Oct 18 2012
Hard on the outside, soft on the inside.
The story revolves around this rather peculiar character, Rene (played by Eddie Garcia). Having had enough of his life, Rene pushes people around and is never hesitant to ‘bite,’ use harsh words. He prepares for his death while going to church only when he has something to change in his will. Without a family, a true understanding of his sexual orientation and a place good enough to call home, his life seems meaningless and he just seems so ready to get over with it whenever possible. However, even for Rene, he appears to have a soft side, especially when he is with “Bwakaw” and his ex-girl friend, Alicia.
http://www.bonappetit.com/ideas/watermelon-recipes/search
http://entertainment.inquirer.net/51885/cinemalaya-eddie-garcia-roco-twins-turn-in-exceptional-portrayals
Personally, Rene reminds me of a watermelon. He puts on big old grumpy face while having such sweet and soft personality inside, as a watermelon seems intimidating with its eerie black stripes on top of its smooth yet solid cover while keeping the real deal within. As the story continues, he goes through much painful sequence of events. Slowly, he redeems himself as he goes through series of losses and eventually becomes whole with his softer side.
Jun Robles Lana, the director conveys this concept with the utmost subtlety. His choice of camera angle, sounds, color and humor all adds up to successfully show the transition of Rene. Placed in a rural setting, the relative stillness helps the audience focus on the character and the story. Delivering a story based on human life and emotions, Lana makes somewhat distant and exotic settings relatable for all audience. For instance, Rene, the protagonist, is an aged gay man who lives in the countryside. I, for once, am a young, straight woman from the city. However, despite all the differences, I could somehow understand and relate to most of he was going through watching the movie.
Story-wise, feature-wise, it is almost the direct opposite from what we are used to, Hollywood blockbuster movies. The background is not necessarily grandiose; the storyline does not contain such climax analogous to that of a Hollywood commercial film, nor is it based on extreme situations. It’s about life and draws on those small but meaningful moments we can experience in our lives and Lana does an excellent job with his use of bucolic, almost rustic settings, soft color and music.
http://www.towleroad.com/philippines/
Stylistically, Lana tends to use full shots from the corner of the room, but most of the time the room is not always full of decorations. A lot of the times, the walls are without paint and decent furniture. He takes full advantage of nature; its simplicity in scene and sound. He does not use grandiose orchestrated music to control our emotions, but uses monophonic music often played by traditional instrument that is barely distinguishable from the sound of the crickets and wind. He also does not use strong colors rather he uses the lighting to convey the emotion of the characters. When the mood is light, pastel colored walls and bright lighting is shown while it becomes more serious the scene becomes darker than usual making the other colors fade out as well. Lana uses these transitions as he attempts to amplify the effect when showing the transition of Rene’s character and attitude toward life. Of course, Eddie Garcia’s 60 years of acting and directing also contributed so much to the delivery.
This movie successfully handles the two genres: comedy, and drama as it deals with the theme life and death while showing small details of ironic humor as well. It makes you laugh but then again makes you think of the morals behind.
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/10/new-york-film-festival-2012-bwakaw/
As for the poster and the title, I am somewhat equivocal. For a moment when I knew it was going to be about a dog, I instinctively thought of the movie “Hachiko: A dog’s tale”, which is also about an old man and a dog (based on true story). Hachiko is literally about the dog’s life and journey. Bwakaw however, although its role is critical in Rene’s life does not have much focus in the film. The real focus is in fact, Rene. I only saw the poster after watching the movie but I do not think it fully serves the theme of the film. However, as for the title, I guess there would not have been any better title to describe the film for it is Bwakaw’s death, which symbolizes Rene’s change towards life and society, finally accepting and becoming whole with his soft side.
http://myaukun.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/hachiko-the-moving-story-of-a-faithful-dog-of-shibuya-tokyo/hachi05/
http://theaprblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/movie-review-hachi-dogs-tale-2009.html
http://rodmagaru.com/2012/08/29/movie-jun-lanas-bwakaw-premieres-september-5-nationwide-theat/
whew; finally, I figured out to revive the pictures.
I know this comment is a little late but hey, better late than never.
The watermelon analogy you made is so clever! Now that I think about it, Rene is exactly like that. And a watermelon is deep and has seeds, much like Rene who has a deep and complex personality and past as well as little dark secrets like the little dark seeds.
I agree on your points about how this is so unlike an exaggerated story. It really is just a segment of an interesting man’s life which Should be boring but ends up being such a real and heartwarming film.
And yesss, Garcia has had such a long career. To be honest, I grew up watching him and this particular role (playing a gay man) is truly surprising to me. He has always played the tough dad, sad grandfather, mob boss, etc. type of roles. It was impressive to see him do something new and succeed.
Your watermelon analogy is insanely clever. I would have never compared to Rene to a watermelon. The way you described it was so intelligent. The idea of how a watermelon is deep and has seeds. Then you compare the watermelon to Rene, who has a complex personality, as Natalie stated above.
I agree with you that the movie does carry out the two genre well by having a humor within it but also makes the audience think of the morals behind the film.
Your comparing of Rene to a watermelon reminded me of Shrek when he compared himself to an onion. I completely agree with you. Rene is a deep character who has many layers, or has a soft side and an intimidatingly hard side. However isn’t that what makes the movie interesting?
I loved your watermelon analogy. You could also compare Rene to a taco or even a hard-boiled egg. I agree that this movie was quite successful with the audience. It made me laugh and cry, especially because you know that I am a big dog lover! I like the fact that you noticed that the director used different lighting to convey the mood of the scene. That was very observant!