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THE NOMINEES
Original Screenplay
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Bridesmaids (Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig)
Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
Prediction Score: 3/5. Predicted 50/50 and The Tree of Life instead of Margin Call and A Separation.
Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash)
Hugo (John Logan)
The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon)
Moneyball (Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan)
Prediction Score: 4/5. Predicted The Help instead of The Ides of March.
Best Animated Feature Film
A Cat in Paris (Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli)
Chico & Rita (Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
Puss in Boots (Chris Miller)Rango (Gore Verbinski)
Prediction Score: 3/5. Predicted The Adventures of Tintin and Winnie the Pooh instead of A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita.
Best Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
Prediction Score: 2/5. Predicted Bill Cunningham New York, Project Nim, and instead of We Were Here instead of Hell and Back Again, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, and Undefeated.
Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead (Belgium)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Prediction Score: 3/5. Predicted Pina and Omar Killed Me instead of Bullhead and Monsieur Lazhar.
Achievement in Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse
Prediction Score: 2/5.
Achievement in Cinematography
The Artist (Guillaume Schiffman)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Jeff Cronenweth)
Hugo (Robert Richardson)
The Tree of Life (Emmanuel Lubezki)
War Horse (Janusz Kaminski)
Prediction Score: 5/5.
Achievement in Costume Design
Anonymous (Lisy Christl)
The Artist (Mark Bridges)
Hugo (Sandy Powell)
Jane Eyre (Michael O'Connor)
W.E. (Arianne Phillips)
Prediction Score: 4/5.
Achievement in Film Editing
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, Anne-Sophie Bion)
The Descendants (Kevin Tent)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall)
Hugo (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Moneyball (Christopher Tellefsen)
Prediction Score: 3/5.
Achievement in Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Iron Lady
Prediction Score: 2/3.
Achievement in Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams)
The Artist (Ludovic Bource)
Hugo (Howard Shore)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias)
War Horse (John Williams)
Prediction Score: 3/5.
Achievement in Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" (The Muppets)
"Real in Rio" (Rio)
Prediction Score: 1/2.
Achievement in Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Prediction Score: 1/5.
Achievement in Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Prediction Score: 3/5.
Achievement in Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Prediction Score: 4/5.
This year's Lifetime Achievement Awardee: the master of giallo, Dario Argento.
(Kill Barbara with Panic)
Director: Celso Ad. Castillo
Writers: Celso Ad. Castillo, Mike Relon Makiling
Cast: Susan Roces, Dante Rivero, Rosanna Ortiz, Beth Manlongat, Mary Walter
Runtime: 96 minutes
It bears easily one of the best titles of all Filipino films, invoking a sense of unstoppable supernatural fear. There are many good reasons why Patayin Mo sa Sindak si Barbara is one of many Filipinos' favorite local horror films of all time. Not even the glaring flaws of the film as a whole can take that away.
Barbara (played by Susan Roces, at one time the scream queen a la Jamie Lee Curtis of the Philippines), comes back to her childhood home for the burial of her sister Ruth (Rosanna Ortiz), who has committed suicide out of jealous rage over husband Fritz's (Dante Rivero) supposed infidelities. Barbara also takes care of Ruth's daughter, Karen (Beth Manlongat), whose behavior toward her father has turned drastically cold since her mother's suicide. A flashback reveals chilling truths: Ruth stabs herself repeated in the torso with a large shard of broken glass, and when she is about to die she transfers her spirit to Karen's doll. This sets off a series of genuinely creepy scenes involving said doll: its eyes glow menacingly, it walks, it appears bloodied and decapitated, and, best (worst?) of all, it calls Fritz from another room and says repeatedly through the phone: "I hate you. I want to kill you." The maniacal glee with which director and story writer Celso Ad. Castillo uses the doll as a tool of terror anticipates the American horror-comedy flick Child's Play by a good 14 years, but it's even more effective here in providing the right chills. The film also takes a page out of the Japanese trope of long-haired vengeance-driven spirits in white robes. Decades before world cinema began to churn out imitations of Ringu's Sadako, Patayin's Ruth was haunting cemeteries, mansions, and rest-houses.
