NYAFF ’18: BuyBust

Feeling conflicted about the War on Drugs? Erik Matti is about to raise even more concerns regarding the way it is prosecuted in the Philippines. It is surely no accident his latest film is one of several recent Filipino releases that calls into question the methods used to enforce justice in the Duterte era, but there is no time for politics in this action showcase. It is a kill-or-be-killed struggle to survive in Matti’s BuyBust (trailer here), which had its world premiere at the 2018 New York Asian Film Festival.

Nobody is more skeptical of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) top brass than Agent Nina Manigen. She is already the sole survivor of a disastrous operation that wiped out the rest of her previous squad. Even though she is considered a jinx, Bernie Lacson recruits her for his new squad. Unfortunately, their first field op bears a striking similarity to the notorious bust-gone-wrong Manigen barely survived. The idea is to grab the uber-protected drug kingpin Bennie Chen in mid-transaction, using Teban, a reluctantly cooperating narco middle man as bait. The operation needs to be fast and clean, because the entire walled off slum is under the control of the drug lord.

Alas, Lacson’s operation is betrayed by Judas, the same mole in the PDEA responsible for the massacre of Manigen’s first team. Trapped in the slum, Manigen and a handful of colleagues will have to fight pretty much everyone as they search for an escape.

Basically, BuyBust is like The Raid: Redemption, but set in a shanty village instead of a tenement. However, Matti’s film, considered his first straight-up action movie, is far grittier and fiercer. Frankly, the body count here is astronomical and many of the deaths are spectacularly brutal. Arguably, Manigen and her valiant colleague Rico Yatco qualify as heroes, but there is not a lot of heroism in the film. They do some grisly things to survive, but they do not have much choice.

Fans will probably be stunned by Anne Curtis’s steely, hardnosed action-turn as Manigen, but she truly reinvents herself here. It is hard to imagine just about any other glamorous leading lady who could duke it out so convincingly amid all this muck and detritus, including Atomic Blonde’s Charlize Theron (maybe Kim Ok-vin from The Villainess).

Yet, as Yatco, Brandon Vera is right there with her, every step of the way. In fact, they develop some terrific fighting chemistry together (but in a film like this, terms like “relationship” are meaningless). Victor Neri’s Lacson is also a seriously bad cat, while Alex Calleja steals a few scenes as the rather reasonable (and comparatively decent) Teban.

There were some action elements to Matti’s On the Job, but BuyBust is just complete and total mayhem. Yet, we care about Manigen and her colleagues, because Matti invests a full half hour to establish their characters and the dysfunctional system they serve. Still, viewers better be prepared for the relentless havoc he lets loose. As an action beatdown, it totally calls and raises We Will Not Die Tonight. Highly recommended for hardcore action fans, BuyBust premiered at this year’s NYAFF, before screening this Wednesday (7/18) at Fantasia, and opening theatrically in the U.S. on August 10^th.

New Filipino Cinema ’17: Seklusyon

The training for these post-war Filipino priests is almost like a spiritual Fear Factor. For seven days, they will be sequestered in a remote villa to confront their inner and outer demons. The latter are very real to these novices. As if the sink-or-swim practice were not problematic enough, a young girl considered either a healer or a false prophet has been remanded to the manse for her protection. Unfortunately, nobody can protect the novices from the temptation and torment that follows in Erik Matti’s Seklusyon (trailer here), which screens during the annual New Filipino Cinema series at the Yerba Buena Arts Center.

Miguel is a deacon about to start the seven days of isolated contemplation that will proceed his ordination. He still feels guilty over something from his previous life, but he will not reveal it to his confessor. All four novices harbor secret sins that the evil agency in question will exploit.

Meanwhile, Padre Ricardo has been dispatched to investigate the young Anghela Sta. Ana, whom many revere as a living saint. Her healing powers sure look genuine, but something about her arouses the suspicions of the jaded war veteran. When Sta. Ana’s parents are violently murdered (odd that she couldn’t heal them, right?), the good Father will have to shift his focus to Sister Cecilia, her mysterious protector. In what seems like a spectacularly bad decision, regardless of what you might believe, the Bishop sends Sta. Ana and Sister Cecilia to the seclusion villa for safe keeping.  Needless to say, their presence is quite the distraction.

