aka Everybody Hates Hesus.

The intrinsic aura of futility when looking at a film like this can strike fear in the eye of any non-filipino cinephile, for observations of philippine despotism and socio-political strife could be wry or authentic and it's an arduous experience attempting to calculate which way the hammer is swinging. There's few worse feelings than the voice that says maybe you aren't getting the most out of this experience, though in totality Diaz doesn't want you to fall behind and instead it makes the dread of not catching everything look a little silly, but whilst Hesus is relatively easy going the frustrations of that little voice are always there. Hesus depicts a so called sci-fi universe but…

"Hesus Rebolusyonaryo" is far as dystopian Lav Diaz goes, setting his socio-political noir in an immediate future where no forward change is yielded; the damp, frothy, neon-lit city of Brocka's "Maynila" indeed remains -- still and somewhat timeless, decrepit and a tap close to collapsing. Recalling rather explicitly the Marcos regime, the film's depiction of 2011 Philippines is once more pinned down by the Martial Law, somehow bringing the idea of an inescapable cycle, with only enough fascism a nation can waterboard itself into.

The film is in cursed times indeed -- the was, the will and the now. Its [new] hero is played by Mark Anthony Fernandez who turns in with admirable restraint and intensity. Both a poet and…

#70HoursOfDiaz

Hours 11-12

A somewhat good movie that I desperately wanted to be better. Loved the first 20 minutes of this as Diaz interweaves a revolutionary call to arms with an action set piece based on a betrayal within a human rights groups combined with cinematography that make me think that this was Diaz's attempt at remaking Assault On Precinct 13. Unfortunately the movie loses a lot of steam after the initial coup as Diaz retreats into shot after shot after shot of leaders talking to each other about nothing in particular, with none of the same care that was given in Batang West Side.

The movie does start to pick up again in the second half, mostly as Diaz…

“The Philippine apocalypse is approaching!” screams a military commander, the in-a-nutshell warning of every Diaz film I've seen. This one's under two hours (!) and yes, dwelling on duration or lack thereof is Philistine territory (is it? At least two of the brightest viewers I know find it hard to barrel past two hours), but it's weird to watch Diaz try (?) to at least look like he's checking off the components of a standard action movie. The opening shots — night street, blue light, moody shadows — are pretty representative in terms of his images and pacing; ditto black-and-white imagery of a non-sexual woman in the Filipino countryside, more irritable but still as near-angelic as Jessica Chastain in Tree…

#70HoursOfDiaz

Hours 11-12

A somewhat good movie that I desperately wanted to be better. Loved the first 20 minutes of this as Diaz interweaves a revolutionary call to arms with an action set piece based on a betrayal within a human rights groups combined with cinematography that make me think that this was Diaz's attempt at remaking Assault On Precinct 13. Unfortunately the movie loses a lot of steam after the initial coup as Diaz retreats into shot after shot after shot of leaders talking to each other about nothing in particular, with none of the same care that was given in Batang West Side.

The movie does start to pick up again in the second half, mostly as Diaz…

"Hesus Rebolusyonaryo" is far as dystopian Lav Diaz goes, setting his socio-political noir in an immediate future where no forward change is yielded; the damp, frothy, neon-lit city of Brocka's "Maynila" indeed remains -- still and somewhat timeless, decrepit and a tap close to collapsing. Recalling rather explicitly the Marcos regime, the film's depiction of 2011 Philippines is once more pinned down by the Martial Law, somehow bringing the idea of an inescapable cycle, with only enough fascism a nation can waterboard itself into.

The film is in cursed times indeed -- the was, the will and the now. Its [new] hero is played by Mark Anthony Fernandez who turns in with admirable restraint and intensity. Both a poet and…

“The Philippine apocalypse is approaching!” screams a military commander, the in-a-nutshell warning of every Diaz film I've seen. This one's under two hours (!) and yes, dwelling on duration or lack thereof is Philistine territory (is it? At least two of the brightest viewers I know find it hard to barrel past two hours), but it's weird to watch Diaz try (?) to at least look like he's checking off the components of a standard action movie. The opening shots — night street, blue light, moody shadows — are pretty representative in terms of his images and pacing; ditto black-and-white imagery of a non-sexual woman in the Filipino countryside, more irritable but still as near-angelic as Jessica Chastain in Tree…

aka Everybody Hates Hesus.

The intrinsic aura of futility when looking at a film like this can strike fear in the eye of any non-filipino cinephile, for observations of philippine despotism and socio-political strife could be wry or authentic and it's an arduous experience attempting to calculate which way the hammer is swinging. There's few worse feelings than the voice that says maybe you aren't getting the most out of this experience, though in totality Diaz doesn't want you to fall behind and instead it makes the dread of not catching everything look a little silly, but whilst Hesus is relatively easy going the frustrations of that little voice are always there. Hesus depicts a so called sci-fi universe but…