11 May 2009

marathon chichiryahan ng mayo


sarap lang minsan magpahinga at manood ng sine. oo, sa akin, ang panonood ng sine ay pagpapahinga, pero creative pa rin at may brain stimulus pa rin. plus of course lafesh chichiryang literal hehe.

the past days, marami kaming tinirang panoorin dito sa bahay, mostly mga na-miss ko sa sinehan o kaya di talaga napalabas dito ever. so heto sila. er, salamat nga pala sa dalawang kaibigang nag-download este nagbigay ng kopya sa akin :)



RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008)

d. jonathan demme
s. jenny lumet
dop. declan quinn
c. anne hathaway, debra winger

pitch: youngest sister comes out of rehab and re-enters her family's life just when her older sister was about to be married chuva

catch: the zooms, but i could overlook that

since the film was shot entirely on digital, not film, i understand the temptation to use zooms, however unnatural this lens movement is, as it is a movement that is not done by the human eye, which, supposedly, is what a film lens should "approximate" most of the time to achieve that "viewing pleasure" we see in most classical narrative-structured films.

but there's another feel to the zooms - the
documentary feel. i felt that this was what the director was trying to achieve, na parang home movie ang dating, and reading up on the film later verified this hunch.

the docu feel worked well for the kind of story it's trying to tell. ang daming ambivalence ng feelings ng mga characters because of their individual and combined histories, na lumalabas in bits and pieces, sometimes spurts, sometimes, deluge overload. at ang sentro nitong lahat ay si kym, ang on-and-off rehab kid ng otherwise picketfence-perfect pamilya sa isang suburban middle class middle american town. now i see why anne was nominated for an oscar here. ganda ng performance niya. although wala nga siya sa shining moment ni kate winslet sa THE READER esp that part na she slammed her hand sa table while defending their work as concentration camp guards. that moment alone captured the award
for her. sadly, hathaway had no such moments here, walang big cultivation. all of what she was doing was leading up to that, but there was no "that" reached. baka kakulangan ng script o directing din ito, in a way.

but man, overall, i was blown away by how organic this film was. that's the term for it -- organic! all natural, 100% homegrown ingredients kumbaga. no manipulative hollywoodized artificial flavoring techniques. from everything -- the story (anak pala ni sidney lumet ang nagsulat! wagi!), the editing (jump cuts worked - like how you would remember certain scenes in your life as patalon-talong eksena), camerawork (handheld and swish pans w
orked - like how your head will be so distracted in looking back and forth several people or happenings), even the musical score -- na actually, walang "real score" to begin with kasi lahat ng kinda-score na music na naririnig dito ay hindi outside the story realm (called non-diegetic sound) kundi galing sa story realm ng film (called diegetic sound) mula sa wedding band musicians na laging naririnig na nagre-rehearse sa pali-paligid (love love love the sound of the violin and the skin drums just jamming away).

simple lang ang story at hindi na rin bago. siguro ang bago lang e yung elements na nakapaloob dito - interracial marriage siya, where rachel is white while her groom is black, at h
indi isyu ito. the wedding theme is indian in nature, complete with the lively hindu-inspired designs, decor and dresses. the dad's second wife looked like of native american indian descent, and some of their friends were asian-looking. wagi ang multicultural eklavu nitey.

yun na. feeling ko, after watching this, i became a sort of "cinematic vegetarian" na hahanap-hanapin ang organic filmmaking sa ibang pelikula pa.

alas, like meat, i cannot live without my sfx. which brings me to...



