User reviews

Two years ago I happened to see 'Serbis' and, although the movie was not uninteresting, I swore to myself I would never go and see another one signed by Brillante Mendoza, its writer-director. For two reasons: first on account of the Filipino helmer's taste for grime and graphic dirty sex, which I do not share; second because he shamelessly indulged in the excesses of "Cinéma Vérité", scrupulously filming the slightest step taken and movement made by his characters to your heart's limit (hence those endless walks through never-ending corridors and up or down interminable staircases), relentlessly taping all the sounds and noises of an overcrowded town without any re-recording (hence the permanent headache I suffered from while viewing this film).

And yet, I went to see 'Lola' (Grandmother). For two reasons as well: first on account of an appealing trailer; second because I let myself be influenced by the critics who all said that Mendoza had toned down his radicality and managed to make a warmer work than usual. A bit worried before the show, I soon realized that I had been well inspired not to stick to my principles.

Agreed, there are still a few steps too many climbed and corridors walked through but much less than in 'Serbis' and what made the former film simply bearable, the sympathy with the (many) destitute of Mendoza's native country, untarnished by vérité style excesses, make 'Lola' really worth seeing.

Another superiority of the second film over the former one is its brilliant script, based on a wonderful parallel: two grandmothers (lolas in Filipino) move heaven and earth to find money, Lola Sepa (awesome Anita Linda in her ... 200th role!) to offer her murdered grandson's a decent burial, and Lola Carpin (Rustica Carpio, perfect as well) to bail her grandson out of jail). Told separately, each of these two stories could have been interesting but the real plus is that they are intertwined, echoing and enriching each other with one old woman being the grandmother of the victim while the other is grandmother of his murderer. First separated by an understandable hostility, they will slowly get close to each other, united by their common fight for survival, family and dignity.

Making good use of the natural locations, particularly the permanently flooded area of Malabon, this nicely scripted naturalistic film, proves moving without being maudlin. All in all, 'Lola' gives high hopes concerning Brillante Mendoza's films to come.

I suspect that many people who have passed briefly through Manila have had a similar thought to myself: how to get out again as quickly as possible. Manila is almost unique among major Asian capitals in that the sense of being a horribly oppressed, overcrowded, underfunded, third-world rat-hole of a city bears down pretty mercilessly. Take the hard rural life of battling elements and poverty, and transfer it with concrete legs to the city of a population crushed together. Don't even think about good days and bad days. To say 'life sucks' would make light of it. A general rule of day-to-day life is that it won't be pleasant: it might be worse. Get used to it. With many poor countries, there is some redeeming feature. The cultural traditions. The beautiful colours. The music, the dancing. In the Philippines, forget it. Nice parts are for rich people, well fenced off.

The only abiding beauty is the bond between people who share the same fate and aim. Perhaps not to be anything as high and mighty as 'good' – but at least different to the scum of the canal and all who merge into it.

The theme of our film is two grandmothers ('Lola' means 'grandmother' in Filipino). Using the singular asserts their commonality – something that is so precious, so necessary, and for which each has to strive, even when every shred of their lives would wish them otherwise.

The film opens amid harsh wind and rain. The driving rain that makes short shift of umbrellas. An elderly woman battles against this weather through a dirty concrete square. Graffiti peers down. It is not a nice area or a particularly safe one. She is aided by a very young boy, related to her, and who helps her walk. The scene (and most of the film) is shot in verité style. There is no sense of watching actors or stage sets. Merely a camera 'happening' to catch the scene as it unfolds. Harsh visual effects are underlined (again, for most of the film) by harsh sounds. Clipped, slightly screeching voices of lower-class urban Filipinos, traffic, and the general noise of life that forces itself into any vestiges where one's peace of mind once stayed.

The grandmother is Lola Sepa. She has lost her grandson. He was stabbed the other night. She finally says to the boy, "Here will do." With difficulty, they light a candle.

There is something intensely spiritual about the moment. Remember that poem by Kipling that starts, "If you can keep your head when all about you . . .?" There is a quotation from Taoism that equally fits: "The shock terrifies for a hundred miles, and he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice." This old woman, who struggles just to walk, has risked coming to the scene of the murder in horrible monsoon conditions, just to light a remembrance candle (that is doubtless going to be blown out a few moments later anyway ) for her dead grandson.

