Social ills and personal contradictions

Film Review: HUSTISYA

Aunor’s topnotch acting, Lamangan’s directing prowess and Lee’s masterly script highlight

By Rachelle Cruz

ThePhilippine Reporter

With nearly 400 films in the roster, the 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival kicked off Sept. 4 to 14. This year, three films from the Philippines made the cut: Lav Diaz’s What is Before, Carlos Siguion-Reyna’s Where I am King, and celebrated filmmaker Joel Lamangan’s Hustisya.

 “It’s an honour to be invited in such a festival, because it becomes a show window of my film. A show window of the truth that I would like to be said about the country, and it’s always an open opportunity to say so, an opportunity given not to everybody,” Lamangan said. It’s not the first for this veteran Filipino director to have his film premiere internationally at TIFF. Thirteen years ago,  his film Hubog was one of the Filipino entries.

Aided by top-notch cast and veteran actress Ms. Nora Aunor and Ricky Lee’s script, the social realist flick is a harsh commentary on the perpetual corruption, criminality, and injustices that unfold within the nitty-gritty set of Manila. Nora Aunor plays a faithful and loyal servant to this outrageously wealthy woman (played by Rosanna Roces), blindly serving her, while she gets pulled in the dark world of human trafficking and sex slavery. Many layers of symbolism surfaced throughout the scenes that underscore the hypocrisy of people, either out of desperation, or out of greed, or out of poverty, crystallized by the many hands that exchanged using the white envelope to illustrate how ‘blood money’ or under the table’ ‘bayad’ can buy you power, buy you a life, or take one.

“Well it’s a comment on people who do not say anything.   Who just accept anything that they see. Corruption is you know, it’s in the Philippines.  Wherever you go, from the very, very lowest political strata which is the Barangay to the upper strata which is the highest form of governance, there’s corruption.   And people should be talking, people should be discussing it, it should not be hidden,” Lamangan said matter-of-factly.

The first ten minutes of the film already introduces the audience to the world of human trafficking, of young girls being fooled to think they will be working abroad to reach a better life, but in turn, the film demonstrates that they are hot commodities for sex slavery, for the reaping of wealthy elite benefactors who perpetuate the dangerous and hellish cycle. Biring (Nora Aunor) is caught in that cycle, first as a passive outsider, then later becoming an active participant in trafficking. She often catches herself in a personal struggle of staying loyal to the game and surviving, or breaking out, and potentially endangering not only her life, but also her loved ones.

Lamangan reunites with Nora Aunor, but this time, he explained that she doesn’t play the heroine, “It’s always an experience, it’s always a new experience because through the years she has aged, and just like an old wine, she has become better and better as an actress. And in Hustisya this is the first time that she’ll be doing a role that she has not done in her career.  Here, she’s not a positive character, here, she’s a part of an underground movement, is a part of a syndicate that’s doing human trafficking,” Lamangan said.

The general consensus from audience reactions show that Lamangan’s film was well-directed, and that main star had an outstanding performance. But the heavy scenes that painted the suffering and desperation lingering on the streets of Manila, of people living in abject poverty, of the women behind bars, of crooked lawyers playing within the confines of a warped justice system, of children starving, juxtaposed to wealthy priests and churches, of affluent families and endless parties, for many the film was too much to take.

“Yeah I enjoyed it, but I cannot swallow it, for what is you know, going on in the Philippines. But I know it’s true. I know that’s what’s going on, I know it’s true especially the politicians,” Percie Inacay said.

“I did like the film, it’s a riveting movie and Nora Aunor’s performance as usual is fantastic. You know it makes me sad to know that this kind of thing is still happening in the Philippines,” Evelyn Pagkalinawan added.

“Bakit ganun? Hindi magagandang lugar ang pinakikita. At saka, it’s too much. You know like, it’s mostly negative things about the Philippines, there’s nothing positive about it but anyway it was really well-directed and the actress was really great,” Susan Llanera, another film-goer, expressed in frustration.