The film as a whole, unfortunately, is a large mess. The editing woes that plague many Filipino movies past and present are quite evident, with choppy sequences and rough transitions. Even the acting by the quite stellar cast is not very impressive, with the exception of the diabolical brilliance of Ortiz as spurned Ruth (ok, Roces screams quite well). The ending is also disappointing and senselessly empty. But as earlier stated, these cannot remove the power of those individual scenes that ultimately make Patayin such an effective story of vengeance from beyond the grave. With an appropriately repetitive, chilling score in the background, the sequences that are supposed to be terrifying truly are, and at the end that is what really matters in a horror movie. As Barbara fends off attacks by the restless spirit, waving her bloody arms in defense, she screams at her sister that this is no longer her world and that she must leave. The relentlessness of the spiritual assaults makes both impatient and appreciative viewers share Barbara's sentiments. As the title suggests, the film wears down, both with its technical travesties and its terror, but thankfully more so with the latter.
Image from Video 48
(Blood is the Color of the Night / The Blood Drinkers)
Director: Gerardo de Leon
Writers: Cesar Amigo, Rico Bello Omagap
Cast: Amalia Fuentes, Eddie Fernandez, Ronald Remy, Mary Walter, Celia Rodriguez
Runtime: 88 minutes
In the history of Philippine cinema, the name of the great Gerardo de Leon is enshrined for his invaluable contributions as early as the 1930s. These include several adaptations of the works of national hero Jose Rizal (Noli me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, and Sisa), as well as award-winning gems like Sawa sa Lumang Simboryo (Python at the Old Dome), The Moises Padilla Story, and Banaue.
Like most of the major international film auteurs, de Leon has dabbled in that genre enjoyed by many but scoffed at by many high-brow cineastes: horror. In the 1960s and 1970s, he joined fellow Filipinos Eddie Romero and Cirio Santiago in bringing Filipino films, co-produced by Americans and dubbed in English, to drive-in theaters and grindhouses. Many of these were cheap-looking horror films that nevertheless intrigued foreign movie-goers and showcased the talents of Filipino filmmakers. De Leon's Terror is a Man is probably the most famous and well regarded of these, but his "Blood Collection" merits special attention, if only for their very interesting take on vampires.
Kulay Dugo ang Gabi (Blood is the Color of the Night, really, but released with the more sensationalized title The Blood Drinkers) features Ronald Remy as the brooding vampire Dr. Marco, whose true love Katrina (Amalia Fuentes) has died. He attempts to resurrect her with lots of human blood and a new heart. He intends to get the heart from Katrina's twin sister, Charito, also played by Fuentes (presumably because, as a doctor of sorts, he knows that any other heart would likely be rejected by Katrina's body...or perhaps it's for a purely supernatural nonsensical reason). Despite phasing and hypnotic powers, hunchback and dwarf henchmen, and a bat familiar named Basrah, his attempts are continually thwarted, ultimately with a flare gun and the strong religious faith of a Catholic priest.
It is not supposed to work, what with Basrah being quite obviously a pathetic stuffed toy hanging by a string and with the heavy-handed, preachy speeches about faith in Jesus Christ saving everyone from evil. But it does. It's mainly because of the cinematography--the fog and the red tint to evil evenings that gives the film its name--and the vampire caricature played with gusto by Remy, but the small flourishes also work. The phasing powers, the ingenious use of flare guns, Dr. Marco himself using a gun (a vampire with a gun!), the unrequited right-hand woman (alluring Celia Rodriguez in her prime)... It all makes for a fascinating entry in the annals of vampire cinema that should be watched and appreciated by a whole new generation of horror and Filipino film enthusiasts. Certainly de Leon has produced much better films in his ouvre. But few are as deliriously fun to watch as The Blood Drinkers.
Image from Video 48
(Black / Rites of May)
Director: Mike de Leon
Writers: Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., Gil Quito
Cast: Tommy Abuel, Charo Santos, Mario Montenegro, Mona Lisa
Runtime: 105 minutes
When regular Filipino moviegoers are asked what they think is the best Filipino horror film ever made, they often mention such classics as Shake Rattle & Roll and Tiyanak, alongside modern box-office hits like Feng Shui and Sukob. Few, if any at all, mention Itim, the first full-length film of highly acclaimed filmmaker and player in Philippine cinema's Second Golden Era, Mike de Leon. Notwithstanding the fact that most modern moviegoers are sadly ignorant of de Leon's oeuvre, more so his first film, Itim is not commonly lumped together with the horror films that the local industry has healthily churned out because of the subtlety of its horrific elements, which is perhaps its greatest strength.
