Movie review: Love, war, and things best forgotten in 'Iliw' 

Set in Vigan and Baguio during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, “Iliw, nos.tal.gi.a” (a Visayan word that means to be grieved and, incidentally, also refers to a snake) tells a well-worn story of star-crossed love, this time between Fidela (Kaye Abad, “Ang Tanging Ina”, TV’s “Maalaala Mo Kaya”) and Takahashi, a colonel in the Imperial Army (played by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Takashima). 

 

Theirs is a love borne, initially, of convenience; Fidela’s father (portrayed by Amante Pulido) is the postmaster of Baguio, and is a prisoner of the Japanese for seditious activities, and consorting with the enemy is the only way she will be able to keep in touch with him. As is to be expected from stories of this type, true love eventually blossoms (apparently, through a series of longing looks), presenting with a romance that is forbidden in every sense of the word.   

The timing of “Iliw’s” release is one that can’t help but raise a few eyebrows, if only for the fact that the film first made its bow at the 2009 Cinemanila Film Festival. 

 

Falls short of epic

 

The biggest problem with “Iliw” now, as it was then, is that its ambitions are far above the resources – I won’t go so far as to say abilities – of its creators. This is a film that wants so badly to be an epic, one wonders what they could have done with the right budget, story and script.

 

Narratively, it is consistency or, rather, the lack of it, that is an issue; For instance, while there are token characters who take notice of and click their tongues over Fidela’s relationship with the Takahashi, director Bona Fajardo never capitalizes on the inherent drama such a situation would entail, much less result in. When the film does engage in drama, it’s of the over-the-top soap opera variety that would probably play better on primetime TV. 

 

Does Takahashi receive orders he can’t carry out? Does Fidela stick by him even when her countrymen consider her alternately, a conspirator or a possible spy? Will they consummate their FORBIDDEN romance?

 

If you don’t know the answer to the preceding questions, you really do need to watch more movies Or TV. Or made for TV movies. 

 

The lack of consistency extends to the editing, cinematography and production design as well. Costumes and props are somewhat decent at depicting the period (if a little cleaner and crisper than they would be with actual, everyday use, but such is the case with many of our historical films), though to be perfectly honest, the city of Vigan does most of the heavy lifting. 

 

Visually, shots are somewhat soft in appearance, but how much of that is due to deliberate choice and how much is due to the state of digital cinema four years ago is debatable. What isn’t up for debate, though, are the comically cheesy fades between sequences and sporadic uses of CGI trickery, regarding which, the less said, the better.

 

Cinematic nails on chalkboard 

 

Perhaps the greatest sin of “Iliw”, as with any love story brought to the screen, is to feature two leads who have little in the way of chemistry. Now, Abad and Takashima may look great in still photographs and have gone on to other things, but viewing their attempts to portray a pair of star-crossed lovers in a time of war is the cinematic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.   

Whether due to a language barrier (Takashima did not speak English at the time of filming) or insufficient direction, that’s up to the viewer to decide, but as far as sparks go, these two have none to speak of.

 

Of the supporting cast, Irma Adlawan as Fidela’s mother emotes her heart out, wringing every last bit of overwrought emotion out of any scene she happens to be in. Of course, if your daughter was dating the guy tasked with burning your city to the ground, you’d probably be a little stressed out yourself. 

 

Meanwhile, Ping Medina, usually a fine actor in his own right is given short shrift here as the token “other guy” that Fidela knew in her childhood, but chooses a Japanese war criminal over. If only his character had the right connections, things might have turned out beter. Oh well.

 

In the end, “Iliw” is a film that doesn’t aim any higher than what you would probably find on your TV screen while flipping channels. The difference there is, at least with a TV, you have the option to change the channel. – KDM, GMA News