The film is eligible for the Grolsch People’s Choice Award.  But like it or not, Lamangan’s film wants to make a point.

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Source:  http://philippinereporter.com/2014/09/26/social-ills-and-personal-contradictions/

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Nora Aunor gets Best Actress nod at 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards

By Aries Joseph Hegina

INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran Nora Aunor was nominated anew for the Best Performance of an Actress award in the 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards for her role as a human trafficker in Joel Lamangan’s political-drama film, “Hustisya”.

Aunor’s nomination was announced Tuesday in a ceremony at the Treasury Casino and Hotel in Brisbane, Australia.

This is Aunor’s second nomination accorded to her by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy after she was nominated and won the Best Actress award for her performance in Brillante Mendoza’s “Thy Womb” in 2012.

Aunor will be competing with Ronnit Elkabetz from Israel, Lü Zhong from China, Tang Wei from China and Merila Zareie from Iran.

Aside from Aunor, Giancarlo Abrahan was also nominated for the Best Screenplay award for his film “Dagitab” (Sparks).

“Hustisya” and “Dagitab” were both screened during the 10th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival last August.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is touted the “Oscars of the Pacific” where it recognizes cinematic excellence in the “world’s fastest growing film region”.

The winners will be announced in an Awards Night in Australia on December 11.

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Sources:

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/155469/nora-aunor-gets-best-actress-nod-at-8th-asia-pacific-screen-awards

http://www.asiapacificscreenacademy.com/nomsarchive/nora-aunor-2/

http://www.asiapacificscreenacademy.com/apsa-archive/apsa-nominees-winners/nominees-winners-archive/?nomyear=680&nomcat=17&winner=17&country=17&Submit=Submit

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Dementia: Into the dark, racking realm of paranoia

Film Review:  DEMENTIA

By Arvin Mendoza

INQUIRER.ne

““Dementia” is heart-wrenching poetry in picture. Its visual verses beguile the senses to absorb the character’s prosaic state, rhymed with its aural rhythms lulling the terror that looms ahead.”

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Source: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/153717/dementia-into-the-dark-racking-realm-of-paranoia

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MANILA, Philippines—Filmed in ethereal color and yet imbued with a spine-chilling atmosphere, Percival Intalan’s “Dementia” successfully thrusts the viewers into the dark, racking realm of paranoia.

As Intalan’s directorial debut, it spares no one—the moment they step out the theater—from wondering about the malefic prospects if such cognitive impairment hits them over time.

The movie evidently swerves from old-hat, cut-and-dried storylines that many scary movies offer. It is apparent Intalan wants to evade this usual drawback by creating a grisly dramatic tableau painting the life of Mara Fabre (Nora Aunor), a semi-retired teacher that has been struggling with dementia.

The attempt to remedy her mental decay becomes the narrative dawn, the point that leads to the restitution of her weeping past.

And Batanes couldn’t be a better place of gloom.

A sad poetry

The unadulterated and breath-taking landscape of the province welcomes Mara as she returns to her old house, with the help of her cousin, Elaine (Bing Loyzaga).

Elaine, together with her husband Rommel (Yul Servo) and daughter Rachel (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), takes the responsibility of attending to the needs of Mara, whose mind has become warped by a troubling infirmity.

“Dementia” is heart-wrenching poetry in picture. Its visual verses beguile the senses to absorb the character’s prosaic state, rhymed with its aural rhythms lulling the terror that looms ahead.

One might say that the film revolves much around Mara’s history, and that the other characters’ personal backgrounds are not explored. But it seems to be Intalan’s pure intention.

Mara’s homecoming triggers the unspooling of her dreadful memories. She starts to hallucinate, ecstatically following a miscreant little girl every time she sees the latter. At this point, she turns the delusion into reality; the apparition, unbeknownst to her, banefully portends an imminent danger.

Perhaps due to the time constraints, the focus on Mara is what the film only needs throughout its entire duration.

