Tickets price: P69.50
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Check also its official website: http://www.69andahalf.com
69 AND A HALF
Yael Buencamino (FLOW 02 Magazine)
69 ½, the independent feature film from first time wrider-director Teddy Manotoc is in the final throes of postproduction. Having had a quick conversation with Manotoc, a peek at production stills and a viewing of the film’s trailer, it is this writer’s guess that this film is, for better or for worse, nothing like any other Filipino film in recent memory.
The smarmy film producer featured in the trailer (accessible on www.69andahalf.com), and the film’s title, suggests a slapstick comedy. But the artfully directed shots, the film noir-esque images, interspersed with the fashion spread-like takes, flashes of musical production numbers and the outspoken design of the sets, hint at the film being a little bit more than a standard slapstick. When you open the website of the film, what confronts you is not a picture of the main protagonist in a comical pose, but rather the image of a kabuki-faced firl in an origami-like skirt crawling on what seems to be a tall dark grass—Japanese glam horror perhaps? If anything this film is hard to put a finger on.
Although Manotoc claims that he did not set out to make an “art film”, the visuals suggest otherwise. The saturated palette evokes the hyperrealism more commonly found in contemporary painting The periodic appearance of a gigantic ear of corn in the most unlikely places seems to reference the surrealist Magritte. Perhaps this is all an extension of the reflexive nature of the film as it is easy to imagine that the director of the film is going through the same journey that his protagonist is going through, the struggle to put forward something that the audience will enjoy while being able to present his vision of film as art. Whatever Manotoc’s intentions, the sensibility of the film was no doubt affected by the diverse backgrounds of the minds that contributed to it. The production team featured the likes of veteran cinematographer Miguel Fabie, LA-based commercial director Jasmin Kuhn, video artist/film editor Clarence Sison, print designer Yodel Pe, artist Alvin Zafra, music producer/composer Dan Gil, video artist Tad Ermitaño, and fashion director Melvin Mojica (who selected designer Puey Quinones’s gowns) to name a few. There were even contributions from LA-based feature film Director Francis dela Torre, photographer Jake Versoza, and artist Christina Dy.
The film is reflexive in nature and there are constant reminders that the audience is “watching". The bars of the jail cells call to mind strips of film, the windows on the back wall of the cell mimic the projection windows of a movie theatre—and in what Filipino jail, or any jail for that matter, will you ever find a carefully stenciled sign in Italian, saying “your imagination will set you free”? How this all comes together as a movie will be interesting to see. But based on the stills and trailer, whatever the story is like, you can at least be guaranteed of a unique visual experience.
Related Links:
http://inthephilippines.ph/2008/10/flow-magazine-issue-02/
http://www.octobereighty.com/
Yael Buencamino (FLOW 02 Magazine)
69 ½, the independent feature film from first time wrider-director Teddy Manotoc is in the final throes of postproduction. Having had a quick conversation with Manotoc, a peek at production stills and a viewing of the film’s trailer, it is this writer’s guess that this film is, for better or for worse, nothing like any other Filipino film in recent memory.
The smarmy film producer featured in the trailer (accessible on www.69andahalf.com), and the film’s title, suggests a slapstick comedy. But the artfully directed shots, the film noir-esque images, interspersed with the fashion spread-like takes, flashes of musical production numbers and the outspoken design of the sets, hint at the film being a little bit more than a standard slapstick. When you open the website of the film, what confronts you is not a picture of the main protagonist in a comical pose, but rather the image of a kabuki-faced firl in an origami-like skirt crawling on what seems to be a tall dark grass—Japanese glam horror perhaps? If anything this film is hard to put a finger on.
Although Manotoc claims that he did not set out to make an “art film”, the visuals suggest otherwise. The saturated palette evokes the hyperrealism more commonly found in contemporary painting The periodic appearance of a gigantic ear of corn in the most unlikely places seems to reference the surrealist Magritte. Perhaps this is all an extension of the reflexive nature of the film as it is easy to imagine that the director of the film is going through the same journey that his protagonist is going through, the struggle to put forward something that the audience will enjoy while being able to present his vision of film as art. Whatever Manotoc’s intentions, the sensibility of the film was no doubt affected by the diverse backgrounds of the minds that contributed to it. The production team featured the likes of veteran cinematographer Miguel Fabie, LA-based commercial director Jasmin Kuhn, video artist/film editor Clarence Sison, print designer Yodel Pe, artist Alvin Zafra, music producer/composer Dan Gil, video artist Tad Ermitaño, and fashion director Melvin Mojica (who selected designer Puey Quinones’s gowns) to name a few. There were even contributions from LA-based feature film Director Francis dela Torre, photographer Jake Versoza, and artist Christina Dy.
The film is reflexive in nature and there are constant reminders that the audience is “watching". The bars of the jail cells call to mind strips of film, the windows on the back wall of the cell mimic the projection windows of a movie theatre—and in what Filipino jail, or any jail for that matter, will you ever find a carefully stenciled sign in Italian, saying “your imagination will set you free”? How this all comes together as a movie will be interesting to see. But based on the stills and trailer, whatever the story is like, you can at least be guaranteed of a unique visual experience.
Related Links:
http://inthephilippines.ph/2008/10/flow-magazine-issue-02/
http://www.octobereighty.com/
