Mowelfund Tour

Last September 27 this year, we had a great chance to visit the Mowelfund Film Institute. It was a really nice opportunity for us students to tour the school because we were able to see lots of things regarding the film industry in the Philippines. 

Now, let me tell a bit something about Mowelfund. Mowelfund, or the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation is an organization in the Philippines that provides for the welfare of workers in the film industry. As well as helping film workers in times of need, it provides support to various organizations including the Mowelfund Film Institute. It was established in 1974 by Joseph Estrada, the Mayor of San Juan at that time and also the President of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association.

Also, The actress and the president of the Mowelfund Institute, Ms.Boots Anson-Roa came to introduce the institute. She then talked about how difficult it is to be a celebrity and to be a worker OFF-cam. She also shared some of her experiences as a front liner or more known as the artists. It was really nice seeing her in person.

Then after her short talk, we started to tour the museum. We saw the remarkable costumes from the popular celebrities in the 80s to 70s. I've got to see also the awards Nora Aunor, Fernando Poe Jr. and Boots Anson-Roa won.

The horror room is quite creepy because of the sound effects when you go inside. I got so fascinated because the sculptures seem so real especially the 'Tikbalang'.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bring a camera that time so I don't have many photos to show but maybe I'll just grab photos from my friends. :) So for now, here's our picture inside the museum.

(c) Maureen Rios

I had so much fun touring the museum with my classmates and I've discovered a lot of things too about the history of Philippine cinema which is very helpful to me as Mass Communication student. 

The French New Wave (1959-1964)

In the mid 1950s, a bunch of young men made a habit of attacking the most artistically respected French filmmakers of the day. And take note they wrote their criticisms on the influential french film magazine, Cahiers du Cinema.

We have Jean-Luc Godard who addressed the 21 major directors he asserted, "Your camera movements are ugly because your subjects are bad, your casts act badly because your dialogue is worthless; in a word you don't know how to create cinema because you no longer even know what it is". Francois Truffaut and Godard along with Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette also praised directors considered somewhat outdated or eccentric.

"We were all critics before beginning to make films and I loved all kinds of cinema, the Russians, the Americans, the Neorealists. It was the cinema that made us or me, at least want to make films. I knew nothing of life except through the cinema" - Jean Luc Godard, director.

I really liked that quote from Director Godard. Giving criticisms aren't used just to insult but to bring out the best in you. Being criticized is not fun at all but at least, you'll know what you lack. You'll be aware since you've been told about the things you need to change. I believe that it's a very effective tool for us to be able to realize that we can be the best.

Writing criticism didn't satisfy these young men, they are hungry to make movies. They even started borrowing money from friends and filming on location to shoot their short movies. 

New wave films pushed further the Neorealist experimentation with plot construction. The films often lack goal-oriented protagonists. New Wave narratives often introduce startling shifts in tone, jolting our expectations. The New Wave films ends ambiguously. 

The New wave offered not only several original and valuable films but they also demonstrated that renewal in the film industry could come from talented, aggressive young people inspired in large part by the love of cinema.

The Italian Neorealism (1942-1951)

Italian Neorealism is a film movement by stories set amongst the poor and working class, using non-professional actors and filmed on location. Italian Neoralist films represents the economic difficulty in Italy during the world war II by portraying the conditions of everyday life and that includes poverty, desperation, injustice and oppression.

There is no definitive source for the term Neorealism but it was said that it first appeared in the early 1940s in the writings of Italian critics. Today most historians believe that Neorealist filmmaking was not a complete break with Italian cinema under Mussolini. The film White Ship (1941) by Roberto Rossellini, a pseudo-documentary prepared the way for more direct handling of contemporary events. The current trends that time such as regional dialect comedy and urban melodrama encouraged the directors and scriptwriters to turn towards realism and this trend later became known as the Neorealist movement.

Neorealism created a distinctive approach to film style. 

