Oil & Latin America: Three Films

Before Oil

Film: Caribe (2004, Costa Rica, Director Esteban Ramírez)

Pristine beauty. Calm waters & beautiful coastlines.

This is the untouched beauty of Costa Rica that the camera in Caribe returns to on multiple occasions to remind us what would be lost if the proposed oil drilling mentioned at the film's beginning would go through.

The story of the oil drilling/explorations off the coast shown in Caribe are based on a real episode in Costa Rica's history. In the film, before the oil drilling could start, explorations were made to determine how much oil there really was underneath the ocean. As part of the process, the oil companies exploded bombs in the seabed. This scared the fish away and the town's fishing supply was depleted. The town of Limon mainly survived on two income sources -- fishing and tourism. The environmentalist groups feel that once big oil moves in, tourism will take a hit and cripple the local economy. The groups turn to the locals to raise their voice and stop the oil companies.


One of the most respected town members is Vicente (Jorge Perugorría),

who owns a banana plantation. But his business is in danger of collapsing after a new European tax on Costa Rican fruit exports makes his supply less profitable to his exporters.

There may be more to Vicente's contracts getting cancelled and the audience is given an indirect hint. Vicente is told that because of the new European tax, the exporters only want to deal with big plantations and not independent producers. This could be an indirect way to force the local people out of a job thus making the lure of big oil and its promised jobs seem as the only option to move forward.

Vicente is torn between his principles to help fight the oil companies and the need to keep his business alive. The money offered by the oil companies to get his support is too tempting to turn away. Equally tempting is his wife's sister. The stress and madness lure Vicente away from his beautiful wife (below) into the arms of the sensuous sister.

Even if the oil issue was not around, a few early clues do indicate that Vicente would still have cheated on his wife. But the timing of his betrayal are interesting as they coincide with the arrival of the oil corporations which threaten the peaceful environment, while the new arrival of the long lost sister threatens his perfect marriage. As a result, both the paradise in his mind and around him are shook up.

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When Oil arrives

Film: Le Salaire de la peur (1953, France, Director Henri-Georges Clouzot)

In Caribe the locals eventually fight away big oil and save their land. But that is not always the case. Most times, the promise of new jobs and money allow oil companies to easily move in. The town (or city/country) then depends on oil as the main source of income. Other industries may collapse as young & old rush to work for the oil companies.

At the start of Wages of Fear, we find men languishing in a sleepy un-named Latin town. Oil is the only work around as men earn their money working in the oil fields. There are plenty of foreigners who work in the town and want to save enough money to eventually leave one day. Mario (Yves Montand) is living the happy life between work and chasing a woman.

His good friend Jo (Charles Vanel) arrives in town for the sole purpose of earning money. We can tell he is not allowed in this place as just before he heads for immigration, he slips money in his passport. This ensures his passport gets stamped, without even a glance at the pictures of people on the wanted list.


Jo discovers an old acquaintance in the American boss of the Southern Oil Company (the initials SOC point towards the real life Standard Oil Company) and heads to ask him for work because he really needs the money. But he is told that things in this country are strict and Jo can't get work because of his past.

Things are quiet in town with work progressing at a slow pace until an emergency stirs things up. A fire at a remote oil field kills a few people and requires to be controlled before it threatens to rack up more financial losses. One way to curb the oil fire is to use explosives around the wild gushing oil station. For that, nitroglycerin has to be used.


Notes:

Interestingly, Daniel Plainview uses this same tactic in There Will be Blood. And some of the shots of a man against the backdrop of black smoke reminded me of Plainview.

There is an interesting shot of three naked natives watching the oil fire. The three natives simply stand by looking at the fire and are told by the oil operator to go away but seeing that the locals don't understand his words, he walks away in frustration.

In Caribe we see the local natives getting upset at the plans of big oil as that would threaten to take away the land they have lived on. One can infer that the three natives shown in Wages of Fear used to live on or nearby this land which is now being used by SOC.

Since the remote oil site is a few hundred miles away, it is a tough job to get nitroglycerin there because a spilled drop of nitroglycerin can kill an individual. On top of that, there isn't proper equipment and none of the trucks have shock absorbers or safety features to safely transfer this dangerous explosive. So the American bosses decide the only way this can be done is to get two trucks to carry the dangerous good there. They only need one truck load of nitroglycerin but two will be sent out in case one doesn't make it. One of the owners wants to pay the drivers "peanuts" but the American boss refuses to short change the drivers since they are going on a suicide mission. So the wage is set to $2000 dollar. Oh, and to avoid any problems the drivers will be hired from outside the union.

Plenty of men show up wanting to get this deadly job because of the money.

