Purgatory Week

It's Purgatory week (not hell week yet!) and my Asian History exam is approaching. And right now I am busy reviewing my papers about the history of Japan and other Asian regions. So sadly, I will have no post for the several next days... Whew! Wish me luck!

I told you last time about one of my favorite films "Itim" (Rites of May). Luckily, I found a video clip of this on the internet! It is the last part of the movie and it is in Tagalog language. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any subtitles.

Anyway, the scene opens with the protagonist's eerie dream where you can see life size, hyper realistic statues of Christ and/or the Apostles slowly moving towards him. It cuts rights across the entire film and to the next scene about the revelation of the old man's past about his lover which he killed and thrown into the river. The old man was quite stunned to hear the anguished, hysterical voice of his previous lover, now righteously but frighteningly vengeful (the soul possessed the girl, just like in exorcisms) that he wheeled backwards his chair and fell down the stairs.

It was a tragic story, and I was amazed by the eerie air in Mike de Leon's work when they aired it on TV during the Holy week when I was young.

It is getting warmer these days. The sky is burning blue and the sun creates bright yellowish light. It is the same sky as the last year's sky, which inspired the setting of my unfinished story for the bunny.

Quiet Summer Days

During the past weeks, over the Lenten season, we experienced generally hot, quiet, and somewhat sad days. I spent most of my time in the house, staring at the glaring blue sky. Before that, I started doing designs for shirts using puns (e.g. Chairman of the Board/Bored which seemed very appropriate for the summer).

Lent in the country is generally sad, though not for religious reasons, but for its unusual quiet. Back when I was a kid, they often aired a certain film, Rites of May (1976), by a great local director, Mike de Leon. It is known locally as "Itim" (Black), revolving around a plot concerning murder within a family during the Holy Week. It was so eerie, and became the inspiration for one of my stories for the Squishy Bunny. Combining the bad film quality, lack of smooth computerized effects, and religious enigmas and imagery, it was almost a masterpiece of horror, strange for a non-horror film.

It had exemplary surrealism. The male protagonist, a photographer, had a dream. He was in a church, surrounded by the voices of old women chanting the "Pasyon" (traditionally, the passages regarding the passion of Christ are sung non-stop during the Holy Week to commemorate His sufferings). Suddenly, he was at the center aisle, surrounded by life-size statues of Christ, which began to mob him.

It is one of the things that I remember year after year during these days, with its stiffling, unsettling silences.