Controversial Panahon ng Halimaw (Season of the Devil)

plsletitrain

Member: Rank 5
I flew to the capital last weekend and what a good timing because I chanced upon a select screening of Lav Diaz’s latest work. I knew I had to watch this because aside from it being short (almost 4 hours is short if we’re talking about Lav’s standards), it is his tirade against the sitting president. So I was curious how strong his message would be.

And he didn’t disappoint me. Lav, as can be shown by his works, doesn’t mind to be different. So despite being the current president being well-loved by the masses, he made this film as an awakening. I was just appalled at his audacity—I think he was the one who wrote the lines to the sung dialogue here and his lines, though in poetry form, was so sharp that I was just imagining how will the President retaliate. Hehehe be wary of your taxes Lav.

The film is almost 4 hours but I didn’t feel sleepy. Owing to the fact that the lines were sung, usually with catchy tunes (the ones you hear on the trailer are the slow ones---there are some fast tracky tunes in the film). This is like watching theater minus the exaggerated acting. And its in black and white but Lav made sure his message was clear: wake up Filipinos!

I just have to say this one very face-palming scene that made me want to shout "I lav you!" Hmmm... The leader of the abusive military here is being referred to as Chairman Narciso (hmmm....I wonder who's he referring to?). Chairman Narciso enters the scene with his right hand on his cheeks (a known body gesture of you know who). From afar, he looks bald with his hairline already starting in the middle part of the head. From afar he looks like his eyeglasses were placed behind his ears. Such cowboy. On focus camera, he turns his back to reveal a prosthetics face of someone who had full hair (because the hair that started in the middle area of Chairman Narciso looked like bangs for the back face) who is wearing eyeglasses. Symbolism is everywhere here. No, the face didn't look like Trump.

For me the ones who stood out were the unknowns but mainstream actors Piolo Pascual and Shaina Magdayao leveled up here so I guess props to them? Bituin Escalante in her mermaid voice is so enchanting, especially if the lyrics are controversial. Lol. You know I like rule-breaking, no-holds-barred, unconforming controversial themes. It would be enlightening to get a transcript of Lav’s pieces here, his poetries don’t use high fallutin language but it has depth…political depth. Hehe.

I know I keep giving recommendations here and there but please take me seriously when I say that this is a must-watch. If ever this finds way in your convenience stores, please secure a copy. If this movie gets blacklisted lol, I’m proud to say I’ve seen this in the cinemas.

Here's the trailer:

 
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sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I was immediately skeptical when you say they sing their words, as I'm not a fan of musicals. I threw caution to the wind and watched the trailer. It's beautiful. I really enjoyed the "song" and the way everything is framed. Very lovely. I'll throw this in my Lav Diaz queue for sure
 
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