Eventually 4 men are chosen (including Mario) and once again Jo is shut out. But mysteriously, the German driver chosen does not make it to the 3 am departure time and magically Jo appears to take his place (it is clear that Jo did something to make the German disappear).

As to be expected the journey of these 4 men and two trucks is tension packed and full of dangerous obstacles. The trucks have to go at a certain speed otherwise the potholes on some of the roads could cause the explosives to go off (hmm, the idea of not going above a certain speed limit reminded me of the concept in Speed).


Some of the obstacles include a giant boulder in the middle of the road which has to be blown up using a pinch of nitroglycerin, a shaky bridge which the truck has to back onto in order to make a tricky turn and an oil lake.


I believe there is a newer DVD copy of this movie but I found an older DVD in the original French language and no subtitles. But thankfully, three important sequences in the film are in English -- the meeting between Jo and the American boss, the discussion of the oil field fire and explanation of the dangers of the nitroglycerin transfer. This is all the information I needed because after the 45 minute mark when the two trucks head out on their mission, the tension of the situation kept me riveted and I hardly noticed time pass by or the fact that I could not understand most of the words. Such is the power of the images, the editing and camera work that words can't compete with the beauty of what is put on screen.

Plus there are plenty of scenes which are just wonderful to watch. One such sequence involves Mario and Jo sitting in the local bar when Luigi (another person who gets picked to be one of the 4 drivers) asks the barmaid to dance.

Mario is upset as this is the woman that he likes.

Jo decides to stop the music.

At first Luigi is startled but within a second he continues singing the song and dancing, much to the delight of the other patrons who clearly support Luigi.


Nothing fancy about this scene but it is so free flowing and full of life.

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Some side effects of oil..

Film: Keepers of Eden (2007, USA, Director Yoram Porath)

The oil lake shown in Wages of Fear shows one of the side effects of oil pipelines and drilling is that oil could accidentally spill over. It becomes more dangerous when this spilled oil finds a way into a water supply. The documentary Keepers of Eden shows nauseating scenes of the harmful effects of oil tainting fresh water supply resulting in skin diseases and sores in people who use the water source. The areas shown in the film are some sections of the Amazon in Ecuador.

Keepers of Eden shows that the blame not only lies with big oil but with a government that rushes to allow oil companies to move in. In Caribe Vicente tries to argue that there are ways for oil companies to be "eco-friendly". Ofcourse, he did not believe that himself but he was speaking those words because he needed the money from big oil. He eventually decides that he can't sell his soul but what the film showed was that in certain circumstances even a proud local like Vicente was willing to forget the environment because of the money offered. And that is the problem really. Oil means money. Why else was Daniel Plainview so eager to drill in There Will be Blood and switched over to oil exploration from gold/silver hunting? And when the bottom line is money, then sadly the environment and other safety measures take a back-seat. A few years ago, the cause of the environment was put forth and it seemed that someone would listen. But as each passing day goes by and the price of oil dominates the media headlines, it is hard to believe that events/scenes shown in Caribe & Keepers of Eden won't continue to repeat themselves.

I See Book, You See Movie!

A few days after I finished Roberto Saviano's wonderful book Gomorrah, I found out that a fictional movie based on the book was in the Cannes competition line-up. Last night, I came across a book Johnny Mad Dog by the Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala. I had never heard of the book or the author but the sale price of $0.50 (yes that's right, 50 cents!!) was too good to pass up. And today, I discover that a movie based on the book is playing in the festival's Un Certain Regard section. Interesting coincidences. Hmm, what other books can I discover in the next 11 days before the Cannes festival is over?

Although, I have no excuses for the Jose Saramago book Blindness. I started reading the book about two years ago but never finished it. And today Fernando Meirelles' film version opened the Cannes festival. I am still not sure if I will finish the book before I tackle the film.

Tsai Ming-liang: Taiwan to KL

Shifting location from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur:

Tsai Ming-liang returns to his birth country Malaysia to make his first feature outside of Taiwan. For good measure he transports his cinematic character Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) to hot & humid Kuala Lumpur.

At the film's start, the rain has stopped and leaves an empty building packed with water.

After getting beat up by a bunch of street thugs, Hsiao-kang is rescued by a group of Bangladeshi workers who let him stay with them. One of them (below) takes a special interest in Hsiao-kang.

But Hsiao-kang does not recognize the love showered upon him and instead chases women around the city.

It may be a different city but loneliness follows him around, along with a few quirky affairs.



Will there be more adventures for Hsiao-kang? I certainly hope so as I have not tired of his characters in Tsai Ming-liang's features.