While “Dementia” gets short of narrative layers among its main characters, the revelation surrounding Mara’s past compensated for anything that lacks. The effectual brunt of her haunting memories is enough to rip the bones with crippling strength.

Gritty performances

Servo’s confrontation with Aunor is short, and unnecessary. It surely tips off a bitter history between the two, but such isn’t completely explained. It just leaves the viewers in the doldrums, curious about a certain conflict that happened before.

The film could have developed more an additional speck of drama with that storyline. But still, Servo’s portrayal of an agitated, cranky father is quite convincing.

Loyzaga’s natural flair also adds up to the ominous thrill of the movie. Her calculated role spices up the heavy tension among the family, bolstering the main predicament up to the climax.

Despite her insipid lines and bored attitude on the early parts of the film, Jasmine Curtis-Smith as Rachel proves herself worthy as she becomes entangled in the maelstrom of events.

Curtis-Smith is able to make much of her nuanced act just in time when her character fully commits in the story.

Of course, the sterling performance of Nora Aunor never disappoints. Her personal tragedy serves as the leverage in which the diabolical mood of the film lies.

Even with only few dialogues, her deep visage projects the whole tapestry of her dim, fragile mind. At many instances, she effortlessly gesticulates Mara’s leanings and dispositions. Her abysmal eyes boldly shout her soul’s remorse, solitude, fear and throes altogether, especially on one particular scene at the cemetery.

Looking glass

Much can be said from Intalan’s exploit of Batanes’ sprawling terra firma, where steep boulders and cliffs provide a powerful dismal ambience for the film. Every earthy element was greatly captured—the swash of the billowing waves, the whoosh of the mournful wind, the hum of creatures hovering over the firmament.

With a baffling twist at the end, the film inadvertently posits itself as a subtle looking glass, where one can look through a person’s troubled brain.

“Dementia” may not be as solidly horrifying as it can be, but it does disturb the deep recesses of the psyche more than anything else.

‘Dementia’ packs a solid emotional wallop

Film Frview:  DEMENTIA

By Eric T. Cabahug

InterAksyon.com

“Dementia is that rare Filipino horror drama that packs a solid emotional wallop. You won’t forget it soon after leaving the theater. A lot of it has to do with debuting filmmaker Perci Intalan’s mostly firm grip on his material and his relatively sophisticated approach in presenting it.”

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Source:  http://www.interaksyon.com/entertainment/review-dementia-packs-a-solid-emotional-wallop/

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“Dementia” is that rare Filipino horror drama that packs a solid emotional wallop. You won’t forget it soon after leaving the theater.

A lot of it has to do with debuting filmmaker Perci Intalan’s mostly firm grip on his material and his relatively sophisticated approach in presenting it. The former TV5 executive does not reinvent the horror wheel by any means. Rather he spins it very deftly and very efficiently all around.

So that when the all-too familiar scares, or scare tactics, come, and there are plenty (candles blowing out by themselves, doors shutting on their own, ghosts appearing from behind, ghosts coming at people very deliberately, menacingly), each serves its purpose of providing genuine jolts.

But jolts alone do not an effective horror movie make. Environment and atmosphere are the real keys. And here is where Intalan’s bigger achievement lies.

With excellent work by his cinematographer, production designer, and musical scorer, he was able to provide the kind of space of building mystery and escalating dread that the tale his writers gave him required.

This is fully captured in the main friction that drives and ignites the movie — its vision of Batanes, where the story is set, as a place of terrifying wintry beauty and the fiery psychological wounds that consume the heart and mind of the story’s central character.

That would be Mara, an elderly woman grappling with an early onset of dementia that leaves her unable to remember much. But when a (literal and figurative) ghost from her traumatic distant past comes to haunt her and the only living family she has, the memories come crashing violently like strong waves hitting the jagged rocks along Batanes’ seaside cliffs.

