“The years I was editing, I was unconsciously learning from all my directors.”
Carlo Francisco Manatad has made a name for himself as one of the most prolific Filipino film editors, with works such as “F#*@bois,” “I’m Drunk I Love You,” “Meet Me In St. Gallen,” and “Balangiga: Howling Wilderness” under his artistic belt. But in the last few years, he has successfully made a name for himself locally and internationally as a writer and director. His immediate narrative and…
When Martika Ramirez Escobar found out her film was going to be part of Sundance, she was on the way to a lock-in shoot for Quark Henares’ new film.
“Yung initial reaction ko was: Ano ‘to, wrong send? Rejection letter? Joke ba ‘to?”
(My initial reaction was: What’s this? Was it missent? A rejection letter? Is this a joke?)
To her, it seemed like a statistical impossibility. As the largest independent film festival in the United States, Sundance was home…
ABOUT US BUT NOT ABOUT US is too solipsistic and self-impressed to fully root for. But the work by Ang (editing), Daza (DoP), Fadul (prod design), Barrozo (music), Verona and Salim (sound) are top-notch, bent on supporting Sarmenta and Canlas as they act out self-destructive arias.
I'd love to do a deep-dive on all of this, especially the acting and the problems with the script. But maybe that's for another day.
UNRAVEL: A SWISS SIDE LOVE STORY has all the sheen of a well-made travelogue but all the complexity and intelligence of a self-help book. Shows little interest in the interiority of its characters nor the true sources of their sadness. Didactic and cruel in the terrible ways and mishandles such sensitive subject matter. Promising yet disappointing.
More for Rappler soon. #SummerMMFF2023
There is much to love about Martika Ramirez Escobar's debut feature film "Leonor Will Never Die."
But the thing that strikes me right now is how it introduces non-Filipinos to the specifics of Philippine culture and entertainment: the pirated DVDs being sold cheaply on the streets, the gatherings of strangers around a television screen at hospitals, the near-universal love for action heroes, the perpetual desire to burst out into a karaoke song and dance, and so much more. In many…
