Two of the newest DVD movies I bought recently which caught my eyes while rummaging at a video store in SM Megamall. Along with these two is "Killing Fields" which I last saw when I was still in gradeschool. The only thing I remember in that movie now is John Lennon's "Imagine" (strangely, I don't remember the plot anymore). But before reaching the cashier who was gnawing bubble-gum at that time like a goat in a famish, I dropped it because of the synopsis which I find very disturbing. More astonishing was when I already watched the other two movies left in my hands to be purchased, they are more disturbing than what I thought. The following are:
C A R A N D I R U
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One of the most-sought movies I have been eyeing in the video stores. This is another disturbing and uncanny flick, as I can term it, from an official selection of 2003 Cannes International Film Festival after Steven Spielberg's adaptation of liquidation of Jews in Schindler's List. The first few parts of the movie is quite stiff and nothing more extraordinary to most of the movie buffs. It's some sort of a Carlo Caparas-like elucidation of all main characters' individual tragic narration of how-we-got-into-prison stories. Very Pinoy style on how to bore viewers. Worse is, it is dreadfully a predictable plot of blunt social relevance with which you're always perfectly right on your estimation on what's next in the succeeding frames. The only fine craft I admire in this movie is that the actors are meticulously chosen to give justice to the characters they have portrayed. Well-rehearsed lines and superb acting prowess all combined to one. One of my most favorite characters among all the inmates is Highness, who depicts an annoyingly dogmatic idea of his chauvinistic side of how to pick and treat women and I love his transformation to an ambivalent lover whose heart broke into two - a Don Juan de Marco inside the prison cell? The story itself is a common sight which we have seen in a lot of movies about prisoners, but the denouement is what this film detaches itself from all the rest. Short but sweet, everything ends in a bloody death of more than a thousand inmates which is a memory of the massive carnage spearheaded by Amon Goeth. Recommended to watch when cable TV has ran out of movies for the day.
M Y S T I C R I V E R
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Another jaw-dropping, mesmerizing performance of a movie-god Sean Penn. His tear-jerking scene of that remarkable line "is mah daughter in there? is that mah daughter in theeere? oh God, noooo!" Yeah, oh God, how you forgot to breathe after that cut seeing Sean Penn in a standing-ovation-required performance. I was wondering why didn't Clint Eastwood insert that situation in Sean's I Am Sam acting feat of an MR cum obsessive-compulsive father who fights for custody of his only daughter. Wonder how a mentally retardate father screams like that? And adding Emmie Rossum lying in her limp body covered with mud and dried leaves while "That's All I Ask of You" soundtrack is being played supplementing the unrivaled wailing act of Mr. Penn. Whoah, that is very Oscar-award engaging. Anyway, I don't seem to understand why the author of this story needs to inject the past haunting incident of character Dave. What's that for? To desperately drive Tim Robbins win the best supporting actor award? Okay fine, he did (applause, applause). But with that initial premise, would you still suspect character Dave to be the villain of the criminal-hunting story? No you won't, because you already knew ahead of time that his case is already justified by mental disturbance. Evidently, you will opt to suspect other characters in the movie who is capable of killing Christine, err, Katie Markum. Think of a wildcard in the movie like the police inspector himself. The motive: he wants to be promoted by fabricating his own solved murder case. Why not the mother of Katie's boyfriend? Motive: she had eavesdropped Katie and her boyfriend's plan to elope and killing Katie is the best way to stop her son from leaving his family. Or why won't you think of Sean Penn's aide in his grocery store? The director's motive: to drastically confuse the audience of thinking if they are watching a sequel of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. It's gonna sweep all the awards, I bet you.
