SORRY FOR INCONVENIENCE

This is a story about a high school boy being disqualified from a fraternity group in the school. One night he went home with face bruised perhaps caused by his application to the fraternity. Instead of receiving comfort from his parents, all he got are harsh words from both of his mother and father knowing the fact that he was in pain. His father who is a policeman even encouraged him to get even with the bully. So what he did is he hunted for the bully and shot him at the back. The bully was left dead on the street.

When he got home he saw his father and without any communication the father knows that the son took his revenge. He even punched his son twice in the stomach. Then asked his son where’s the corpse and they rode the motorcycle. The son rested his head on his father’s shoulder.

I liked this movie because this is full of emotional irony – when you’re hurt and needs comfort but instead you received a second degree of pain, an innocent face and yet too notorious to kill, an iron fist but a heart full of love. I was touched at the end and that my conclusion is that all that the boy needs is understanding especially from his father which he finally found when he rested his head without uttering a single word. And yet the father’s reaction remains stiff but surely deep inside his melting away – a typical Filipino father reaction when he gets emotional.

NAKAW

Nakaw is a common scene in the slum area where there are snatchers, drug pushers and squatters. A boy stole a purse and was chased by the police who. They passed by a man who seems to be a pusher or a middle man of an illegal activity. Then this man went home and caught-in-the act that his wife is having an intercourse with another man. He dragged his wife and the other man escaped.  After he escaped, he saw his little brother who happened to be the boy who was chased by the police. He needs the money to buy medicine for their sick mother. Then came the police and chased them both. When the police pointed his gun to the two, the man was gunned down but not by the police but by the husband who caught him having an intercourse with his wife earlier. The man fell to the ground dead and a signage was put over him as if it is common story.

What makes this story interesting is its lighting system, faceless and unidentified characters and their connection with each other. It seems that there is no lighting system at all because the movie was dark, grainy and melancholic because of the increased Cyanotope effect. Probably a DSLR was used here to shoot the film. I assume that this is an intellectual attack to what Senator Tito Sotto have said about an Indie film on poor lighting system. Due to the dark lighting system, it was really hard to see the face of the characters. And often times they are running and that you could only see are their backs which would really keep the audience curious all throughout the film. The only thing that was vivid is the half face of the police when he positioned to shoot the two.

The connection among the characters was UNPREDICTABLE since the story seems to be fast and scriptless but all of them met in surprise and boiled down to a single DEAD end.

SALUTE to the Production Team as WHOLE! I also want to emphasize on the effort of the camera man was also distinct. Just imagine shooting on narrow streets plus you also need to chase the running characters. The story and the way it was directed is parsimonious but has a big impact as it also include social issues on morality caused by poor economic system. Due poor lighting system (which is part of  the plan of course), the film may appear to be done by amateurs but I’d say this is an experiment done by professionals – a pure creative story independent from high-end video technologies.