Here's a recap of the older films:
[Correction added: I keep making the mistake of using Lee Kang-sheng's name everywhere as opposed to using his character's name of Hsiao-kang. Since the character's name is hardly (or never?) spoken in the movies, I blur the line between the two.]

A teenager rebels:

1992's wonderful Rebels of the Neon God shows a young Hsiao-kang developing a crush and getting jealous. But before he fell for the girl, he was angered by an act of vandalism directed towards his father. Despite his young age, he is patient and quietly waits to extract his revenge. In the end, he feels a tinge of guilt for his actions yet continues along his drifting ways. His relationship with his parents is starting to crumble as he is rebelling against society and himself -- he drops out of school and uses the money to spend time at arcades and wander aimlessly around the city.

Love and a place to stay:

Lee Kang-sheng's character has grown up slightly when we meet him next in 1994's Vive L'Amour. He now has a job, being a door to door salesman. Ofcourse, he is still as mischievous as ever. During a job visit, he finds a key hanging outside an apartment door. He quietly snags the key and sneaks in one night to find an empty apartment. The vacant apartment is in the process of being sold with the realtor (May Lin played by Yang Kuei-Mei) dropping by occasionally to show it to prospective clients or to use the place for her own sexual acts. It turns out that May Lin's lover (Ah-Jung played by Chen Chao-jung) also uses the apartment as a place to stay. So both Ah-Jung and Hsiao-kang find themselves as unexpected room-mates. While Ah-Jung is able to satisfy his desires with May Lin, Hsiao-kang finds pleasure by spying on the two making love and gratifying himself. But all three characters are extremely lonely in the vast and cold city. At the start of the movie, we find Hsiao-kang attempting suicide. His appetite for life is slightly increased thanks to the unexpected encounter with Ah-Jung.

A strange illness:

At the start of The River (1997), Hsiao-kang is quietly heading towards a department store. A girl heading down the escalator recognizes him and the two hang out together. This chance encounter proves to be fatal for Hsiao-kang. While tagging along with the girl, he finds himself at a film-shoot and is asked to play the role of an extra -- the film's director wants him to play a dead body floating in the river. Hsiao-kang is reluctant to play the role because the river appears to be 'filthy'. Still he agrees and is very convincing playing a dead body floating away. But shortly after that role, he develops a strange itch in his neck. Gradually, the itch develops into a mysterious illness which takes over him -- he is in constant pain and wants to die. His worried father is willing to try anything to cure his son but Hsiao-kang's condition gets worse.

In this film, we truly get to see a different side to Hsiao-kang's parents -- we get to see his father's secrets and observe his mother's day to day life. The illness that inflicts Hsiao-kang temporarily brings the parents together but it is clear their lives are drifting away. And a strange encounter between father and son also ensures that the two won't ever see eye to eye.

Rain & cue music:

In 1998's The Hole Taiwan is getting pounded by heavy rainfall on the eve of the year 2000. Most apartments are suffering from leaky ceilings. A plumber comes to a man's (Lee Kang-sheng who is credited in the movie as just "the man upstairs") apartment to check for leaks. But the plumber makes a big hole in the man's living room. Lee Kang-sheng still plays a lonely character like in the other Tsai Ming-liang movies. One night, he returns home terribly drunk. After he stumbles in his apartment, he throws up over the hole.





The results of his drunken exploits find their way to the apartment below. Needless to say, the woman living downstairs is not amused. "The woman downstairs" is played by Kuei-Mei Yang, another familiar face found in Tsai Ming-liang films.

Both the man upstairs and woman downstairs are lonely. Eventually, the two start finding a common bond with each other. The hole which is a cause of dispute ends up being a salvation for both.

Musical numbers -- This is the first Tsai Ming-liang film where musical numbers make an appearance. Such musical dances later show up in The Wayward Cloud as well but they got a start here.


The numbers provide some humour and respite away from the bleakness of the character's situations. The dance songs are shown from the woman's perspective as her feelings are mirrored in the song lyrics.

Another job and a real love:

Hsiao-kang's father passes away in 2001's What Time is it there?. While Hsiao-kang is not too concerned with his father's death, his mother is convinced the father's ghost visits them. Also the flooding problem in the apartment that the mother had fixed in The River mysteriously returns. Hsiao-kang has found a new job selling watches on a skywalk. One day a girl (Shiang-chyi) wants to buy his personal watch which has dual times. At first he is reluctant to part with the watch but eventually gives it to her. The girl tells him she is leaving for Paris the next day. After she leaves, Hsiao-kang is obsessed with Paris and the thought of that woman. He goes about changing all the watches around him (and even in the city) to reflect Parisian time. Meanwhile, Shiang-chyi is lonely and having a hard time adjusting to life in Paris.

