Synopsis
Sonya, an old maid is about to give up on herself until one day, she meets a corpse in her family's embalming business that changes her life.
2018 ‘Oda sa Wala’ Directed by Dwein Baltazar
Sonya, an old maid is about to give up on herself until one day, she meets a corpse in her family's embalming business that changes her life.
Death is such a strange concept, as it could mean either of two things: it could be in a literal sense, that the life source of someone or something has ceased to exist, or it could be in a metaphorical sense, that even though it’s still alive and kicking, its will to live is practically non-existent. Oda sa Wala, or Ode to Nothing, managed to depict that and more, in a way that it conveys an agitating message about loneliness and emptiness, and what it can do to people. The film is about Sonya, an old maid, whose existence is only known when death is looming around the corner, as she runs a funeral parlor in her hometown. Her monotonous…
MY GOD 😔🙏🏽 IM SO LONELY 📻⚰️🕰 SO I 🌬OPEN THE WINDOW ☕️💅🏽 TO HEAR 🗣 SOUNDS 🗣 OF 👨🏽👵🏽👧🏽 PEOPLE 👴🏽🧔🏽👩🏽
It takes a while before any of the characters say a word. The opening minutes linger in the silence of this home, and in the details of that silence. Moths flock around an electric light. A woman listens to a Chinese song on a walkman in bed. If you are Chinese, or simply familiar with Chinese folk music, you might recognize the song as Mo Li Hua, a centuries old song about a beautiful flower that catches everyone's eye. If you are neither of those things, it still somehow stands as a piece of compelling incongruity. An older man switches off a light. The woman switches it back on. The tape gets unraveled inside the aging walkman. In the morning,…
Parang gusto ko uminom ng taho habang nakaharap sa 4:3 aspect ratio ng kalungkutan.
the audience was laughing, but i was sobbing quietly the entire time. i still talk out loud to the air, too. dying sucks most for the living, but i’m no longer afraid of ghosts thanks to you.
i miss you, lyon bajamundi. i’m sorry.
where tf was i when this was released? ᵇᵉᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ⁱ ʰᵃᵈ ᵇᵉᵉⁿ ˢˡᵉᵉᵖⁱⁿᵍ ⁱⁿᵈᵉᵉᵈ
a perfect psychological black comedy.
everything went so satisfying, most especially knowing that this is a filipino film—again a filipino film; it's quite rare for me to watch films from my country nowadays that serve as an authentically artful catharsis, and indubitably this film is one of them.
it is also not ostensibly and excruciatingly performative, hence making this one very distinguishable among the sea of modern ph movies. this really does not even try so hard to be that relevant and seemingly woke, bc it's just so effortlessly natural and genuine.
all of the themes of emptiness, solitariness, and the listlessness were also delineated so…
My God, I'm so lonely
So I open the window
To hear sounds of people
To hear sounds of people
Venus, planet of love
Was destroyed by global warming
Did its people want too much too?
Did its people want too much?
And I don't want your pity
I just want somebody near me
Guess I'm a coward
I just want to feel alright
And I know no one will save me
I just need someone to kiss
Give me one good honest kiss
And I'll be alright
Nobody, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody
Ooh, nobody, nobody
I've been big and small and
Big and small and
Big and small again
And still nobody wants me
Still nobody wants me
And…
sometimes, unprocessed grief gives memories a pungent smell. recollections inject themselves with perceptual formaldehyde to delay a sorrow that deliberately festers from a debilitating loss; to preserve previous pieces of one’s self amidst a physical, mental, and emotional rot. although it doesn’t immediately reek in Oda sa Wala’s unsettlingly quiet atmosphere, it is soon apparent there’s something amiss with 44-year old embalmer Sonya. unmarried and living with her father who wouldn’t talk to her nor spare her a look in an old, neglected, two-story house, she spends her days languidly waiting for customers in the family-owned funeral parlour situated in the lower floor. business is slow. and to make matters worse, they have mortgaged their house and property to a…
QCinema International Film Festival 2020 | QCinema Ranked
Tahimik. Nagmistulang aklatan ang tahanan mula nang mapundi ang ilaw nito. Nakakabinging katahimikan. Binabalot ako nito at tinatalakbong ngunit hindi init kundi lamig ang aking nararamdaman. Ganito ba ang buhay kuwarenta’y kuwatro? Nakakapagod mabuhay. Pero mas nakakapagod kapag wala ka pang kasangga sa buhay, ‘yung tipong yayakapin ka bawat gabi sa tuwing ika’y giniginaw, sabay halik sa noo bilang pagpapaalala na hindi ka nag-iisa. Eh nag-iisa nga.
Habang buhay na lamang ako mangungulila sa pag-ibig na kaasam-asam. Ano ba ‘yan, bakit ba kasi ang dilim dito? Si Itay naman kasi, pinapatay pa ‘yung ilaw. Ayan. Hindi naman kami mapuputulan agad. Paulit-ulit na itong Intsik na kanta pero may kakaiba kasi dito kaya…