CineFilipino 2016 Movie Review

CineFilipino 2016 features two genre films this year

Earlier this week, I was very fortunate because I was finally able to watch some of the entries for this year's CineFilipino Film Festival, organized and led by Unitel Productions, Inc., and aims to support and develop new cinematic, audience-friendly works of artistic merit by up-and-coming and established filmmakers to help define the human experience through a Filipino perspective. The festival features a competition for feature-length movies, shorts section (mobile, online content, and short features), documentary, and TV series in digital format.

This year, nine entries made it to the final list. and two of them are genre films which was a first in the film festival since it's creation in 2015. 
I was able to catch these two films earlier this week, which I will be reviewing for this edition of Certified Ace.

Ang Tulay ng San Sebastian. A psychological horror film that weaves different urban legends and superstitions into a single story, it stars Joem Bascon and Sandino Martin and is helmed by director Alvin Yapan (ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa) in his first attempt into the genre.

An ambulance driver, Bong (Joem Bascon) and a nurse, Francis (Sandino Martin) soon realizes that the ghost stories and urban legends that they've been telling to each other are all coming to life as they are trapped and are stuck in a loop, driving along the same bridge over and over again on that fateful night of a Good Friday.

Director Alvin Yapan tries to weave off different urban legends and ghost stories and pack it into a single movie. The result is a partly effective psychological thriller that starts out really strong but ends up falling a bit short. One of it's biggest merits is the way director Yapan builds up a sense of dread and uneasiness during the first half of the film. It plays mostly with the two main lead's minds, with Bong narrating a classic urban legend that slowly comes to life right at their face without them realizing it. It successfully creates an intense and creepy atmosphere that really sets the whole movie up. Those clips showing the side of the road and the bridge as their ambulance pass by the very dark location was really unsettling to watch. It was as if something would jump out of the dark to grab you.

Sandino Martin and Joem Bascon

The two leads, Joem Bascon and Sandino Martin, does a great job of headlining the film. Even if the first few minutes of the film were a bit dull, they managed to keep the attention of the viewers with their chemistry. The way they talk to each other, scaring one another with urban legends might look a bit weird and corny. But it managed to keep the film going.

Then, the film transcends to an anthology style format, showing one urban legend after another. This is the part that is mostly hit or miss. Some of the segments/ stories work. Some don't. 

The part where the two leads are haunted by a white lady and a ghostly procession featuring a floating coffin that runs after them turned out fine. It was eerily creepy yet fun to watch. But as it further delves into other urban legends coming to life,  it's weakness starts to emerge. It started out with some poorly created CGI image of a demon (which resembles the sacred heart of Jesus image). But then, a much more badly created CGI of a tiyanak (infant monster) appears which brought laughter than scares to the audience. I guess this is mostly because this is an independent film which doesn't have enough budget.

Despite that, the film manages to be mostly fun. 

The bad CGI actually added to it's charm which makes it still enjoyable to watch.

Rating: ✰✰✰

Buhay Habangbuhay. A supernatural dark comedy drama based on a best-selling comic book from Meganon Comics. In a freak accident, dutiful housewife, Sandy, accidentally kIlls herself. Deciding she doesn’t want to move on alone, she waits for her philandering husband, Joel, to die so they can move on together. But when his time comes and cannot be found, Sandy realizes there is more to life in the afterlife. It stars Iza Calsado in the lead role, together with Jake Macapagal and Meryl Soriano. Directed by Paolo Herras, based on his own graphic novel that he wrote, the film takes a unique take on life after death.

The film starts out with a normal morning routine for Sandy, cooking breakfast for her husband, cleaning the house, etc. but then, she realizes what really happened that day to her. She she's her dead body in a pool of blood in the kitchen floor after she slipped, and she watches as her husband stats to panic. She watches him as he mourns her death for days, weeks and months. She's just there, watching in silence. This gives the film that melancholic tone that really sets out the right mood for this kind of topic: death and loss of a loved one. But as the story progresses, the tone shifts from a sad atmosphere, to a bit colorful one with the arrival of her husband's second wife and their child. This is were the dark comedy part of the film is evident as the story infuses some humor into the proceedings, without losing it's original tone.

Iza Calsado stars as Sandy.

The story of the comic book is translated very well into the film. One of the most notable scenes that I've seen in the original comic book was the long moments of silence in the story boards. The characters just show their emotions through their eyes and other facial expressions. This was perfectly translated into the film, with it's lead star Iza Calsado graciously maneuvering the whole scene without the aid of any dialogues. Her expressive eyes and body language was enough to explain everything happening on these scenes.

Another factor that made this film really compelling is it's amazing visuals. I know that these films have a very low budget for it's production given that these are independently produced films. Yet, the crew was able to make the film visually beautiful as possible. Beautiful cinematography, amazing angles, and gorgeous color palettes fills up every scene. The CGI effects might come a bit low grade, but it doesn't really decrease the film's visual impact. It actually makes it more artistically appealing because these scenes that feature some of the film's CGI and visual effects looks like the illustrations from the comic book coming to life.


Rating: ✰✰✰✰



Do you agree with my reviews? Any other genre films you want me to check out? Just leave a comment down below and I'll let you know what I think about it. Thank you for reading another edition of Certified Ace!