Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Shirking Responsibilities: Película Pelikula

An asteroid three times larger than the one that caused the extinction of dinosaurs is headed for Earth. The combined might of all world powers has amounted to scratch; not even enough to derail the asteroid from its crash course collision with the planet. You have three days before the end of the world, what would you do?


For one man, the answer is simple: Escape his 20-year incarceration and kill the man responsible for his capture, along with his progeny. What better revenge is there, after all, than to let your enemy meet his maker a few hours before everybody else does? And if you can give them a slow, torturous, hanging death, then so much the better.

For one mother, it is protecting her sons and her grandchildren from a killer's vengeance, while trying to keep the grandchildren ignorant of the impending armageddon. For her other son, staying alive long enough to die with everybody else seemed enough.

But when death comes barging in, even a man who's felt inferior and unwanted his entire life, a man who seemed to have never lived, can find the will to defend himself, and his brother's children from the all too real prospect of a violent death. When death comes knocking, how far would you go to protect something that is already lost?

3 Días (Before the Fall) and 20 other award-winning Spanish and Latin American films are featured in the 8th Spanish Film Festival at Greenbelt 3.


I've been able to see three films so far, and I'm hoping to see more. Of the three films I've seen, my favorite would have to be Los Cronocrímenes, about a man who becomes displaced in time, and the lenghts he would go in order to regain his life. The film is too good to blurb about, so I wouldn't even attempt a summary. Just watch it. Another screening is scheduled on Friday at 12mn, and I am planning to see it again.

----

I guess I'm back to blogging again. The past month became such a circus that it effectively wiped out my thought processes. As much as I love this medium, writing is at most, a fickle mistress. The urge and the inspiration comes and goes, and sometimes, it calls on you at the most inconvenient time. There are instances when it disappears for great lenghts of time, only to come back to give only elementary output. But there are times when it performs beyond anyone's expectations, and those are the moments, though rare, that makes me fall in love with it again.

Mediocre or spectacular, I hope this new advent in my writing urge would stay this time. Loss of writing ability sometimes feels like the loss of lucidity, and nobody wants that.

18 comments:

  1. welcome back shats! :) oh my.. andami kong na miss na foreign films..

    from what i gathered in your entry.. hindi ba parang deep impact tong movie na to? i know, it looks like its been given a spin somehow with all the little stories contained within the overarching plot.. pero haay..

    di ko pa napapanood pagod na ako. hehehe.

    hanggang kelan ang run nitong spanish filmfest?

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  2. it was so disturbing. almost as disturbing as esther. LOL.

    I liked that there was this overarching death theme that clashes with self preservation.

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  3. @ Gentle: It's good to be back. hehe.

    About deep impact... well, yes and no. The impending armageddon was used merely as a backdrop for the film. It was there and you couldn't do anything about it, but it was not the film's focal point. It was used as the underlying factor of the characters' motivations; what they would do on the last 72 hours of life. Unlike its Hollywood counterparts, the plot is actually more grounded.

    Spanish Film Fest is until Oct 11. If you want, 3 Dias will be screened again at 9pm on Oct 8.

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  4. @ Narnian: I haven't seen Orphan. Actually, I didn't want to see it, as I was certain it would mess with my sensibilities. haha!

    It was endearing how the main character evolved. "You're already dead," he said to his friend on the first few minutes of the film, but he went to great lenghts to protect his nieces and nephews.

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  5. Teka, bakit di ko alam to?

    I should be there. :)

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  6. NICE review you got there. Yu had me wanting to watch the movie myself.

    Buenas dias, señor!

    --Rcyan M. knocking on your door!

    Oh, yes I'm back! And I'm back with a vengeance!

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  7. Shattershards! Where have you been? I have been visiting your page every now and then. Good to know you're back. :)

    I am into foreign films also but my problem with them is they are too hard to find, especially here in the Philippines. I had my classmates back in college download some for me and I was able to watch a few, but there are still a lot of movies in my list I haven't watched yet.

    Have you watched La Mala Educacion? That was Pedro Almodovar's. One of my all time favorite films. :)

    Oh, and I moved to Wordpress. Just thought I'd let you know. :)

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  8. nagsimula na pala spanish filmfest. dang! tinatamad ako mag-makati. cinemanila na lang. :D

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  9. minsan ganun talaga though ngayon hindi pa ako nakakaramdam nun dahil ata bago pa lang ako sa blog. merely just a year.

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  10. @ Acrylique: Now you know. Punta na sa Greenbelt! Hanggang Oct 11 pa ang screening. :-)



    @ Rycan: Buenas Dias, muy guapita! Welcome back to blogging to you as well! Daan ako sa kuta mo next time. :-)

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  11. @ Vajarl: Hey! I've been lurking about, but couldn't string thoughts well enough to post something, or to even comment. Wow, salamat naman sa pagbisita sa lungga ko. hehe

    If you're into foreign films, dapat nagi kang busy the past month. We had Cine Europa, then the Korean Film Festival, both at the Shang. October opened with the Spanish Film Fest sa Greenbelt, tapos before the end of the month, Cinemanila naman at the Market! Market! (tama ba, Scud?)

    I haven't seen Mala Educacion, but I'll gladly accept a copy from you. hehe

    Wow, wordpress ka na. Sige, bisitahin ko ebahay mo next time.

    Cheers!

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  12. @ The Scud: Bakit naman tinatamad kang pumunta ng Greenbelt? Isang tumbling lang iyon. hehe

    Kailan na nga ba ulit ang Cinemanila? Sa Market! Market na ba talaga?



    @ Dong Ho: Maswerte ka na hindi ka nagiging biktima ng writers' bloc. Napansin ko, ang dami mo na namang nalibot na lugar. ganda nung last set mo, but I haven't been able to comment yet. :-)

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  13. sa october na nga. two weeks from now i think. sa market market ang venue. ayos. very convenient ang location. hehe.

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  14. Wala akong pera mehn. Haha. Kamalas ko naman, actually yung mga kaibigan ko niyayaya na ko sa mga yan, lalo na yung sa greenbelt, kaso busy sa work at wala ring budget. :(

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  15. @ The Scud: Wow, two weeks from now. Excited na ako. May line up na ba ng feature films? Ipalalabas ba yung Kinatay ni Brillante Mendoza?

    Market Market... kailangan ng effort on my part para mapuntahan iyan, siguro weekends lang ako makakapanood.

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  16. @ Vajarl: Ummm... Libre kasi yung movies ng Cine Europa at Korean Filmfest, kailangan mo lang pumila to get passes.

    Spanish Filmfest naman, 65 lang ang ticket per film, for sure kaya ng budget mo. Hanggang Sunday na lang siya (Oct 11), so punta na!

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  17. Someone mentioned something about Esther. That movie is sick. I liked the shock value. Anyway, fickle mistress? I agree, writing is like one. Can't get her to bed when you want her, but she lures you into her domain when you can't be there to perform.

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  18. aaaaaw how i used to love watching foreign films. they have a certain appeal that no hollywood ending could ever give me. it's a pity i have no time to stay in the video store to find them. ANYMORE.

    love,
    nobe

    www.deariago.com
    www.iamnobe.wordpress.com

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