Piotr J. Lewandowski's "Jonathan" - Ties That Bind

What if you find out that your dying father were homosexual, would you up and go?

In a small rural German town, 18-year-old Jonathan (Jannis Niewohner) manages to keep the family farm going by the sweat of his brow, where everyday is a struggle. He also takes care of his suicidal father Burghardt (Andre Hennicke) who's in the terminal stage of his metastatic skin cancer. What's more difficult for the handsome lad is his father's pessimistic demeanor to throw the towel in. Morbidity sometimes affects a person's decision making. 

Jonathan doesn't even think twice about his onerous duties. What he couldn't comprehend is the inexplicable hostility and animosity between his aunt Martha (Barbara Auer) and his sick father. Jonathan has stopped trying to understand this as he's mostly too exhausted at the end of the day. 

The bucolic setting would have provided a halcyon escape from the internal strife all around. But emotions run high between siblings who refuse to speak with each other, even when one is at the throes of death. Pride indeed has a way of eating through our rational thinking.

When cheerful nurse Anka (Julia Koschitz) arrives, Jonathan is afforded extra time to indulge in his artistic inclination (making beautiful lanterns, etc.) He used to dream of pursuing a college education in Berlin and leave their hand-to-mouth existence in the country. But with his father's condition, he knew it would have to take a back seat.

So he toils the wheat fields away. 

One day, a stranger knocks on their door; Ron (Thomas Sarbacher) was his aunt's ex-boyfriend, but Ron has come for Burghardt. His arrival would open dehiscent emotional wounds, but his father seemed genuinely happy. He has shaved and cleaned up, and the long forgotten smile has returned. Before long, Jonathan is able to put the pieces together, and realize that the stranger was his father's lover. Were Jonathan's existence and everything that transpired before this revelation all a lie?

The issues in the story are universal: honesty, family and love. Germany may be one of the world's most uninhibited countries, but the norms and tolerance for sexual taboos and practices are nevertheless the same. Within the confines of a close-knit family, honesty is still a valid criteria for acceptance or rejection.

Director Piotr J. Lewandowski's cinematic canvas is gorgeous. The setting is idyllic, a piece of paradise, playing out its contrast against the palpable high tension evident in the opening scene. 

The storytelling artifice seems obvious. The director takes advantage of beauty to underline the story's grisly elements and the dark emotional turmoil experienced by the characters . In fact our protagonist is a proverbial "god" - Jonathan (Niewohner) is too beautiful for words that it's hard to take your eyes off him when he's on screen. He is tall, physically fit, with blond hair and blue eyes - and is absolutely devoted to his sick father. What more can you ask for in a guy? 

Scenes move languidly but they somehow temper a narrative movement that one would expect to conclude with an explosive denouement. There are sexual moments far removed from the blatant vulgarity of coupling. They delineate passion and define joy and loving. In these tender moments, we realize that Jonathan will see through the tempests of his young life.

"Jonathan" was QCinema section's best feature (and one of the 4 Pink Films) in its rather disappointing "Rainbow QC" lineup. It also featured other gay-interest flicks - Andrew Ahn's "Spa Night" (US/Korea), Sara Jordero's "Kiki" (US) and Nontawat Numbenchapol's quasi-documentary "BKKY" (Thailand). 

Jannis Niewohner, 24,  stands 6'1".

#jonathan   #jannisniewohner  #QCinema   #pinkfilm

Kristian Cordero's "Hinulid" - Ambition Trumps Artistry... and the Nora Aunor Factor

When all that’s left are our memories, they’re looped in our minds like a familiar tale with no ending. 

Sita’s (Nora Aunor) homecoming is an infliction. An overseas foreign worker from Qatar, she comes home to claim and bury her son Lukas (Jess Mendoza) in Cagbunga, a picturesque village in the heart of Bicol. But Sita is baffled by the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. Was he a victim of frat violence or of his leftist activities? She seeks answers from the Tolong Hinulid (Three Dead Christs) said to watch over the village’s residents. As she steps on familiar grounds, memories come flooding back. Her endless train journeys might eventually find its way to the cosmic heavens where the tandayag (the mystical serpent) resides. Maybe this is where Lukas’ story gets its denouement. 

Among QCinema’s main competition entries, Kristian Cordero’s “Hinulid (The Sorrows of Sita)" has some of the festival's most visually arresting images (aside from Bagane Fiola's "Baboy Halas"), I was ready to like it from its opening scene. You see, the first 15 minutes sometimes gives a foreshadowing whether or not I’m going to like the rest of the film. 

TELLING SCENES

This is true of the following:  Milo Sogueco’s “Mariquina”, Chuck Gutierrez’s “Iisa”, Rico Maria Ilarde’s “Altar”, Aureus Solito’s “Busong” and Ice Idanan’s “Sakaling Hindi Makarating”. I knew I was going to like them from their early scenes alone. 

Unfortunately, beguiling images don’t a good movie make. You have to be able to sustain and balance this with fluid story telling. “Hinulid” went into overdrive spewing a steady stream of quotations, unfolding from a single page to a volume. While they were initially thought-provoking, it soon became a challenge to sit through its laborious text and verbose references from artists to philosophers. Every writing genre is represented, but Shakespeare. 

BURDENSOME

These make “Hinulid” quite burdensome to watch. I had to stop myself from walking out. I reckon it was early penance. After all, Ate Guy was in the audience and this cinema royalty deserved my patience. An insider story revealed that the movie was originally 3 hours long, but QCinema intervened. One can imagine the amount of quotations that didn’t make the final cut. Darn!

When the protracted train ride finally derails itself and flies to the heavens, I was reminded of Robert Zemeckis’ “Polar Express”.  Steeped in philosophy and mysticism, the train heads towards the vast cosmos. Forever, I hoped.

To be fair, Nora Aunor elevated this movie from its self-important ramblings. In La Aunor’s able hands; she validated every scene she’s in. She set its pace, and rendered it its heartbeat. She was the grieving mother who lost her only son. It was a narrative device employed to parallel Mary’s utter devotion to her son. With a vicious cycle of events randomly hopping within a timeline, this scholarly yarn was ultimately discombobulating, incongruent and pretentious, one of the three fat turkeys in an otherwise superlative line-up of QCinema features. There’s no denying Kordero’s talent and ambition. If he manages to moderate and temper his prodigious artistry, who knows, we might have another Brillante Mendoza or Aureus Solito in our midst. Just not with this movie. 

INDIGENIZATION OF CINEMA

Santigwar by Salvosa

This film also showcases the contribution of regional cinema to Philippine movies. It highlights one of the dimensions of cinema, i.e.the indigenization of the medium, making it richer and colorful. Indigenized cinema easily becomes a significant component of perpetuating culture. 

Indeed, Cordero’s visual canvas is rife with the most fascinating local color. We need this. Cinema can help "preserve" regional mores and tradition. 

How else does someone as urbanized as I am know about the Bicolano rituals of the Santigwar ("pagtatawas"), referenced several times, if a bit too redundantly, in Kordero's scenes? If these concepts are thrown into the story, they have to deserve to be in it, and not just as a means to satisfy the filmaker's indulgences. A valid story is basic.

There was a time I’d come home from QCinema festival absolutely frustrated. Who knew that would change? Now I can’t wait for 2017. Congratulations to the organizers of this year's QCinema.

#QCinema   #Hinulid   #Nora Aunor