Trying to provide a video sampler today of the major award-winners at Cannes, but it hasn’t been easy finding a representative clip from Kinatay which earned Best Director honors for Brillante Mendoza. I wondered how this video could possibly have much appeal as a promo, until I read that much of the movie is just like what we see here. Shaky night shots of a road trip en route to a gruesomely violent destination. (“Kinintay” means “slaughtered” or “butchered.”)
When it comes to accurately predicting awards these past few years, Roger Ebert has a track record pitted with potholes, but his brutal dismissal of Kinatay is rough enough to warrant a quote:
Here is a film that forces me to apologize to Vincent Gallo for calling “The Brown Bunny” the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival… You mark my words. There will be critics who fancy themselves theoreticians, who will defend this unbearable experience, and lecture those plebians like me who missed the whole Idea. I will remain serene while my ignorance is excoriated. I am a human being with relatively reasonable tastes. And in that role, not in the role of film critic, I declare that there may not be ten people in the world who will buy a ticket to this movie and feel the money was well spent.
Some might respond that not every movie can be as good as Knowing, but Ebert is not alone in his revulsion. I’d be happy to excerpt something from a favorable review for Kinatay — if I could find one. The New York Times says it’s “a grisly, widely loathed shocker.” The Star reports on the crowd’s reaction at the awards ceremony:
Many of the winners last night at the Palais des Festivals came right out of left field, and were greeted with boos and catcalls by film critics watching the ceremony via closed-circuit TV in the adjoining Debussy Theatre…
This reaction was nothing, though, compared to the gasps of outrage that greeted the awarding of the Best Director prize to Filipino helmer Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay, a horrific drama about a man who rapes, murders and dismembers a young prostitute.
Sometimes we feel envious that Cannes transpires and concludes with so many movies none of has seen and therefore cannot rationally judge or root for. But maybe we should be thankful that we don’t have much emotional investment in whatever more beautiful films we might have been hoping would win instead of the often bizarre selections made by the jury.
32 Responses for "Brillante Mendoza’s Kinatay"
Sukhdev Sandhu at the Telegraph was impressed.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, Guy.
Though the praise exists as a single sentence…
“This is a fiercely moral and horribly unforgettable denunciation of societal corruption.”
…after first warning:
“Frankly, most people will find Kinatay (it means ‘butchered’) either unremittingly tedious, harrowing or vile.”
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..quoting from the “Little Prince”..everyone is entitled to their own opinion..I just hope that hollywood critics and film makers will be open to realism after all a film is a reflection of the reality in our society..and not just the reflection of special effects..c”,)
I don’t know why everybody keeps saying that he was booed when the award was announced. It absolutely not the case. Check it for yourself, the whole ceremony is online on Cannes website. It is the same for Best Screenplay. Someone said it was greeted by loud booing… Well we obviously did not watch the same ceremony.
http://festival-cannes.canalplus.fr/video/ceremonie-de-cloture
If you don’t want to watch the whole ceremony you can just select the awards you want to watch on the right menu next to the video (screenplay and director are at the bottom)
Mendoza’s idea of realism seems to be cheap shock value. I haven’t seen Kinatay, but Serbis was wretched.
If I understand the accounts correctly Jeremie, the critics were watching the ceremony by feed at a different location. They were the ones that booed, not the audience who were actually present.
But who cares what a bunch of worn out festival critics think, right?
Congratulations Brillante Mendoza
I guess in time we will understand your artistry.
Radical director. Radical movie.
Shakes the establishment up and what is perceived to be right and proper according to critics.
Perhaps this movie will be a Best Foreign Film nominee at next year’s Oscars.
Wonder what Ebert will say then.
“Wonder what Ebert will say then.”
He’d either ask, “Who abducted all the AMPAS members older than 55 and replaced them with cool French people?” or maybe, “My condolences to the families of the 2000 elderly members of the Academy who disappeared in The Rapture. God have mercy on those of us who are Left Behind.”
http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/cannes-reviews/kinatay/5001258.article
“Showing the kidnap, beating, humiliation, rape, murder and dismemberment of a young prostitute, Brillante Mendoza’s new film Kinatay (which means “butchered” in Tagalog) is a nerve-shredding exploration of crime which is both repellent and grimly compelling. Offering audiences no relief or redemption, it is perhaps most notable for its daring in attempting to capture the moment a young man crosses the line into irrevocable evil.”
Cannes really likes its depressing movies. I applaud realism in films, but from what I’ve read, Kinatay is a film comprised mostly of long, endless shots of a car driving through highways, ending with a graphic murder and vivisection of a prostitute. I don’t see anything inspiring, or challenging about it, other than to shock people and to confront people with the evil of this world. Are we getting so numb, that we need this type of film to shock our senses and minds?
Just rewatched Breaking the waves and was moved when Bess’ sister in law shouted, “You have no right to consign her to hell!”
We have no right to dismiss this film when after all we haven’t seen it yet. Since when most people here have become critics ass lickers.
We have to think for ourselves.
What shocked me the most was that Mendoza had won the same award Wong Kar Wai, Truffaunt, The Coens, Ang Lee and tarantino had previously won.
He was in our school last February (at the University of Sto. Tomas) lecturing about his film Serbis and Tirador.
Who would have known back then that he will win the Best Director from the coolest films fest (and the most exclusive and reliable one) 3 months after?
I never thought that I will live the day a filipino movie will be a top in an exclusive thread here at Awards Daily.
Fuck off haters. For once I will enjoy this moment like a watermelon and dont you dare throwing any Afrika here or I will slice you with Filmboymichael.
blizzard,
you like the violence from the tone of your last post.
At last! A Filipino film becomes the much-talked about winner at Cannes this year (not to mention the foregone “Antichrist”)… Good buzz or bad buzz is still buzz, and it will not generate that kind of talk if the film went home empty-handed… Proud to be Pinoy!
lol, blizzards. I am happy for you.
I really felt that I inhabited the skin of this young policeman of ‘Kitakay’, and experienced everything through his eyes, in reel time which makes the goings-on more shocking that just watching the dismemberment (of a corpse, mind you, she was killed before they dismembered her, makes a huge difference!). Every time this boy had an option to either stay and do nothing, stay and take action or simply scram, I felt it as a pressing personal option for me as well. I admire this film so much.
And yes, last year I loved ‘Serbis’. Although maybe I think Mendoza’s ‘Slingshot’ (Tirador) is his masterpiece thus far.
Hehehe.
Thanks dela.
I think the french love filipino films. They even have a library dedicated for Brocka’s film.
This is a magnificent time for Filipino films.
Im not claiming that Mendoza is a GREAT director but Im just elated.
Is he the next Wong Kar Wai?
“Is he the next Wong Kar Wai?”
No.
“Im not claiming that Mendoza is a GREAT director but Im just elated.
Is he the next Wong Kar Wai?”
Wow! Mendoza will be surprised and delighted for sure. Dante is known for being humble (we talked over the phone a day after he won the award and he cannot imagine it happening…) They have their own narrative and structural techniques, but Wong Kar-wai is more popular overseas. The former has a long way to go, even if his films are getting “relative” mileage at Cannes.
Dante’s in Manila already and I can’t wait to talk to him again about the prospects of releasing an “uncut” (or French) version of “Kinatay” here.
I don’t understand the comparison between Mendoza and Wong Kar Wai. If you are only comparing them because they are both non-Caucasian, than that is a VERY superficial comparison.
Also, if you’ve seen any Wong Kar Wai film, you wouldn’t even mention the two names together as their films are nothing alike. Seriously, what the hell? I’m not making a value judgement against Mendoza’s films, but I don’t get why the comparison was brought up in the first place.
filipino pride!:D
Very soon, the discussion will go to whether or not “Kinatay” merits being sent as the Philippines’s official entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category. On one hand, it has achieved what no other Filipino film has, bagging such a prestigious award and generating so much dialogue (positive and negative both). On the other, it’s probably too violent for the Academy members who generally prefer less shocking fare. Then again, maybe we have to send something jolting and controversial to finally be noticed. At the very least, the voters are going to know about the film before it even screens for them.
@diane
Dont get me wrong. Im not comparing the two based on the merits of their work.
Oh yes, Im being superficial because I based it on the fact that they are both non-caucasian (Asian actually). (btw, why is it from a caucasian’s view point?) I was just asking if he would be the next Asian “it” director. That’s all.
Anyways, Im sooo happy that he won. He could use this to penetrate Hollywood and make a more accessible film.
This Brillante Mendoza is a fraud! Making calculated movies publicized to be “realistic” when they are not and are only made to sensationalize dastard/repulsive things!
I have been here on this site for about 3 1/2 years now and this is the first time a whole lot of Filipinos commented. I am Filipino and I hate this movie Kinatay (as well as Serbis). Reality isn’t one sided in our country and I am sad that the only Filipino reality that’s been recognised abroad is a film about rape and butchery. There is nothing new about this film both artistic and technical wise. I am all for Filipino directors being recognise abroad but with a film such as this, I am a little bit ashamed. Congratulations Brilliante Mendoza, but it’s about time you do a good Filipino film after this crap.
To David about his “calculated realism”:
I live in a Filipino neighborhood where butchered or not butchered cadavers are being dump. These poor souls are even luckier than those “desaparisidos.” And come to think of it, in our country…we don’t have serial killers. So…who do the killings?
Is the film an honest and realistic depiction of the kind of crime and violence that happens there? I was just wondering, because if so, then I guess, you can say that Mendoza is just bringing to light the vile and cruel things that humans do to other humans there.
I also think you shouldn’t applaud a film just because it’s directed by someone of the same nationality as you. If you truly like the film, than fine, but for all those who liked it, can you explain to me why?
I would like to congratulate Brillante “Dante” Mendoza for his best director award. He more than deserves it. His depiction of evil in the movie Kinatay is a tremendous success. We must really present evil in any form as totally repulsive. Literature is an artistic interpretation of life. Mendoza´s way is meta-realistic and for that he deserves the highest cinematic accolade.
By accurately depicting evil as totally repulsive, Brillante “Dante” Mendoza, this year´s Cannes´best director, has ushered in the Age of Dante in filmmaking. Art films will never be the same again.
A Film is a medium of expression of the Director, the society, the scriptwriter and all those involved in the making of it. As audience, our task is to live and experience the creative message of ‘Kinatay’. We should not expect every cinematic experience to be profound, preachy, lyrical,philosophical as we want it to be. If you were disgusted, disturbed, puzzled and irritated with ‘Kinatay’, then the film succeeded in relaying its message. It is a social commentary that is real and true. If you are living in a 1st world country or states, then you will not appreciate the movie. Go out and see the world from another perspective. This is it. Leaving your seat and half-watching the film speaks about your myopic viewpoint of what you wanted to see and experience.
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