Going in I hadn't a clue as to what the CTE stood for in the title! Come to find out it stands for CHRONIC TRAUMATIC ENCEPHALOPATHY a progressive degenerative disease resulting from repeated traumas to the head! Keep in mind Florentina Hubaldo in all actuality is not about a young girl per se for she represents the country and its citizenry itself that have taken one too many blows to the head over the past 300 years of suffering and desperation resulting from colonial rule, war, devastating political regimes as well as destructive acts of nature! Knowing this in advance adds a whole new layer to this tragic story of poverty, greed and inhumanity at its worst!

Now you may…

It sounds absurd to entertain the idea of rewatching a film that supposedly requires as much stamina as this, but I feel that when the day comes to take another punt at what very well be Lav Diaz's most 'complete' film, I'll find myself enjoying it even more.

He's essentially offering just another film about a truth many other filmmakers have already proven time and again: life is hard - but his stunning camerawork often elevates this concept to another level entirely, introducing light as a fixture to permeate the shadows rather than the other way around, just as the centerpiece sequences in this film utilize camera movement (a rare technique for a Diaz film) to highlight things that don't…

CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative illness linked to repeated blows to the head. The titular character lives a life chained up and abused. It is an examination of a broken woman. Lav Diaz is the master of slow, and Florentina Hubaldo, CTE is about the slow mundanity of evil. It is a film of despair, set on dusty roads and endless vegetation. Beneath both civilisation and nature lies the darkness of man. This is a film which asks where evil comes from. That is always Diaz's fixation and this is one of his best efforts.

Florentina is herded like a goat, taken away to be sold. This film of violent men and forced women draws on a…

It almost feels as if Diaz is telling the story through sound but just like basically simple sound acts so peculiarly, so act the shadows, the camera, the people. What feels seemingly paradoxical for Diaz, the film is told through the action, through the movement - not only because he uses handheld camera but because actors aren't acting but we are simply observing their "squirm".

Once focused on human for long enough, her/his actions become something more, really the interpretation of their personality; the ending feels almost banal for a moment, we keep guessing whether it ends but ultimately Diaz keeps the rhythm up so far that it becomes our rhythm and we forget everything to see everything better through…

96/100

"I am Florentina Hubaldo.
My father is a monster."

Lav Diaz at his darkest and most harrowing is truly a frightening thing to witness. That may sound hyperbolic, considering that the same set of descriptors―bleak, dark, depressing―can be applied to almost his entire filmography, building upon the years of pain and anguish of his people. But Florentina Hubaldo, CTE would definitely stand out from the rest, with its uncompromising depiction of abuse-fuelled trauma as an allegory of the countless years of colonial exploitation suffered by the Filipino natives.

While the name Florentina Hubaldo refers to the protagonist, CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: a brain condition resulting from repeated blows to the head, leading to dementia, changes in behaviour…

Avoid this review if you want to go in blind

This is one of Diaz's weaker films, and definitely not the one to start out with in his filmography (I'd point to Melancholia or Norte). But if this is really one of his weaker efforts then that says a lot about his track record.

Florentina is essentially one allegory about the horrible abuse the Philippines has undergone as a nation spanning 6 hours of suffering and trauma. It's a very simple allegory, and it's partly the simplicity which works to the film's strength because of how much brute force Diaz drives behind it. It's focused and relentless.

But the simplicity is also to its detriment because it doesn't have as…

What is the scariest film you've ever seen? The most common trait would be to pick a supernatural horror film that haunts you long after the credits roll, but Diaz at his bleakest can turn most of these into laughing stocks and Florentina Hubaldo CTE is an emphatic corroboration of the above statement that can turn your dreams into nightmares. Agonizing reality is always much more terrifying and frightening than fictionalised horror and especially the way Florentina's miserable existence unfolds before your eyes makes it similar to walking with a pebble inside your shoe, with each step it reminds you of it's noxious impact that wears you out and worsen the wounds till you cripple.

"What is the essence of…

Film #93 in MY YEAR OF MUBI

Finally. Made it through.

At a little over 6 hours, I didn't so much WATCH this film as I did SURVIVE it. And even that is questionable at this point.

After watching another Diaz film, I begin to wonder if he is in the wrong medium. His setups are beautiful. Some really great nature photography. I'm thinking that maybe that is the medium he should be working in. Maybe still photography or just nature documentaries. Like really loooong nature documentaries.

He basically just sets up his camera and lets it go.
That being said he does have a rare slow tracking shot or two in this film, which seems really unusual for Diaz.…

CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative illness linked to repeated blows to the head. The titular character lives a life chained up and abused. It is an examination of a broken woman. Lav Diaz is the master of slow, and Florentina Hubaldo, CTE is about the slow mundanity of evil. It is a film of despair, set on dusty roads and endless vegetation. Beneath both civilisation and nature lies the darkness of man. This is a film which asks where evil comes from. That is always Diaz's fixation and this is one of his best efforts.

Florentina is herded like a goat, taken away to be sold. This film of violent men and forced women draws on a…

Digging in the dirt / To find the places we got hurt. (Sorry.) Dueling fairy tales – one about a princess enchained by her evil father, one about brothers seeking a hidden treasure – turned devastating hi-def reality, all watched over by fake carnival giants and a chorus of chickens, dogs and one very loud gecko.

Diaz's most suffocating tale of human misery counterintuitively features some of his most spectacular depth compositions: dots moving down an endless country road gradually forming into a girl, an old man and two goats; a classically arranged group of figures in front of vast rice fields stretching out into the distance; a lazy barge drifting across a huge forest lake; and in a way…