Revenge is always a complex, rich theme fit for exploration. It has been repeated endlessly through time, but it seems everyone cannot have enough of it. While Antonio Campos’ The Devil All The Time demonstrates a good grasp of it, it doesn’t offer a fresh take. The central storyline follows Arvin Russel (Tom Holland), the… Continue reading ‘The Devil All the Time’: The Southern Vigilante
From the painstaking manner of handwriting love letters, the age-old practice of harana here in the Philippines, the sweetness of courtship, to our modern, digital age where finding and choosing a romantic interest can be as easy as swiping left or right; throughout history, nothing else in the world is sought after more than love.… Continue reading False Promises in ‘Love, Guaranteed’
After Edward Snowden’s controversial confession back in 2013, it is no longer a secret that global surveillance programs through cameras installed in every device allow some powerful groups to covertly spy on people, raising concerns on national security and individual privacy. However, unbeknownst to the majority, there is an even greater threat that looms in… Continue reading ‘The Social Dilemma’: Zooming into the Bigger Picture
**Contains spoilers A girl with no name is on a road trip with Jake (Jesse Plemons), her boyfriend of 6 weeks, to meet his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) in the countryside. There is a snowstorm, and she wants to leave but their trip back to the city is always put off. Suddenly, things… Continue reading ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a Horror Film
“Yung iba nadaanan ko lang, yung iba, dumaan sandali,” Shana (Rhian Ramos) remarks, as Lio (JM De Guzman) admires the sea of photographs on her wall. Meeting new people is easy but committing them to memory may prove to be more challenging, especially if they have caused you pain in the past. Such is the… Continue reading ‘Kung Paano Siya Nawala’: The Many Faces of Love
It’s no exaggeration when I say western coming-of-age movies directed by men broke my brain. It didn’t matter if it had a female protagonist that made it appear more relatable—it always centered on sex, the plot is rooted on sex, the characters are motivated by sex, the story is furthered by sex, the resolution is… Continue reading ‘An Easy Girl’: Gazing at Girlhood
Growing up is an experience that everyone goes through at different points of their life, and coming-of-age stories have always been there to document this process. This kind of film comes and goes, but when one creeps up out of nowhere and leaves an impact on me, I hold it in my heart forever. Greta… Continue reading ‘Lady Bird’ and Finding Truth Within Yourself
“After you’ve been in a war, you understand that it never really ends.” This line from the movie Da 5 Bloods perfectly encapsulates the idea that award-winning director Spike Lee wanted to portray in his new film. Never one to shy away from controversial issues and ideas, Lee has brilliantly woven a narrative made from… Continue reading ‘Da 5 Bloods’: Dealing with the Past and Facing the Future
Netflix, with its string of endless content, delivers a heartfelt documentary about two women, Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, and their secret relationship of nearly seven decades. Directed by Donahue’s great-nephew Chris Bolan, A Secret Love dives into these women’s love story, from how they met around the end of World War II to how… Continue reading ‘A Secret Love’: Seven Decades of Lesbian Romance
From the beginning of The Half of It, our protagonist, Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), warns us that this is not a love story. Or at least not the kind where everybody gets what they want. Ellie Chu, a Chinese immigrant and straight-A student, lives with her father in the small fictional town of Squahamish. In… Continue reading ‘The Half of It’: A Love Story in More Ways than One