This film is the first clear reflection of Tsai Ming-liang's influence. Just like François Truffaut used the same actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud) to play the role of Antoine Doinel in multiple films, Tsai is doing the same with Lee Kang-sheng (playing the character of Hsiao-kang). The one difference is the character of Lee Kang-sheng has gone on for more than 16 years and multiple films while Antoine Doinel was used in three films over a period of 11 years. In What time is it there? Hsiao-kang watches The 400 Blows and falls in love with the film, while Shiang-chyi comes across an older Jean-Pierre Léaud on a bench in Paris. One cinematic circle is tied.....

The girl returns:

The short film The Skywalk is gone (2002, 26 minutes) is an epilogue to What Time is it there?. Shiang-chyi returns from Paris to discover that the skywalk where she bought the watch from is gone. In the absence of the skywalk, she attempts to cross the heavy traffic road and gets a ticket from a traffic police officer. Somewhow, she loses her id card as the officer was giving her a ticket. The loss of her id card is a symbolic reflection of her mental state -- she is at a loss because the missing skywalk represented a link to her past life in the city.

Near the end of the short, Hsiao-kang makes an appearance. He crosses paths with Shiang-chyi as he is going upstairs in an underground pathway. But Shiang-chyi does not recognize him and continues walking. Hsiao-kang stops, turns around and ponders. But he has no time to chase after her as he has a job interview to rush to.

Watermelon and sex:

What is Hsiao-kang's next job? We see him giving a nervous interview to be a porn actor at the end of The Skywalk is gone. He does not perform very well in the interview but the start of 2005's The Wayward Cloud finds him pleasuring women while eating a juicy watermelon all in front of a camera crew. So he must have impressed his employer somehow!

Fade to black, end of film, theater shutdown:

2003's Good Bye, Dragon Inn shows a theater running its final shows before the inevitable shutdown. We see how the movie hall goes from days when it was completely packed to the modern time when only a few film buffs bother showing up. The once polished cinema is now falling apart and the rains causes water to flood the hall floors. Lee Kang-sheng only has a brief cameo playing the theater projectionist. One can imagine his character, Hsiao-kang, working this job as a secondary stint to his porn star career. In fact, given Hsiao-kang's past behaviour, I would not put it past him to splice the film with shocking images from other films, a la Tyler Durden (Fight Club).

Curtains down. Rain drops.

Asian Spotlight: India, Part II

Aks / reflection / double / doppelganger / kagemusha:

A look-alike is discovered and asked to shadow the original. Strange consequences take the original out of the equation. Then the look-alike steps out of the shadow and becomes the very person that he was trying to shadow. But something even stranger then happens. The look-alike starts losing his self and he starts to identify with the original. This was the story of Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha.


But recently two Indian film-makers have take this double idea and adapted it to two completely different stories, even though the leads in both movies play characters who are film extras dreaming of making it big in Bollywood. Rajat Kapoor uses the double idea and adds a nod to John Woo's Face Off in his dark and engaging film Mithya. Whereas, Rohit Jugraj takes a different approach and creates Super Star where a film extra has the same appearance with a new Bollywood actor and gets mistaken for the upcoming superstar. Mithya starts off with a touch of humour gets darker and darker until it ends in complete darkness, although that is the only possible ending. Super Star could have ended on an ironic twist at the 90 minute mark but continues for another hour to end on a customary Bollywood ending where happiness is ushered in.

I loved Mithya not only for the dark story but for the brilliant performances put in by Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak & Naseeruddin Shah. Naseeruddin plays a gangster similar to the one he played to great effect in Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys. Shorey & Pathak have been putting in great performances recently and they have continued that trend here.

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Sensuality, beauty, magic, myth, death and reincarnation:

I absolutely adored Pan Nalin's first film Samsara which was an intoxicating mix of Buddhism and sensuality. So I was looking forward to his second feature A Valley of Flowers. Like his first film, the mountainous locales are stunning, the female lead gorgeous (Mylène Jampanoï) and the sexual chemistry electric. Even though the story is much more imaginative than Samsara, the screenplay and editing let this film down slightly. Still, the movie is worth watching.

A thief (Jalan played by Milind Soman)

comes across a woman (Ushna played by Mylène Jampanoï) during his looting quests.


Ushna wants to travel with Jalan and is not afraid of his rugged looks and band of thieves. She quickly asserts her presence in the group and promises to lead the men to untold riches. On their heels is a mysterious man (Naseeruddin Shah) who is after Ushna.


Jalan is slowly intoxicated by Ushna and turns against his friends.

