SARI-SARING SINENG PINOY

     Mike de Leon's Itim (1976) is a quiet, delicate piece, one aching with loss and regret. It's the kind of film which demands patience, not least because of the static photography and the largely wordless storytelling he employs. The characters are established with quick, subtle strokes. There are prolonged stretches which unfold without dialogue with only flourishes of a score. His tendency as a director is to privilege images over dialogue. Sometimes he hangs on an image for minutes more than we’re conditioned to expect by most Filipino films, forcing us to contemplate what we’re seeing. The storytelling is conveyed through style over narrative, both in its lingering visuals and editing. You have to watch, feel and experience what’s onscreen in order to follow the story, which begins to play with our expectations in ways that are deeply satisfying, almost cathartic. He repurposes elements of horror and makes them melancholic. 

     In Batch '81 (1982), De Leon guides us through Sid Lucero's (Mark Gil) initiation into ΑΚΩ (Alpha Kappa Omega), a prestigious campus fraternity, based around surviving hell as a rite of passage to entry into the fraternity that’s intended to build the bonds of brotherhood. The film is a terrifying look at this phenomenon – it’s about out-of-control male machismo, the sadistic pack instinct, hazing and its repercussions on vulnerable individuals. A sequence of a pack of naked young men silent, though they are clearly shouting or maybe screaming, explores in convincing detail the sadistic macho posturing that pervades such organizations. But as the hazing gets more and more psychologically and physically tormenting, the casual, almost unconscious one-upmanship spirals out of control. What’s almost worse is that these heinous acts of torture are mostly met with blind obedience. Batch '81 creates suspense, disgust and amazement, it’s resonant, thought-provoking and memorable. 

REQUIESCAT IN PACE…

MIKE DE LEON

May 24,1947 - August 28, 2025

     KANI Releasing’s Bona is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-free and the Blu-ray is Region-A locked.

     For more about the 4K restoration, see Bitter Revenge

     The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

Bona was restored in 4K by Cité de Mémoire from the 35mm original camera and sound negative reels.

4K Scanning: Cité de Mémoire

Film handling, image and sound repairs & Digital Image Restoration: Regis Desort

Negative scene by scene image scanning & color grading: Isabelle Barrière

CSI Negative sound scanning & digital restoration: L.E. Diapson

Project Management: Denis Garcia

     In native 4K, the 4K makeover of Bona can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision and later spent time with the 1080p presentation of it on the Blu-ray. Please note that the screen captures included with this review are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values. This is by and large a great looking transfer, one with good saturation levels and some nicely rendered fine detail. Reds in particular pop with considerable authority. It gives the film an all-around attractive and stable organic appearance, which is equally convincing in native 4K and 1080p resolutions. Bona features naturalistic colors and a relatively high dynamic range that creates a distinct separation between the subtle shades of browns that dominate the film’s color palette. Many different parts of the film easily convey far better density levels. As a result, virtually all of the darker footage boasts clearer, tighter and ultimately more pleasing visuals with wonderful organic qualities. Various primaries and supporting nuances have vastly improved saturation levels. I think that they are a tad warmer now, but the overall balance is right and there are no distracting anomalies. Also, in native 4K, the color palette is expanded, so there are some new ranges of supporting nuances, many of which help the darker footage quite a bit by further strengthening the dynamic range. The Dolby Vision grade is gentle and effective. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. The entire presentation looks spotless. I think those who have patiently waited for Bona to be restored will be enormously satisfied with its transition to 4K Blu-ray.

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Tagalog DTS 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame. The lossless track reproduces the qualities of the original soundtrack very nicely. The audio presentation boasts clean, crisp dialogue and it especially impresses whenever Max Jocson’s score is brought to the forefront.

Special Features and Extras

Jeric Soriano - in this new program, Lino Brocka's Assistant Director discuss the filming of Bona and its complicated production. The program was produced in 2025. In English, subtitled (11 minutes).

Nanding Josef - in this new program, Nanding Josef who played Nilo, Bona's suitor discuss the film and its unique qualities. The program was produced in 2025. In Tagalog, with English subtitles (22 minutes).

Q&A with Allan Brocka at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The program was created by KANI Releasing in 2024. In English, not subtitled. (22 minutes).

Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.'s short film, SUPERFAN produced in 2009. (SD). In Tagalog with English subtitles. (22 minutes). 

Trailer - presented here is the New 4K Restoration trailer for Bona. In Tagalog, with English subtitles. (2 minutes).

Booklet - a 25 page illustrated booklet featuring Perverse Defiance, an insightful essay by Professor José B. Capino, author of the book Martial Law Melodrama, as well as technical credits and acknowledgements.

