The Philippines Oscar submission: Jerrold Tarog's fact-and-fantasy epic HENERAL LUNA

If you didn't already realize it from the opening screen crawl of background and history (cluing us in to the fact that that we're about to see greatly fictionalized story-telling), when one character, in trying to describe the elusive personality of our titular HENERAL LUNA (General Luna, to you non-Spanish or Tagalog speakers), asks, "Have you ever tried to catch the wind?", I think you'll know that you're deep in the land of hagiography. And why not? The film's director, Jerrold Tarog (shown below), himself has described his work as an act of cinematic nation-building,

So, sit back, put your sense of actual history to sleep, and enjoy the old-fashioned, colorful storytelling and performances. If you're Filipino, the film will probably resonate on some level; if not, it will seem awfully by-the-book. It is weakest in providing the kind of specific details of character and dialog that could bring the film to some kind of vivid life. Instead we get the most typical cliches that show us the characters as heroic, cowardly, villainous, loving, waffling, and so on, down the line.

All this certainly makes its point (and also makes the movie completely understandable for school-children and, in fact, has seen major success by filling auditoriums in the nation's schools.). As the most successful independent movie in Filipino history, it also has made its mark as a huge box-office bonanza.

As the movie begins, our Heneral (John Arcilla, above and below) is already in command and quite successful at what he does. The time is just prior to the 19th Century turning into the 20th, as Spain has lost its rule over the Philippines, as well as the Spanish American War and so has "sold" the country to the USA -- which is about to make one of its early misadventures in would-be colonization.

As one character explains it nicely and precisely, "Americans fought for their own liberty. They know we have a right to ours. That makes their aggression inexcusable." All of which is true. But it's funny how power and hypocrisy can so easily turn right into wrong. From the start, Luna has big trouble uniting the various Filipino powers into an integrated whole, what with a weak President and cowardly, lazy, power-hungry underlings (including other generals) all over the place.

The movie takes as its framwork an interview of the General by a young journalist (played by Arron Villaflor, above) who questions his subject concerning the famous man's life and work, and so hands us a fairly standard scenario, enlived now and then by battles and/or politics.

Along the way, we get a mild sex scene between Luna and his paramour (above), and a couple of others between the man and his mom (below). Otherwise it's mostly military stuff: more battles, a little strategy, some gore (we watch as a soldier gets half his head blown off), and one montage showing the predations of the America soldiers against the Filipino populace.

Since Filipinos (and any Americans with a sense of history) will know the outcome here, we  pretty much wait for the good General to get his. When he does, Tarog gifts us with one of the great unintentionally comic death scenes on film, meant, of course, to show us our hero's indomitable spirit. This would be pretty much a disaster for most movies, but since Heneral Luna ends with the following escape clause, we can grin and bear it:

"The characters in this film may resemble real people from the past, but ultimately are products of artistic license. Historical figures, facts -- and even rumors -- were reshaped to serve a consistent narrative theme." Well, yes, and you could make that same statement about Reality TV.

From Abramorama -- running just under two hours, and spoken in Filipino, Tagalog, English and Spanish with English subtitles as needed -- the film made its New York debut last Friday and opens today, November 6, in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

From the Philippines: Jade Castro's gay hoot, REMINGTON and the CURSE of the ZOMBADINGS

Better be clear about this upfront: The best way to appreciate (or for some, to merely tolerate) this new movie from the Philippines, REMINGTON AND THE CURSE OF THE ZOMBADINGS, is to already have some understanding or appreciation of this country's culture, or to have seen a few Filipino films (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, for instance), or to have an interest in gay culture from countries other than your own. (Another reason: the gorgeous kid with the great body who appears on the poster above.) Any one of these will ensure that the film goes down a bit easier; all four will probably make the movie a must-see. If, however, you lack any interest in the Republic of the Philippines, its movies or gay culture, then this one is probably a best-to-avoid. For the record, I enjoyed it and laughed a good deal, but my spouse (we're gay, by the way) could easily have lived without the experience.

I also admit that a number of Philippine films I've taken in, particularly those with a gay bent, are given to the style of acting you might best describe as wide-eyed and open-mouthed (yes, just like that cute kid --Mart Escudero is the actor who plays the titular Remington-- shown above). A little of this goes a long way, but fortunately Mr. Escudero is playing an ostensibly straight young man who -- due to a curse placed upon him in childhood that only comes to life in his young manhood -- turns him overnight into a raving queen, who then tries to somehow disguise what is going on so that his friends, not to mention his new girlfriend, won't notice. This makes for fairly funny stuff, and were the writer/director Jade Castro (above), along with co-writers Raymond Lee and Michiko Yamamoto and the various cast members able to really spin this all into clever, well-timed jokes with a more professional gloss, the movie might have flown.