The two go around stealing powers from priests and tantrics in their quest for immortality. In one of my favourite sequences in the film, Ushna steals the shadows of people with good luck so as to change her misfortune. Things take a very interesting turn when the two lovers are confronted by the mysterious man in the valley of silence (another interesting sequence in the film). From then on, the movie moves ahead a few centuries in Japan before the karmic cycle catches up with the two lovers.

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Displaced by Politics:

When Mani Ratnam tackles films about political situations, he carefully manages to weave stories about relationships and family within a political context. In his political films, the focus is always on the individuals and how their lives are effected by the chaos around them. In Roja the backdrop was Kashmir and terrorism, in Bombay he set a love story against the Bombay riots while Dil Se was a passionate love story with a core thread about suicide bombers and Eastern Indian issues; Yuva was about how the younger generation in Calcutta handled politics. Now in A Peck on the Cheek, Ratnam has shifted focus to Sri Lanka where struggles between the army and militants has resulted in mass migration of people to Southern India where they were known to have languished in refugee camps.

In terms of story, screenplay and acting A Peck on the Cheek is clearly superior to Roja, Bombay, Dil Se & even Yuva. A Peck on the Cheek tackles the difficult questions of adoption and displacement in a very mature and intelligent manner. Although, Ratnam carefully avoids taking any political sides and shows the militants cause as a matter of fact without attempting to judge or put down one side. I could have done without some of the songs but the visuals in the videos are breathtaking. In terms of technical support, the stellar crew of A.R Rehman (music), Ravi K. Chandran (cinematography), Sreekar Prasad (editing) and Sabu Cyril (art direction) are in fine form and help to beautify this solid story.

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Serving up an old style as a new one:

True to form, a film titled 'Style' offers no substance whatsoever. Tashan means style in Hindi slang and the film is too concerned with being cool and having smooth characters. The waver thin story is just an excuse to hop around India, having the actors dance in a few songs and dressing in funky clothing. The biggest talking point about the movie has to be Kareena Kapoor's well toned body. In this respect, she continues the recent trend of Bollywood actresses to hit the gym.

In 1989 when Maine Pyar Kiya was released, Salman Khan become the first Bollywood lead to have a six pack and a well toned body. A few years after that, hitting the gym become the in-thing in Bollywood and the film industry was packed with macho studs. With the exception of Shilpa Shetty, no other Bollywood actresses were concerned with going to the gym and this trend was limited to the male actors. But that changed in 2006 when Aishwarya Rai & Bipasha Basu showed off their well toned female form in Dhoom 2. A few other actresses followed suit after that like Esha Deol. And now Kareena Kapoor has joined the list. She is so happy with her results that she shows it off to all those interested in the video for Tashan -- Chaliya (note: the following is only a clip of the song).

At the video's start, she emerges from the ocean in a yellow bikini and the camera ensures we get a good look. And in case someone missed the view, director Vijay Krishna Acharya ensures the camera goes back for a second and third look.

Ofcourse, the six pack rush in the male actors was given another lease of life last year when Shah Rukh Khan decided to beef up and showed off his results as well in Om Shanti Om:

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Religion & Inspiration:
Bhavna Talwar's Dharm received a good deal of buzz last year. Even though the film is beautifully shot, the story of a Hindu priest's values being tested was a bit weak for me. In fact, one could see where the conflict points would take place in the story long time before they happened. And also, the sermon in the end was good natured enough but once again common place in Indian movies.

I was looking forward to seeing my first film from Gautam Ghosh -- Yatra. Unfortunately, my severe disappointment with the film leaves me with little words to say. I like the overall framework of a writer's life and the writer attempting to visit his muse again, but when the inspiration was to be found in the kothas (brothel), I lost interest as this was a topic covered enough times in Hindi films since the 60's.

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From Bombay to Bangkok, India to Thailand:

Nagesh Kukunoor's 1998 film Hyderabad Blues was a breath of fresh air. It was a good film put together on a shoe string budget. I missed his second film Rockford but Kukunoor took a major mis-step with 2001's Bollywood Calling, his parody about the Bollywood film industry. He brushed that failure aside and delivered a very poetic film in 2003 with 3 Deewarein. However after that he delivered a dud in Hyderabad Blues 2, a needless sequel to his debut film. A sweet coming of age cricket film in 2005 (Iqbal) was followed by his most mature film to date in 2006 with the emotionally touching Dor. So I was curious to see how his new flick Bombay to Bangkok would fare.

In essence the film is sort of half-way between his best and worst works. There are some promising moments, a very honest performance from Shreyas Talpade (who stars in his 3rd straight Kukunoor film) and some hilarious characters like the wanna be rapper son of a gangster (Naseeruddin Shah plays another don). Kukunoor tips a nod towards Iqbal and includes a replica scene from that movie in a moment when Talpade runs onto some hay to the background of music from Iqbal.

