Chassis (2010)

Katawan at Bakal

Ni Benilda S. Santos

Nililikha at tinatahak ng malaya at alternatibong pelikula ang pabago-bagong espasyo na kakikitaan ng mararawal na larawan ng nagpapatuloy na buhay sa Ikatlong Daigdig, ng di-natitinag na pagkapigipit ng uring manggagawa, at ng madugong pakikibaka ng kababaihan upang makapamayani sa kanilang buhay. Sa landas na iyan matatagpuan ang pelikulang Chassis ni Adolfo Borinaga Alix, Jr. sa pagkatuklas niya ng posibilidad na igawa ng fiction ang hile-hilera ng mga container vans sa piyer upang sa pamamagitan nito, maisiwalat niya ang nagaganap sa buhay ng mga walang hanggahang matatawid—silang mga “hanggang pantalan” lamang—sa panahon pa naman ng crossing borders.Read complete review

The Mechanisms of Living and Dying Rated X

By Tito Genova Valiente

The ending of Adolf Borinaga Alix’s film Chassis will be talked about for days on end. There will be two sides to the debate always: is that the real thing or merely prosthetic? Feelings about the scene will always be two-pronged: you either like that ending or you hate it. Somewhere in the middle of those extreme responses to the film will straddle the question about the logic of the ending or, in a more utilitarian vein, the necessity of the final act.

Logic as a mechanism is almost absent from this narrative about a mother who tries to eke out a living when living is also nonexistent in the place where she and her daughter find themselves. What one finds in that place as sign of movement are the many container vans under which individuals manage to live, exposed to the elements, and breathing in the polluted gas coming from the vehicles.Read complete review