Philippine cinema: the underbelly

Weird concepts in Philippine Cinema

With the author's recent acquisition of the film Isda (Fable of the Fish) by Adolfo Alix Jr. (wherein Cherry Pie Picache gives birth to a fish) sparking his interest in writing about the weirdest and by default the freshest things he's seen on imaginary celluloid, here are some local films that you need dig for:

Isda

Fable of the Fish by Adolfo Alix, Jr. (2011)

Impoverished, childless and living in a garbage dump, Miguel and Lina become instant celebrities when Lina miraculously becomes pregnant. But Lina gives birth to a fish, which increases her celebrity but leaves Miguel humiliated and the couple at odds. What follows is an illuminating examination of how this unusual family copes and compromises in the face of a modern-day miracle.

Miss Bulalacao

Directed by Ara Chawdhury (2015)

A young drag queen, Dodong, who joins a barangay gay pageant to gain acceptance in his father’s community. He is instead met with hostility from his father, who chases him into a jungle, where he sobs to a lone bright star. What follows is the strangest night in his entire life, and an even stranger nine months when he realises he is pregnant. Dodong deals with ridicule from a barangay who does not believe him.

Debosyon

Directed by Alvin Yapan (2013)

Mando, a Bikolano devotee of Ina, Virgin of Peñafrancia, Patroness of Bikolandia, injures himself in the middle of the forest at the foot of the Mayon Volcano. He will be nursed back to health by a mysterious woman, Salome. They will eventually fall in love with each other. But when Mando invites her to come with him to the plains, Salome refuses, saying a curse prohibits her from leaving the forest. Salome holds a secret that will devastate Mando’s love for her. Meanwhile, Mando relies on his devotion to the Virgin of Peñafrancia to lift the curse, making him realize just how inextricably linked are the virtues of love and faith

Mondomanila, o: Kung Paano Ko Inayos ang Buhok Ko Matapos ang Mahaba-haba Ring Paglalakbay

Mondomanila, or: How I Fixed My Hair After a Rather Long Journey by Khavn (2010)

Tony de Guzman is an anti-hero. Life, according to him, is short, brutal. It’s never on your side. Grab what you can, when you can. Settle scores. Be randy. Defy the rules. Cheat the system. Toughen it out. Tony knows nothing but tough times living, as he does, in the bleak circus of the slums he calls home. This is his story and the story of the world he lives in: a hopeless, closed-in decrepit world gone to seed. MONDOMANILA is an unflinching and unflinchingly funny look at life in the underbelly of the urban diaspora … with songs.

Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan

Norte, the End of History by Lav Diaz (2013)

A man is wrongly jailed for murder while the real killer roams free. The murderer is an intellectual frustrated with his country’s never-ending cycle of betrayal and apathy. The convict is a simple man who finds life in prison more tolerable, when something mysterious and strange starts happening to him.

Aliens Ata

Maybe Aliens by Glenn Barit (2017)

After losing both parents, two brothers search the skies for solace and clarity. Could the answer be really out of this world?

Author's side note: I actually met the director when I entered my thesis film, The Enigma of Kidlat Tahimik, to a film festival called CineBedista. He was one of the judges and I asked him about the other films he directed. I was surprised to learn that he directed this year's Nangungupahan, which I thought was one of the best films screened during Cinemalaya.

Nangungupahan

Who Rents There Now? by Glenn Barit (2018)

Nangungupahan follows the different lives of people who occupy a room of an apartment through different points in time. The room may mean differently to each occupant; and by overlapping these timelines, we gain insight about our shared space and history, as well as the bigger structures outside that affect us.

Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month

Directed by Carlo Francisco Manatad (2017)

Jodilerks, a gas station attendant is on her last day of duty. The night is young…

Fatima Marie Torres and the Invasion of Space Shuttle Pinas 25

Directed by Carlo Francisco Manatad (2017)

Set during the launch of the first space shuttle of the Philippines - an ordinary old couple living in the suburbs attempts to go about their life during this strange day.

Autohystoria

Directed by Raya Martin (2007)

Mix-mastering history, the paranoid thriller, the documentary and the landscape film, pic tells of very different fates for two sets of brothers in oppressive Philippine settings.

Ang Pamilyang Kumakain ng Lupa

The Family That Eats Soil by Khavn (2005)

Renegade filmmaker Khavn turns traditional Filipino values on their head in this surreal and taboo-shattering allegory about a family that dines exclusively on soil. Her birthday fast approaching, the baby wishes that for once her family could have a normal meal as her big sister has group sex on camera while pining for their wholesome next-door neighbor. Meanwhile, their gangster big brother commits a heinous act of murder before seeing his best friend killed and being pursued by the police; dad injects hospital children with experimental chemicals; mom peddles drugs and hookers on a seedy cable television show; and grandpa is a zombie.

Ang Nerseri

Directed by Vic Acedillo, Jr. (2009)

Cocoy, 12, takes on a great responsibility of taking care of his older siblings while his mother, Mai, goes to the province to get money to pay the expensive hospital bills for her three mentally sick children. His mother is gone for two weeks and Cocoy’s struggle in managing his personal, school and home life is a nerve-racking challenge. In the end he faces truth and life head-on as he fights for his own sanity.

I now end this post with Pokwang's most recent acting masterpiece, Oda sa Wala (Ode to Nothing)

-outré-