Philippine Entertainment News

By some circumstance, all the three Filipino full-length films in Cannes 2009 are directed by men (Raya Martin, Adolf Alix Jr., Brillante Mendoza) and had men as lead actors (Piolo Pascual, Sid Lucero, Coco Martin). Here’s a director and muse update, if you may.

Howard Feinstein of ScreenDaily.com noted that Martin, “only 24 (years old)… is heavily, and admirably, committed to… the appropriation of indigenous Filipino history after… colonization; and the laying bare of cinematic illusion.”

Alissa Simon of Variety posted a review of “Manila,” a twin-bill tribute to Lino Brocka’s “Jaguar” and Ishmael Bernal’s “Manila By Night” co-produced and top-billed by actor Piolo Pascual, who attended the Cannes film fest.

Simon called it an “experimental two-parter from leading indie helmers that makes one yearn to see the originals.”

She commented that the “evocatively shot” film has “youthful energy aplenty and a great jazz-pop soundtrack.”

Brillante Mendoza was just awarded Best Director whose Kinatay competed in the Un Certain Regard category against the films of Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, and Pedro Almodovar.

Influential film critic Roger Ebert was recently quoted saying,

It is Mendoza’s conceit that his idea will make a statement, or evoke a sensation, or demonstrate something—only if he makes the rest of the film (apparently, Ebert found the first half passable) as unpleasant to the eyes, ears, the mind and the story itself as possible. This he succeeds in doing beyond his wildest dreams.

The jury disagreed.

Reviews via inquirer.net; Photos via zimbio.com, celebrities.premiere.com, and festival-cannes.canalplus.fr