What I liked most about the movie is the title, as it indicates the next country in my Asian film spotlight: Thailand.

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Film (Year, Director): Rating:

Mithya (2008, Rajat Kapoor): 9

Super Star (2008, Rohit Jugraj): 7.5

A Peck on the Cheek (2002, Mani Ratnam): 8.5

Valley of Flowers (2006, Pan Nalin): 8.5

Tashan (2008, Vijay Krishna Acharya): 4.5

Yatra (2006, Gautam Ghosh): 5

Dharm (2007, Bhavna Talwar): 6.5

Bombay to Bangkok (2008, Nagesh Kukunoor): 6.5

Cinema of the Philippines, Part I

Asian Spotlight, Filipino Films

Two years I had not seen a single film from the Philippines. Then at VIFF 2006, I came across Jeffrey Jeturian's Kubrador (The Bet Collector) and was left in awe. Kubrador, shot on digital camera, followed the lead character Amy (played by Gina Pareño) as she went around a shanty town slum collecting money from her neighborhood to place on a local numbers game (Jeuteng). We watch Amy move from street to street, gossiping along the way, and honestly talking people out of their hard earned money. The people Amy hits for money are already poor and winning the Jeuteng lottery is their ticket to a better life. I enjoyed the verite style and liked how the camera invited us to spend some time in Amy's life. Also at VIFF 2006, John Torres won the Dragons and Tiger Award for his debut feature Todo Todo Teros, a film that I saw shortly after VIFF. Torres' film was an interesting blend of video journal, fiction, documentary, improvised dialogue and poetry.

I was looking forward to seeing some Filipino films at VIFF 2007 and I was not disappointed -- I loved Brillante Mendoza's two films Slingshot & Foster Child. But I was still woefully shy of knowing much about Filipino cinema and had not gotten anywhere near a list of some well known films.

Part I features 4 titles:

A good personal starting point for a Filipino spotlight had to be with the earlier films of Brillante Mendoza. And luckily I managed to find his first two features Masahista (The Masseur) and Kaleldo (Summer Heat).

Macho Dancer -- I wanted to pick a film by a Lino Brocka, a film-maker I had read about quite a bit but not seen anything from until last week. Interestingly last week, Mendoza's new film Serbis was selected in the Cannes 2008 competition category. The last time a Filipino film was selected for the Cannes competition was one by Lino Brocka.

Naglalayag (The Silent Passage) directed by Maryo J. De los Reyes

Earning a living in the dark:

It turns out that Mendoza's The Masseur & Brocka's Macho Dancer form an appropriate double bill as both are about men who leave their small town and head to the city where they sell their bodies to earn a living. In The Masseur, the lead character has to leave his home to work in a massage parlour while the main character in Macho Dancer works in a nightclub, pleasuring men and dancing his way to their hearts. Both films show a slice of the harsh reality in the Philippines but differ in their technique and intention -- The Masseur splices scenes from the character's present with his past and draws parallels between sexuality and certain rituals (funeral rites), while Macho Dancer is a linear narrative that is more interested in depicting the story of the main characters.

Relationships:

In Kaleldo (Summer Heat) Mendoza shows the lives of three sisters and their affairs and relationships. The film is divided into three sections (Wind, Earth and Fire) with each element representing the different personalities of the women. Hot, sultry, emotional and an engaging drama.

The core story of Naglalayag is about the relationship between an older woman and a young man but the love story is surrounded by topics of class difference, crime and poverty.

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Film (Year, Director): Rating out of 10

The Masseur (2005, Brillante Mendoza): 6
Kaleldo (2004, Brillante Mendoza): 8
Macho Dancer (1988, Lino Brocka): 6.5
Naglalayag (2004, Maryo J. De los Reyes): 7

Thierry Henry gets Framed by Paz Vega

It seems every time Henry has a bad touch of the ball, two articles get written in Spain about Henry's failure. Considering that Henry gave Arsenal fans so many great memories, it is not very pleasant to see Henry criticized so much. Negative articles about him were being written in the first half of the season but recently they have increased as end of the European season approaches. So in a way it was very refreshing to see a mini documentary film on Henry on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) last month. The film was directed by the lovely Paz Vega (yes the actress) and was part of IFC's Framed series where celebrities will make their first documentary film on sports stars.

Henry's film was the third episode in this series. It was a real treat to watch Henry being comfortable, happy, honest & even a wee bit flirtatious (I am sure Miss Vega has that effect). In reality, the doc film is only 5 minutes long but the rest of 20 or so minutes are about the setup.

