Underdeveloped Madness

Where's the Genie?

Nerseri is directed by Vic Acedillo Jr. It receives the least of my admiration in the competition. I have to disagree with its attempt of depicting a deranged family. I certainly understand the illness and I think they are bordering on the clichés with just a pinch of the true nature of the madness. Although it tries to change the color palette with hues and saturations for artistic merits, I still do not buy to the entirety.

The color palette is interesting but that is just about it. I am not a symbologist like Langdon to further interpret anything that I would see. That would be the start of my insanity. It is up to the audience to interpret it. Mai (Jacklyn Jose) is a mother who is more casual about the abnormalities happening in their house. His eldest son Dean (Lance Raymundo) is a junkie who has manic tendencies every now and then. The other brother Jun (Alwyn Uytingco) is also a drug addict who constantly hears voices. Lyn (Claudia Enriquez) is the sister who is a total weirdo and sometimes she just bangs her head on the wall. The youngest is Cocoy (Timothy Mabalot) who is perfectly normal. He even masturbates at a time when Dean is hallucinating. One day, Mai decides to sell their land in Bohol. It is up to Cocoy to take care of his other siblings apart from his own sanity.

Jacklyn Jose is well reserved as the mother. It could be true that taking care of orchids is one therapy to alleviate her from the stressful day to day situations she is experiencing inside their home (I doubt she will talk to the orchids). The story basically progresses while Mai is far from their home and Cocoy do the normal chores in store for him. But months have passed since they lacked the support from their mother (similar to Koreeda’s Nobody Knows) and he experiences the downside of the illness of Dean and Lyn.

The interesting aspect of the film is its attempt to inundate the viewers with the colors of the images. Has this something to do with the insanity aspect of getting colors that are of no ordinary tones? I guess so. The story is basically more into the situational type or is it from the director’s personal experience? It is not really something that we should rave about. Yes it is simple but it lacks the authenticity of being demented. Since most of the characters are like that, well it is expected to integrate a more careful depiction of the characters. The film is more on the trivialities involved like will the young Cocoy be insane too? I think we need to assess the sickness itself. Is it really a threat? There are certain films that have tackled this with a more natural approach in their relationships. They have been subtle all along; they should have stuck with it all along.

Well, nothing is really all good in festivals. This could be the least kind of film that I would like and could commend in the further screening. The only interest the filmmaker has is something very visual, more in tune with the colors and the possible effect of the style to the viewers. Well for me, everybody has a ‘tic’ in our head that would create a different tone in our perceptions.
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Charlie Koon's Rating: