Film Reviews 2019

BUYBUST

The big points going for BuyBust are the creative and technical virtuosity of director of photography Neil Bion, with his textured cinematography capturing the grit, trash, flames, trapped waters, dripping rain, slashing bullets, crashing glass, and the numerous high points of the performances of the ensemble, as they turn into unfeeling and unthinking thugs.

Gigi Javier Alfonso

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

BUYBUST

BuyBust. . . is spectacular in its single-mindedness. From start to finish, it assaults our senses, desensitizes us with unrelenting violence, which at first excites and then, terrifyingly, numbs. This experiential arc may be seen as an analogy of our daily media experience of tokhang, which at first alarms us and then desensitizes us.

Patrick Campos

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.
A SHORT HISTORY OF A FEW BAD THINGS

(Keith) Deligero’s foray into the detective thriller film genre accompanied by Paul Grant’s elliptical screenplay is a welcome addition to an underdeveloped and sorely neglected section of Philippine cinema. While the daily headlines post reports of harrowing violence (e.g., extrajudicial killings, gang wars and rub-outs, bloated corpses found on river banks), a small number of films like Deligero’s bother to mirror this grisly state of affairs.

MIke Rapatan

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A SHORT HISTORY OF A FEW BAD THINGS

His short history is a long account of how crimes in this country can be totally political, cinematic and entertaining. The only good thing about (Keith) Deligero is that he promises to continue films and that he will never be a politician in the elective sense of the word.

Tito Genova Valiente

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

ANG PANAHON NG HALIMAW

Kung ang tanong ay “Paano ba gumawa ng pelikula kapag frustrated ka na sa mga nangyayari?” dahil nag-comeback na bigtime na ang Marcoses, nanumbalik ang fasismo at ang diktador sa bansa, nadagdagan ang political killings ng libo-libong pinatay at pinapatay sa ngalan ng Oplan Tokhang (digmaan laban sa droga), at iba pa, ang sagot ni Lav Diaz ay musical.

Rolando B. Tolentino

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

ANG PANAHON NG HALIMAW

In Diaz’s films, cinematic time is a significant element. His camera lingers on a character, allowing time to slow and stretch, offering a needed space for the viewers to pause and contemplate. Does Diaz’s time tell what a convoluted history we have in this country? Does its rhythm inform us that history recurs, that our revisioning is a dark nostalgia?

Shirley O. Lua

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.
ML

[T]he film interrogates the values of a society that has a warped notion of heroism. The sadist and monstrous colonel is buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, like the plunderer and fascist Marcos, while activists who call out abuses of those in power and work for social justice end up in paupers graves, if their bodies are found at all. In life as in death, it is the powerful who define heroism.

Nicanor Tiongson

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

ML

Nagtagumpay ang Pinoy thriller na ito dahil masinop at graphikong napaangat ang pelikula lampas sa genre film.  Sa masusing pagmumundo sa hindi pa maisara-sarang nakaraan sa martial law, Marcoses, fasismo at awtoritarianismo ng nakaraan, ang mga abstraktong figura nito ay nailantad at nabibigyan-buhay sa mga kaganapan sa maliit na mundo ng basement ng Colonel.

Rolando B. Tolentino

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

SIGNAL ROCK

Signal Rock may refer to the strange rock formations that provide ironically the best place to get cell phone reception and may only be their means of connection to the outside world, yet it beacons their stories to the rest of 10.4 million Filipinos abroad who are permanent, temporary, or irregular migrants located in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

Gary Devilles

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

SIGNAL ROCK

Sa Signal Rock, tumutok si [Chito] Rono bilang direktor sa gabay ng matalisik na script ni Rody Vera, sa paglalarawan sa politika at kultura sa isang munting bayan sa probinsiya.   Halimbawa, dinala tayo sa kasal ng isang dalaga sa may edad nang turistang  Amerikano at pinatawa tayo sa bali-baling Ingles ng mga kaanak at kakilala sa seremonya matapos ang kasal.

Bienvenido Lumbera

Full Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The aforementioned films were the nominees for the Best Picture Category at the 42nd Gawad Urian in 2019.

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