Cinemalaya - Limbunan

Last saturday was my first time to check out Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival (yet another "first" on my list this year. kudos, leda!), also my first time to enter CCP -- no kidding! haha! The whole thing made me giddy, even though I'm not an artsy film buff ...maybe because I'm a bit patriotic, and I do appreciate art in some ways ...really. Plus the whole thing's something new! I LOVE trying out new things lately, apparently. hehe.

So anyway, while I wanted to see ALL films (20 plus, I think), a friend and I watched only one - Limbunan, one of the full length films, that's all about a fixed marriage in a Maguindanaon-Muslim Culture. I can't deny — IT. WAS. DRAGGING. Dialogues were very few, there's no much story apart from the life of the bride (Ayesah) days before getting married, AND there were a lot of unecessary scenes ...or maybe I just didn't understand the meaning behind those scenes. haha! But somehow, it's interesting, when I've had questions in my head about fixed marriages, polygamy, and what women really feel about it.

I knew only two stars in the film - Techie Agbayani and Joem Bascon. The actress who played Ayesah isn't popular, neither that awesome. But I guess it's because Ayesah was a safe role. I liked Techie Agbayani more, also her role — Ayesah's bitter aunt whose lover was killed as her father (I think) wasn't in favor of their relationship.

Though it was dragging, it had meaningful content, something you won't see in typical love stories. If I contemplated deep enough, (correct me if I'm wrong) the film says: Never insist something that's not right. Even if it is painful, carry your burdens unless you can take a lifetime-long regret. think DEEP, pare. DEEP! hahaha!

Another thing I learned: Check out reviews before choosing an indie film. Yes, I believe not all indie films are dragging. Perhaps next time I'll go for comedy films, like Two Funerals. Main actress is Tessie Thomas (I think) — it's really interesting, but it didn't look sulit as it was under the short film category. I also wanted to see Emir, a Filipino movie musical directed by Chito Rono. I've seen it before in trailers, but I thought all along it wasn't included, as it wasn't posted on the blog we checked before going there. Oh well. I'll definitely see the next Cinemalaya indie film fest, whenever that is!

Oh, and I think "LALIM NON A" is now an outdated line. Once I hear a deep filipino phrase, I'll now say "WOW! Cinemalaya indie film line yan a! DEEP, pare. DEEP!" hehehe!