6 days before Norte opens in cinemas
Screening times: Glorietta 4 – 1pm and 6pm daily. Robinson’s Galleria – 7pm daily. Greenhills Theatre Mall – 2:30pm and 7:30pm daily. Robinson’s Metro East – 7pm daily. Trinoma – 12:10pm and 5pm daily.
True story, stop us if you’ve heard it. Some years ago, at the Udine film festival, we were approached by a couple of Italian moviegoers who said, “Magandang hapon po. Kayo ba ay Pilipino?”
We complimented them on their Tagalog and asked how they had come by it. (Our initial thought was that they had spent time in the Philippines, or been raised by Pinays.)
“Natuto kaming mag-Pilipino para manood ng pelikula ni Lav Diaz.” (We learned Filipino in order to watch the films of Lav Diaz.)
True, you’d probably pick up some Tagalog after watching the 11-hour Ebolusyon ng Pamilyang Pilipino, but these guys had sought out a Filipino language teacher so they could feel closer to the films they cared so deeply about. They had seen all his movies at a retrospective in Slovenia.
One of the ironies of Lav Diaz’s career is that while he makes movies about distinctly Filipino subjects for the Filipino audience, the typical Filipino moviegoer has never seen a Lav Diaz movie. He is embraced by foreign cinephiles, but is largely unknown in his own country.
We hope that the theatrical run of his most accessible film, Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan, begins to address this irony. Please tell everyone you know. See you at the cinema.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 5th, 2014 at 14:13
Manonood ako nito. Kay tagal kong hinintay ito, may mga sagabal akong dinanas. Gusto ko sana ito panoorin noon sa isang mall sa Cubao ngunit ito’y aking ipinagpaliban dahil sa tawag ng trabaho, sayang ang tiket, pero salamat pa rin Jessica, di ko malilimutan ang iyong kabutihan hanggang sa dulo ng kasaysayan. Pinagtawanan mo pa nga ako.
Sa pangalawang pagkakataon, muntik ko na naman itong mapanood sa Glorietta ngunit sa kasawiang palad, naiwan ko ang ATM ko.
Sa pangatlong pagkakataon maghahanda na ako.