Embellish it with Humor

Oh my effin God!

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Last Supper No. 3 is definitely one of the crowd-pullers of this year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival. It has a real plum to begin with due to the nature of its material. It is a comedy about our judicial system, a flawed one as a matter of fact. The film executes it well without being too harsh in its predilections. The writer/director Veronica Velasco with co-writer Jinky Laurel has made a film that could be an eye-opener with some tummy-tickling on the side.

Wilson Nañawa (Joey Paras) is an assistant production designer who has a new project in hand. He has to make an authentic lower to middle class look for a dining room. It is a commercial for a mouth-watering corned beef. He is tasked to look for a last supper that will be used as a prop with the help of his assistant Andoy (JM de Guzman). They got three last suppers but on the day of the shooting, the third one has gone missing.

Velasco certainly improved in terms of technical execution compared to the well-acted and well written film Maling Akala which she also co-directed together with Pablo Biglang-awa. She is also well-rounded since the previous film is a drama and now she tries her hand in the comedy genre. The craftsmanship did improve since Maling Akala. I remember stating that there are scenes that are too repetitive. Last Supper No. 3 is well paced; the scenes are more compact and coherent. That is very vital in comedies since the execution itself has to be swift and upfront.

Problems arise when Gareth (Jojit Lorenzo) asks for a big amount for the lost Last Supper. After a meeting with the barangay officials, things did not end well when Andoy defends himself from being attacked by Gareth. In effect, Gareth immediately files a case for Estafa and Physical Injury against the two. Then the riotous adventures of Wilson begin with further pleasantry on its way.

The comedy could be a mixture of farce and social satire. It is also distressing to think that our very own mishaps could be of great use to comedic narratives. The humor that it has gotten into is not entirely offensive if it has the pretense to mock our own judicial system. The problem is it is flawed to a degree and is downright slow. Classic lines are installed in court cases with numerous references to audacious lawyers, dramatic testimonies and even common jargons that could also be a form of parody.

I wonder what the story could have become if it was more focused on Andoy’s character. Certainly it would be totally unexciting. The openly gay character of Wilson did help with its aim to amplify a simple occurrence. The quirkiness of his character pays a big tribute to make the film funnier. The executions have no intention to make use of slapstick so the acting approach is more realistic. I think what is funny in our generation has changed. Today, audiences love wit and humor, especially for intelligent viewers who think that fun is a serious matter that affirms their own substance. I am not complaining and I am positive about the film. We really are good in comedies. My only complain is that the audience we have right now certainly has a tainted understanding of the true value of comedies. The best part is there are directors like Veronica Velasco who could mock on something and we could easily laugh about it without pretensions.
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Charlie Koon's Rating:

Drag me to the Pit

Show me the bling-bling

24K is a film that is made by a woman (Ana Agabin) with an all-male cast. The material itself is too manly and I think it has gone overboard on being quite technical in the approach. Surely some of the audience when I screened the film had some laughing time in trivialities not to mention the comical rendition of masculine characters digging Yamashita’s treasure in the vast mountain of Ilocos Sur. Despite an exceptional cinematography and well-acted casts, the story lacks urgency in order for it to be hailed as one of the best films in the festival.

The story is pretty simple. The story is about treasure hunters of gold bars. They dig holes; get dirt out of it until they find something. That’s it. So you will see how deep the hole is and how it fascinates them that somehow, they believe that gold bars are there buried for decades. Manok is played by Julio Diaz who has an obsession with the treasure hunting trade. He even left his pregnant wife just to catch up on the site where their other buddies, Karlo and Arturo, have already established a spot for the gold digging. He is accompanied by Freddie (Archi Adamos) and Boyet (Jojit Lorenzo) into the ultimate quest of dirt digging.

