Philippines

  • Kidlat Tahimik – Turumba (1981)

    1981-1990ComedyDocumentaryKidlat TahimikPhilippines

    J. Hoberman, The Village Voice:

    Set in a tiny Philippine village, the inimitable Kidlat Tahimik’s film focuses on a family that makes papier-mache animals to sell during the traditional Turumba festivities. One year, a German department store buyer purchases all their stock. When she returns with an order for 500 more (this time with the word “Oktoberfest” painted on them), the family’s seasonal occupation becomes year-round alienated labor. Increased production, however creates inflated needs. Soon, virtually the whole village has gone to work on a jungle assembly line, turning out papier-mache mascots for the Munich Olympics. Long before the town band learns to play “Deutschland Uber Alles”, the fabric of village life has been torn asunder. Read More »

  • Brillante Mendoza – Kinatay AKA The Execution of P (2009)

    2001-2010Brillante MendozaCrimeDramaPhilippines

    Peping, a criminology student, is recruited by his schoolmate, Abyong, to work as a part-time errand boy for a local syndicate that collects protection fees from various businesses in Manila. The easy money Peping earns is spent mostly on his girlfriend, Cecille, who’s also a student. Peping decides to marry her, but in order to do so he’ll need more money. Abyong contacts Peping to join a “special project” that pays more than normal…Read More »

  • Raya Martin – Death of Nintendo (2020)

    2011-2020ComedyPhilippinesRaya Martin

    Set in 1990s Manila, Paolo, a sheltered and obedient son is stifled by his overprotective mother— and his friend Mimaw, a tomboy who finds herself after having her heart broken for the first time.

    A series of earthquakes leading up to Mt. Pinatubo’s historic volcanic eruption has been causing blackouts across the country, preventing kids from playing video games. After roaming the streets and getting beaten up, Paolo and his friends—Kachi and Gilligan—decide on traditional circumcision as the ultimate answer to their problems, but Paolo gets sidetracked when he falls in love with Shiara.Read More »

  • Mario O’Hara – Pangarap ng puso AKA Demons (Censored version) (2000)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaMario O'HaraPhilippines

    Tony Rayns, Time Out Film Guide wrote:
    One-time Lino Brocka protégé O’Hara is not shy of traditional melodrama, still the lifeblood of most Filipino cinema, but Demons fits no established genre template. Part social history, part ghost horror story, part romance, part quasi-Marxist parable, it has no obvious antecedent except parts of Night of the Hunter. Set on Negros Island, the action spans nearly 20 years in the lives of Nena (De Leon), daughter of a fish-farmer, and Jose (Alano), the son of casual labourers. As they move through puberty and try to bridge the class gap, the island is riven by terrorist actions and military reprisals (echoing assassinations and political turmoil in faraway Manila), giving new meaning to the local mythology of jungle demons. O’Hara balances the narrative between drama and elegy, between occasionally shocking images and the poetry of Amado Hernandez and Florentino Collantes. Often wonderful.Read More »

  • Cirio H. Santiago – The Muthers (1976)

    1971-1980ActionCirio H. SantiagoExploitationPhilippines

    Quote:
    The Muthers is a 1976 women in prison film. It starred Jeannie Bell, Rosanne Katon, Trina Parks, Jayne Kennedy, Tony Carreon and John Montgomery. This black-oriented women’s prison film from Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago (T.N.T. Jackson) stars Playboy Playmates Rosanne Katon and Jeanne Bell as the leaders of a pirate gang who go undercover at a prison farm to save Bell’s sister. As the wicked Serena, Jayne Kennedy cracks a whip and acts nasty until finally leading the obligatory insurrection. The prisoners pick coffee beans and the pirate women know kung-fu, making this one of the quirkier entries in the subgenre. Former Bond-girl Trina Parks (Diamonds Are Forever) and Santiago regular Ken Metcalfe co-star.Read More »

  • Cirio H. Santiago – Vampire Hookers (1978)

    1971-1980Cirio H. SantiagoComedyHorrorPhilippines

    Quote:
    American sailor friends Tom Buckley (Bruce Fairbairn) and Terry Wayne (Trey Wilson) are looking for excitement during a shore leave. After fleeing a disco full of transvestites and two would-be alley muggers, a smooth-talking cabbie (Leo Martinez) takes them to a cemetery where a beautiful prostitute called Cherish (Karen Stride) resides. Little do the sailors know that Cherish is a vampire who recently killed their superior officer. In the cemetery is a lavish crypt where head vampire Richmond Reed (John Carradine) drinks blood cocktails with Cherish and two other lovely bloodsuckers (Lenka Novak and Katie Dolan). The sailors are able to escape death when daylight approaches, but no one back at the military base believes their chance encounter with the undead. Tom later makes his way back to the crypt and gets the ultimate in satisfaction when the vampiric female trio decides to act human for one night and conduct an orgy with him as the star.Read More »

  • Lav Diaz & Brillante Mendoza & Kidlat Tahimik – Lakbayan (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseAsianBrillante MendozaKidlat TahimikLav DiazPhilippines

    Quote:
    Lakbayan (Journey) is an omnibus film that consists of Brillante Mendoza’s Desfocado (Defocused), Lav Diaz’s Hugaw (Dirt) and National Artis for Film Kidlat Tahimik’s Lakaran Ni Kabunyan (Kabunyan’s Journey).

    It tells three tales of the Filipino journey. An unemployed cameraman joins a protest march of farmers asking the government to help them reclaim their ancestral land stolen by the powerful in Desfocado. In Hugaw, it is also the powerful that controls an island where a young miner contests the problems and the status quo. A mosaic artist is empowered as he arrives at his destination while traveling from island to island in Lakaran Ni Kabunyan.Read More »

  • Mike De Leon – Kisapmata AKA In Just the Wink of an Eye (1981)

    1981-1990AsianCrimeMike De LeonPhilippines

    Plot: Retired policeman holds a woman and daughter in a claustrophobic grip with his dictatorial behaviour. His son-in-law resists and the result is a confrontation. A gruesome monster in his familiarity: it could be your next-door neighbour.Read More »

  • Lav Diaz – Serafin Geronimo, kriminal ng Baryo Concepcion aka The Criminal of Barrio Concepcion (1998)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaLav DiazPhilippines

    Quote:
    Debuting to critical acclaim in 1998, Diaz’s Serafin Geronimo, Kriminal ng Baryo Concepcion, announced the arrival of a major talent, and a possible new direction for Philippines cinema. Where Brocka had examined society’s effect on the individual, Diaz’s Kriminal looked at the effect of the individual’s actions on his conscience. His Russian influences written on his sleeve— the film begins with a quote from Crime and Punishment translated into Tagalog— Diaz’s hero was akin to that of Dostoevsky but atypical of Philippine cinema; a quiet man with a guilty past seeking redemption in the present. With Kriminal, Diaz laid down his archetype character and began to plot the path of his aesthetic.Read More »

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