     Bona attests to Nora Aunor’s remarkable versatility as an actress.  KANI's combo pack introduces a fabulous new 4K restoration available only on the 4K Blu-ray, that is guaranteed to thrill its fans.

 

     There was a time when most people didn’t know men sold sex and didn’t want to know. Now the cruising underworld is the stuff of movies and fashion ads that are easy to decode. Writer-director Petersen Vargas' Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (Daluyong Studios, Origin8 Media, Giraffe Pictures, TEN17P, Black Cap Productions, Momo Film Co., Volos Films Italia, 2024) dramatizes the lifestyle where the audience gets to meet the locals while keeping a safe distance. That’s because the hustling world is sentimentalized here, filtered through a lens of romanticism. Although the central characters are prostitutes, the movie is not really about sex. Vargas does a good job of capturing the unsprung rhythm of the street. Some Nights I Feel Like Walking offers a gritty, darkly comical peek inside the lives of these young men as they try to hustle their way off the streets. While the films' overall portrayal of the hustler milieu mixes surface realism with an undercurrent of romanticization, the tale’s early parts are winningly spiced with humorous moments. Things grow gloomy as circumstances begin to close in on Uno (Jomari Angeles) and Zion (Miguel Odron) and the latter sections lack the spark of what came before, largely because the story’s tragic arc plays out what the viewer has already learned. Still, the central figures remain compelling throughout, due to two exceptionally strong and well-meshed performances. Newcomer Odron brings a sweetness and skittish vulnerability to Zion. He holds our sympathies even at his most petulant. As for Angeles, it’s remarkable to note that this is one of his most confident performances, who commands attention with his charismatic yet subtle and searching incarnation of a strong-willed loner undone by his life’s contradictions. The performance is both appealing and authoritative, Uno doesn't expect much out of life and his low expectations aren't disappointed. 

     Vargas' adroit work with his cast is matched by an assured visual sense and Some Nights I Feel Like Walking benefits enormously from the richly textured images that cinematographer Russell Adam Morton achieved on a low-budget, location-heavy shoot. As much as Vargas wanted to heighten the utopian thrill of Uno's circle and the environment in which they’re free to be themselves, there is also enough of a reservoir of restraint to keep things solidly clad in social realism. While Vargas' film lacks depth and well-paced narrative, Some Nights I Feel Like Walking does offer characters whose only salvation is a world in which trust and tolerance are absent. In trying to run away from the trappings of a tragic queer story, the movie ends up running right into some of its own tropes. Zion is shown to be rather isolated, very much in his own head and keeping others – as well as the audience – at bay. When he’s left alone, he is at his most vulnerable, sometimes crying but we’re not entirely sure why. What Zion wants is love and by love what he really means is someone to hold him and care for him. They have fallen into a lifestyle that offers them up during every waking moment for any passing stranger. Minor appearances by solid performers such as Argel Saycon as Bayani, Tommy Alejandrino who plays Rush and Gold Aceron’s Miguel round out the film. With varying effectiveness, Some Nights I Feel Like Walking chronicles changes to individuals who wander the streets of Manila. In the end, however, the film gets caught up in trying to tell a grandly melodramatic tale, when a simple, down-to-earth story of broken dreams and lonely characters would have been more engrossing. Too often, the naturally-effective elements of Some Nights I Feel Like Walking are swamped by the forced, scripted ones that curtails the movie's power and appeal.

Music: Alyana Cabral, Moe Cabral

Sound Design: Eddie Huang (Nien Yung)

Editor: Daniel Hui

Production Designer: Remton Siega Zuasola

Director of Photography: Russell Adam Morton

Written and Directed By: Petersen Vargas 

     It’s a testament to director Chito S. Roño’s Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan (Regal Entertainment, Inc., Black Sheep, CSR Films.Ph, 2023) that it manages to incorporate so many of the visual and storytelling elements from lesser movies to create something compelling. Roño has executed the most effective, most rewarding horror film by exploring a demanding scenario that is all the scarier because he has constructed a dramatically tense situation to draw our emotional involvement. What’s more, the experience is grueling because the imposing imagery employed is truly the stuff of nightmares. There’s an emotional cause behind every horrible turn. Joshua Garcia plays Galo Manansala with amazing intensity—the kind that makes you wonder how the filmmakers incited the volatile performance, making his character's state so believable. Garcia’s slow transformation leaves room for Bob Ong’s screenplay to find new ways of highlighting Galo’s uneasiness to relinquish the past. Most viewers, if they’re honest with themselves, will probably hate Mama Susan (Angie Ferro) and they’ll be uncomfortable with the extent of their hatred and what that says about their capacity for empathy. This discomfort is conditioned by the shrill soundtrack dreading Mama Susan’s whimpering or all-around act of invasion. Roño's treatment is masterful in how he uses our imaginations to build up Mama Susan's "friends" and delivers them in expert cinematic reality. 

