Pa-Siyam Review
Between the loopy low budget goofiness of his superhero flick Gagamboy and the big budget fantasy pic Exodus Filipino director Erik Matti released Pa-Siyam, a somber ghost story following a group of siblings returning to their childhood home to bury their mother. And I am referring to this as a ghost story rather than a horror film for a very deliberate reason. Though Pa-Siyam certainly has its share of shocking imagery the film is far more concerned with the surviving family than it is with the ghost, going so far as to show only the aftermath of the ghost's behavior and staying almost entirely away from the jump scares. It's an interesting approach and one that immediately sets Pa-Siyam apart from the pack of recent Asian ghost stories.
The film opens with Nilo, the eldest of five siblings, arriving at his childhood home following the death of his mother. His brother and three sisters have long since scattered around the world, leaving their ailing mother in the care of the local family that has served as their domestic help for years. Nilo has been living and working in the Middle East, his brother in Los Angeles, his sisters in other unstated locations and, like most spread out families, appear to have little contact with each other for years and are drawn together now out of a sense of duty more than any apparent affection for one another. They will come, bury their mother, deal with the resulting legalities, observe a nine day pa-siyam – a mourning and purification period also known in catholic circles as a novena – and then go on their separate ways.
But it is immediately clear that all is not as it should be. The mother's caregivers are on edge and cagey with their information. When they children ask to see where their mother died they are taken not to her bedroom but to a padlocked room in a remote part of the house. The house is filled with unfamiliar sounds at night. And, most tellingly, the local parish priest and the ‘prayer lady' who typically helps with the pa-siyam ceremony both flat out refuse to enter the house. What has really happened here and, more importantly, what is still happening?
The strengths of Matti's film lie in his willingness to take his time and let things build naturally as well as in his eye for composition and cinematography. The family home is a weathered and slowly decaying, but still absolutely magnificent, country manor house that makes a breathtaking set and Matti uses it very well, filling his picture with gorgeous images that both comfort and unsettle. The more relaxed pace is a refreshing change from the seemingly unstoppable current desire to cram these sorts of films with a scare a minute, and when ghostly events start to become obvious the images are all the more unsettling as a result. Though he doesn't reach the same heights as the Japanese master the quiet understatement and focus on character over plot certainly make you wonder if Matti has been spending his time cozied up with some of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films in recent days.
As is often the case Matti's strength here, his focus on character, also proves to be the film's biggest weakness as the characters are far too often blandly accepting of the increasingly hostile events unfolding around them. As an example – and this dips into spoiler territory – the eldest sister twice wakes in the morning to find herself and her entire bedroom covered with a positively disgusting mix of urine, feces, vomit and rotting food. I don't know about you but I'd be gone after the first occurrence, but not only does she take it a second time she actually returns to sleep in the same room the third night without any sort of protest or thought given to moving elsewhere. No, thank you. The character's continuing unflappability in the face of these escalating events undercuts the building tension at times and makes it difficult to believe that they are in any serious danger.
Pa-Siyam, then, is a bit of a mixed bag. Matti is clearly a skilled director with a unique vision. His film his filled with ample evidence of is abilities to both impress and disturb. However it is also hampered by some character weaknesses that keep it from reaching its full potential.
