2009
Lola
Lola: An Ode to Women and to Life
By Gigi Javier Alfonso
Lola is an outstanding film by Briliante Mendoza with screenplay by Linda Casimiro. It captures the beat of a neighborhood in the Philippines, a common place, with its share of grime and crime. It is also about a resilient, strong, tenacious, giving, and loving people. Lola is a film that wants to be honest. From natural everyday dialogue, actors sans makeup, almost untouched production design and un-manicured cinematography. These decisions are decided by a masterful director.Read more
Kinatay
Kinatay: Tungo sa Nakasisindak na Pagkaaba
Ni Benilda S. Santos
Higit sa pelikulang kapit-sa-patalim o pelikula ng krimen at karahasan, ang Kinatay ni Brillante Ma. Mendoza ay tumitistis sa kalagayan ng pagkaaba, ng pagiging mababa pa sa inaasahan ng taong nahulog sa posisyong kahindik-hindik. Bunga nito, lumabo ang kanyang dating pagkakilala sa sarili at sa kapwa. Nahintakutan siya. Nasindak nang gayon na lamang, at kasabay nito, nalusaw rin ang kahulugan, kahalagahan, at katatagan ng buhay.
Kinatay: Sa dambana ng Kinatay
Ni Roland Tolentino
HINDI ko gustong naririnig ang direktor at manunulat na tinatalakay ang kanilang obra. Parating sobra, wala naman ito sa natunghayan pero mala-magic na ipapaliwanag ng artist na ito ang kanyang layon. Sa literatura, sinasabing “the author is dead” sa akto ng pagbabasa. Walang babalingan na awtor bilang sanggunian kung ano ang kanyang intensyon o kung ano ang dapat nitong afekto sa mambabasa.
Kinatay: Cry slaughter!
By Lito Zulueta
“KINATAY,” for which Brillante Mendoza won the Best Director Award of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, is one wild nightmare romp though the underbelly of Manila life on the literal level, and a plunge into one of Dante’s Inner circles on the spiritual level. It is the director’s unsentimental Quiapo epic, “Tirador” (2007), recast into something more focused, even harsher, a centripetal drive toward the heart of darkness.Read more