     Moreover, he creates a highly stylized mise-en-scène constructed as a contained environment from which Galo, Niko (Yñigo Delen) and Jezel (Jewel Milag) are exposed to a frightening blend of psychological and real horror. Equally vital are cinematographer Eli Balce’s shadowy interiors, as well as Roño’s enveloping sense of mood and attention to detail. Every piece of furniture has a deliberate placement, best of all, the treatment avoids strict adherence to genre rules; he refuses to make this a typical supernatural yarn and instead uses his supporting cast—Aling Delia, played by Vangie Labalan and church caretaker Mang Narcing (Soliman Cruz), to deepen his central characters. Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan takes great care to sharpen the details in Galo’s life so that when trouble comes along, it magnifies his anxiety. Perhaps the only elements that compare to Roño’s approach are Ferro and Garcia’s performances, especially the latter, since the young actor fully commits to his role with a mercurial presence, sending us further into the story. But it’s how Roño balances the film’s unnerving quality, genuine scares and its deep-rooted psychological impetus that leave us in full awe of how well Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan has been assembled and how it walks the fine line between reality and nightmares with skilled footing. The unexpected ending finds a rare emotional realism in what could have been a run-of-the-mill creepshow.

Directed By: Chito S. Roño

Screenplay: Bob Ong

Director of Photography: Eli Balce

Production Design: Jerann Ordinario

Editing: Carlo Francisco Manatad

Music: Andrew Florentino

Sound Design: Albert Michael Idioma, Jannina Mikaela Minglanilla

     There's the type of being familiar with a body other than your own in a cramped space in Jay Altarejos' Sa Panahong Walang Katiyakan (2076 Kolektib, Studio X, Full Post Asia, 2025). They wake up. They are a couple at peace. And yet they are not. Mark (CJ Barinaga) is reticent, stuffing all those uncomfortable emotions as far down as they will go. His lover Joaquin, played by Jonathan Ivan Rivera is all levity. These two have more chemistry with each other within the first five minutes than most other acting duos have in their entire run times. With such an intimate and voyeuristic look at the two men, the film instantly begins with an unsurpassable amount of restraint. Storytelling and narrative are somewhat secondary, with little to no drawback in favor of giving the audience the privilege to just spend time with Mark and Joaquin. We have a sense of where the lovers have come from, but not too much. Their interactions carry anxious, even bitter, overtones at times. Their exchanges are so natural that they seem able to read each other’s thoughts just through small movements and changes in body language. Because the events of the plot are so mundane, there is an authenticity to this world and those who occupy it that only enhance the emotion woven into the text and subtext. Altarejos' formally stripped back direction suits the material perfectly, which feels rather like a play at times. Sa Panahong Walang Katiyakan is a reminder that we aren't merely watching a series of random urban scenes but entering a densely imagined cinematic city filled with subterranean connections. 

     Altarejos' screenplay lays this groundwork nicely, but Barinaga and Rivera take the material to even greater heights. The tenderness and sincerity in their affections and especially for each other is utterly addictive. Stylishness in cinema is definitely alluring, but restraint can be nearly as compelling if made up to high standards. Such is Altarejos' quiet and reflective film. One will find themselves in admiration of the refined splendor of Sa Panahong Walang Katiyakan. This is a film that dwells in scene beats. It’s written with so much trust in the viewer to find the devastation through the glances and quiet moments of words unsaid. Altarejos' direction is both confident and astute, while remaining fervently empathetic to his characters and their plight. This is poised, unhurried filmmaking and all the more affecting as a result. We watch the couple joke, eat, drink, sleep. And it is in the things they don’t say that we find their pain and love. Nevertheless, Altarejos' film does achieve beauty not only through its heartbreakingly anguished dialogue – which feels subtly heightened but never enough to diminish the emotional truth. The desperation to try and be there in every moment, an impossibility for sure, is palpable. Sa Panahong Walang Katiyakan doesn’t try to do anything too ambitious narratively or formally, but tells its story with searing emotional authenticity. The later turns won’t be too surprising to many, but the film handles them with the necessary gravitas without devolving into slushy, saccharine melodrama. Conventional on the surface but uncommonly affecting in approach, Sa Panahong Walang Katiyakan is a low-key, painfully human drama.

Production Design: 2076 Kolektib

Music and Sound: Paulo Estero

Editor: Joselito Altarejos

Director of Photography: Manuel Garcellano

Written and Directed By: Jay Altarejos