Don't Talk With Your Mouth Full

The festival is ending in two and 3/4 days, which really sucks—because ever since working for Cinemanila in 2005, I’ve never seen such a rich line-up of movies as this year’s roster. (With a ready schedule, to boot.)

Here’s a brief guide to maximize the remaining couple of days. Caveat: I haven’t seen these movies. Recommendations here are the result of chit-chats during the Opening Night with filmmakers, actors, festival director Direk Tikoy, film critics, cineastes, fellow Cinemanila staff and credible reviews churned out by Google.

These are the films you might want to cram into your schedule tonight until Thursday:

The Way by Emilio Estevez (Nov 15, Tue, at 930pm)

A father heads overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the “El camino de Santiago” from France to Spain. Martin Sheen is a man on a 500-mile mission in “The Way,” written and directed by his son, Emilio Estevez.

Quattro Hong Kong 2 by Stanley Kwan, Brillante Mendoza, Ho Yu-hang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Nov 16, Wed, at 430pm)

Four vibrant, provocative and extremely different short films make up Quattro Hong Kong 2, which allows four of Southeast Asia’s most distinctive directors to present their own visions of Hong Kong.

Bona by Lino Brocka (Nov 16, Wed, at 9pm)

I’m not sure if my younger siblings still know who Lino Brocka is. For a new generation of viewers, this is a chance to watch a famed classic. I want to watch it, because—frankly, I don’t remember if I’ve chanced upon it when I was a kid sneaking around the house, trying to see what the adults were watching. Unfortunately, the two remaining good prints of this film are not on our possession—one is at the Cinematheque Francais and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. So, yeah, unless you travel to those countries where the prints are and they hold a screening of Bona, this is the only chance you’ll get to view this Brocka masterpiece in good form.

Dragon or “Wu Xia” by Peter Chan (Nov 16, Wed at 9pm)

If, perchance, you’ve seen Bona a lot of times and would want another film to watch—there’s Wu Xia from Hong Kong. Director Peter Chan features a dynamic ensemble of internationally celebrated talent, led by action superstar Donnie Yen (Ip Man), a martial arts master, Yen is also the film’s action choreographer; Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of Flying Daggers) and Wei Tang (Lust, Caution). The film marks the first film appearance in 17 years of the legendary Jimmy Wang Yu, who is widely credited as the first Hong Kong kung fu star.

Mapang-Akit by John Torres (Nov 17, Thu, at 8pm)

I’ve always been a fan of John Torres’ films. So, when I read in one interview that Mapang-Akit is a deviation from the Todo Todo Teros mold, I was intrigued. I admit, I love John’s signature poetry and slightly lethargic but aching voice over, and I think I’ll always remember him for such (I hope that’s okay, John). Nevertheless, I’m open to him exploring other bolder methods. Bolder, indeed—since this film was mildly hit with controversy, touching on boundaries of supposed exploitation for art’s sake.

Life in a Day by Kevin MacDonald (Cinemanila’s closing film - Nov 17, Thu, at 9pm)

What happens when you send a request out to the world to chronicle, via video, a single day on Earth? You get 80,000 submissions and 4,500 hours of footage from 192 countries. Producer Ridley Scott and Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald took this raw material — all shot on July 24, 2010 — and created Life in a Day, a groundbreaking, feature-length documentary that portrays this kaleidoscope of images we call life.

Cinemanila 2011 is ongoing at Market! Market! cinemas, Fort Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig. Tickets are purchased at the ticket booth, like any other regular movie.

The Cinemanila Film Festival opened yesterday at  Robinson’s Galleria Movieworld, it will only be showcasing films until the 8th of December. Don’t let it go to waste; the line-up this year is quite impressive! Here’s a little guide for you, my list of must-see films in this year’s Cinemanila:

Pinoy Sunday

A movie about two OFWs in Taiwan and directed by Cannes winner Wi Ding Ho, has been chosen to open the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival.

It stars our very own Bayani Agbayani, Epy Quizon, Alessandra De Rossi and Meryll Soriano, considered by Ho (a Malaysian) as the heart and soul of his multinational film.

It tells the story of Manuel (Epi Quizon) and Dado (Bayani Agbayani), two Filipino OFWs in Taiwan who discover a discarded sofa one Pinoy Sunday in Taipei. This transforms their normal Sunday into a tale of adventure, perseverance and self-discovery. 

Watch it on Dec 2 (Thurs) at 6:30pm


Au Revoir, Taipei

“If Paris is the city of love, what is Taipei the city of?” ~ Kai

The movie takes place over the course of a single evening in Taipei, Taiwan. Kai (Jack Yao), who works at his parent’s noodle shop by day and spends his nights in a bookstore to learn French, decides to go to Paris after his girlfriend, who recently left for Paris, dumps him by phone. Then the local neighborhood mafia boss offers Kai a free plane ticket to Paris if he takes a mysterious package with him.

The film is called “One Page Taipei” in Chinese, which means one night or one page in Taipei. It is Arvin Chen’s feature directorial debut. It won the “Best Asian Film” (NETPAC Prize) at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010 and was considered a box office success in Taiwan.

Watch it on Dec 3, (Friday) at 3:45pm


Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Maybe you’ve seen this on pirated mode, but nothing beats watching it on the big screen.

Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob—omb, the 22-year old has just met the girl of his dreams…literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a 2010 comedy film directed by Edgar Wright based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Watch it on Dec 3, (Friday) at 8pm.


Eastern Plays

What you really need to know about this Bulgarian film is that it is about the lead actor, Christo Christov, who plays the protagonist, Itso. 

Christov was an old friend of the film’s director, Kamen Kalev. Upon returning to Bulgaria after studying film in France, Kalev met Christov for the first time in years, and was inspired to make a movie about a man modeled on Christov who is deep in despair.

Christov died of drug abuse by the end of the shooting of “Eastern Plays”, which tells his story.

Watch it on Dec 3, (Friday) at 10:30pm and Dec 5, (Sunday) at 8:30pm


Kano

It was a story that made headlines in 2002 when an American Vietnam war hero was convicted of two counts of rape–a story that Director Monster Jimenez had followed in five years and released into a documentary film.

Who is Kano? Kano (pronounced kä·nô’) is Tagalog slang for Amerikano. Filipinos usually refer to any Caucasian, regardless of ethnicity, as kano. In the film, an American Vietnam War hero decides to spend the rest of his post-war life in the Philippines. Hundreds of women have come and stayed in his house located in a poor, remote village. In 2001, Pearson was charged with over 80 counts of rape. Pearson is now in jail but many of the women remain by his side. “Kano” is the fascinating and awful story of a convicted rapist and his women who come together to form a most dysfunctional family. (www.filmako.com)

Kano: An American and His Harem is the first Filipino documentary film that has ever made it to the IDFA’s competition. It was chosen among 3,200 entries and bagged €5000 in cash prize.

Watch it on Dec 4, (Saturday) at 4pm and Dec 7, (Tuesday) at 5:45pm


The Cove

Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renown dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.

Academy Award® Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, The Cove is directed by Louie Psihoyos.

http://www.thecovemovie.com/

Watch it on Dec 5, (Sunday) at 415pm and Dec 7, (Tuesday) at 530pm

There are more films to be seen, some have already been shown before. Nevertheless, if you haven’t seen them yet, try to catch these, too: Endo by Jade Castro, Ang Ninanais by John Torres and Pila Balde by Jeffrey Jeturian.