But a horror film it is, and such an effective one at that! Where most horror films, local and otherwise, have gone the way of jolts and shocks to scare their audience, Itim goes for atmosphere. The chills here are genuine, aided to a great extent by the sparse scoring and the low-key lighting. Itim, which in English means "black," is pervasive throughout the film, from its cinematography to its story.
The film begins with a seance, immediately setting the dark, other-wordly chills that would permeate throughout. Manila-based photojournalist Jun (Tommy Abuel) returns to his hometown in Bulacan to visit his ailing father and document the Holy Week rites. He thereafter moves through a world of religious icons, lust-driven murder, and possessions by restless spirits. The latter two are effective, though low-key, taking a backseat to the rather unique Filipino horror of Catholic rites and fanaticism. If there is anything that Filipino horror filmmakers could play upon to distinguish our horror cinema from those of our Asian neighbors, it would be that religious fervor and the dependence on santos (depictions, usually statues, of religious icons). Itim does it in spades; a particularly chilling scene here is where Jun has a nightmare of a roomful of santos coming to life and attacking him. Perhaps no other film has used this tool since Itim, or at least nowhere near as effectively.
Itim would be the first of Mike de Leon's cinematic jewels. That he started with a horror film is interesting, given how most other auteurs would make theirs after they have established their careers with the more usual genres. He would later re-visit the genre with the brilliant Kisapmata (In Just the Wink of an Eye; 1981), which is a story of familial violence and sadism that many critics consider to be even more of a horror film than Itim. Nevertheless, Itim gives us an early indication of the artistry and mastery of the craft that de Leon, formerly a cinematographer to revered Lino Brocka, is well loved for by cineastes. Itim is easily a top-caliber ghost story and an excellent example of Filipino film overall.
The Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), which has been officially deciding on the Philippines's entry to the Academy Awards since 1984, has selected Ang Babae sa Septic Tank this year (official press release here). I believe that this is the best choice among their options (which includes Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington, which I otherwise loved) because of the following:
- The film pokes fun at the common trappings (or tropes, if you will) of local indie films, from the slow takes and lack of dialogue to the urban poor setting. In this way, the film does not take itself or its own identity as an indie film too seriously, while still paying homage to the efforts of indie filmmakers past and present. The international community has seen many of our indies and may be over-saturated with the tropes, so it's refreshing to have a film that revels in its own indie sensibilities while otherwise scrutinizing its predecessors.
- It is a film about filmmaking, and a film targeting the Oscars at that! Academy voters may like the reference to their institution, as they had shown in such instances as awarding Best Actress in 1979 to Dame Maggie Smith for playing an Oscar-nominated actress in California Suite (though this didn't work too well for the 2006 film For Your Consideration). Similar foreign-language films on the industry, like Francois Truffaut's Day for Night (winner of Best Foreign Language Film in 1974) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (winner of the category in 1990), have been well received. This year, the French film The Artist, which is about an actor facing the potential demise of silent cinema in the wake of the introduction of sound, is being significantly buzzed as a potential Best Picture nominee.
- The film is extremely well acted, from the principal actors to the minors. Eugene Domingo is, as usual, excellent, and one of her key scenes here is the "Three Types of Acting" scene (you can see it here). Voters might eat that up. Generally, acting showcases are highly regarded by the Academy.
The problem with Zombadings, which I imagine would have been among the other top choices of the FAP Oscar committee given its critical and box office performance, is that a lot (or all) of the fun of it will be lost in translation. How can non-Filipino speakers know the difference between normal Filipino and the gay lingo?
I personally love the choice that FAP has made this year and commend them for it. Hopefully, the film gets at least a limited run in US theaters so as to make it eligible for the Golden Globes and other pre-Oscar awards, so that the momentum takes it to a place where no other Filipino film has gone before.
