Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Masseur (Masahista)

Reprinted courtesy of Sean C. At the Movies

I had been losing faith in Filipino cinema in recent years, mostly due to the work of Crisaldo Pablo. He has given the cinematic world such gems as Doubt (Duda), Bathhouse and Circles (Bilog). These films remind me of a Filipino versions of Richard Anthony Films projects Traveling to Olympia, Revenge in Olympia and Slice of Terror. All of these films are pseudo soft-core porn/erotica with very weak stories and very uneven acting. But The Masseur is different.

The story is of a young man who works in a massage parlor to earn money for his family who live in a suburb. The day before his father dies, he has a client who crosses his professional boundaries and make him re-examine his entire life.
This film was both sensual and engaging. The physical intimacy between the characters was not gratuitous, but instead realistic. It provided a framework of strangers in the night looking for a moment of human connection. This connection is in sharp contrast the the distance that exists between the protagonist and his father. A distance that is ironically shortened since death.

I want to thank director Brillante Mendoza for restoring my faith in modern Filipino queer cinema. I am looking forward to his future projects to serve as a counter balance to the works of Crisaldo Pablo.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Ten

A 2007 selection from SIFF, The Ten is a series of interconnected shorts related to the Christian Ten Commandments, framed through a single narrator on a blank stage with two giant tables of the Ten Commandments behind him. Far from being religious and preachy, The Ten is funny, witty and at times borderline sacrilegious in its interpretation of the Commandments.

Each story builds upon the prior through the use of the same characters. at the same time as the narrator has his own back story playing out in between the Commandment stories with the story characters playing additional cameos.

The majority of the stories are not literal interpretations of the Commandments intent, except perhaps for the story on "Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods" in which two neighbors engage in a modern day keeping up with the Joneses over who can have the most CAT Scan machines.

The Ten is a testament to independent filmmaking taking a traditionally held concept and making it something wholly new and entertaining for a modern audience. Definitely needs to be experienced first hand since no review can ever properly describe this rich film which has something for everyone.