AMERICAN SERIAL KILLER IN MANILA Teaser Will Have You Gushing For More
The title alone will have you stop whatever you're doing. The Philippines, for all its reputation for criminality and mayhem, has never been a haven for a particular sort of criminal, the serial killer. This specific fact seems to be...
Review: LA ULTIMA PELICULA, Featuring A Melancholy, Amusing Apocalypse
The year 2012 was, for most of humanity, a waiting game. The Mayans predicted the world's end. Riots sprouted. Floods happened. Scandals erupted. It seemed the Mayans spoke true, but there was still no assurance that the world was on...
Best of 2014: Top 15 Filipino Films
2013 was the year when Erik Matti released On the Job, showing the world that there was more to the Philippines than the suffering and dolor most of its films so valiantly depict. It was also the year when filmmakers Siege...
Review: Dan Villegas' ENGLISH ONLY, PLEASE, Feel-Good Rom-Com That's Good For The Soul
Dan Villegas' English Only, Please opens with Julian (Derek Ramsay), a New York City-based financial analyst, on the hunt for a Filipino translator to translate the venom-filled speech he wrote for his ex-girlfriend and teach him to say the translation...
Review: Antoinette Jadaone's BEAUTY IN A BOTTLE, A Witty and Self-Deprecating Comedy Directed At Beauty Consumerism
Six Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay (2011), Antoinette Jadaone's first feature, revolves around a real-life character named Lilia Cuntapay, a bit player who has become some sort of celebrity for portraying ghouls and witches in a number of Filipino horror movies. It...
Cinemalaya 2014: Carlos Siguion-Reyna's HARI NG TONDO (WHERE I AM KING), A Crowdpleaser With Some Semblance Of Substance
There are at least two disparate movies in Hari ng Tondo (Where I Am King), Carlos Siguion-Reyna's first feature film in more than a decade. The first movie is the one written by Bibeth Orteza, which was followed faithfully...
Cinemalaya 2014 Review: Milo Sogueco's MARIQUINA Maps Familial Heartbreaks With Astounding Elegance
In one sequence in Milo Sogueco's Mariquina, shoemaker Romeo (Ricky Davao, who inhabits the role with unabashed fragility) attempts to salvage whatever he can save in his warehouse from the flood. His teenage daughter, Imelda (Barbie Forteza, who inhabits the delicate...
Review: Cathy Garcia-Molina's SHE'S DATING THE GANGSTER Is More Than Just Your Average Filipino Rom-Com
The early 90's was for Philippine cinema a period for transition from the hard-hitting dramas and actioners to the sugary and light romances that are still popular up to today. Carlos Siguion-Reyna's Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (I Will Wait For...
Review: Lav Diaz's NORTE: THE END OF HISTORY is a Masterpiece That Tackles Human Strife
History is often written to objectify the past into a series of related events that lead to the present. As a result, it tends to glorify milestones to the point of neglecting the humanity that is the very soul...
Anticipated In 2014: The Films We Most Want To See
With 2014 now fully upon us the ScreenAnarchy team gathers to take a look at the films we most want to take a look at in the coming year. Is this some sort of scientific poll? Heck no, more just...
Review: Chito Roño's BOY GOLDEN Is A Bizarre Actioner That Bursts With Charm And Identity
Chito Roño's Boy Golden, the third of actor-turned-politician Jeorge "E.R. Ejercito" Estregan's yearly vanity projects, is a surprisingly offbeat actioner. A fictionalized take on the life of 1960's gang leader Arturo Porcuna, the film transforms Manila into a stage where...
CinemaOne 2013: Jet Leyco's BUKAS NA LANG SAPAGKAT GABI NA (LEAVE IT TOMORROW FOR NIGHT HAS FALLEN) is a Powerful Document on the Philippines' Culture of Censorship
"Bukas na lang sapagkat gabi na (Leave it tomorrow for night has fallen)." It is a phrase most commonly used by doting mothers who keep secrets from inquisitive children. Jet Leyco, who has heard the phrase as a kid curious...
CinemaOne 2013: Bolstered By Intense Performances, KABISERA Is A Daring And Intelligent Debut For Borgy Torre
The bookends of Borgy Torre's Kabisera are presented with such disarmingly romantic flair that they immediately stand out from the gritty reality that consumes most of the film. Andres (Joel Torre) sits in the head of the table, while the...
CinemaOne 2013 Review: Whammy Alcazaren's ISLANDS Has All the Awkwardness, Charm, and Honesty of a Love Poem
The easiest thing to do is to either stop at faulting or praising Whammy Alcazaren's ambition in mounting Islands, a deeply personal meditation on the complexities of loving. The film is hardly about the director's ambition. It is more about...
CinemaOne 2013 Review: Miko Livelo's BLUE BUSTAMANTE is an Emotionally Affecting Charmer Despite Obvious Rough Edges
It is inevitable for the Philippines, a country whose economy thrives because of the inward remittances of its overseas workers, to develop a film culture that revolves specifically around the experiences of those expatriated breadwinners and the families they...
Review: Despite Its Contrivances, Ian Lorenos' ALAGWA (BREAKAWAY) Can Only Leave You in Tears
Inspired by an urban legend about kidnappers targeting children to be turned into beggars, Ian Lorenos' Alagwa (Breakaway) tells the story of Robert (Jericho Rosales) and Brian (Bugoy Carino), his son. The film opens with Robert and Brian shopping inside a mall....
Review: Raya Martin and Mark Peranson's LA ULTIMA PELICULA Makes the Apocalypse Such a Melancholic but Amusing Affair
The year 2012 was, for most of humanity, a waiting game. The Mayans predicted the world's end. Riots sprouted. Floods happened. Scandals erupted. It seemed the Mayans spoke true, but there was still no assurance that the world was on...
Review: Joel Ferrer's HELLO, WORLD Has Too Much Fun, But Too Little Emotional Heft
We all were once invincible. High with puberty, we were indestructible with our first time sexual encounters, super secret crushes, and truckloads of alcohol. We talked with flair, mouthing fad words that are strange to adult ears. We walked with a...
Review: Jerrold Tarog's SANA DATI (IF ONLY) is an Affecting Romantic Film for Failed Romantics
Jerrold Tarog has been exposing the hard truths behind the Philippines' greatest preoccupations, politics and family. Through characters whose jobs are related to cameras, Tarog destroys myths that have misled Filipinos into a distorted sense of comfort. In Confessional (2007),...
Cinefilipino Review: Mike Alcazaren's PUTI (WHITE) is a Gorgeously Atmospheric Horror Until It Decides to Become a Conventional Morality Tale
At the center of Mike Alcazaren's Puti (White) is Amir (Ian Veneracion), a counterfeit painter who leads a reclusive life with his son, Jaime (Bryan Pagala). His wife died a couple of years back. Other family members are abroad. His...
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