needs a longer lead time before reviewing films (emphasis on "review")
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Cold Cut 2024
Among the four shorts, this film was arguably the least effective in getting its imagery and intention across, perhaps mainly because the medium and field by which they were transported through are still uncharted. I found it hard to connect with the film's entirety because its structure and emphases were not in sync with what you would usually expect. Granted, it is not fundamental for any film to make sense, but let us have, at least, a workable core on which we can consume and follow through with the art. Nonetheless, I deeply appreciate the camera work and the soundtrack.
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Nightbirds 2024
A film on a Filipino folklore with generous experimental elements of animation and narrative feature is a very welcome addition to this boundary-breaking experience of watching the omnibus. I will never get enough of Marietta Subong acting in unconventional roles as well.
Nightbirds is an effectively intriguing and refreshing film that offers its modern take on the Tigmamanukan folklore, where Ivy (Marietta Subong) is chosen by the gods to break free from the shackles of her economic misfortunes, thanks to…
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See You Outside 2023
The film has the following: the authenticity and spontaneity of long takes; a fitting metaphor for queers structuring and navigating their worlds; a relevant optic of the coming-of-age genre that is set in the most fundamental site of self-realization—something that bears a semblance of a house or a home; and a hit-and-miss convincing act of the protagonists.
A few minutes in, you will already get the entirety of what the film is trying to say. It felt like the remaining minutes were intended to cultivate the subjectivities of our characters or to better explore the film's metaphors.
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Rebels of the Neon God 1992
Never had the idea this was Tsai Ming-liang's first directorial feature debut. Seems fitting for me to have the film as an introductory experience to Tsai's storytelling.
Much has been said about its optics of grit, vanity, alienation, and loss. Nothing screams loneliness better than the characters' individual attempts to grasp the material and spatial facets of youth with reckless abandon. At best, Rebels of the Neon God embodies the various universal frustrations of the youth—some are prodded and disposed…
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