#WalangForever (2015) dir. Dan Villegas
First of all: let's discontinue the use of this term. There are far more advantageous ways to articulate our cynicism towards the idea of love and its perpetuity. But in the midst of all this linguistic drama, it can't be denied how this film bows to traditional Filipino film making: it's lucrative, judging from the amount of audience owing it their own positive judgment, and, no matter how annoyingly undeniable, that's the way the Filipino mind works. A romcom movie wouldn't hurt the heart (and mind) so bad, despite the possible fragmentation that might occur as we delve in deeper between the characters' mind.
To better word it, this movie only gave us temporary strength when it comes to seeing what the heart truly wants (or needs). I love the movie, despite having a slight resemblance with The Fault in Our Stars' plot. Maybe my first statement about love and its uncertainty was propelled by the mishaps I have encountered. Maybe not.
Maybe we can talk about this? Contact me. Charot.
Barry Lyndon (1975) dir. Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's most critically acclaimed work may not be one for the books for me, but it did pull something at me: Barry Lyndon's incapacity to stay at ease. He is an impulsive man with dreams of being at the top of his game. Much like the generation I fall under. The character's impermanence stays as the main identity of the film, and we all know Kubrick evokes every detail off the characters and the scenes they are acting. Being a book adaptation, Kubrick is given the novel as a guide, and he greatly put the words into fine photoplay. I haven't read the book (nor will I ever give it a try, apologetically), but it does look like a detailed visual orientation of the life of Barry Lyndon.
Kubrick definitely does not consider film making as a task. It's a commitment for him, and this film would greatly prove it.
Also Alec Baldwin was such an eye candy.
Being John Malkovich (1999) dir. Spike Jonze
I've always hated the idea of someone having the knowledge of what I truly feel. They start acting like you owe your devotion to them, and worse, they may never see you as the same person they knew before, which is unsettling because it would never have been this way if only they were more cautious of their own ego and pride. Spike Jonze put me in great discomfort when I first saw this film. He, once again, made me want to destroy artificial intelligences. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of having someone live and inside you, and have total control of your emotions. I've been tormented before by some of my mean and do-nothing classmates from elementary, and I guess this film is the worst representation of bullying: making someone erase their own identity and putting them to absolute hell.
Lesson: do not, and I mean do not, put your whole life behind your back for a stupid boy or girl. Jenny Mellor (auspiciously played by Carey Mulligan) was downright dumb when she let herself in too deep. It was love, she saw it. I saw it, but the excruciating pain of putting your future at the edge of a bridge will never be worth it, especially if you were told of its consequences when everything is too late.
The thing I absolutely loved about this film is the director's brave accusation of girls being dumber than ever for someone who showed her gold (only to find out that it has the lasting shine of a plastic container), yet still finding unbelievable ways to redeem themselves and have the strong ability of conquering the best and worst of both worlds: being in love with someone and loving themself so much they start being great.
So here's this film for all the daft, vapid, and unreasonable commitments I have yet to put myself into, all for the promise of love... and the idea of forever. Charot lang ulit.
I never got the essence of the whole film. I liked it some, but not really one of the films I'll see for a second time. It was great, in all of its anonymous glory and the characters' mysterious roles in their town. But I guess it didn't have that lasting effect I was looking forward to seeing in this film.
I can't stress enough how much I adore girl groups. They're so powerful, with their songs tugging you hard enough to make it feel like you're being invited at a revolution that fights for the most crucial things on earth, like discrimination. It's an empowering movie, with the true portrayal of ostracism between girls and how it ruins the camaraderie they cultivated as sisters.
The singers were as talented as ever, and you can't the deny the power they evoke while playing the characters of desperate singers. Of course, Beyoncé shined in this movie, but you really can't deny that all of them conjured the same amount of shimmer and power. Bill Condon really put up a show that put all the actors at the spotlight. DEFINITELY ONE OF MY NEW FAVORITE MOVIES.
This movie creeped the hell out of me!!! I didn't know about the real Always Mind Your Belongings and Lock Your Doors Before Going To Sleep stages of living (and surviving). It was a trip over to Mind Fuck and Brian de Palma's own set of aesthetic style was a plus one. The music used for the "telescope scene" in the protagonist's borrowed home was both enchanting and awfully disturbing. It's an eerie kind of beautiful, because, hey, who would want someone staring at you over their windows as you do your business in your room? This is a new kind of abduction, with your privacy being taken from you without your consent.
But the cinematography pays off, in all its lightly colored magic, juxtaposing the movie's whole representation of murder and assault--the Real World.
Chinatown (1974) dir. Roman Polanski
If you've ever wondered how Jack Nicholson acquired his penchant for bluffing in films, maybe this film might help you as a guide. He is unapologetic, and does not play for mild-minded audiences. You never really know if he's the character you should root for, or if yo should antagonize him for the rest of your life because his acting is so well-grounded. Polanski remains to be one of the greatest filmmakers of this century, we can't deny that, and his work for this film does not beg to differ. The man has cultivated such an identity that you can't deny the unwavering power he has over his characters and the dark story behind their woes. He really is a great storyteller.
I've come to realize that Ang Lee's eastern projects are, by far, more exceptional than that of his western projects. It was very well-written, and never did it bother to be deep and have ambiguity that are sometimes (badly) represented by directors. I don't know, maybe it's my undying affinity for Asian films. the unexpected turn of events sent me reeling (for answers) from both hilarity and sadness. Ang Lee clearly delved into the characters' inner beliefs and, as genius as he can get, performed them purely on camera, with the actors paying great deal to the characters' own woes.
And this is just another reminder that food is LOVE.
This movie was very surrealist as it can get. David Lynch didn't fall into pastiche with this movie and you can definitely see his effortless work on propagating a normal outlook on the part of the audience. It's as if watching the normal life you lived get disturbed by something so unusual. The setting was as terrifying as it is very typical for the characters, another thing abnormally beautiful about the whole feature.
I never stopped thinking about living in a world like this; it literally sent me shivers. I love how I got scared of a horror movie, for the first time in forever.