Shooting on the streets and in private buildings made Italian Camera operators skilled at cinematography that often avoided the three-point lighting system of Hollywood.

The movement exercised a strong influence on the individual filmmakers such as Ermanno Olmi and Satyajit Ray and on groups such as the French New Wave.

Before I end this post, this is the trailer of 'The Bicycle Thief'. A nice example of an Italian Neorealist film.

Soviet Montage(1924-1930)

(Screencap from 'The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the land of Bolsheviks)

Soviet Montage is actually an approach in cinema that relies heavily upon editing. 'montage' is the french word for 'assembly' or 'editing'. Minimizing the individual characters in the center of attention is one of the characteristics of Soviet Montage films. In here, single characters are being shown as members of different social classes and are representing a general type or class.

During the world war 1, there were a number of private production companies operating in Moscow and Petersburg. The companies did quite well making films for domestic marker with most imports cut off. These film companies resisted the movie made directly after the revolution to nationalize all private property. They just simply refused to supply films to theaters operating under the control of the government. The government's film section of the State Commission of Education put strict controls on the supplies of raw film stock and as a result, the producers started hoarding their stock and even the largest firms took all the equipment and fled to other countries.

But despite the shortages of equipment and difficult living conditions, some young filmmakers made their moves that would improve the development of a national cinema movement. We have Dziga Vertov and Lev Kuleshov that made their part to save what really has to be saved.

Dziga Vertov

Lev Kuleshov

The Soviet authorities encouraged all the filmmakers to create simple films that would be readily understandable to all audience. Stylistic experimentation or non-realistic subject matter was often criticized or censored.

Movie Review: Le Mepris 1963 (Contempt)

I'm here again to make some review about the film presented to us last week in our cinema class, Le Mepris. A french film based on the Italian novel Disprezzo (A Ghost at Noon), It is a story of a marriage that has come to an end just because the woman fell out of love.

In the start of the film, the couple Camille Javal and Paul Javal are both so in love to the point that they can sacrifice everything for each other but because of lots of misunderstandings because of the husband's job, problems between the couple started to rise. Paul Javal is a playwright who was hired to rewrite the script of Homer's Odyssey which is to be directed by Fritz Lang. His wife Camille is a very beautiful lady and he was so inlove with her husband but throughout the film she was expressing her hurt and change of heart. Paul had a slow grasp of the source of her contempt which is the main reason of their breakup.

It was a really nice film but I feel like there are some unnecessary scenes that were too long and it just made some parts of the film a bit boring and bland. There are also long pauses between the characters that I believe aren't that important to the film but nevertheless, the whole film was great. Camille's contempt was gracefully executed.

Movie review/Movie Recommendation: Letters From Iwo Jima

Konnichiwa! Let me introduce to you the film that made me admire so much the passion and determination of the Japanese people. A 2006 Hollywood film directed by the famous actor Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima. To be very honest, I'm not really fond of watching war films but this movie is just too precious to ignore. It is totally a remarkable masterpiece. 

Letters From Iwo Jima is the second of Clint Eastwood's themed movies that retells the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. I still haven't got the chance to watch the first film or the companion piece entitled 'Flags of our Fathers' which portrays the same battle from the American perspective. I'd love to see the movie some other time in order to comprehend both viewpoints.

The film started months before the United States' invasion of the Japanese Island, Iwo Jima with the soldiers digging trenches on the beach. Particularly Private First Class Saigo, a teenage baker but got no choice to participate in the war despite his youth and his wife's pregnancy. While digging, he complains to his friend that the tiny island they're protecting wasn't even sacred at all and that they should just give it to the Americans so they can go home but one of the captain of the troup, Captain Tanida overheard them and started beating them for "conspiring with unpatriotic words".

At the same time, General Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the Japanese armed forces stationed in the island and begins the inspection of the island defenses and there he sees Saigo being beaten by Captain Tanida. He immediately ordered him to stop beating them and deny their lunch rations instead. And I'll never forget the line the General said after that. "A good captain uses his brain not just his whip". 