While it is initially unclear whether Sta. Ana is a savior or demon, the novices are still in for it either way, because this is a horror movie. Even though it is set in the post-war Philippines, Nathaniel Hawthorne could have sniffed out the sulfuric evil one right away. Indeed, this slow-burning tale of guilt and sin shares a distant kinship with his more sinister tales, particularly “Young Goodman Brown,” in which the infernal masquerades as the innocent.

Matti skillfully creates a mood of mounting dread and masterfully sets the ominous mise-en-scene. However, the atmospheric moodiness can be too much of a good thing, enveloping the cast like a fog. Although they are played by some highly recognizable Philippine actors, it is a bit of a challenge to keep all four novices straight. In contrast, Padre Ricardo and Sister Cecilia are highly compelling characters, thanks to their intriguing backstories and the rigorously disciplined performances of Neil Ryan Sese and Phoebe Walker. Likewise, young Rhed Bustamante is pretty incredible as Anghela Sta. Ana, or whoever she might be.

When Seklusyon really gets deep into the brimstone, its unsettling imagery recalls The Omen franchise and Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Mother Joan of the Angels, which is high praise indeed. It is the sort of film whose ending makes everything that came before seem creepier in retrospect. (For those who see it, this Marist Brother’s insightful analysis will further your appreciation, but it is filled with spoilers.) Ultimately, it is quite refreshing to see a horror film that prioritizes symbolism over special effects. Recommended for fans of religious-themed supernatural horror, Seklusyon screens this Friday (8/18) and Thursday the 31^st, as part of New Filipino Cinema 2017 at the YBCA. Those in San Francisco might consider checking out the sunny but angsty Apocalypse Child this Friday, as well.

NYAFF ’16: Honor Thy Father

In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t such a bright idea for a major film festival in the Philippines to allegedly put the fix in against a film co-starring a sitting Filipino congressman. Nor was it such a hot idea to do Erik Matti dirty, as the resulting congressional hearings made clear. Matti was already probably the most important Filipino filmmaker whose films are widely attended by average, everyday people (as opposed to the Slow Cinema of Lav Diaz, for instance). His profile only increased with the controversial but legitimately gripping Honor Thy Father (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 New York Asian Film Festival.

Edgar is not exactly a Hallelujah kind of guy, but he endures the rather Evangelical Catholic mega-church preferred by his wife Kaye. As a currently reformed crook, he can also smell something is wrong with his father-in-law’s investment scheme, but he holds his tongue on the condition Kaye does not invest their savings. Of course, she does exactly that, right before the old man turns up dead and the Ponzi scheme crashes. Rather inconveniently, Kaye is now the public face of the scam, which leads to tense stand-offs with the angry mob. However, things really get ugly when their daughter Angel is kidnapped by restitution seekers.

With the Church telling them God will provide, Edgar turns to his criminal family, including his class warrior brother maybe not so ironically played by former Rep. (now Santa Rosa City Mayor-elect) Dan Fernandez. To satisfy the politically-connected kidnappers, Edgar needs six million dollars. That is a lot of cash to find lying around, but he knows the high-handed Bishop Tony is at the peak of his fund-raising push. Suddenly, things take a caperish turn as Edgar and his brothers plot to tunnel and blast their way into Bishop Tony’s coffers.

Matti sort of returns to the noirish action territory of his international hit On the Job, but he is clearly looking to score points against some big targets, including the Catholic Church and Madoff-style financial flimflammery. Yet, to some extent, the business with the Metro Manila Film Festival partially overshadowed its intended polemics. Still, it is worth noting Matti never lets anyone off the hook. In general, the film mostly supports the notion “you can’t cheat an honest man.” Both Edgar and Kaye recognized there was something fishy about the old man’s pyramid scheme, but she got greedy and fell for the lure of easy money.