The other life story we follow is that of the murder's grandmother, Lola Carpin. We follow them for nearly two hours until their lives converge and find a resolution that is the most unsaccharine you could imagine. The squalor and corruption of daily life are not glamorised or dramatised. They just are. Lola is a harrowing, claustrophobic, stressful film that makes you long for a quiet night and a hot bath. The horror is not so much graphic as a relentless wearing down. It will stay with you. As will Lola Sepa (She will always be for me now a real character I have seen, not a fiction.) There are a few lighter notes. You can soak up much about the Philippines. The trademark jeepney buses – originally leftover US jeeps – in which passengers pass their fare one to another until it reaches the driver. The delight that accompanies (for reasons hard for Westerners to understand) duck eggs or fish. Sewing money inside your clothes for safety. A corrupt and underfunded infrastructure that you don't complain about – you just get on and make the best of the life you have. And where a good heart still counts for something. Especially if it is backed up with 50,000 pesos.

A grandson is stabbed to death for a cell-phone; the killer is also a grandson. These grandmothers have very hard lives: one of them trying to find cash for a funeral, while the other doing all she can to raise cash to free her grandson.

This film is much deeper than most Filipino offerings, especially due to superb performances by veteran actresses Anita Linda and Rustica Carpio. These ladies exhibit so such grace, humanity, and empathy for their characters, that you can easily discern the love they have for their families. But unlike television grandmothers, they are not all smiles and sweetness. Ms. Linda's character is also impatient and especially grouchy with her preteen grandchildren.

This is a very realistic look at the lives of those who barely get by, and insight into the Filipino culture.

This was a moving and beautiful film. I recommend it highly.

And so we have the opening film of this year's 'Asia Triennial Film Festival' – one of nine films by Filipino director Brillante Mendoza. In the introduction to the showing, the audience were informed that Mendoza is one of a number of directors who make up a kind of 'New Wave' in the cinema of the Philippines – noticeable particularly in that these directors make exclusive use of the digital, hand-held camera. It is an artistic choice.

Unfortunately, however audacious and unique a decision it is, it's not a very pertinent one. I couldn't help feeling throughout the screening that a more classical approach to the photography wouldn't have gone amiss. Some of the scenes work well with Mendoza's approach – in particular, the boat rides across the flooded neighbourhoods of Manila - the only way the inhabitants can get around, are well done; but more often than not, his visual style is incredibly distracting and irritating, often alienating us as an audience from what is happening on screen (especially in the night time scenes or in the interior of houses, the darkness is such that it is quite hard to discern the faces of the characters).

It is worth noting that as the film progresses, the technical aspects of the film also improve. It is strange to have such a contrast in a single movie: there is a scene earlier on in 'Lola' involving a robbery that could be used in any film class to address the issue of inadequate film continuity – I defy anyone who has seen the film to explain in any significant detail exactly what happens in those two minutes. Editing also is painfully clumsy in places – cuts between scenes are often unsubtle and disturb the flow of the narrative.

Yet 'Lola' certainly isn't a bad film. Its merits are significant. Where Mendoza succeeds is in his sincere exploration of the Philippine legal system, and the lives of the two grandmothers in question (one's son is in jail for the murder of the other grandmother's son). Both live in Manila, in poverty, often bracing themselves against the gales and the rain storms, scraping together whatever money they can. For whatever else they are ignorant of in this world, they know all too well the importance of money. It is the reason one boy died, and the other might be given his freedom.

Particularly impressive are the performances by the two leading ladies – both old, ailing, stricken with arthritis, scared and confused by a world moving on without them. It is a shame, given the incredible attention that is given to these ladies by the director, that when the two finally bring themselves to speak to each other, the dialogue – striving to be natural and sincere – actually feels forced, and the scene itself seems rushed. Secondary characters don't have much depth at all – the cutting phrase 'one-dimensional' is frighteningly apt for some of them.

Even as I am writing this review, I can't believe what a shame the consequences of all this are. 'Lola' could have been a great film – all the ingredients are present, in theory. Mendoza is a patient, observant director, dismissing melodrama and striving for emotional honesty while offering a scathing social critique on his homeland, and exploring the poverty of Manila's inhabitants with an earnest compassion. For all my complaining, some of Mendoza's shots are actually quite beautiful – I won't deny it (even if they are few and far between). Those showing the litter and trash infesting the streets and circling wildly in the wind, the funeral procession for the dead boy, a drive through sunlit countryside – all of these spring readily to mind. But if we could potentially have risen above the irritation that the visuals provoke had the film been concisely handled – at nigh on two hours, the fact that the movie is overlong is exacerbated.

I don't want to be overly negative about 'Lola'. I admire Mendoza's efforts, and applaud his minor successes. This kind of film is hard to get right, and he has been brave enough to try and put his own unique stamp on it. The result is admirable in many ways, but as a whole, the movie doesn't quite gel. A somewhat disappointing start for the Asia Triennial Film Festival.