While General Kuribayashi was inspecting the troops, he realizes they've got everything wrong. He was certain about that since he has traveled and studied in America and knows what is going through their minds. He believes that they can't count on outside support anymore, the navy has been already defeated. And with that, Kuribayashi made them redo everything from scratch. They only have one thought in mind at that very moment, Iwo Jima MUST not fall because it is the last line of defense before the Americans attack the Japanese mainland. The emperor sends all their assets to Iwo Jima to prepare for the last-ditch defense of the mainland.

When the battle began, it was already very clear that Iwo Jima will not win against the Americans. They're outnumbered and the weapons they have weren't enough to beat the American army. There was a scene in the film where the Americans are already entering the shores of Iwo Jima and the beach is filled with marines. I was all like "whoa, this is just impossible".

(The scene where the Americans are landing on the shores of Iwo Jima)

Starting with this scene, they were already fighting for a losing battle. But they are at least aware that they're going to die soon. And from there you'll witness how they sacrificed everything for their country. General Kuribayashi even told his soldiers that you are a useless soldier if you are dead. He desperately convinces his troop to learn when to withdraw and survive. They have to at least kill 10 enemy soldiers before they die, it was such a motivation for them to fight more and show the Americans what they can do to protect their land.

There was a scene that made me really fascinated with Saigo. The captain of his troop, Captain Tanida have decided to kill themselves because he believes that escape is the coward's way and the only way left for them is to die with honor. But Saigo didn't follow them since he believes that it is much better for them to continue fighting until the end rather than killing themselves inside the cave without even doing anything. I find that scene truly epic and beautiful. Towards the end, Private Class Saigo encountered the General for the last time and ordered him to bury him where the enemy will never find his body. Kuribayashi shoots himself with his pistol which was a gift from an American officer and he made sure that he was still in the Japanese soil. Saigo was weeping while he drags the General's body away for burial. 

The movie ends with the archaeologists finding the letters Saigo has buried and those letters contains individual stories of heroism as the Japanese soldiers prepare to die.

Actually, the person who portrayed Private First Class Saigo was non other than the lead vocalist of the popular Japanese boyband Arashi, Ninomiya Kazunari. When I started being a fan, I found out that he was part of a hollywood film (well not just a part, but he's one of the leading roles :D) I immediately downloaded the whole thing and everything was just wonderful. It was a heartbreaking, touching and beautiful story of a battle that will make you realize that for your country everything is worth fighting for. 

                 

          

You can watch the full trailer here

                                          

The New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking

There was a time that the Hollywood industry struggled so much to the point that even the expensive studio projects failed to gain profits. American movie attendance flattened out at around 1 billion tickets per year and by 1969, the hollywood companies were already losing over $200 million annually. This created a huge impact because as we all know the Hollywood industry is one of the centers and main pillars in the whole film industry worldwide.

But then of course, the producers can't just sit around and watch the industry go down. They fought back and their strategy was to produce counterculture-flavored films aimed at young people. This is where the so called "movie brats" became significant. The young directors that changed the Hollywood industry. George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Francis Coppola are just some of those genius directors that were able to lift the industry's fortune.

Most of the films of the New Hollywood were based on the Old Hollywood because the young directors were also admirers of the classical Hollywood tradition. Well not only that but some directors admired the European tradition too. During the 1980s, the fresh directors were able to win recognition as well that created a "New Hollywood". Many of the biggest movie hits came from George Lucas (Star Wars) and Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park). Directors from independent film managed to shift into the mainstream world with widely known celebrities making medium-budget pictures.

George Lucas (Star Wars)

Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park)

And at the start of the new century, many of the most thrilling Hollywood films were being created by a heavy-armed new generation from the 1960s and 1970s and brought up on videotape, video games and of course The Internet.

Source: Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson (p. 463-468)