The full film can be found here: Click on the Henry & Paz Vega link, and choose the full episode option. Although, I found this link a bit slow even though the sound quality was very good. Alternatively, here is the film in three parts (the sound quality is not the greatest in some sections):

Part One -- the set-up where Henry meets Paz Vega and they discuss the project.



Part Two -- the actual audition


Part Three -- the Interview and final shots.


Here's a very good quality clip of the penalty sequence between Henry and Vega.

Just a delightful film to watch.

Cannes 2008

The Cannes 2008 Line-up is out. A quick look by the Guardian at the films and directors.

What interests me is that Matteo Garrone's Gomorra is in the competition. I recently finished reading the book and loved it, so I am curious to see how a fictional tale based on the non-fiction book would stack up. Plenty of big names in the line-up but I am thrilled to see Brillante Mendoza's new film Serbis there. I loved his two previous movies Slingshot and Foster Child at VIFF last year. During the Q&A session after Slingshot at VIFF someone in the audience asked Mendoza what his next project was. He looked towards his producer before answering something along the lines of "sex in a movie theater" and that this was "something which happens in Philippines". Reading the brief description of Serbis, this might be the film that Mendoza talked about.

So I guess the film festival 2008 season is now officially open. Let the film anticipation begin!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another look at Southern Italy

I was lucky enough to chance upon Francesco Rosi's wonderful film Le Mani sulla città (Hands on the City) late last year. The film presented plenty of food for thought and encouraged me to find other films by Rosi. A mini spotlight on him showed that he was not afraid to tackle the political side of Italian life while giving voice to Southern Italy, something left out from a majority of Italian films. Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano gives a good look into the political/revolutionary past of Sicily and encouraged me to finally pick up John Dickie's book Cosa Nostra. Dickie's book forms a nice pair with Salvatore Giuliano and one can sense similar shadows lurking in both works.

Everything that exists passes through here. Through the port of Naples. There's not a product, fabric, piece of plastic, toy, hammer, show, screwdriver, bolt, video game, jacket, pair of pants, drill, or watch that doesn't come through the port. The port of Naples is an open wound. Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah, Chapter: The Port.

I once again thought of Rosi while recently reading Roberto Saviano's brilliant book Gomorrah. Saviano's book not only looks at the workings of the mafia in and around Naples, it examines the economic and political structure that allows the group such power. Both Saviano and Rosi are born in Naples and through their intelligent and well researched works, Gomorrah and Le Mani sulla città, have shown their disgust at how their city has been ruined by those in power. Rosi made Le Mani sulla città back in 1963 and could never have forseen how his city went into decline they way it did. Although in 1992, he revisited Naples with the documentary Diario napoletano and got a sense of how some things unfolded the way his movie predicted. Saviano does not mention Rosi in his book but I can imagine he would be familiar with Rosi's works. And likewise, I would like to imagine Rosi has read a thing or two from Saviano who is 57 years younger than Rosi -- Rosi was born in 1922 & Saviano in 1979. Rosi has not made a film since 1997 and if he were to make just one more film, I wish he and Saviano could collaborate together to peel away the layers of corruption that exists in their beloved city. But that does not seem likely as a film version of Gomorrah is slated to be directed by Matteo Garrone.

Asian Spotlight: Cambodia

I was exhausted after a series of travels across India and South East Asia. But when I woke up on 4 am, Sunday, Dec 17 (2006), I was energized because in an hour's time I would be standing in front of Angkor Wat, a place I had wanted to visit for the longest time. A private taxi dropped me off at the entrance. With the exception of a few street lights, darkness surrounded me. I crossed the main bridge to slowly walk towards the temple. Pitch black. Yet, despite the darkness I could sense the presence of something at the end of the path. I had seen the pictures enough times so maybe that played a part. But in the darkness, I could make out something large and imposing.



The above picture was taken between 5:20 - 5:40 am. The early pictures at 5:20 am came out dark and using a flash didn't make a difference. Initially when I got there only a few people wandered about. After 5:30 am or so, the tourist buses arrived with groups of people arriving with flashlights and making a lot of noise. Eventually, everyone headed to find their favourite spot to observe the temple during sunrise. I continued to stand in front of the temple, even though that may not have been the best spot.

The next few pictures show the gradual arrival of light:



The lotus lake around the temple appeared to be the best spot to take pictures as I found out later on.

Interestingly, this lotus lake was transformed into a fake floating market in Tomb Raider. In the movie, Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) arrives on a boat as other locals row their boat around her. She gets off the boat and enters the temple.