As it is, it hops and stops and stutters and starts but never quite takes off the way you'd like. It seems more a big-budgeted home-movie than anything else. But even these have their charms. And so it with Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings. What's a Zombading? The term is never specifically defined, but I would guess it's a gay zombie, Philippine style. Other than that aforementioned curse, the story whisks us away to the small town in which Remington lives where one of the citizens has stolen a student's science fair invention of a raygun (below) that can tell you if your goat is gay. (Yes: Don't ask. But I think this is part of the culture thing. Goats are evidently big in little country towns.)

Anyway, someone has stolen this raygun and is using it to wipe out all the homosexuals in town. Some of the funnier moments come when the raygun is not pointed at the typical over-the-top hairdresser but instead begins to target the more closeted gays. (Does this movie teach us tolerance, as well as the need to be who we are? You bet.) And then, yes, those dead gays return to life as Zombadings (below). And can they dance! I think you may be coming 'round to the kind of silliness this movie conveys. And if you can lose a few critical inhibitions, you might just start giggling, along with some others of us.

Or, you might, like my companion, roll your eyes heavenward, rise from the sofa and say, "Excuse me, dear: I'm going to do the dishes." Yet there are some small-but-tasty moments scattered throughout, especially when Remington can't help himself and begins coming on to his best friend (below). It's soon clear that sexuality and friendship may be a bit more encompassing that certain of these characters had imagined.

As I say, if you're interested in the culture of elsewhere, particularly the gay variety, there are reasons to watch, when Remington and Curse of the Zombadings -- from Ariztical Entertainment, in Filipino and Tagalog with English subtitles and running a little too long at 96 minutes -- opens in New York City (at the Quad Cinema this Friday, October 25) and in Los Angeles (at Laemmle's Noho 7 on November 8). Eventually, too, you'll be able to get it on DVD and/or VOD.

The photos above are from the film itself, 

with the exception of that of Mr. Castro, 

which comes courtesy of www.rappler.com

Auraeus Solito's Philippines-set BUSONG provides glorious vistas, legend, poetry-- and maybe a few unintentional chuckles

As a fan of Philippines filmmaker Auraeus Solito, ever since his bizarrely affecting narrative debut The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (from 2005), and his interesting follow-up, Boy (2009), I was primed for the beauty of this filmmaker's lovingly shot male bodies and his effectively simple story-telling technique. His new movie BUSONG (aka Palawan Fate) is something different, both more and less: a sumptuous mix of gorgeous sea- land- and sky-scapes, Philippines legend, mysticism, modern-day intrusions and, as ever, rather simple storytelling.

Via his mother, Mr. Solito, shown at right, comes from the Philippines' Palawan tribe, located in the South-westernmost point of the islands. Not until after the filmmaker graduated from university and returned home did he begin to learn the many stories of Palawan culture, religion, magic and the Shaman-Kings -- from whom, mother informed son, their family had descended. Eventu-ally, Solito decided that he must make a film about all this, of which Busong -- the Palawan version of "fate" -- is the first in a trilogy that the filmmaker has promised to continue.

From the outset, as a pair of scantily-clad young men carry a hammock-like receptacle along an uninhabited shoreline, the movie offers up the timeless look, sound and feel of legend. The crisp, bright, utterly pollution-free landscape makes for the kind of color cinematography that you can only achieve in the non-industrial areas of the world, and many of the shots here will take your breath away with their beauty.

What the young men are carrying turns out to be a very ill young woman (above), the sister of one of the men. Another young woman offers to help carry the load and to take the girl to a "healer," so off they go. We learn of this new young woman's problems (missing husband, chainsaws and felled trees), and then another bearer takes over the carrying duties (a hunky fisherman who once had a son and a boat), and finally another young man returning from the city to his ancestral place among the Shamans.

We learn of each of these bearers' life via memory, dream and narration, as one story flows into another like the constant ocean waves or the waterfall (three photos above) that feeds the little lake below it. If we're not always sure where we are or of whose story we're currently part, we're soon back again with the sick girl, as she is carried further toward either healing or death.

Though we see little of "modern civilization" -- a scene in a hospital-like office, an encounter with a nasty white man -- we're made aware of how the Palawan people have been and still are ill-used by their oppressors and by western religion. One character remarks of wanting to be "where the sound of church bells is not heard and government does not exist."

Along the way there is a scene of a breath-taking giant plant (no special effects, just nature, I suspect); another demonstrates the healing effects of Palawan urine; and the finale offers up our young woman's wounds actually breeding butterflies out of her sores (nice make-up job here).

What holds this very slow-paced film together are its staggeringly lovely visuals, as well as as the beautiful young men and women the director has chosen for his leading roles. His camera caresses them all, particularly the men, with appreciation and barely-concealed longing. While the simplicity of the stories and their telling makes for charm, however, it can also lead to some longueurs, during which you may find yourself wondering what Mystery Science Theater's man and his robots might make of all this. Their occasional commentary, no doubt, would be choice.

The above might sound unfairly harsh, for there is much to appreciate about the filmmaker's endeavor. But sometimes Solito's simple and beautiful leans a little too much toward the former. Busong opens this Friday, June 29, in New York City at the Quad Cinema. No other U.S. playdates are to be immediately found, but you can click here to see its many past playdates, at festivals internationally.