2003 CineManila Film Festival
Cinemanila: Four unsung gems
With more than 50 titles being screened at the Makati Cinemanila International Film Festival, and with ticket prices starting at P76, a moviegoer has to extra careful in selecting a film to see.
We caught the films that had been highly recommended by fellow film buffs (like Francois Ozon's mind-bending thriller, Swimming Pool), but we also did get to enjoy a handful that were low on hype and buzz, but high in quality. Here are the worthy ones you might want to check out:
Brief Crossing (France, 2001) by Catherine Breillat. The title pertains to a trip via the English Channel by a French lad. During the trip, he gets infatuated with an older English woman. She tries to resist his charms by saying hateful things about the male gender, but the attraction is just too strong.
Anyone not accustomed to French Cinema (all talk and no action) runs the risk of getting bored silly. Furthermore, if you're unfamiliar with director Catherine Breillat's works, than be forewarned. Judging from her other films (Romance X and Fat Girl), it's clear that the director loathes men. Brief Crossing has some good moments yet one is left wondering what the men in Madame Breillat's life are like.
Dolls (Japan, 2002) by Takeshi Kitano. A yuppie abandons his fiancee to marry his boss' daughter. It's for the sake of his career, but he deserts the wedding upon learning the original fiancee had lost her sanity and had attempted to commit suicide. He makes it up by going back to her and by also losing his own sanity. It's all for the sake of love.
Jack Clayton's Room at the Top (1959), with Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret, comes to mind but whether or not it was inspired by the British classic, it's hard not to be captivated by his gorgeous shots of the northern isle of Hokkaido. The film's many symbolism are beautifully intertwined. In a way, Dolls is an eye-catching detour for Kitano, who made a name in both comedy and the gangster genre.
The Man Without a Past (Finland, 2002) by Aki Kaurismaki. The second in Kaurismaki's Finland Trilogy, it's about a welder named M who is robbed and badly beaten during a trip to Helsinki. He survives the attack, but suffers from amnesia. Only through the help of certain less-privileged folks and the generosity of the Salvation Army that he manages a fresh start.
Kaurismaki was honored at Cannes last year for this movie and the film was an Oscar nominee (for Best Foreign Language Film) early this year. Man is spiced with wry humor and the stoic expressions of the characters - a distinctive trait of a Kaurismaki picture - make it look even quirkier.
Public Toilet (Hong Kong, 2002) by Fruit Chan. This flick takes off with Dong Dong, who relates his strange life story. When he was a baby, he was discovered inside a public toilet and was thus nicknamed "The King of Toilet". He still hangs out in the same place with his foreign pals, who must learn to get used to the district's restrooms, which have no cubicles so that people can chat while urinating or defecating. The movie takes on a different direction when the friends part ways.
This film was shot in five countries (China, Korea, India, US and Italy) on digital video, and the resulting product ultimately presents the distinct features of the public toilets in each country. Hong Kong director Chan should be highly commended for this very original picture, where plot twists are substituted for assorted statements about people and society, all of which revolves around a lowly toilet. You'll never look at a toilet in the same manner again. Ever.
(First published in The Manila Times on September 3, 2003)
With more than 50 titles being screened at the Makati Cinemanila International Film Festival, and with ticket prices starting at P76, a moviegoer has to extra careful in selecting a film to see.
We caught the films that had been highly recommended by fellow film buffs (like Francois Ozon's mind-bending thriller, Swimming Pool), but we also did get to enjoy a handful that were low on hype and buzz, but high in quality. Here are the worthy ones you might want to check out:
Brief Crossing (France, 2001) by Catherine Breillat. The title pertains to a trip via the English Channel by a French lad. During the trip, he gets infatuated with an older English woman. She tries to resist his charms by saying hateful things about the male gender, but the attraction is just too strong.
Anyone not accustomed to French Cinema (all talk and no action) runs the risk of getting bored silly. Furthermore, if you're unfamiliar with director Catherine Breillat's works, than be forewarned. Judging from her other films (Romance X and Fat Girl), it's clear that the director loathes men. Brief Crossing has some good moments yet one is left wondering what the men in Madame Breillat's life are like.
Dolls (Japan, 2002) by Takeshi Kitano. A yuppie abandons his fiancee to marry his boss' daughter. It's for the sake of his career, but he deserts the wedding upon learning the original fiancee had lost her sanity and had attempted to commit suicide. He makes it up by going back to her and by also losing his own sanity. It's all for the sake of love.
Jack Clayton's Room at the Top (1959), with Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret, comes to mind but whether or not it was inspired by the British classic, it's hard not to be captivated by his gorgeous shots of the northern isle of Hokkaido. The film's many symbolism are beautifully intertwined. In a way, Dolls is an eye-catching detour for Kitano, who made a name in both comedy and the gangster genre.
The Man Without a Past (Finland, 2002) by Aki Kaurismaki. The second in Kaurismaki's Finland Trilogy, it's about a welder named M who is robbed and badly beaten during a trip to Helsinki. He survives the attack, but suffers from amnesia. Only through the help of certain less-privileged folks and the generosity of the Salvation Army that he manages a fresh start.
Kaurismaki was honored at Cannes last year for this movie and the film was an Oscar nominee (for Best Foreign Language Film) early this year. Man is spiced with wry humor and the stoic expressions of the characters - a distinctive trait of a Kaurismaki picture - make it look even quirkier.
Public Toilet (Hong Kong, 2002) by Fruit Chan. This flick takes off with Dong Dong, who relates his strange life story. When he was a baby, he was discovered inside a public toilet and was thus nicknamed "The King of Toilet". He still hangs out in the same place with his foreign pals, who must learn to get used to the district's restrooms, which have no cubicles so that people can chat while urinating or defecating. The movie takes on a different direction when the friends part ways.
This film was shot in five countries (China, Korea, India, US and Italy) on digital video, and the resulting product ultimately presents the distinct features of the public toilets in each country. Hong Kong director Chan should be highly commended for this very original picture, where plot twists are substituted for assorted statements about people and society, all of which revolves around a lowly toilet. You'll never look at a toilet in the same manner again. Ever.
(First published in The Manila Times on September 3, 2003)
posted by Francis Rex Alger @ 3:22 PM
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