Friday, August 31, 2007

Insiang, Tinimbang on CineFilipino's pre-order!

New details: two of Lino Brocka's best works, Insiang (1976) and Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (You Were Judged and Found Wanting, 1974) are available for pre-order, soon to be out in September (hopefully, hopefully).

They're some of the best that Philippine cinema has to offer, folks; you want an introduction, you could do worse than start from the top.

12 comments:

kalansaycollector said...

good evening mr. vera! im jaymar and im currently writing an article about Pinoy horror films.

I would like to ask you sir if you can give your insights about the Shake, Rattle and Roll Horror series?

Do you think they can be considered as Pinoy horror classics or just another example of horror films without a substance?

Do you think Shake, Rattle and Roll films mirror the development of Pinoy horror cinema?

Thank you sir for your time and im sorry for my disturbance. This article is for our college paper in UST. You can answer in Filipino sir besides my article is written in Filipino. Thank you again sir and God bless!

Unknown said...

hello i was wondering where do we really buy cinefilipino dvds? specifically of brocka and bernal here in the Manila? I only saw them at ccp during cinemalaya. please please help!

please email me at rheiary@gmail.com

Noel Vera said...

Hi jaymar. Haven't seen every instalment. I do remember of the very first, the Manananggal episode was very highly rated. I much prefer Bernal's Pridyider, though. Horror comedy done well and with wit is a rare creature.

Does the series mirror the Philippine horror cinema? during its existence it certainly showed commercial horror at its best, but before Shake Rattle of course they've been doing Filipino horror for a long time--Ang Aswang (The Vampire) in 1933, De Leon's vampire and Blood Island movies. Mario O'Hara's Halimaw sa Banaga (Monster in a Jar) in 1986 showed Shake Rattle wasn't the only horror omnibus in town; fact is, I prefer it to any instalment of Shake Rattle.

Of the rest, I remember Ang Kapitbahay as having more than its usual share of enchantment, I liked Rico Ilarde's Aquarium and I hear Frank Rivera's Ang Tulay is quite good.

Rheia, the DVDs will be available at Fully Booked and Powerbooks.

kalansaycollector said...

wow! thank you sir for your insights! it will surely help me in my article! ;p

Jojo Devera said...

call Vincent... he has your copies of the DVD's

Noel Vera said...

No prob, kalansay

Thanks, Jo!

JdelaCruz said...

Just butting in if I may --

I think the SRR series was a mixed bag even in its early installments and grew pretty tired as it went on.

There were very good ones though like the Manananggal which was memorable for its faithfulness to the folklore and stand-out technical and production values.

The best of the lot I think was the Aswang (?) ep in SRR2 where Manilyn Reynes gets invited to the hometown fiesta of her classmate Ana Roces and finds out she's the pang-handa. That was one great movie -- coherent, well-paced, competently acted. Qualities that would do a movie well regardless of genre.

rheia --

There is a cinefilipino rack at Powerbooks Megamall right beside the cashier. But not everything on the website is there. In fact, I think I only saw films by Unitel in stock. Store price is way cheaper than the internet price tho.

Noel Vera said...

Aswang I barely remember.

Shake Rattle and Roll, as Jude pointed out, isn't the be-all and end-all of Filipino horror. Rico Ilarde's doing some good stuff, genre crossing movies with a genuinely deft visual style: Babaing Putik (Woman of Mud), and just recently Sa Ilalim ng Cogon (Under the Cogon Grass).

If Powerbooks doesn't have the DVD on their shelf, I imagine they can order it for you.

Oggs Cruz said...

Oh, there are gems in the recent Shake Rattle and Roll's.

Richard Somes' "Ang Lihim ng San Joaquin" is a wonderful mishmash of Tod Browning's Dracula, Peque Gallaga's Aswang episode, Predator, German Expressionism, among others.

Topel Lee's "Yaya" is a lovely coming-of-age derailed by the arrival of a shapeshifting aswang-nanny.

Noel Vera said...

Aside from Shake Rattle, there's Magandang Hatinggabi (Happy Midnight, roughly speaking), and Ricky Lee's script for Ang Kuba is lovely. If you think of it as a metaphor for repressed homosexuality, it's actually quite moving. And Angelika's a fantastic, underrated actress.

Albert said...

Beautiful film "Isiang," the couple Brocka-O'Hara was superb.

Noel Vera said...

What can I say? You're right. Unfortunately, CineFilipino seems to have gone under...