Nora Aunor totally matches the swirling forces of nature on display throughout the movie with a dervish of a performance that involves very little spoken dialogue.

It’s mostly ferociously internal until the devastating climax where, still wordless, her face erupts into a panorama of heartbreak, anguish, sorrow, guilt, regret, terror, and, finally, resignation and surrender. It’s unforgettable.

The movie is far from perfect and the epilogue, which either affirms the story’s vision or turns it on its head, may be too ambiguous for its own good. No matter. “Dementia,” anchored by another genius turn from Aunor under Intalan’s surefooted, confident direction, will stay with you.

Dementia (Perci Intalan, 2014)

Film Review:  DEMENTIA

By Lyndon Maburaot

tablestretcher

“Perci Intalan is precise down to the dot, his achievement here are his pacing and control of the material, so unbelievable for a first-time helmer. His sensibility is obviously mainstream, giving in to the demands of the genre: banshee, jump scare, dolls. But it is during his quieter scenes that he shows ability, the deftness is in the way he blocks a scene and how he positions the camera with regards to the characters.”

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Source:  http://tablestretcher.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/dementia-perci-intalan-2014/

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Nora Aunor’s turn in Dementia is more of a reminder how innately gifted she is as a thespian. This reminder is what fuels her here. See how she conveys myriad of emotions in one scene when she finally remembers the memory she is trying to erase, all done with economy of facial movement, leaving the eyes – those eyes! – be, just be, to do what they do best alone.  This may not be among her most memorable screen time of late (her turns in both Thy Womb and Mabuti are, and to some extent in earlier Lamangan’s Hustisya (here in Dementia, she is left with no complex dimensions to work on, only a haunting past that is revealed too late to really affect the viewers), but the reminder is there, and enough. Among the supports, Bing Loyzaga delivers a credible, well-lived performance so new from her usual roles. Her Elaine is sort of anchor and go-between, taking to Mara  and her needs, as well as to her daughter and husband, both not in synch with the former.

Writer Renei Dimla is meticulous, churning out screenplays whose sequences are long, and within each are mundane activities suggesting passage of time. What other screenwriters try to achieve in five or more sequences she tries in one, the effect on paper when read is documentary-like in their matter-of-factness. Her Palanca-winning screenplay, Katay, about a neighborhood of carnapers has only about eight sequences throughout, merely documenting a feast day in the neighborhood. The first half of Dementia employs this style, which gives the film richly detailed nuances, until it gives way to shorter, immediate scenes as the climax nears.

Perci Intalan is precise down to the dot, his achievement here are his pacing and control of the material, so unbelievable for a first-time helmer. His sensibility is obviously mainstream, giving in to the demands of the genre: banshee, jump scare, dolls. But it is during his quieter scenes that he shows ability, the deftness is in the way he blocks a scene and how he positions the camera with regards to the characters. He is a visual storyteller, knowing when to pan the camera, when to shoot a scene steadily, when to cut in the middle of the scene to show another telling angle. Observe how, in one scene near the climax, he edits a scene to show Rachel (Jasmine Curtis in lusterless performance) stab his father with a scissor. Swiftly, Intalan cuts to another angle in time  to catch Rommel (Yul Servo) fall to the floor, his collapse towards the new position of the camera, so that his head is in the foreground, and the body with a protruding scissor so visibly center, while farthest is Rachel, reacting to what has just happened. Such precisions of blocking are ample throughout the film you sometimes remember Carlitos Siguion- Reyna, only that Intalan is subtle and realistic, like Jeffrey Jeturian.

Dementia wraps up effectively with the best scene yet. After the story has settled down, it presents a coda – Mara in a clinic years earlier – that disorients you from all angles. The Mara here is unfamiliarly stern. She is writing a journal of her past, while her looming sickness is not yet taking over. She commits her memories to the blank pages of the journal, thus immortalizing her story. Then she erases a word she has written, one word. It takes only that one word to let us know, only this time throughout the film, why years later she doesn’t want to remember.