Deliberately and defiantly playing against type, rom-com heartthrob John Lloyd Cruz does career best work as the intense, soul-haunted Edgar. He is a monster brooder closely akin to Arnold Reyes in Graceland. Sometimes you can actually see wisps of black smoke coming out of his ears. It is also deeply unsettling to see how thoroughly and convincingly Meryll Soriano’s Kaye falls to pieces. Young Krystal Brimner is rather heartrending herself as Angel, perhaps the only “innocent” victim in the film. Conversely, Tirso Cruz III slimes up the joint as Bishop Tony.

Matti has seen the enemy and it is legion. It encompasses the Church and capitalism, but it very definitely includes to Pogo-sian “us.” That doesn’t leave us much to work with, but he has a point when he rubs Kaye’s nose in her culpability. The professionally outraged have recently taken aim at the Koch Brothers for profiting from their early exit for Madoff’s scam. Yet, they are the ones who noticed something was too good to be true and walked away. You could argue the greedy ones are those who stayed. In accordance with that sentiment, you will not find a lot of heroics in Honor, but it is a gritty, lean, and angry thriller. Recommended for fans of naturalistic noir, Honor Thy Father screens tomorrow (7/2) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYAFF.

On the Job: Joel Torre Get Rehabilitated

One of Metro Manila’s most politically-connected prisons has one heck of a work-release program.  Periodically, they send out two convicts to execute a gangland-style hit and after a spot of shopping both are safely back inside before anyone is the wiser.  However, a botched assignment and a troublesome cop will create headaches for the elites pulling the strings in Erik Matti’s On the Job (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Evidently, murder for hire beats making license plates.  Ever since Mario “Tatang” Maghari went to prison, he has provided for his family better than ever before.  He only sees them occasionally, showing up “on leave” from his vaguely defined work out-of-town.  His daughter is starting to get suspicious, but says nothing.  After all, her father has paid her law school tuition.

While each job is strictly business for Maghari, his new partner, Daniel Benitez, appreciates their intensity, like a form of extreme sports. Frankly, Maghari has misgivings about Benitez, but with his parole approaching he must groom a successor.  He genuinely likes the kid, but he constantly reminds Benitez nobody can afford sentimentality in their world.  When Benitez finally takes the lead on a job, it turns out disastrously.  It was not entirely his fault, but he and Maghari still have to make it right quickly.  To do so, they will tangle with Francis Coronel, Jr., an ambitious cop, whose career track has been greased by his congressman father-in-law.

When Maghari and Benitez go after their hospitalized target, OTJ deliberately echoes John Woo’s Hard Boiled, but where the Hong Kong crime epic was slick and operatic, Matti’s film is gritty and pure street.  It is a massive action spectacle, but rendered on a scrupulously human scale.  Every blow hurts like it ought to, because no one is superhuman.

Yet, Matti is just getting started.  He and co-screenwriter Michiko Yamamoto paint a scathing portrait of a legal justice system rife with corruption. They are working on a large scale canvas, where complicated family history and political alliances will profoundly impact all the players. While the themes of loyalty and betrayal will be familiar to mob movie junkies, Matti gives them a fresh spin.  The distinctive sense of place also sets OTJ well apart from the field.  Viewers will practically smell the B.O. during the scenes set in the sweltering but bizarrely informal prison.

A radical departure from Matti’s clinically cold erotic drama Rigodon (which screened at this year’s NYAFF), OTJ seamlessly combines genre thrills with a naturalistic aesthetic, but Joel Torre is the lynchpin holding it all together.  Not just a hard-nosed action figure (although he is certainly that), Torre fully expresses the acute pain of Maghari’s tragic failings, born of his violent circumstances.  The entire ensemble is completely convincing, but OTJ is truly his show.

Fully engaging on both the macro and micro levels, OTJ is one of the year’s best hitman-cop dramas. Driven by the talents of Matti and Torre, it is a serious social critique that never skimps on the adrenaline.  Highly recommended, On the Job opens this Friday (9/27) in New York at the AMC Empire and in San Francisco at the Metreon.