Lost in Paradise

MANILA, Philippines -- This year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) yet again offered cineastes a diverse menu of films. Bulletin Entertainment had the privilege of watching some of these and we present here reviews of those we found most interesting:

‘Monster Yonggari’ Director: Kim Kee-duk (Korea)

This film is about the Korean counterpart of the aswang, tikbalang, tiyanak, etc that most Filipino kids were told back in the days whenever they needed to be frightened into eating or washing up or sleeping or doing all of the above. However, instead of sucking human blood or flying people to a mountain, the Korean monster (an overfed lizard with lousy motor skills) feeds on oil reserves and destroys infrastructure, which, to the Koreans, are scarier stuff. Several scenes show how people behave when faced with doom including one that has a bloke pour his drink over another’s head sans provocation and all to blasé effect.

Those of us in the age of “Avatar” couldn’t help but giggle in watching the outdated Japanese visual effects. As Simon Cowell of “American Idol” would’ve put it, it was like a kitten pretending to be a tiger.  Note, though, that when “Monster Yonggari” was released in 1967, it was considered state of art. The film is even credited to have influenced every science fiction film made in Korea, up to the present.  Talk about being in the presence of greatness without even knowing it.

“Monster Yonggari” hints at a future unhindered by geographic division. Now, think North and South Korea. Is that saying something or what?

‘The Convent’ Director: Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal)

While the rule of thumb in studying the feasibility of a business venture is “location, location, location,” this 1995 art film has an altogether different mantra: Ambience, ambience, ambience.

Here is a movie of shadows; of uncomfortable silence suddenly pierced by sounds of string instruments; of nuances and double meanings; of never seeing something for what it seems to be. Starring John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve and Luis Miguel Cintra, “The Convent” tells the story of a couple who went to a secluded convent in hopes of finding clues that would prove Shakespeare originated from Spain. Near the convent is a forest where the most intriguing scenes (and blocking!) happen and the most delicious verbal exchanges are made, including a plot to kill someone in the name of love (sigh).

Luis Miguel Cintra as Baltar, who is suggestive of Lucifer, gives a scintillating performance. It helps that he has the thickest eyebrows that not even laser could penetrate. It suggests cunning and temptation and decadence with but a quiver.

Helene (Deneuve), meanwhile, is so manipulative and so full of herself that one finds himself dreaming of pushing her down a hill. If it’s true that evil and beauty can co-exist, Helene it is.

And Michael? Michael is Malkovich.  We forgive him because he knows not what he’s doing.

‘I Am’ Director: Tom Shadyac (USA)

To quote the synopsis provided by BIFF, this is about successful Hollywood director Tom Shadyac “who experienced a life threatening head injury, and his ensuing journey to try and answer two very basic questions ‘What’s wrong with our world?’ and ‘What can we do about it?’”

We allowed ourselves to sleep through some parts of this documentary but only because we know we won’t be missing out on anything important, anyway. As early as 10 minutes into it, the message is laid out clearly: Whatever bad things are happening right now, we have brought upon ourselves inasmuch as we alone can determine the future with whatever right (or wrong) decisions we make in the present.

In a line: We are the problem, we are the solution---deal with it.

Shadyac shoots down many “myths” that we somehow have come to believe as truths including  money being able to buy happiness and that it’s better to stand out than be one of—and with---the herd. In building his case, Shadyac interviewed authors, poets, teachers, religious leaders and scientists even as he [Shadyac] gives his thoughts on their insights.

Would you swallow such a serious message from the man who directed “Bruce Almighty” and “The Nutty Professor”? Well, the theater rang with applause when the credits rolled so…

‘Lost in Paradise’ Director: Vu Ngoc Dang (Vietnam)

Showing in Vietnam as of this writing, “Lost in Paradise” is one of those gay films that makes the lives and sentiments of the third sex understandable, if not relatable, even to heterosexuals.

Because Vietnam has many similarities with the Philippines, we feel many Filipinos can identify with the main characters here who all go to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon (Vietnam’s Manila) in a bid to build better lives for themselves. However, the city “swallows” them and they end up barely surviving as prostitutes.

In the end, it raises two questions: What is love and does it still exist especially for gay men?

“Lost in Paradise” also gives an unforgiving picture of the squalor in some parts of Saigon. Yet Vu Ngoc Dang is able to romanticize it in that it becomes the unlikely ground for love to bloom albeit evanescent sometimes, and between different varieties of "flowers."