The name of Angelina Jolie is to be found around Siem Reap quite a bit. All the local guides know the spots where the movie was shot and point that out to travelers. As it turned out, the Red Piano hotel I stayed in had a restaurant where Miss Jolie had a drink and the spot is quite famous. Although, I didn't bother venturing in the restaurant (which was 2 blocks or so from the hotel), here's a picture of it from the outside.


The Angkor Wat temples were quite an experience. But one of the most surprizing things was to find that the walls were covered with myths from The Ramayana and Mahabharta. Even though I knew the temples were dedicated to Hinduism, it was eye-opening to see those myths charted out in beautiful detail and accuracy on the walls.

One of the most haunting images for me was the Ta Phrom temple. The temple is famous for having the trees taking over the rocky structures. It was surreal to see the following:



This was an example which showed that if humans were not around, nature would take over. It appears that since the Angkor civilization had disappeared, seeds dropped by birds in the cracks between the stones started sprouting into plants, which grew into large tree like structures. The trees grew so long and strong (almost as strong as metal in parts as I found out) that they started cracking the temple. Incredible!

Symbols, Streets and pace of life



While Angkor Wat has become a positive symbol of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge is the opposing negative symbol. Unfortunately, most international news only focus on a country to cover the horror and evil present there. And in Cambodia's case, its legacy of horror and killings still threatens to hog the headlines, even though all around Siem Reap expensive tourist hotels are being built to anticipate more and more tourists heading to the temples. Also, the old legacies of Khmer Rouge's torture spots are being made into tourist attractions. During conversations with the locales, they may refer to "the war" as a matter of fact without attempting to explain which war because they know that everyone knows what they are talking about. All around Siem Reap one can see books on the Khmer Rouge and even DVD's which keep the memory of those dark years fresh in everyone's minds.

While I picked up a few books on Cambodian history, for some bizarre reason in a lapse of judgment I didn't buy a DVD copy of S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine. Recently, I made amends and finally saw the movie. Rithy Panh's documentary brings together an old survivor of the regime along with some tortured victims and even the S21 prisoner torturers. At times, it is painful to see all these people trying to make sense of pure evil. The regime engaged in extreme torture via interrogations. Most times, it was innocent people who were being tortured. Since the victims had no information to give, the prison guards only increased the tortures because they were under instructions to get some information. One can imagine similar techniques being used by almost all countries around the world engaged in interrogation of spies, terrorists and rebels.

I have not seen the film The Killing Fields but I have Christopher Hudson's book by the same name. It has been on my reading list for some time now but after having read Francois Bizot's The Gate, I decided to space out reading more books on Cambodia. Bizot's book talked about his time as a captured prisoner in one of the Khmer Rouge's camps. While watching Werner Herzog's film Rescue Dawn last year, I thought of Bizot's book and his experiences in the camp. Words and images meshed together in my mind even though it was a different experience portrayed on the screen in front of me.

At the end of the day, memories of my brief stay in Siem Reap are regarding the hauntingly beautiful temples and works of man's achievements. It was fascinating to see how the forests around the temples took over the structures in the absence of any humans. It was a reminder that in the distant future, nature will eventually take over all our current civilizations.

Curtains, finally!

The Collapse:

In the future when football scholars will look back at the 2007/08 season, they may prefer to use the format from Jared Diamond's book Collapse to examine what went wrong with Arsenal. Diamond's book examines how and why some of the world's greatest civilizations disappeared. Well, Arsenal have collapsed in the worst possible fashion, losing all 4 titles by defeats to their bitterest rivals.

Same Same but different

The First half: Arsenal played well, moved the ball with purpose but could not take the lead. Adebayor was the most guilty wasting two glorious chances, the first with a neat 1-2, the second after Hleb's great dance set up him. In both cases, Adebayor went for the safe option and choosing to put the ball on target as opposed to testing the keeper. Also, in the first half the show called Eboue or Football Learnings of Arsenal for Make Benefit Glorious Premier team continued.

Arsenal took the lead early in the second half thanks to Van Persie's cross being headed home by Adebayor -- his first league goal in the league since his new haircut. But like last Tuesday's horror show, the lead didn't last long, once again due to a penalty being given. Clear cut or not, the cocky Ronaldo stepped up and put it away, only to be asked to have it retaken. Lehmann did his best to put the smug Portuguese off but Ronaldo repeated his stutter step and scored to level the game. As per the laws of the game, a stutter step is not allowed for spot-kicks but refs have stopped caring for years as Figo has made this into a trademark spot kick. And then the horror increased with a free-kick from Owen H.

To rub salt into wounds, Ronaldo returned to his pony dog roots in the closing stages to finally draw a curtain on Arsenal's 2007/08 season.