Boy, do I really regret watching this movie first. It has plot holes as large as the ones you find at Loyola Memorial Park. And to think the fine opening scene holds such promise. A close friend, Mon Sarmiento (who conducted extensive research at Bilibid years ago in penning his Palanca-winning screenplay Maria at Magdalena), watched the movie with me, and he sighed and grumbled all throughout: where’s the sense of a regimented existence, of claustrophobia? And why is the dialogue between longtime rancheros (slang for prison cooks) Ricardo (a miscast Archie Adamos) and Miyong (a wasted Garry Lim) sounds so contrived, sounds as though they’ve just met? It’s almost criminal.
That's not the end of it. For a prison, even a provincial one, it looks disconcertingly bright and clean. And that closing, lingering image of the posters of the Good Shepherd and the Crucifixion--care for (a sacrificial) lamb, anyone?--pasted side by side on a kitchen wall simply screams of OVERSTATEMENT! But what makes Ranchero an appalling movie is Michael Christian Cardoz's violations of the basic rules in crafting drama. A protagonist viewers didn't get to know at all because the director had drawn him so poorly: they never even learn of the nature and circumstance of Ricardo's crime that slapped him with a ten-year jail term in the first place. A protagonist with no real problem to confront and overcome (he's scheduled to be released from prison the next day, for Chrissakes!). No tension at all, especially in the first half. No fresh insight offered on life behind bars. No kidding: it's that bad.
If making a bad movie is a crime, then Cardoz deserves some serious confinement.
UP NEXT: Paul Alexander Morales's Concerto.
That's not the end of it. For a prison, even a provincial one, it looks disconcertingly bright and clean. And that closing, lingering image of the posters of the Good Shepherd and the Crucifixion--care for (a sacrificial) lamb, anyone?--pasted side by side on a kitchen wall simply screams of OVERSTATEMENT! But what makes Ranchero an appalling movie is Michael Christian Cardoz's violations of the basic rules in crafting drama. A protagonist viewers didn't get to know at all because the director had drawn him so poorly: they never even learn of the nature and circumstance of Ricardo's crime that slapped him with a ten-year jail term in the first place. A protagonist with no real problem to confront and overcome (he's scheduled to be released from prison the next day, for Chrissakes!). No tension at all, especially in the first half. No fresh insight offered on life behind bars. No kidding: it's that bad.
If making a bad movie is a crime, then Cardoz deserves some serious confinement.
UP NEXT: Paul Alexander Morales's Concerto.
2 comments:
where's the sense of regimented existence, the sense of claustrophobia?
sa lahat ba ng "prison movie" kailangang may ganoon? hindi ba masyadong predictable ang ganoong idea?
hindi ba pwedeng maging bright and clean ang prison? kailangan ba talaga na kapag prison ay palagi na lang marumi at nanglilimahid? nasubukan mo na bang magpunta sa rizal provincial jail at makita na sa totoong buhay ay pede naman pala talagang magkaroon ng bright and clean na kulungan?
the movie is supposed to happen from early morning to late afternoon. sa tingin mo ba ay may sapat na panahon para ikwento at ipakita ang mga pangyayari kung bakit nakulong si ricardo? kailangan ba talagang i-spoon feed sa audience ang lahat ng information? wala bang imagination ang audience? kailangan ba talagang laging may fresh insight on life behind bars and isang "prison movie"? sinong nagsabi? baka naman pede na ipakita ang isang araw sa buhay ng preso who is about to be set free and how fate plays its prank on that person.
Hi Arnel. Una sa lahat, maraming salamat sa pagkumento. Hayaan mong sagutin ko ang mga tanong mo.
Sa palagay ko, oo. Ang pagkakaroon ng isang sense of a regimented or routinary existence at sense of claustrophobia ay kailangan. Kahit implied o subtle, OK lang, basta meron. Isang mahalagang pagtulong ito sa pagsasalarawan ng kultura o milieu ng isang kulungan. Hindi sapat na maipakita lang ang pisikal na aspeto ng isang kulungan. Kung magpapakita ka lang ng kulungan, e di lubusin na ang paglalarawan, di ba? And it's not a matter of predictability, but of strengthening verisimilitude.
Well, di ko naman sinabi na di pwede. Pero ang mga manonood, meron silang clear at definite image ng isang kulungan sa Pilipinas sa mga utak nila. At aminin natin: marami sa mga kulungan natin ay di kasing linis ng Rizal Provincial Jail. Kung ang kulungan na ipinakita ng pelikula ay di kumomporme sa imahen ng kulungan sa mga utak ng mga manonood, naniniwala ako na may obligasyon ang direktor na ipakita o ipaliwanag kung bakit naiiba itong kulungang ito. At di kailangan i-spoonfeed ito sa mga manonood para mapahiwatig ito. (Halimbawa: may isang shot ng isang framed plaque na nagsasabi na "Cleanest Jail" mula sa Bureau of Corrections. Parang ganon.) I'm sure obvious sa iyo na hindi pa ako nakapunta sa Rizal Provincial Jail.
Oo naman, klaro naman na nangyari ang pelikula from sunup to sundown. At oo, may sapat na panahon talaga para ipaalam ng pelikula sa mga manonood kung bakit nakulong si Ricardo, at di ito kailangan i-spoonfeed sa kanila. At hindi kailangang lahat ng mga detalye. Yung sapat lang. (Halimbawa: pwedeng pabirong sabihin ni Miyong kay Ricardo habang nagluluto ng umagahan: "'Tol, pag labas mo bukas, iwas ka muna sa mga bangko, ha? Sige ka, baka mapadpad ka ulit dito." Ini-imply nito na nakulong si Ricardo dahil nag-holdup siya ng bangko dati. Marunong naman ang audience na mag-connect the dots. Kung pulido ang pagkakasulat, ang isang simpleng linya ng diyalogo ay maraming pwede sabihing impormasyon.) At may imahinasyon naman ang mga manonood, kaya lang walang binigay na clues ang pelikula para matulungan sila pagdating diyan.
Oo, kailangang may fresh insight on life behind bars ang isang prison movie, lalo na't maraming nang pelikula ang tumalakay sa paksang ito. Sino nagsabi? Hello, given na yon. I'm sorry, pero di sapat na ipakita ang isang araw sa buhay ng isang presong lalaya na bukas at kung paano naging mapaglaro ang kapalaran sa taong yon. Very flawed ang point of attack ng pelikula. At magiging disillusioned si Ricardo sa katapusan ng pelikula? E di ba, di surprising na ma-disillusioned ang isang taong nakakulong, lalo na't sampung taon siya nandoon? At isa pa, sigurado ako di yon ang unang riot na nangyari sa kulungan sa loob ng panahon na yon.
Maraming salamat ulit sa pagbisita sa aking blog at pagkumento sa review ko ng "Ranchero." At congrats din sa pelikula sa pagkapanalo ito ng Best Sound.
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