This movie just really isn't that good. I haven't nothing against slow cinema - in fact, some of my favorite movies recently have been part of that approach to movie-making (Perfect Days, The Turin Horse, Neighbouring Sounds, The Zone of Interest). I almost feel like there was no one around the director Lav Diaz who told him 'no' on any of the choices made for this movie.
The movie took four hours when it only needed two hours or two and half to tell its story. The first hour and 45 minutes worked and told the story succinctly. In order to have a movie go for four hours and still be compelling, either the story needs to carry it, the actors need to carry it, or how the movie was put together would need to carry it.
Sid Lucero (Fabian) is about the only decent actor in the whole movie. The character he plays is bad from the start - he starts as an annoying intellectual to eventually becoming an annoying psychopath. Yet he carried the sections of the movie he was in.
Joaquio (Archie Alemenia) is decent at times through the movie albeit with a character that's rather wooden. The other people involved simply can't act or aren't very good. I wasn't really upset that Magda (Mae Paner) got killed; she seemed to exist to stand in the way of Joaquio's family although they seem to make poor choices or expect a malnourished pig to be acceptable.
I was practically yelling at the screen when Joaquio's wife Eliza (Angeli Bayani) was trying to ask for an appeal for her husband's conviction 30 days later - what the hell was her character doing in that time?
Hours two through three were unmemorable and virtually an exercise in the director enjoying the smell of his own farts. The last 30 minutes or so actually picked up and Fabian is an absolute psycho by that point. The movie never explains what happened to Joaquio - Fabian's lawyer friends seemingly got him released (although it's never shown but only assumed). Joaquio floating on the bed could have been a great conclusion to the movie to be honest. The car accident and the introduction of Fabian's sister seemed rather out of nowhere rather than carefully crafted.
Just because a director can make a four hour movie doesn't mean the director should. By the end of it, I felt that the director needed to fire his editor, which is himself. Hopefully, Lav Diaz can work with better actors in another movie and make a movie that can tell its story sufficiently and succinctly.
The movie took four hours when it only needed two hours or two and half to tell its story. The first hour and 45 minutes worked and told the story succinctly. In order to have a movie go for four hours and still be compelling, either the story needs to carry it, the actors need to carry it, or how the movie was put together would need to carry it.
Sid Lucero (Fabian) is about the only decent actor in the whole movie. The character he plays is bad from the start - he starts as an annoying intellectual to eventually becoming an annoying psychopath. Yet he carried the sections of the movie he was in.
Joaquio (Archie Alemenia) is decent at times through the movie albeit with a character that's rather wooden. The other people involved simply can't act or aren't very good. I wasn't really upset that Magda (Mae Paner) got killed; she seemed to exist to stand in the way of Joaquio's family although they seem to make poor choices or expect a malnourished pig to be acceptable.
I was practically yelling at the screen when Joaquio's wife Eliza (Angeli Bayani) was trying to ask for an appeal for her husband's conviction 30 days later - what the hell was her character doing in that time?
Hours two through three were unmemorable and virtually an exercise in the director enjoying the smell of his own farts. The last 30 minutes or so actually picked up and Fabian is an absolute psycho by that point. The movie never explains what happened to Joaquio - Fabian's lawyer friends seemingly got him released (although it's never shown but only assumed). Joaquio floating on the bed could have been a great conclusion to the movie to be honest. The car accident and the introduction of Fabian's sister seemed rather out of nowhere rather than carefully crafted.
Just because a director can make a four hour movie doesn't mean the director should. By the end of it, I felt that the director needed to fire his editor, which is himself. Hopefully, Lav Diaz can work with better actors in another movie and make a movie that can tell its story sufficiently and succinctly.