be the new opium of the masses.

He was also in initial talks to direct a Jose Rizal biopic with GMA Pictures but both dropped out. He eventually directed a mockumentary Bayaning 3rd World (3rd World Hero - 2000), starring Joel Torre, Ricky Davao and Cris Villanueva.

In 2018, he came out of retirement to co-write, produce, and direct Citizen Jake (2018), a bold return to filmmaking which he didn’t hold back a scathing critique of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

Mike De leon, despite his known temperamental personality, has remained steadfast in pursuing cinematic excellence. He found courage to pursue and bring out the truth from the realities of the troubled years of the nation. From beginning til end, he slammed authoritarian regimes using his cinematic voice and gift of visual language. We hope that new and current film audience, filmmakers, practitioners and scholars still seek his works.

In Wim Wenders' documentary Room 666 (1982), he asked selected directors, which one of them is De Leon to answer the principal question about the future of cinema, he stated, “To ask a director like myself from the Philippines what the future of cinema is, I find, an absurd question. To ask what the future of cinema is in the Philippines, is like asking what the future of the Philippines is.” 

Kisapmata (1981)

Batch '81 - 1982

Sister Stella L. (1984)

Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1981)

Aliwan Paradise (1982)

Citizen Jake (2018)

My last memory of Mike De Leon was during the pandemic, when he was working to restore vintage Filipino films from his family’s studio archive and make them available online, perhaps his final gift.

Vic Silayan and Charo Santos portray the role of father and daughter in 'Kisapmata'

Classic Filipino cinema has become a recently found interest of mine, and ‘Kisapmata’ directed by Mike De Leon, sits at the top of my list of favorites. Never before have I immediately noticed the close attention to detail made behind the scenes for a movie. I went into this film not having heard of it before and with barely any knowledge of what to expect, yet I could already say, just a quarter into the film, that its intent as a psychological horror had already been succeeded from the very beginning.

A family dinner between the Carandangs and Manalansans

PHILIPPINE HORROR

Aside from romantic comedies, Filipinos have mastered a way of making a contribution to national cinema, which is through the Horror genre. Kisapmata was able to portray the thing that is scarier than ghosts, zombies, and vampires. And that is…people.

Not a single scene overstayed its welcome throughout the course of the film, and the intent behind such details quickly captured my attention and taste. Psychological movies are made to make you think and itch inside your brain for answers, and that is exactly what ‘Kisapmata’ or internationally known as ‘In Just The Wink of an Eye’ did. In most cases, we watch a thriller at the edge of our seats, painfully waiting for the end when all questions are finally answered. And that is one of the things that Mike De Leon did not follow–and maybe for the better and what made the 1981 film so good.

The script is admirable not completely for its dialogue, but for its non-verbal performances. ‘Kisapmata’ never allowed the audience to see what was exactly happening between Milagros Carandang and her father every night and what sins she was continuously repenting for every morning in front of Mother Mary. Instead, we were given suspenseful noir shots full of hints, where we as an audience were left with nothing to do but form and imagine an answer to our own questions.

Vic Silayan as Sgt. Diosdado in 'Kisapmata'

VIC SILAYAN

Solis and Silayan’s dynamic, playing as father and daughter in the film, is another aspect that made the experience so chilling. It would be wrong to say that Sgt. Diosdado or “Tang” would have been as successful of an antagonist as it became without the accompaniment of Vic Silayan’s performance. The heart-racing tension between Tang and the women around him made me grit my teeth out of the thoughts that wavered my mind of what could have been happening behind closed doors.

Milagros Carandang writing her dislike towards her father in a diary

HORRORS OF REALITY

What made me consider this movie as not just another Horror story is the true events that were used as inspiration. ‘Kisapmata’ was inspired by an incident that occurred on a January afternoon in 1961 at 1074 Zapote St., when former detective Pablo Cabading murdered his daughter and son-in-law.

On the year of its release in 1981, the film won a total of (8) eight Metro Manila Film Festival awards, and despite not causing a boom at the box office, was later critically acclaimed and presented at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Although the film garnered more than enough attention and praise during its time over four decades ago, I think the present Filipino and international society would enjoy a look into the suspense-filled Horror classic.

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