Together with my bestest gal friends, I watched three silent films (of the total six films from six different nations) part of the 6th International Silent Film Festival held annually at the Shangri-La Plaza Cineplex.
(For deeper understanding of the film fest, read my published story for The Manila Times here: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/life-and-times/29430-silent-film-fest-creates-buzz-over-old-cinema)
A new experience because it was my first time to watch silents films screened with live musical accompaniment, and an old experience in a literal sense that those films were really old, circa 1920s-1930s. Could you imagine that? Only three decades after the cinematographe was invented by the French Lumiere brothers.
The three films were Germany's Metropolis (1927), Spain's La Casa De La Troya (1925) and Japan's I Was Born, But... (1932). BTW, the silent film fest was dubbed by the organizers as the only one of its kind in Asia.
Kim and I watched Metropolis on Friday night, the opening of the four-day festival. At the brochure, Metropolis was summarized thus:
It was techno-based Rubber Inc. group that played the live musical scoring.
I thought the film was, of course, great. It had all the reasons to be recognized as one of Germany's most epic film. Director Fritz Lang did a good recreating a visual grandeur of the novel written by no less than his wife Thea Von Harbou (though the couple broke up afterwards because of certain political issues).
The futuristic science-fiction posed question on politics and power, social classes, faith, war and peace, and love! That the mediator between the head and the hands should be the heart. It was really a wow!
And, thankfully, the film was preserved so well that most of it was in HD! It also had lots of effects and it made one wonder how the heck did they do that before! Pretty awesome indeed!
The only not-so-nice comment I could give was that it became kind of hard for me to mix a very old film with a very modern music. I don't say that techno music can't score silent films though, maybe the real problem was that the scoring overpowered the film at times.
And then, the following day, it was Julie and mine's time to watch the two silent films showing for the day.
The first one was La Casa De La Troya. Here's the gist of the movie:
The live musical accompaniment came from artist Ignacio Plaza and Filipino jazz band Sinosikat?.
This film was really long. Close to 3 hours, only because the subtitles were showed in full screen shots. Also, proof that director Lugin enjoyed putting his words on the film (he was the author of the novel it was based) was that trivial matters like "taking out letter from the box" was also explained. I could already clearly see that, OK?
Well, that he made the film a novel, or that was really the style for Spanish films those times? Either way, the result today was that the film was kind of dragging.
And oh! It was a love story. And love story, is either fairy tale or tragedy. Thankfully, it was a happy ending! You waited that long and then a tragic ending? No way!
As for the musical scoring, I didn't know if we were just too close to the musicians and therefore I was so aware of them, or if the scoring was also a bit overpowering...
Last and definitely not the least was I Was Born, But... directed by late, great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. The film was described:
Of the three films, this was the one I truly enjoyed. Mostly because of Filipino seasoned reggae band Tropical Depression that scored it. They did such a commendable job proving how musically adept they are. From the first three notes they hit, I totally forgot that the music was live.
It was so natural, and it blended well to the naturalness of the film itself. Both film and music spoke of Japanese life portrayed by a family with a middle-class working father, an ordinary housewife, and two boys who dreams of becoming someone.
As Julie pointed it out, it was the "children's candidness" that made her smile through the 93-minute duration of the film.
It was very simple and yet so full of lessons. Dream. Be yourself. And accept and embrace life.
In conclusion, it was definitely good to stay away from the mainstream cinema, but in a way still appreciate it because you retrace its roots in silent films.
