Cinemalaya 2011 with Mel. :)
It’s becoming an annual tradition. We watched two films, Amok and Bahay Bata (synopses from Cinemalaya.org):
AMOK BY LAWRENCE FAJARDO
Synopsis:
“The bustling and sweltering rugged intersection of Pasay Rotonda serves as the main setting for this story of interconnected fate and destiny. As a raging man’s bullets strays into different directions, the fate of several different characters are sealed and determined. As the temperature rises, the tension escalates and the story unravels with unforgiving immediacy and explodes in the end as each one struggles to survive and escape their inevitable end.”
BAHAY BATA (BABY FACTORY)
BY EDUARDO ROY JR. AND JEROME ZAMORA
Synopsis:
“Sarah is a nurse at a Public Maternity Hospital. The hospital is abuzz with pregnant mothers of all shapes and sizes in different stages of labor. The hospital is short on staff on Christmas Day so Sarah is forced to put in a double shift. Sarah observes the women coming and going in her ward, noting who is a first-timer and who is a veteran. Meanwhile, the wards are overcrowded : two women and their babies sharing single beds while those in labor are spilling unto the hallways. Sarah takes these all in stride, her heart and mind laboring over her own personal pains.”
Amok twisted my insides like nothing has in a long time. Seeing Manila in its raw, urban form and what can potentially transpire in such a place (which weren’t so hard to believe, really) hit me like an electric shock. How the course of events accelerated too quickly towards the end, making you beg for everything to slow down, hit me like an electric shock.
Bahay Bata had a softer, more cunning approach; it hit me and I didn’t even know it did yet. The story built up slowly, cultivating my feelings like a balloon slowly expanding with air. Then, at the dangerously ripe end the balloon pops and you’re left with nothing, but it just feels right that it did.
It’s hard to explain fully what I thought about these two movies, and this is barely adequate as a film review, but both evoked enough feelings in me which I’m grateful for. Can’t wait to watch the rest of what Cinemalaya 2011 has to offer.
(Photo: Mel, her sister, and I with part of the cast and the director of Amok)
