ElijahCSkuggs A couple years back, an independent film from the Philippines named Kinatay shocked and awed festival film-goers the world over. The film by Brilliante Mendoza was regarded as one of the most controversial films of the year, and was even coined a horror movie by some. I'm here to tell you - two years later - that all the overly enthusiastic critiques appeared to be just that.The film is about a young newlywed who takes a friend's job offer to earn some extra cash for his wife and baby. The gig, which he discovers a bit too late, involves kidnapping and accessory to murder.The film initially starts off in almost documentary style fashion with the camera capturing real-life tidbits while gradually introducing us to the amicable protagonist. Over an hour later, when the meat and potatoes have begun to be served, it switches to a more conventional style with close-ups and bits of stylish direction - it's this melding of creative approaches that impressed me most about Kinatay. Along-side a cast of talented actors and urban Philippino settings, the movie feels fresh and consistently realistic.Besides the film's tedious opening hour, what ultimately hurts Kinatay the most is/was the hype that initially surrounded it. Hype can be good, sometimes, but in cases like Kinatay, where the buzz mainly circulated around the exploitative aspects of the film, said film can and will implode. This film isn't very controversial and nor difficult to process – it's actually rather straight-forward and only a bit graphic. Maybe it was some type of marketing ploy, who knows. Nevertheless, it remained an intimate look at how a person feels and acts when confronted with unsuspecting horrors.Lastly, please take note that this is not an exploitation or horror flick. It's an art-house drama that does a pretty good job putting you in the shoes of someone doing something they don't want to. Ever hang out with people you didn't want to, but you stuck around because you knew you'd possibly reap a benefit or two? This is like that, but on a nightmare scale.

HumanoidOfFlesh A police academy student trying to make enough money to marry his girlfriend takes a lucrative job.It turns out that he actually joined a gang of criminals.During one night the gang abducts,rapes and kills a woman,cuts her body into pieces and throws dismembered remains in various places out of the car."Kinatay" aka "Butchered" is an ugly and disturbing horror drama with truly repulsive characters.This is an unflinching representation of the rape,murder and dismemberment of a prostitute in the Philippines that made Roger Ebert angry.Famous critic hated "Kinatay" with passion.Fortunately I found this film strangely hypnotic and very disturbing.The violence is not terribly graphic,but there is a suffocating aura of utter depravity and evil.9 out of 10.

jamalashley I knew that sooner or later, a Filipino indie film would win awards in international film festivals. As I kept on telling friends, it is very easy to satisfy European festival judges. Just give them a good dose of poverty, a dash of culture and some nudity. And if you really want to win, add some scenes denigrating Filipino customs, politics, bureaucracy or society.As usual with Mendoza's films, the setting is the slum area. This, of course, can only score big points from European viewers. Then comes the long scenes with characters walking along the slum neighborhood and the streets of Manila. The Western viewers are suckers for these scenes. It makes them feel vicariously how it is to live in such squalid places. For some academics or critics, this is their "research" into the social practice in these foreign parts.The main couple (Peping and Cecille) act as the tourist guides for the foreign viewers. They walk along the alleys of their slum neighborhood and drops off their child with a neighbor. With more walking, the viewers-cum-tourists-cum-researchers get to take a glimpse at everyday life in a Manila ghetto. The couple then take a tricycle ride before taking a Philippine jitney ride to go to the municipal hall. Wow, the foreign viewers just had a triple whammy — walking along the alleys of the ghetto, then taking a tricycle ride and then a jitney ride. Most of these foreigners probably have not even seen a tricycle or a Philippine jitney in their lives. The viewers-cum-tourists get to see more of Manila from the vantage point of someone in a tricycle and a jitney. It must be exciting for them just as I am excited seeing people ride elephants or camels or land speeder (like Luke Skywalker) for everyday purpose.In order to have more scenes for the "tourist" foreign viewers, the relatives of the couple went the city hall separately, even though they most probably live in the same house or are neighbors. And so the relatives (an old lady and two kids) take the viewers on a tour of the city hall and its vicinity — passing by a flag ceremony and a mass wedding, among others. Maybe in Mendoza's social circle, people go to their own weddings as if they are just going to see a movie. The couple wore everyday clothes. In fact, the groom was just wearing his college uniform. The couple take jitney or tricycle rides instead of a taxi cab or a friend's car. (Oh, they did ride aboard a friend's van after the wedding). The parents of both sides appear to be absent but there is a grandmother around. After the wedding, they go eat at a restaurant. After lunch, they go their separate ways. The groom proceeds to his school and attends classes -- on his wedding day! After school, the groom goes to his job collecting money from bookies who are also ambulant vendors in the street by the bay. The film then takes the viewers on a night tour of Manila, this time along the main highway, EDSA. Peping rides in the van with his boss, a police captain, and colleagues. Along the way, the boss picks up a prostitute named Madonna from a strip joint. In the strip joint, Mendoza titillated his tourist-viewers by showing a couple of ugly topless dancers. Inside the van, without giving any reason, the boss's right hand man, another police officer, starts punching the hooker and duck tapes her mouth. He continues hitting her until she is unconscious. But Mendoza did not show the actress being hit. It was all sound effects with the camera focusing mainly on Peping. It's cheaper for the producers and easier for the actors that way.To tell the audience that something really bad is going to happen, a horror-movie musical score accompanies Peping and the road trip. The musical score is supposed to scare the viewers. To cap the film, there was the "rape" scenes juxtaposed with other scenes. There was no struggle in the rape scenes. The woman was not even tied up. She was sitting with her back against the head board, baring her full body except the face with a fully naked man, with his back on the camera, forcing himself on her mouth. This is not supposed to arouse prurient interests. The climax of the movie is what the title is all about. Kinatay means butchered. But with all the butchering going on, there wasn't much blood shown. There was no blood on the walls nor even on the head board. There wasn't much blood on the men either. The twist in the end reminded me of the short stories I used to write in high school. I was imitating Hitchcock. I wanted endings that would surprise, even shock, the readers. Kinatay is such a film – very sophomoric, nay, juvenile.Mendoza won the Best Direction Award. It is the 3rd most prestigious award of the festival. I don't know what were in the minds of Isabelle Huppert and company. I've seen Antichrist, Inglorious Basterds, A Prophet, and Taking Woodstock. They were all immensely better than Kinatay. "A Prophet" won the Grand Prix. I haven't seen the Palm D'or winner "The White Ribbon" by Michael Haneke. Even the film Dogtooth, which was in the Un Certain Regard section, is a much better film than Kinatay.As a Filipino, I am very glad that Mendoza won the Best Director Award. But as a film buff, a Film Studies scholar and a film critic, I am very sad that his film is so mediocre. Cannes 2009′s Jury President Isabelle Huppert and Brillante Mendoza are planning to make a film together in the Philippines next year. Mendoza would be the perfect tourist guide for her. I suppose she was intrigued by the Manila slums and the EDSA roadside.

Atavisten In Kinatay we go from everyday chaotic, but joyful everyday life and take a trip deep into its mafia controlled cynical underbelly. It is disgusting and sobering, but realistically depicted and therefore has a potential to shock people into disgust. The hope then is that this disgust can inspire a change in attitudes and ultimately fight this mafia instead of feeding it. That's far-fetched though.The movie in itself makes you feel like part of the action with hand-held cameras instead of cinematic abstractions. This is its strong point as well as what takes away some of the tension too. Some sections are just too long and dwelling. Supposedly the actions, reactions and (lack of them) can this way play around in our mind so that we build tension inside ourselves, but I ended up getting bored at times.