Film review: Stories and songs -- The Animals, with a note on Harana

(Note: This review contains spoilers.) Youth is not wasted on the young. Two of Cinemalaya 2012's New Breed films are about the upper class, and both are by first-time filmmakers. Gino Santos, a very recent graduate of the De La Salle-College of St Benilde, is the younger of these two filmmakers. In a recent interview for GMA News Online, Santos spoke about his new film "The Animals" and how it was based on things he and his friends experienced, and on stories almost ripped from the headlines. Santos comes from the same background as his main ensemble. In this sense, Santos delivers. Weaving together the almost catastrophic experiences of getting drunk, ending a relationship, getting beaten up or doing harm, and so on, his film has a powerful verisimilitude that engages the viewer. I hope, though, that he was exaggerating.

One of my favorite scenes was set in a ladies' room in an exclusive subdivision's clubhouse, and the way it was done gave me a bit of a repulsive shock. (That is an understatement.) However, the almost persistent gravitas is sometimes punctuated with moments of humor, as when the few working-class people in the film, the drivers of the rich kids, comment on their wards' doings. I found the acting good for the most part, with the young ensemble delivering performances that were credible and strong. For me, though, the stand-out was Issa Litton as the mother of two of the protagonists. It might help readers to note that she is only in her early 30s, but she was able to pull off the role of being a mother by acting mature and authoritative. (On a personal note, having known her for quite some time, I still could not believe she plays a parent here.) There are of course challenges in being a first-time filmmaker, and Santos will hopefully learn from his experience here. For instance, I think he does have to learn how to work with sound better, and some scenes had the problem that I knew where the production team placed the microphones. Otherwise, I have to say that his care and attention to giving a picture of his world, a scene totally different from, say, Marie Jamora's "Ang Nawawala", is commendable. I do hope that Santos and his team continue to tell their stories from their worlds. Our non-studio film scene deserves more than a fixation on poverty. I cannot finish writing about Cinemalaya 2012 without mentioning my best film of the festival. It was not in competition. I was told that until Mario O'Hara's passing, this was supposed to have been the opening film. The world premiere of Benito Bautista's new documentary Harana took place last Thursday. It received a standing ovation. The film follows Florante Aguilar, a classically trained musician based in the United States, as he returns to his country in 2009 after his father's passing. He aims to rediscover the music and masters of the harana, which has led to some of the most memorable songs from the Tagalog folk repertoire. In the process, viewers are led to rediscover the music and a tradition which is indeed dying out. The music is the focus here, and it is often moving. The film is brilliantly shot, with minimal narration, and has moments of warmth and poignancy. It ends with a note that three masters of the harana, billed as the Harana Kings, performed before 13,000 people at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles just last June. They performed alongside the likes of Sandwich and Martin Nievera. The three men, two from Cavite and one from Bantay, Ilocos Sur, are mainly retired, and only one of them, Romeo Bergunio, was able to attend the premiere. These were men who once spent their evenings helping other young men (or each other) woo their lovers through song. The reason I think this was the best film in Cinemalaya was that it was a relief for once to celebrate life and not death. For as long as people continue to hear, enjoy, and yes, even use songs like “Aking Bituin (O Ilaw)” in their movies, I think the music will live on. - BM, GMA News The final screening of The Animals will be tonight at 9 PM, Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3. Check out the Cinemalaya schedule here. Ren Aguila writes about music, movies, and health for GMA News Online.