Smaller and Smaller Circles

Directed by: Raya Martin
Starring: Nonie Buencamino, Sid Lucero, Bembol Roco, Carla Humphries
Running time: 111 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

As a book, Smaller and Smaller Circles is a gripping thriller that exposes the systemic abuse that underprivileged children experience at the hands of those they most trust to lift them from their lot. As a movie, it is a disjoint, unevenly-acted collection of scenes that exposes F.H. Batacan’s penchant for wooden characters, melodramatic dialogue, and unnecessary French.

There are bright spots, such as the choral scoring that hits the right notes every now and again and a few fleeting moments of beautiful cinematography, but these only highlight the difficulty of adapting the novel to film. Rather than casting a new light on the source material, the writer-director’s choice to do a direct translation serves only to expose its shortcomings.

Birdshot

Directed by: Mikhail Red
Starring: Mary Joy Apostol, Ku Aquino, John Arcilla, Arnold Reyes
Running time: 116 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

Birdshot is a masterwork in organic unity. From the titular haribon to the protagonists and their adversaries, all are helplessly caught in situations much beyond their ability to resolve. As desperation sets in, nooses tighten and bad decisions are made that push everyone down their respective paths of no return. Similar to No Country for Old Men, the film comes to an abrupt conclusion that offers many more questions than answers, but in this case it’s almost as if the film is missing a third act to wrap up unfinished business between the characters.

Perhaps this is on purpose and the message of the film is that life is unfair and nothing ever goes the way you want it to. Given how tightly-directed the film had been overall, though, it really would have worked better with a more substantial denouement. Still, Birdshot gets much more right than it does wrong, and the tension never lets up for a second. Given the many concepts that writer-director Mikhail Red juggled successfully throughout the film, it’s still quite an achievement that he only fumbled at the very end. Sadly, it seems that the burning question raised in Birdshot‘s trailer is fated to remain unanswered.

Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B

Directed by: Prime Cruz
Starring: Ryza Cenon, Martin del Rosario, Vangie Labalan
Running time: 95 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

Much like the titular aswang, Manananggal is a film sharply divided. Cinematography and writing are both well-done and a good fit to the mood of the film. The scoring, while objectively good, is a bit disjoint because of their choice to go with songs mostly in English, despite the suburban setting of the film. Where the film ultimately fails though, is plot. The film does manage to surprise now and again, but ultimately comes to a banal and unsatisfying end. Though its visuals and dialogue strain to lift Manananggal to lofty heights, it’s too soon brought back down to earth by the dead weight of its story. And as we were taught in our college writing classes: walang kuwento; walang kuwenta.

Bliss

Directed by: Jerrold Tarog
Starring: Iza Calzado, Ian Veneracion, TJ Trinidad
Running time: 100 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

Despite clearly being an homage to psychological thrillers such as Misery and Perfect Blue, Bliss manages to avoid being predictable, with a unique conceit and an unexpectedly novel climax. Although often bogged down by unnecessary exposition and questionable plot turns, the film is still quite the step forward for Filipino cinema, both in terms of its cinematography and bold choice of subject matter.

Reservoir Dogs

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney
Running time: 99 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

Tarantino’s directorial debut is a film that challenges the general notion of what makes a movie good. The story is revealed in disjoint fragments, and the points audiences would consider to be most important are left out altogether. The soundtrack is also often at odds with the on-screen action, when it’s not at odds with good taste to begin with.

Perhaps most uncomfortably, there is no obvious protagonist, only a motley crew of villains who each fail miserably in their own way. The world of reservoir dogs is bleak and unforgiving, and its brilliance lies in how completely the audience experiences what the characters do. Pulp Fiction may be Tarantino’s finest work, but this is his best.

Source Code

Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
Running time: 93 minutes
TL;DR: Cry Try Buy

As with most films that invoke parallel realities, source code is not without its share of inconsistencies and open questions. What this movie is successful in, however, is in driving home the point that all it takes for disbelief to be suspended is a single leap of faith.