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Motherland, by veteran Filipino auteur Brillante Mendoza, had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (Biff).

Mendoza told Deadline about his motivation to make Motherland, shooting his next film Chameleon and the challenges that the Filipino film industry is currently facing.

The making of Motherland

The film follows the story of Dao-ayen, a member of the Philippines’ Special Action Force (Saf), from the Ifugao tribe in northern Luzon. Dao-ayen was part of the 2015 Mamasapano raid that resulted in the deaths of 44 members of the Philippines’ Special Action Force (Saf).

“What really affected me about this incident was actually the story of the foot soldiers,” Mendoza said. “They are the ones who were affected by the miscommunication from their superiors and the president himself, and these soldiers suffered and gave their lives for their country. At the end of the day, there is a question of whether their sacrifices were worth it.

Shout! Studios presents The Magic Flute by Florian Zigl, executive produced by Roland Emmerich, at 325 theaters with expansion likely. A reimagining of the Mozart opera, it follows a present-day teen sent from London to the Austrian Alps on singing scholarship at the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a century old forgotten passageway into the magical world of Mozart’s famed opera.

This Harry Potter-ish adventure fantasy stars Jack Wolfe as Tim Walker, who passes from school into the world of the opera and its many adventures as hero Prince Tamino. Wide releases may be picking up steam and Scream, but in terms of new specialty, and family fare, these isn’t much new competition this weekend.

Melissa Boag, EVP of Family Entertainment at Shout! Studios, hopes it will play with fans of magical adventure, Harry Potter, and classical music. Wolfe is a star of Netflix YA series Shadow & Bone.

Film festivalgoers still have an opportunity in the coming months to attend screenings of writer and director Pedring Lopez's new action horror, Nilalang (The Entity). The film hit an unfortunate snag late last year upon its release following its ceremonial presentation at the Metro Manila Film Festival, but it hasn't stopped the film from garnering some much deserved attention in the months since. And not for nothing either as the film is easily one of the most solid pieces of work coming out of the Philippines in recent memory with leading man Cesar Montano starring alongside former adult entertainer, actress Maria Ozawa making a career milestone of her own. For this and all its international appeal, a new trailer began making the rounds this week...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

A lot has already been said and written about the historical inaccuracies of Mark Meily's El Presidente, how the glamour project dastardly re-portrayed historical figures to suit enlarged egos and their enlarged pockets. Andres Bonifacio (played with a notable lack of charm by Cesar Montano), the founder of the Philippine revolution who was tragically killed by his fellow men, is depicted as a severely sore loser. Antonio Luna (played, complete with gritting teeth, by Christopher de Leon), a top-ranking general of the revolutionary government who was murdered, is shown to be cruel, despotic and deserving of his embarrassing death as a matter of narrative logic. Emilio Aguinaldo (played with uncharacteristic and unbelievable nobility by Jorge Estregan), the titular president, reaps all the rewards of Meily's...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

War is hell on character and pacing in "The Great Raid". Recounting what it calls the most successful rescue mission in U.S. military history, the film brings a spectacular but little-known chapter of World War II to the big screen with meticulous attention to period detail -- and almost none to compelling narrative.

Even audiences predisposed to sagas of American valor or nostalgic for the good old days of unswerving wartime coalitions will find little here beyond the retro patina to grab their attention. As Miramax empties its Weinstein-era vaults, this $80 million feature, which began production in 2002, looks unlikely to execute a successful boxoffice raid.

"Inspired by true events" and based on two books -- William Breuer's "The Great Raid on Cabanatuan" and Hampton Sides' "Ghost Soldiers" -- the film's action unfolds in the Japanese-occupied Philippines during the last five days of January 1945. Under the command of the inscrutable Col. Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt), the 6th Army Ranger Battalion sets out to free more than 500 American POWs from imminent death at the Cabanatuan camp. Calling his Rangers the best-trained, least-proven men in the U.S. armed forces, Mucci adopts a daring, detailed plan devised by the bookish young Capt. Robert Prince (James Franco).

The risky operation, which has no significance to the war effort, is all about idealism. But the underdeveloped script by first-timers Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro substitutes stoic noble types for full-blooded individuals and history lesson for drama. Franco's Prince is just one of the story's barely differentiated team players: decent, loyal and impassive.

The Americans team up with a group of Philippine resistance fighters led by Capt. Pajota (Cesar Montano), eager to prove their worth as more than mere backup. In Cabanatuan, malaria-stricken Maj. Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) tries to salvage the morale of his starving troops, whose three years of postsurrender captivity have left them feeling abandoned and doomed while all eyes were on Europe. Keeping Gibson going, besides his reckless friend Major Redding (Marton Csokas), is his chaste love for Army widow Margaret (Connie Nielsen). A statuesque, heroic beauty, she smuggles black-market meds into the camp through the underground in Manila.

"Raid" opens with almost five minutes of background exposition, but apparently the intention was not to clear the way for character-driven storytelling. Characters mouth factoids throughout the two-hour-plus film, and neither the cast nor helmer John Dahl, who has shown a deft hand with mood and character in such films as "Red Rock West" and "The Last Seduction", gives the audience much to care about. Kiwi actor Csokas (who has a leading role in Paramount Classics' "Asylum", also opening Aug. 12), comes closest to suggesting a complex human being and delivers the best line, a bit of not-so-noble throwaway humor.

The handsomely appointed production boasts outstanding work from production designer Bruno Rubeo, costumer Lizzy Gardiner and director of photography Peter Menzies Jr. The latter makes evocative use of backlit images and a desaturated palette of greens and golds in his widescreen camerawork in Queensland, Australia, and Shanghai (subbing for Manila). Even with so much riches on the screen, the raid itself arrives with the requisite explosions but little dramatic payoff. The film closes with period footage of people involved in the raid, which serves only to underscore the lack of emotional resonance in the preceding dramatization.

THE GREAT RAID

Miramax Films

A Marty Katz production in association with Lawrence Bender Prods.

Credits:

Director: John Dahl

Screenwriters: Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro

Producers: Marty Katz, Lawrence Bender

Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Jonathan Gordon, Michelle Raimo

Director of photography: Peter Menzies Jr.

Production designer: Bruno Rubeo

Music: Trevor Rabin

Co-producer: Anthony Winley

Costume designer: Lizzy Gardiner

Editors: Pietro Scalia, Scott Chestnut

Cast:

Col. Henry Mucci: Benjamin Bratt

Capt. Robert Prince: James Franco

Margaret Utinsky: Connie Nielsen

Maj. Redding: Marton Csokas

Maj. Gibson: Joseph Fiennes

Capt. Pajota: Cesar Montano

MPAA rating R

Running time -- 133 minutes...