Published on page E1 of the October 28, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
D: Takashi Shimizu
S: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals
THE WRATH of evil always lingers -- especially if it keeps churning out good business at the box office. Using intersecting storylines incoherently strung together in fractured chronology, Takashi Shimizu?s technically proficient sequel lacks originality and soul.
But, for viewers who haven?t seen any of the film series? five (!
) previous big-screen incarnations, this cautionary tale about domestic violence and retribution can still send shivers down the spine:
The vengeful curse lives on two years after American exchange student, Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), burns down the haunted house in Tokyo, where the gruesome story of Kayako (Takako Fuji), the long-haired woman; the wide-eyed blue boy, and their conspicuous black cat began.
This time, Karen?s sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn), flies to Japan and teams up with Eason (Edison Chen), a handsome but ineffectual photojournalist, to solve the mystery that drove her estranged sister to a psychiatric facility.
In parallel stories, three naughty, nosy high school girls satisfy their fascination for the macabre by exploring the condemned mansion near their school in Tokyo, while Trish (Jennifer Beals) and her stepson (Matthew Knight) endure secretive, hooded neighbors and a dimly-lit, new flat in Chicago as they come to terms with a troubled past.
Soon, they all learn that curiosity doesn?t just kill cats, it also vanquishes clueless people who can?
t keep their noses out of situations that don?t concern them!
This formulaic, slickly produced yarn, staged in brisk, J-horror fashion, features fine performances from Beals, Knight and Gellar -- who can?
t seem to shake off her Buffy-meets-ghosts cred (she will next be seen in another thriller, ?The Return?).
The film?s first act begins with a promising collage of seemingly unrelated narrative strands -- a directorial device that fizzles out 20 minutes into the movie. It?
s hard to believe Shimizu couldn?t come up with new ideas six years after ?Juon?
first exploded on the big screen. But, originality and concept take the back seat when the dough keeps coming -- and coming.
D: Neal Tan
S: Juliana Palermo, Jay Manalo, Jaclyn Jose, Liza Lorena
No doubt about it, our country is rich in history and folklore.
In Mindanao, we grew up dazzled by stories about meta-human entities, their variety as colorful as they are confounding.
Long before the White Lady has captured the imagination of today?s kids, other ghastly, ghostly beings and demonic practices haunted the commonfolk:
There?
s the agta (a very dark, hairy being); the santelmo (a lingering, fiery phantom); the kapre (a cigar-puffing giant); the wakwak (a blood-sucking, winged creature like the manananggal, but with legs); and the mananambal or the albularyo, a quack doctor or folk healer who can heal maladies and perform sorcery -- or kulam in Tagalog, and barang in the Visayan dialect.
In Neal Tan?s latest production, Thalia (Dianne Marquez) goes home to Sta.
Barbara eight years after she?s separated from her sister, Igna (Juliana Palermo), who died allegedly from Nana Ursula?s barang (curse).
Ursula, a mangkukulam (witch), wants to avenge the death of her spurned, adopted son, Elmo (Jay Manalo), but her black magic finds competition in Aling Ramona?s (Jaclyn Jose) white magic. The duo then engages in a duel, waged not with lasers and light sabers, but with potions and a stingray?
s tail!
Jaclyn is impressive despite an underwritten role. Also notable are Palermo, Manalo and Marquez.
The film likewise earns plus points for its impressive setting (Gov. Chavit Singson?s majestic Baluarte abode in Vigan).
Unfortunately, the rest of the cast don?t do so well: Many of them look lost amidst the clutter of a script that doesn?t know what it wants to say -- either they?
re expressionless, or they try (so hard) to impress by resorting to vein-popping, ear drum-smashing histrionics (Cristine Reyes, Liza Lorena).
The production?s biggest blunders, however, are its dodgy research and its makers?
misguided penchant for ?reinventing? local mythology: It stands on a shaky premise that repetitively emphasizes that barang is worse than kulam (their effects are the same).
(James McClenon, in an article on wikipedia, describes how barang -- which actually derived its name from a local beetle -- is performed using the said insect).
Local movies should take advantage of the richness of our culture and folk tales. But, good films require more than just good intentions.
You need not ?accessorize? an already colorful mythology -- whether real or imagined -- with details that make it more laughable than reverential.
Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
subscribe to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper in the Philippines, Factual errors? the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk.
News RSS