BE KIND, REWIND (2008)

d. michel gondry

c. jack black, danny glover, mos def

pitch: small-town video store clerks try to save the store building by using the community's love for films, prompting them to make their own later


catch: yung le
ngth siguro, could be trimmed some more for tightness

nakakatawa ng tunay ang mga karakter dito, yung imbes na mainis ka dapat sa kanila dahil sa napakatanga nilang tunay. gaano katanga? nabura ng isa sa kanila ang mga vhs tapes sa video rental store, at naisip nung isa na i-recreate ang mga naburang pelikula by shooting them themselves!!! tutal hindi raw naman alam ng ibang nagrerenta yung tunay na pelikula kasi nga di pa daw nila napapanood. thus, the two misfits end up recreating films like
GHOSTBUSTERS, RUSH HOUR 2, ROBOCOP, DRIVING MISS DAISY and even the freaking LION KING!

pero mas panalo yung ideya na naisip nilang gumawa ng "old film" docu-style about a legendary jazz singer na supposedly e tumira sa neighborhood nila. i loved the way they shot it guerilla style, good old-fashioned guerilla filmmaking at its finest. grabe nakakaaliw sila sobra!


but of course, this kind of film
only works for cineastes who looooove films. if you're not like that, this film might not work for you.




EPIC MOVIE (2007)

d., s. jason friendberg and aaron seltzer

pitch: spoof of epic/adventure films da vinci code, harry potter, charlie and the chocolate factory, nacho grande, chronicles o
f narnia, xmen, pirates of the caribbean

catch: if you missed some or most of the films, luz ka!

wala, may masasabi ka pa ba sa satire films na ganito? siyempre may lull moments, may over moments, may corny moments, may funny-ha-ha moments, may chaka mo
ments, at may punyeta-hindi-siya-nakakatawa-laslaaas moments. hindi naman mawawala yun e.

pero yun nga, if you missed any of the films it's spoofing, luz. luckily, napanood ko naman sila lahat, except for NACHO LIBRE (na wala akong balak panoorin). anyway, character peg lang naman yung nacho libre sa isa samga bida, so puwede na.



THE FOUNTAIN (2006)

d., s. darren aronofsky
c. hugh jackman, rachel weiss


pitch: a love story spanning three timeframes in the past, present and future

catch: better to watch on the big screen

if you're familiar with aronofsky, you'd know that his films are visual feasts, experimentations and pushing the
edge sometimes, if he ever found edges to begin with. parang di uso sa kanya yun e. he knows the basics and he wants to merge that with what's not yet been done. i like that kind of thinking, instead of just junking the basics and experimenting to high heaven (or hell) and calling your film "indie." but that's another discourse.

gusto ko yung un-hollywood-ized effect ng film na ito, like a new way of telling a story, a love story to be exact, kung paano ang isang devoted man ay naghahanap ng ways and (scientific) breakthroughs to reach/save the love of his life ek. aliw yung spanish conquistador effect ng past love story na tumatagos sa present bilang novel na sinusulat ng girl, na sa future part ay magiging parang esoteric discussion na siya about preserving love and challenging commitment eklavu.ewan, yun ang nakuha ko sa pelikula sa future part, e. medyo open-ended yung future thread ng narrative, and it's not about just a man-woman relationship but it actualy became a personal relationship with oneself eklavu ang dating ba, on how you'll accept things that happen and how you will transgress sadness and all that. kakaiba.

this film will make you think while making you visually awed. i like that.




RATATOUILLE (2007)

d., s. brad bird
p. pixar-disney

pitch: a parisian rat teams up with a garbage boy as culinary partners and revives one of the legendary paris restaurants in the process

catch: wala! happy sha

masaya ito! once again, pixar does its best. ganda ng animation potah, parang totoo ang 3D-ness ng texture ng mga bagay-bagay, lalo na yung mga backgrounds and stuff. cute din yung kuwento kaya aliw. wala lang, yun na. masaya siya. hindi siya aalog-alog na naratibo like MONSTERS VS. ALIENS although di rin naman siya edge-of-your-seat engaging like THE INCREDIBLES. tama lang ang timpla kumbaga. siguro di lang ma-suspend ang disbelief ng small small part sa akin ng fact na ang nagluluto sa kitchen e...isang daga. hahaha! oo andun pa lang ang lola sa level na yun. well, part of me, at least. but i loved this paris-set thingie and stuff. win!


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