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Commentary on Jose Maria Sison’s “The Need for a Cultural Revolution” (Part 2)
Part 1 here Just as revolution is inevitable in politico-economic relations, revolution is inevitable in culture. A cultural revolution, as a matter of fact, is a necessary aspect of the politico-economic revolution. In the history of mankind, it can easily be seen that even before the full development of the politico-economic power of an ascendant…
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Commentary on Jose Maria Sison’s “The Need for a Cultural Revolution”
This text aims to provide a commentary on Jose Maria Sison’s brief text, “The Need for a Cultural Revolution.” The currently existing text to be cited in this essay is the one published on Sison’s website. The text was originally from a lecture delivered by Sison on September 30, 1966. It is important to consider…
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The Witches of the Orient (France/Japan, 2021)
Julien Faraut follows up his 2018 tennis documentary In the Realm of Perfection with another film on unique sports personalities. This time, he focuses on the Japanese National Volleyball team who were dubbed “the Witches of the Orient”: magical players that achieved a record winning streak en route to an Olympic Gold at the Tokyo Olympiad in…
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The Many Deaths of Lino Brocka
This year marks the 30th death anniversary of the nationalist filmmaker, Lino Brocka. Even after May 21, 1991, he’s been dying multiple deaths. Some may recall how Patrick Flores’ polemic against Brocka, incidentally published day after Brocka died sparked controversy as one which provoked later the extent of political criticism. Flores’ mistake however is merely…
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Sun Children (Iran, 2020) [SDAFF Spring Showcase 2021]
Sun Children attempts to make a whole statement on the vulnerability of children to be exploited. Writer-director Majid Majidi considers this in a very nuanced sense: to expose how this exploitation is not in anyway sourced from evil people, but rather from a whole complex of situations that force children to take things on their own…
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The Audience Problem and the Film-as-Art Ideology
Last night’s Sipat Film School’s roundtable on Piracy has turned into something else on the sidelines. Discussion over the classroom chat has turned towards the relatively old debate between “mainstream vs indie” and how it is the audience’s fault that more “relevant” films are not being appreciated. For long that I’ve been around cinephilia, or…
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General Notes On Film Piracy
For Ate Ligaya and the mighty pirates of Quiapo cinematheque who educated me about cinema more than any teachers can. Talks about Film Piracy have often been stumped by mere legalism. Ever since the beginnings of the internet, this has been the case, not just for cinema, but all the other objects that can…
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Pornstar (Philippines, 2021)
There was a surprising turn in Scott Sanders’ blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite (2009) when the characters in the film suddenly turn to a discussion about Greek Mythology. It was a pleasant surprise, done with a hint of irony, of course. Now take that scene, stretch it to 80 minutes, reduce the irony, and what you get is…
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Miyamoto (Japan, 2019) [JFTFP 2021]
Other than good filmmaking, what makes a film especially satisfying? A good ending. Tetsuya Mariko’s Miyamoto starts with a good ending: a couple getting married. But more than this good ending, Miyamoto actually presents a positive approach towards human life and violence, an attitude that is quite rare recently due to the prevalence of Hollywood cynicism. But what Mariko…
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Mga Limitasyon ng Tekstwal na Pagsusuri
May mga bagay na di mo dapat binabasa, kundi inuunawa. May mga bagay na di mo dapat binabasa, kundi inilulugar. May mga bagay na di mo dapat binabasa, kundi hinahanap kung nasaan. May mga bagay na di mo dapat binabasa, kundi inilalagay sa dapat nitong kalagyan. May mga bagay na di mo dapat binabasa, kundi…