8 stars

Precarious Memories

Film Review:  DEMENTIA

By Fred Hawson

FredSaid: MOVIES

“Dementia does not have the garish and noisy shock effects that we see in most mainstream Filipino horror films. Instead, its unnerving quietness which effectively communicates a sense of danger, on top of the compelling lead performance of Ms. Nora Aunor, gives this film high marks of cinematic excellence.”

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Source:  http://said-fred.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-of-dementia-precarious-memories.html

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Mara Fabre (Nora Aunor) has been diagnosed with early stage dementia. She was brought back to her remote hometown in Batanes by her cousin Elaine (Bing Loyzaga) to help her recover her memories. Mara keeps getting visions of a playful little girl or a masked bride, whom she called Olivia. As the Olivia's ghostly games become more sinister, will Mara and Elaine's family be able to escape with their sanity or their lives?

The script was written by Renei Dimla from a story by Jun Lana. The back story behind the ghostly apparitions was well-told, albeit using a convenient device to tell the whole tale. I liked the subtlety the script used to deal with Mara's immediate past before dementia, with a short but telling scene with Elaine's husband Rommel (Yul Servo) and the thought-provoking epilogue scene. Yet at the same time I was wished for more details. I liked those unique props like the stone with a hole, the jigsaw puzzle, and the Ivatan grass raincoat.

Despite its good points, "Dementia" also utilized many familiar Pinoy horror film staples -- the classic white lady, the empty rooms lit by candles, scratching on the floor, the cemetery scene, the loud swelling instrumental and even choral music to emphasize a scary moment. It also had a scene with the over-used Asian ghostly image of a female in white crawling towards the victim at one point, which I wished it won't but did.

As always though, Nora Aunor can elevate any script to a higher level. She was mostly quiet here because of her mental disability, but her screen presence was really riveting despite her limited lines. As we all know, her eyes and her face speak eloquently by themselves.

Of the supporting cast, Chynna Ortaleza was surreally affecting as the disturbed Olivia, especially in those scenes before she was a ghost. Jasmin Curtis-Smith stands out as Rachel, Elaine's spoiled American-raised daughter, who also later shared Mara's ghostly visions. Althea Vega was effectively cast as a young Nora Aunor. The similarity of their vocal quality was uncanny.

Percival Intalan, in his directorial debut, made full advantage of the mysteriousness of his Batanes setting to tell the story in "Dementia". The old stone houses, the regular interruption of electricity service by 9 pm, the isolation from neighbors, the windswept violent coastline and precarious cliffs -- all were perfect to build up the tension and suspense necessary for a film like this succeed.

"Dementia" does not have the garish and noisy shock effects that we see in most mainstream Filipino horror films. Instead, its unnerving quietness which effectively communicates a sense of danger, on top of the compelling lead performance of Ms. Nora Aunor, gives this film high marks of cinematic excellence.

Lest we forget, the other highlight of the film aside from La Aunor is Chynna Ortaleza, who plays the mysterious ghost that causes malevolence among the household. Ortaleza redefines crazy. We need to see more of her in challenging roles, which reminds me of the sad fact that she had to endure her helpline volunteer character in #Y that resulted into caricature. And that’s not entirely her fault.

Some minor setbacks hinder the film from being a full-pledge chiller, such as the vague reference to Mara’s resentment towards Rommel, or the shaman character (Lui Manansala) who readily gives up on exorcism. Yes there is an exorcism. Sort of.

But when I think of how well the shots are mounted, like when Mara bides her time building her puzzle (yes, an actual jigsaw puzzle), I maybe able to forgo the lapses in the story. Plus, the flashback sequence is quite heartbreaking, and unexpected.

For a first time filmmaker, Perci Intalan proves to be a capable one. There is room for improvement but that fact makes the experience more exciting, more rewarding. Thank the Heavens that after a long time, we can finally watch a decent local horror film that does not rob us of our hard-earned money, or our self-respect.

RATING: 4/5