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Some Belated Response to Grant’s “LA 2019”
Considered as one of the fundamental texts in the British Accelerationist strand is Iain Hamilton Grant’s 1996 essay “LA 2019: Demopathy and Xenogenesis. Some Realist Notes on Bladerunner and the Postmodern Condition” to which his very idea of the “postmodern” was lifted directly and almost uncritically from the writings of the French Philosopher, Jean-Francois Lyotard.…
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Celluloid Regression and Sadness
My kneejerk reaction to the trailer of Khavn’s soon-to-be-released film Makamisa is nothing less than disappointment – mainly due to the fact that the work is shot in celluloid. The trailer – and the film – closes the circle among the “trailblazers” of the so-called “Philippine New Wave” of the 2000s who regressed to using…
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Brief Note on David Bordwell
David Bordwell (1947 – 2024) exists enigmatically in my writings as an inspiration for taking a form-based understanding of film seriously. But as someone who did not take film as an undergraduate, I must learn about him the hard way. Since my entry in critical writing was through French / European theory, my Bordwell encounter…
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How do you live?; or, Miyazaki contra Lynch
(This is more of a Note than a “review”. Again, a “diary log” that probably makes sense to me the most than to you. Don’t read this if you do not care about the things that I do. And this text will have a really weird and often unfair comparison between this movie and David…
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Mga tala hinggil sa “legacy” movie
Madali na siguro sabihin na aligned sa pagiging “legacy” movie ang Agitator (2001) ni Takashi Miike. Madali makita ang impluwensya ng serye na The Yakuza Papers (1973-2003) ni Kinji Fukasaku dito. Mula sa pagpapakita ng gyerang-yakuza bilang karimarimarim at magulo, hanggang sa pag-subvert nito ng mga tema na noo’y sinusubukan ding pagnilayan ng mga pelikula…
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Katangahan at Pasismo: Tugon sa Op-ed ni Stephanie Mayo
Ang pinaka-importanteng tanong na naisip ko matapos na mabasa yung sinulat na komentaryo ni Stephanie Mayo hinggil kay Darryl Yap (sa Tribune, February 12) ay kung sino ba ‘tong “we” na tinutukoy nya sa title nung op-ed nya? Syempre, walang tiyak na punto. Hypothetical ang “we” ni Stephanie Mayo, pwede mo na lang isipin na…
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On Darryl Yap’s “Sarap Mong Patayin”, Philippine Cinema, and Violence: Fragments
I What may be lacking in contemporary Philippine cinema is an interrogation of violence. Save for one documentary, the Philippine Cinema scene seems to actively avoid the topic or the theme. The avoidance is so apparent that even attempts to make an action film compelling to watch fails. It is in this context that Darryl…
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Ano’ng nangyari…?
Bale itong post na ito ay tugon sa isang tanong mula sa curiouscat account ko ng isang anonymous. Ito yung tanong nya: “ano nangyari sa PH cinema? bakit nung 2nd golden age naman may maayos naman na lumabas na mga pelikula? ano sa tingin mo yung major factor bat nag regress yung quality after that…
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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…