Archive for the ‘Movies’
Cinemalaya X: The Economics of Indie Cinema
At the Cinemalaya awards night last Sunday, the talk was less about the art and craft of film than intellectual property rights and economics. The previous day, filmmakers from the 8th and 9th editions of the annual indie film festival discovered that their films had been uploaded to YouTube in their entirety. The films were taken down, and the Cinemalaya Foundation issued apologies at the closing ceremonies, but it will take some time before the indie community stops seeing Cinemalaya as The Big Bad.
This is not the first controversy Cinemalaya has been embroiled in, but it is certainly the worst because it calls into question the very integrity of the project. We will wait for the outcome of the dialogue between the Cinemalaya Foundation and the filmmakers (Though it was a major jerk move, trying to pin the blame on technical staff). We hope that the foundation invites the most vocal critics of its policies, that these critics show up, and that the discussion is calm and productive. It is difficult to reach a consensus on Twitter, much less delve deeply into the issues.
For now we interrupt our Cinemalaya X reviews—which are late anyway (We blame the weather and especially the horrible traffic, which has reached civil rights violation levels)—to look into the cost of making indies, and their economic potential.
Robin Williams is dead.
He was found dead in his house, an apparent suicide.
We practically memorized Robin Williams Live At The Met, and still use his jokes in everyday conversation (“It was dark, it was light, it was dark, it was light,” “…pants so tight you can see what religion they are,” etc).
We suddenly remembered that New York Times profile in which the writer described Robin Williams at the drive-through window at McDonald’s, ordering in the voice of Jodie Foster as Nell. Thank you, Mr. Williams.
Deficits are not limits: The defective heroes of Guardians of the Galaxy
Leagues and legions of superheroes are usually effective as a direct result of the union of each member’s unique abilities, whether they include super-human strength, lightning-speed, telepathy, or other powers that individually define each of them as a deserved hero and collectively create an unstoppable force.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, we’re introduced to a band of outlaws, outsiders and outcasts. With the exception of some sweet dance moves and decent marksmanship, we don’t immediately get the traditional introduction to the colorful rainbow of superpowers we’re accustomed to with superhero teams. There’s no amazing, no fantastic, no spectacular. The Guardians themselves refer to themselves as “losers” and the “biggest idiots” in the galaxy. They underperform or fall below normative expectations. In fact, these space misfits offer something rarely seen in superhero films: the Guardians show emotional, neurological, developmental and communication deficits that 1) are not expected to be resolved or cured at the end of the film and 2) do not make them ineffective as heroes.
The following is a conceptualization of each character’s below-average functioning across some psychological dimensions and why these deficits do not create significant limits for them.
Read We Are Groot: Guardians of the Galaxy Celebrates Heroes With Authentic Psychological Deficits by Andrea Letamendi at Comics Alliance.
Cinemalaya X reviews: K’na the Dreamweaver, #Y and the triumph of the milieu
K’na the Dreamweaver. “You must see the big picture,” the old dreamweaver tells her granddaughter, and the filmmakers follow her advice in this beautiful movie that makes us want to book a ticket to Lake Sebu right now.
#Y. “Having no right to be unhappy is not the same as being happy,” says Miles (Elmo Magalona) in this intriguing, unsettling film about privileged millennials that makes us happy we never had children.
And that completes our Cinemalaya viewing for the year. We will review all the Cinemalaya X New Breed movies in full.
Cinemalaya X reviews: Mariquina, Sundalong Kanin
Mariquina – A shoemaker commits suicide, and as his daughter looks back on his sad life we wonder why he didn’t kill himself sooner. A good movie with fine performances, we just weren’t in the mood.
Sundalong Kanin – An epic subject treated like an amateur theatrical: one character delivers a speech, the others look on without moving.
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