PAST AND PRESENT

Posted by Jojo Devera ,


     Textured by the substance of humanity, Brutal (Bancom Audiovision Corporation, 1980) dwells on the inelegance of real-life interactions. Written by Ricardo Lee and directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya, the film’s capacity for vulnerability bonds its audience to the material. Typically, filmmakers will segue into a flashback in an obvious way so that viewers can instantly make the distinction between past and present. In the case of Brutal, Abaya chose to use unannounced flashbacks. Amy Austria's interminable numbness draws dimension from flashbacks to Monica’s past. The film’s enduring tragedy that the director never washes over with some artificial, cathartic resolution. Austria carries her wounds under the surface, and in the face of the internalized performance, she manages to evoke incredible emotion through her walled exterior. Rare expressions accompany Monica’s long silences, lending a sense of hope that the character may still heal, but Abaya seems more interested in exploring the pain of someone fully broken. Gina Alajar's Cynthia eviscerates in her scenes, particularly during an unexpected reunion with Monica that shows the wounds both characters have been carrying around. Monica can barely speak and refuses to connect, while Cynthia falls apart from regret. It’s an exchange where almost nothing of substance is said between them; but both characters seem incapable of communicating their pain in any graceful way. So much is touched by the actors in this moment, feeling their way through what will become the film’s most memorable scene. 

     Clara (Charo Santos) brings the same degree of sympathy to Monica’s mother, Aling Charing working alongside a brief appearance by Perla Bautista. Jay Ilagan also delivers a strong turn as Monica's abusive husband Tato, though his scenes are mostly in flashback. Brutal is a movie that pays careful attention to detail: Note how Cynthia quickly registers as a very different kind of woman from Monica. And watch through Austria’s ravishingly honest performance, how Monica becomes a shadow in the flashback scenes, wanting to reach out, but unable to take that step. The observations, nuances, and revelations all add up to a masterful narrative structure. Rather than following characters through the day-to-day transactions, Brutal interrupts the flow with its flashback structure. These flashbacks are interestingly integrated with a visual consistency and sharp delineation of actors in middle-distance beautifully shot by Manolo R. Abaya. The associations that link the past and the present are controlled by Monica's distant stares. 

     There is not a monumental shift or dramatic enhancements on display here, but the image is still very good. Viewers will note moderately sharper elements -  faces, clothes, trinkets around interiors, building exteriors, but there is not a major leap forward for textural detail, tactile definition or overall elemental clarity. Such are in evidence, but this not one of those leaps-and-bounds superior type images. Still, it holds to a perfectly filmic image with a few shots here and there that look a little processed and smooth, but it's difficult to tell where photographic characteristics stop and digital manipulation begins. The color grading brings some tinkering and tweaking to the palette, offering the usual array of benefits, including deeper overall tones, more color authenticity and tonal subtlety, and at times a slightly grayer appearance. The image also benefits from general signs of improvement to whites (more brilliant) and blacks (deeper and more absorbing without crushing out details). Likely a victim of terribly uninteresting sound design, this soundtrack rarely leaves the comfort of the center channel. Dialogue is delivered adequately sometimes fighting with ambient noise that seems to come almost exclusively from the middle. Abaya keeps our minds constantly in gear by making us fill in the blanks she leaves behind. Brutal is the epitome of what makes film a unique medium: the ability to tell stories through moving pictures.


Screenplay: Ricardo Lee

Musical Director: George Canseco

Production Design: Don Escudero

Film Editors: Manolo R. Abaya, Mark Tarnate

Sound: Amang Sanchez

Director of Photography: Manolo R. Abaya

Directed By; Marilou Diaz-Abaya