The Philippines, 1972. Mysterious things are happening in a remote barrio. Wails are heard from the forest, cows are hacked to death, a man is found bleeding to death at the crossroad and houses are burned. Ferdinand E. Marcos announces Proclamation No. 1081 putting the entire country under Martial Law.
Perry Dizon Roeder Camanag Hazel Orencio Karenina Haniel Reynan Abcede Mailes Kanapi Ian Lomongo Joel Saracho Evelyn Vargas Noel Sto. Domingo Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan II Ching Valdes-Aran Bambi Beltran Dea Formacil Kristian Chua Kim Perez Kyla Domingo Liryc Dela Cruz Kristine Kintana Allen Alzola Jun Catenza Richard Bolisay
Do Que Vem Antes, 아 프리오리, Z tego, co było, po tym, co było, От предшествующего, 今来古往
Where is my child now? Where is my child now? Where is my child now? Where is my child now?
- Math is hard.
- I agree. Darn that math
+1 to the list of films to see in theatres before I die.
Any preconceptions and misgivings I had about watching another Diaz film after the great-but-missing-something experience that was Norte evaporated within the first thirty minutes of his latest venture, From What Is Before. Diaz's camerawork and screenplay here is out of this world. Creating a transcendental and hypnotic atmosphere seen only in the very best of films, Diaz takes an approach which will throw off your average viewer, and hypnotise the rest.
After a fast moving, in-color, violent…
Pain. From What is Before is a treatise on mundane human darkness. It is about one small group of people and the abstract threats to their existence. It strikes me as superficially similar to the only other Lav Diaz film I have seen, Evolution of a Filipino Family. It deals with many of the same plot details, like an abandoned baby being adopted, the life of a disabled person in an impoverished community, and the political turmoil of 1970s Philippines. However From What is Before is a much more proficient picture. The stunning cinematography is constantly beautiful and minimalist, leaving the countryside sparse and overwhelming. It takes incredible confidence to pull off a movie like this, one which is happy…
Seeds of evil sown along the vast expanse of a nation in despair. Each small barrio, village and province have their turmoils, but these are the devils they know. By helping one another and living as a unified whole rather than a group of individuals, they are able to persevere despite the turpitudes that plague them. They do not complain; they hope one day things will get better, but they don’t count on it, and though their lives are far from perfect, it could be a lot worse—their community could cease to exist entirely.
And that is precisely what will happen when sinister outside forces decide to infringe upon them…
Lav Diaz illustrates with a poised placidity the effects of…
-Let's keep this a secret
-How?
Another masterpiece by Lav Diaz. Absolutely incredible start to finish. Just one year after releasing Norte, the End of History, Lav Diaz delivers another masterpiece, this time returning to black and white. At 338 minutes, it's not one of his longer movies but it's still an epic.
From What Is Before deals with the strange events of a small Filipino village in the time leading up to and after Marcos' declaration of martial law in 1972. The village is very disconnected from the rest of the country to the point that they don't have a high school or electricity. The village is fully self-reliant, but the introduction of government soldiers changes that. Ferdinand E.…
Perhaps in its honesty lies its greatest sympathy. It never denies human nature, it shows its cruelty and incomprehensibility. Until the very end it describes suffering and agony, this curse called life. But despite the very dark themes and tensions, it is ultimately as human as today's cinema has gotten. Because it doesn't lie. It doesn't belong to its nature to tell lies about events nor people. And I think that this is Lav Diaz' sympathy and humanism. Another fact that makes it even stronger is that he tells about his people, reveals the truth. He doesn't hide it, he doesn't hide the past and what is what. Unlike boring commercial filmmakers to whom life seems to be nothing but…
From What Is Before might just be the greatest thing I've ever seen. This was my first experience with a Lav Diaz film, and to be left utterly speechless like this should be wrong. I'm just going crazy while thinking about what to say about this, I can't believe this exists.
338 minutes of straight-up immersive and captivating cinema, capturing stunning visuals and atmosphere in a way that I've never seen before. Lav Diaz's method of transporting you to this remote Filipino village in the 1970s is incredible. His cinematography feels so vast and open. I felt sucked into his world from the first glance, it's truly breathtaking -I can't think of another way to put it. It touches all…
A fascinatingly fractured narrative that will never ever leave you.
By the time you’re daring to venture into the films of Lav Diaz, it may be safe to say that you can take on most that slow cinema has to offer. This masterpiece from Diaz is a reminder of a different, more reflective way of making cinema that many filmmakers have the chance to employ, but not often do.
It’s filmed in beautiful black-and-white, has a static but meticulously designed mise-en-scene and clocks in at over five and a half hours. The tightly-scripted conversations and full-fleshed characterizations complement the heartbreaking beauty of the imagery.
It’s true that a six-hour movie is more demanding than a two-hour one, but the fact…
Norway might have popularized 'Slow television', but Philippines' Lav Diaz is a creator that's popularizing 'Slow movies'. Ever since I learned about Lav Diaz and have wanted to see his movies and now I finally had the chance to see his Mula sa kung ano ang noon [From What is Before] (2014) stretching over 5 1/2 hours!
In a way watching this reminded me of movies before the days of editing. Back in 1900-1910 when they wouldn't cut chase scenes before everyone had passed the camera regardless how slow the last person would be before cutting to the next scene. And that's a technique Diaz uses in a effective way. Staging long shots where you after a few seconds notice…
one of the most haunting, jaw dropping films i've ever seen. a trance-inducing exploration of a remote barrio in the Phillippines during the Marcos regime. it makes us feel at home in its environment, as though we're one of the villagers, then destroys everything before our eyes. the crawling pace fits the story perfectly, stretching this sense of dread for so long. you feel lost and helpless, just as the characters. there are plenty of movies that paint life purely as suffering, but very few of them make it feel real. and this movie presenting a very real depiction of suffering makes sense considering Lav Diaz lived through this era, pulling from many personal experiences/feelings (which comes through, without a…
Clocking in exact 338 minutes, director Lav Diaz’s sprawling epic of a crumbling Filipino rural town is a personal, deeply ingrained, immersive contemplation of the past and how far a particular civilization has become. If his most mainstream film to date Norte, the End of History, (which is his shortest film at 250 minutes) gives the audience a taste of Diaz’s cinematic world; From What Is Before, a challenging return to the director’s black and white aesthetic, is actually a hardcore dive to the soul of Lav Diaz. There’s always that daunting task for every audience member if they’re watching a Diaz film, but having seen Norte, I felt I’m ready for such challenge and I was immediately entranced.
The…
[Diaz Rank]
incredible in every way possible. this makes me even more excited to see more from Diaz, both Norte and this have been amazing.
coming back soon to write a full review, i just find it hard to put such an experience into words.
94/100
From What is before is a story of stories. It uses masterful storytelling to talk of the power of telling stories. It is a meditation as much as it is an exploration on these themes of truth, lies, history, memory, and myths. It subverts the dogmas of film making, intentionally leaving out scenes and having characters merely tell them. This is not out of laziness or efficiency. For most of the film's almost 6 hour run time, no words are being uttered at all. By this precise decision, it is showing the telling. This use of the transcendental style permits mental wandering within its immersive world. It also helps that every inch of every second of the film oozes rich…
