4. Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-damdamin
Directed by Jermaine Tulbo
Screenplay by Millaine Matinong and Jermaine Tulbo
Shot in Batangas, ‘Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-damdamin’ is an almost finished work that juxtaposes the life and challenges of living on the beach, and challenges that this can pose to two friends. There is an attempt to make this film lyrical with a narration element of a fairy tale at the beginning and end of the story, but it never really fully realises the connection between the two narratives.
Because it begins with a young teen and his younger siblings, and then it moves away from this trio to the young teen and his friend and their friendship and its connection to the beaches of Batangas. What is lacking here is a definitive character arc that highlights the changes within the character. What we see is loss… but we do not see the full effect of what is lost and the choices that trigger these changes.
In that way, the film feels unfinished. There’s a lot it’s trying to say as it paints a picture of the challenges of living by the sea — environmental and ecological — but there’s no pervasive human element or story that drives the film from its beginning to its end. It’s just a sequence of events and the emotions that come with it.
And for all its stunning cinematography and wonderful use of music, ‘Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-damdamin’ fails to fully arc the protagonist’s character development and can leave you quite cold by the film’s end.
5. Sakmit
Directed and written by Seph Tan
‘Sakmit,’ while gorgeously shot by directors of photography Seph Tan and Christian Paul Naparota, suffers from an over extended storyline and veering into melodrama. It is the straightforward story of a man living in the forest who comes across illegal loggers. The man tries to stop them but the loggers are armed with a gun. What transpires next is a long four to five minutes of quiet contemplation as the man figures out what to do.
He then goes back to the city to get himself a gun over a very strange and underdeveloped confrontation with a mayor that leads to a very perplexing ending.
What makes it even more confusing is that there is an epilogue to that ending that is neither expounded upon nor developed.
‘Sakmit’ comes across as a man walking through the forest wondering how to stop illegal loggers. While the shots are beautiful and the scenery lush and green, these long walks of loneliness neither amplifies the man’s character or struggle nor does it help reinforce or highlight the story’s message. This whole movie could have been 6 minutes shorter, and none of its narrative structure will lose whatever emotional weight it carries.
It’s very straightforward and so it feels over-extended because none of its gorgeous cinematography is symbolic.
