Ishmael Bernal

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In a time when the concept of divorce does not exist, much less imagined possible, we find Marilou (Vilma Santos), a planetarium guide who decides to pursue an affair with Emil (Christopher De Leon), a college teacher separated from his wife. They seem perfect for each other and soon decide to move in together.

Their once happy affair turns sour as Marilou slowly discovers the real Emil – a chauvinistic, domineering, and emotionally abusive man who dictates everything to her: from how she should act and manage her life to the most inconsequential details of running their house. They soon find themselves in an on-again, off-again relationship, with Marilou going as far as laying a let’s-meet-only-three-times-a- week rule to protect herself.Read More »

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The hidden nightlife of ordinary people living in Manila unveils. Lovers and families’ conflicts are radically pitted against each other as they live in the night streets rampant with drugs and prostitution. The outstanding narrative explicitly unravels the various characters and episodes. This landmark film of Ishmael Bernal depicts the darkness of city life so vividly that it was once prohibited to use the word ‘Manila’ on its title.Read More »

Ishmael Bernal’s opus recreates the quality and slow pace of life in a dying village surrounded by the sea as it is caught in the eternal cycle of love and hate, of fertility and pollution, of birth and death. A bold and successful attempt to depart from the usual commercial fare, it cryptically paints a large, bleak canvas showing rural fold and how their chances at redemption and happiness are irreversibly decimated by poverty, ignorance, neglect and the dark side of big business.
The only existing 35mm copy (with Japanese subtitles) of the film was found in Fukuoka City Public Library Archive, thus the Japanese hardcoded subs.Read More »

From Hong Kong International Film Festival:
Bernal’s impressive debut feature confirmed him as a prominent filmmaker who was not only capable of orchestrating a striking narrative, but also one that revealed the hypocrisy permeating the carnivalesque affairs of filmmaking. The story follows Ching, a stripper, who performs to the lustful stares of her patrons. Discovered by an idealistic film director, she rises to stardom and takes her lover Pinggoy, a taxi driver, into show business. Scrambling to the top, they reap fame and forture only to find tragedies awaiting. Bernal has made startlingly accurate observations of the dichotomies facing Philippine cinema and society, winning Best Film of the Decade in the country’s prestigious Gawad Urian Awards.Read More »