Friday, February 26, 2016

Lav Diaz' Silver Bear at the Berlinale

Funny, I found the best way to appreciate Pinoy showbiz is to use the outside world as the filter. Despite the highly-developed technicals, Pinoy culture is so unpredictable that more often than necessary, entertainment products  would require an acquired taste, with the de riguer learning curve. Somehow, it's heartening to note many parts of the world appreciate Pinoy films & teleseryes, but it's obvious they mostly wisely chose and only buy those worth their time. It turned out their choice  mostly won't waste mine either. That's why I'm mostly using their eyes in this blog as filter on what to feature.

Mostly it worked. But what happens when I start ignoring the accolades from the outside? I'm talking about the recent film of Lav Diaz which won the Silver Bear at the recently concluded Berlinale, "Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis". My friend called me up why I didn't even feature it, he tipped me on it. I have to be honest, I was still thinking what to do. I featured almost all the films of Lav here and I personally have 4 of his notoriouly long-duration films but I haven't even lasted an hour watching each time. Of course, I can always use the award as propaganda, those are the main uses of awards for a blog like ours anyway (though I often disagree with many awards, I can appreciate their value). Unfortunately, I may be a snob but I don't rely on snob appeal. I snob to get out of an aggravating situation.

But I finally roused myself from the paralysis. Ok, who knows? Let's try to watch it first, it might have something up its sleeve yet. Btw, I merely wrote the last sentence, I didn't utter it through gritted teeth. Believe me.

Silver Bear, Alfred Bauer Award, Berlinale 2016- "Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis", by Lav Diaz

1 comment:

  1. Natupad din pangarap ni John Lloyd na maka-attend ng filmfest. Napurnada yong Honor Thy Father nila ni Erik Matti, di natanggap sa Cannes. Inagawan kasi si Dindong, si Dingdong ang unang kinausap ny Reality Entertainment. Dapat yong pelikula ni Dingdong ang ipadala abroad para standard bearer siya ng mga Pinoy, kasi napansin na kapogihan niya sa Hollywood, siya ang 3rd most handsome man in the world a few years back, the most handsome in Asia. Kailangan na lang isang magandang pelikula para mapansin naman siya ng mga biggies sa international movie world

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