"Ang Babae sa Septic Tank"/"The Woman in the Septic Tank" In A Six-Day Run at the Museum of Modern Art as Part of ContemporAsian Film Series

One of the films featured in the ongoing ContemporAsian film series at the Museum of Modern Art is "Ang Babae sa Septic Tank"/"The Woman In the Septic Tank" from the Philippines. This self-reflexive parody of contemporary Filipino art films and the international film festival circuit follows a trio of young filmmakers during pre-production on the film they hope will get them to Cannes. This wonderful film is directed by Marlon N. Rivera, and stars Eugene Domingo, JM de Guzman and Kean Cipriano. Although there were scenes that dragged ending is predictable, this film is hilarious and very entertaining. Eugene Domingo shines in her portrayal of the lead actress. The movie is being shown at the Roy and Niuta Titus Theater (T2) of the Museum of Modern Art located art 11 West 53 Street. The film is in Tagalog with English subtitles. This is the film's New York premiere.

Synopsis: (From Cinemalaya) Ang Babae sa Septic Tank chronicles a day in the life of three ambitious, passionate but misguided filmmakers as they set out to do a quick pre-prod at Starbucks, a courtesy call to their lead actress, Eugene Domingo, and an ocular inspection of their film’s major location, the Payatas dumpsite. Director Rainier, Producer Bingbong and Production Assistant Jocelyn are well-to-do, well-educated film school graduates who are dead set on making an Oscar worthy film. They believe they have a winning script, the energy and the drive to make their dreams come true. Like most filmmakers they know, they have devised a screenplay that will show the real essence of our culture: poverty. In the course of one day, they brainstorm and exhaust all possible treatment of their project: the story of Mila (Eugene Domingo), a mother from the slums, who out of desperation to survive, has sold her child to a pedophile. As they discuss the possible executions of the story, the movie-within-a-movie gets reborn in Jocelyn’s imagination several times. As a gritty no frills neo-realist film, as a glossy musical, as an over-the-top melodrama and as a docu drama using non-actors. For their last task of the day, they visit the dumpsite for the first time. As filmmakers gunning for authenticity, they get excited with the ”beauty” of the squalor around them. Soon enough, they are faced with reality as they come face to face with the real effects of their chosen subject. Babae sa Septic Tank is a comedy about misguided ambitions, the art of making art and the romanticization of poverty.

Screening Schedule

Wednesday, May 23, 7:00
Thursday, May 24, 4:00
Friday, May 25, 7:00
Saturday, May 26, 1:30
Sunday, May 27, 5:00
Monday, May 28, 4:00

Screening of Philippine movie "TIRADOR" at the Museum of Modern Art

Youtube video from deuxfleuves

Earlier this evening I attended a screening of a Philippine movie called TIRADOR directed by BRILLANTE MENDOZA at the Museum of Modern Art. The movie is being featured in "ContemporAsian," MOMA's showcase of films that get little exposure, but which engage the various styles, histories, and changes in Asian cinema.

Synopsis of Tirador (Slingshot). 2007. Philippines. Directed by Brillante Mendoza. With Jiro Manio, Kristoffer King, Coco Martin. One of the most prolific and acclaimed directors of the Philippine New Wave, Mendoza has created another virtuoso exploration of the volatile Manila slums. The camerawork in this verité portrait of petty thieves and hustlers is fluid, sweeping, and seemingly untethered, as frantic as the overcrowded shacks and ditches it captures. Mendoza uses this hybrid fiction-essay not to judge the questionable acts of his fringe-dwelling characters, but to subtly implicate political and religious institutions as a source of their problems. In Tagalog; English subtitles. 86 min.

This screening at MOMA is as follows:

Thursday, October 23, 2008 6:00 p.m.

Friday, October 24, 2008 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 26, 2008 6:45 p.m.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 6:00 p.m.

Review by Ross Miller:

I tend to automatically take to any film which depicts things in a very gritty and realistic way and subsequently I tend to forgive any flaws it might have. That’s exactly what’s happened with Slingshot; I haven’t experienced realism like this in cinema in quite a while.

Slingshot, or Tirador to use its original language title, from director Brillante Mendoza, puts us into the heart of a section of Manila, in the Philippines, where daytime robbery and violence is a regular occurrence. The film shows us some specific everyday occurrences within a certain part of the city using a style that feels like you are in amongst the people.

A pivotal element to making a film which depicts the everyday life of a city is for it to feel real and not manufactured. Through its “in the thick of it” camera techniques and general direction, that’s exactly what it does. The conversations feel like we are eavesdropping on them rather than listening to a written screenplay and the events we see make us feel like we’re among the crowd that’s standing close and we just happen to catch a glimpse of what’s going on. There isn’t a main narrative plot that the film follows but rather it’s a series of incidents involving a few of the same sets of people. I think this adds to the idea that we are just getting a small taste of what it’s like for people every day in this city rather than following a carefully plotted story.

In a very City of God way, the film’s editing is very frantic and cut very quickly together a lot of the time to get the desired effect. For instance, a fight might break out between two people and the camera will quickly cut between being right in between the two and then from the perspective of people all around, on balconies and the like. The various filmmaking techniques employed amount to you often not being able to tell whether it’s a fictional film (although probably based on the true events in generality) or a documentary. It certainly gives off a vibe that it was filmed during the city’s everyday life, perhaps using hidden cameras.

The film opens with a very frantic and heart-pounding police raid. This is probably the section of the film where the quick-fire editing and the ‘up-close and personal’ mentality is clearest. You could easily be one of the people being raided, one of the policemen, or just a bystander from the viewpoint(s) we get during the raid. It doesn’t quite match that scene in the rest of the film but it acts as a highlight, one of major moments to discuss with people afterwards.

What I admired most about Slingshot, though, was just how honestly and plainly everything is presented. As I said, it doesn’t feel manufactured or fake but rather feels as honest as a factual video account of what might happen in this particular city every day. And it’s always interesting to experience and witness a different culture to your own, to enjoy the contrast it provides.

Slingshot just goes to reinforce that there is high quality cinema available from all over the world and that not only the US and the UK make movies. The perfect description of it is “gritty and realistic”, to say the very least. Why, oh why, can’t more movies be like this?