One interesting aspect is not entirely the foremost in the story. It is the insertion of cultural traditions being practiced from the northern region. One of this is the Ensalay Ritual. This was witnessed by Manok upon going down the mountain. It is a ritual of good harvest. Speaking of rituals, Boyet is the most courteous in terms of respecting rituals. They always offer food for the spirits in the mountains and believe that having a clear conscience would help in finding the fortune that is now owned by the supernatural spirits. At the start of the film, they had to kill a rooster to seek signs of good fortune for their quest. It is in the gall bladder that the signs will emerge. Despite their respect through offering, human greed could definitely be a warning of impending disaster.

24K is just adequate in terms of its meticulous camera works and cinematography. They have captured intricate scenes inside the dungeon. They also had an elaborate production design for the mining. There are also invigorating shots made in the Rice Terraces in the region while the native inhabitants dancing their way to the sky. But the story has failed to expand the material without losing its simplicity. There are other story devices that could pump up the film but it has been hanging on unsafe grounds. 24K could still be enjoyed but it is more into the technical aspect which most audience does not care about.
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Charlie Koon's Rating:

Muted Atmosphere

Brownout Fever

Baby Angelo is an interesting film that represents real life situations. It’s deliberately restrained, making the entire tableau a reflection of the ordinary lives of middle-class Filipinos. The setting is nearly dark and hazy; a palette that could equal anything that is uncertain. And these are the lives that we are bound to see. Monotonous daily activities do not alarm these people and why should they; monotony has no cause for alarm. Thanks to the unborn fetus found in the nearby dump area; they are now warranted to ember the long dimmed lights of their lives.

Baby Angelo is directed by Joel Ruiz with his co-writer Abigail Aquino. The film is not entirely about Baby Angelo, who is already dead at the start of the film. Baby Angelo is the fetus found nearby the Genevieve Homes owned by the pious and extremely organized Mrs. Nora de Guzman (Ces Quesada). There are certain police protocols where they should submit affidavits and Mrs. Nora asks the help of her nephew Bong (Jojit Lorenzo) to interview all the tenants. Bong is a happy-go-lucky guy who is married to Lisa (Katherine Luna), who is glued to their apartment for unexplained reasons.

Well, they are the focal characters in this film. There is a tendency wherein you might get confused as to where the film is heading. Since the apartment is nearly full, there’s a bunch of intertwining stories within the narrative. It’s a clear indication that one way or another, people we are living with has an influence in our lives. Its not only limited to our relatives or immediate families but also to our neighbors. Given the chance to engage with others, there is a tendency to digress with the warmth of a connection.

The entire ensemble is mostly natural in their acting approach. It’s easy to notice that despite the fragmented scenarios, we could still feel the authenticity of the characters’ humanity. Bong and Apple (Diana Malahay) are the only two who could babble their longings and aspirations. Lisa on the other hand deals with Bong’s irresponsiveness with restrained annoyance. We have another character that has delicately painted a personality that has deeper manifestations of the yearning to be of being appreciated. This is Nora, a religious mother whose claws control ownership of the apartment and yet she gets a cold shoulder from his rebellious son Ike (Cedrick Lamberte). Her relationship also with his prim and suave husband Noel (Mark Gil) has this insinuation of a wrinkled situation. With a positive outlook in life, she starts to have a modest confidence in herself and fixes her elderly look into a lovely and sophisticated demeanor.

Baby Angelo is courageous to show these ordinary people’s lives and how they fulfill their routine obligations. Their days are occupied in cleaning the streets like the senile Mr. Chiu (Dante Baloi). Karaoke filled nights for the ladies residing at Unit 1-F. And these we see into lifeless color without any glamour. We are bound to see life without thrill and are quite disjointed without a predictable intention. Could we really exist without feeling that we are living? Questions will always be raised and somehow in the end, our existence, no matter how fruitful our lives become, will always appear ordinary. But we struggle to make our lives vibrant. This could be possible if we find true happiness within our midst. The death of the innocent serves as an insighting stimulus and through this, the characters realize the banality of their lives.

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Charlie Koon's Rating: