A non-linear and generally incomprehensible tale of tribal life, death and rebirth from Filipino director Auraeus Solito.
CANNES -- Almost everyone gets sick or injured in Busong, and healing comes in the form spirituality, nature and discovering one’s roots. Aureaus Solito, who moved on from the prepossessing Manila-set gay coming-of-age charmer The Blossoming of Maximo Olivero to dipping his toes in Christo-shamanism in rural Philippine culture in the lesbian fantasy Tuli, scuba-dives headlong into recondite mysticism. He culls indigenous myths, music, dialects and shamanistic beliefs and practices belonging to his mother’s native Palawan region, and sprinkles them whimsically around a non-linear and generally incomprehensible tale of tribal life, death and rebirth.
Busong is of immense interest to researchers of South East Asian anthropology, as well as anyone planning a paradisiacal beach holiday, but it will be hard to market a film that will certainly leave any audience nonplused even in arthouse cliques.
Nevertheless, as scenes of pristine nautical beauty and sensuous masculine physicality testify, the film has higher aesthetic sensibility than just a cultural curio, and should find a spot in festivals.
The storyline, if there is one, maps the journey of Angkarang (Rodrigo Santikan), who carries his sister Punay (Alessandra de Rossi) in a hammock to find a cure for the running sores that cover her body. On their way, different people help her, though they themselves are on some kind of quest. To cure her sprained ankle, Ninita (Bonivie Budao) has vowed never to cut down an Amingus tree but when her husband Tony (Walter Arenio) gets going with a chainsaw, he suffers bigger injury. A fisherman (Dax Alejandro) uses the power of his amulet to cause stonefish stings to an avaricious white man’s feet (an abstruse allegory of U.S. political and economic colonialism?) but loses his son to the ocean. Aris (Clifford Banagale) comes from the capital in search of his Palawan roots, and fatefully becomes Punay’s healer.
The narrative hopscotches from forest to beach to mountain. The characters undergo indigenous shamanistic rituals that often lose their fascination due to their prolonged monotony. On the other hand, Louie Quirino’s superb underwater cinematography makes the marine creatures throb with life and move with ballet rhythm. The final scene, which features a magical metamorphosis of butterflies, is surreal yet truly beatific, and momentarily lifts the story into the realm of magic. Even Magritte would be impressed.
Busong loosely means “karma” or “fate.”
Venue: Cannes Film Festival, Directors’ Fortnight
Sales: Cinemalaya, Alternative Vision Cinema, Voyage Film Studios presents a Solito Arts Productions production
Cast: Alessandra de Rossi, Rodrigo Santikan, Bonivie Budao, Walter Arenio, Dax Alejandro, Clifford Banagale
Director-screenwriter-producer: Auraeus Solito
Screenwriter: Henry Burgos
Producers: Alfred Vargas, Chuck Gutierrez, Baby Ruth Villarama
Executive producer: Jong de Castro
Director of photography: Louie Quirino
Production designer: Hal Balbuena
Music: Basal Ensemble
Editor: Chuck Gutierrez
No rating, 133 minutes
A REPORT FROM GMA NEWS:
GMA NewsFilipino filmmaker Auraeus Solito’s dream film Busong, which he described as “very minimalist," premiered last night at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight to a standing ovation.
Frederic Boyer, artistic director of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, told Solito before the screening:
“You are about to open a world that no one has ever seen before. So different from other films from the Philippines in the past. I cannot describe it... Maybe it could be called ‘Palawanee’."
Solito said the script is only 15 pages long. “It’s mostly images," he said in an interview on GMA News’ News to Go last May 5.
The film is part homage to the breathtaking landscapes of Palawan province and the rich myths and traditions of the Palawan tribe.
“Matagal na palakpakan, tumayong tatlong beses," shared Solito on his Facebook page, where he thanked the Creator for the successful premiere. “Salamat ampuh sa manungang panimula," he wrote.
Busong, Solito’s fifth feature film, is the first Palawanon indigenous feature film. Titled after the Palawan concept of fate or instant karma, the film focuses on how nature reacts instantly to man’s disrespect of nature and other men.
Busong is among 21 feature films in this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, a parallel event to the main showcase featuring established filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar and Lars von Trier.
Busong has Alessandra de Rossi as its lead star, playing a grotesquely diseased Palawanon who must be carried in a hammock everywhere. Other cast members include Clifford Banagale, Rodrigo Santikan, Bonivie Budao, Vincent Magbanua, Mina Tesorio, and Dax Alejandro.
Between documentary and fiction
Boyer said Busong transcends the border between documentary and fiction.
“The film deals with animism and is very close to nature. It has been shot without any apparent wish to be selected in Cannes or to be picked by a co-producer," he said in his comments on this year's selection.
Busong will premiere locally in July in the Directors Showcase of Cinemalaya, which partially funded the film and permitted its world premiere at Cannes.
“Eto yung dream ng bawat filmmaker sa mundo na makapasok," said Solito.
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Aimee Santos-Lyons, a Filipino who had seen the movie in Cannes, sounded enraptured on her Facebook page: “Busong in Cannes... the film is heartbreaking... poetic... eloquent. Panoorin dapat ng bawat Pilipino!.".
Inspired by Brocka
Solito, like many other Filipino filmmakers, said it was the late Lino Brocka who inspired him.
When Brocka made it to Cannes in 1979 with Insiang, Solito thought, “Kaya ko rin gawin ito."
Other Filipino filmmakers who made it to the international festival were Mike de Leon in 1982 with Batch ‘81 and Kisap Mata, Mario O’Hara in 2003 with Babae sa Breakwater, Brillante Mendoza in 2007 with Foster Child, and Raya Martin in 2008 with Now Showing.
Solito dedicated the success of Busong to his mother.
“This is for my mom. Kasi siya ang nagkwento sa akin ng pamamaraan ng mga tribo. Ito rin yung parang gift ng universe na nagkasabay-sabay, birthday niya yung first premiere ng pelikula tungkol sa mga kwento niya," he said.
Solito, though born outside of tribal land, comes from the Palawan tribe. He is one of the leading independent filmmakers from the Philippines, and is not new to international acclaim.
His first feature film, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, won 15 international awards, and has brought Solito to Montreal, Toronto, Okinawa, Utah, Berlin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, New York, Las Palmas in Spain, Sydney, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Warsaw, and London.
The feature film was also named one of the Ten Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009) by Gawad Urian.
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros was followed by Tuli (2006), Pisay (2008), and Boy (2009
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OFFICIAL REPORT FROM THE AFP.
CANNES, France (AFP) – Filipino director Auraeus Solito draws upon his indigenous Palawan heritage for his latest film -- and it's all thanks to the bedtime stories that his mother told him.
"Busong" is the only feature from Southeast Asia in competition for the Camera d'Or at the Directors' Fortnight, a showcase for avant-garde productions that runs parallel to the Cannes film festival.
It stars Alessandra de Rossi as Punay, a young woman born with ugly wounds on her feet, whose brother Angkarang (Rodrigo Santikan) carries her around Palawan island in a hammock, looking for a cure so that she can walk.
Solito, the descendent of a Palawan shaman king, but the first of his generation to grow up in a city, makes the most of the island's remarkable mountains, forests and coastline.
"Busong" means fate or karma in the Palawan language, and in an interview with AFP on Tuesday, the day after its premiere, Solito said it explores the concept of instant karma as sister and brother undertake their journey.
Making the film was "a dream", he said, but the story actually grows out of the indigenous myths that his mother told him as a child in Manila to help him get to sleep.
"She was ashamed of her indigenous roots," said Solito, the first of his family's generation to grow up in a city. "She didn't tell me she came from the Palawan tribe until later."
Going back to his roots, Solito rediscovered unique aspects of Palawan culture, such as its poetry and nocturnal chants, but also serious development issues such as illegal logging, nickel mining and land ownership.
"People are land-grabbing, or island-grabbing," said Solito, who in his 30s has an infectious enthusiasm for Palawan. "It's a new form of colonialism."
"Other films have been set in Palawan, like love stories set on the beach, but this is the first indigenous Palawan movie," he added.
Solito wears a beaded necklace from Palawan to ward off evil spirits, as well as a Native American thunderbird pendant, and to judge from his career so far, they seem to be working.
He broke onto the international festival circuit in a big way in 2005 with his gay teen drama "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros" which collected no less than 15 awards.
"Busong" is his fifth feature since then, and he is thankful that modern technology made it possible for him to bring to the screen a story that has its origins far back in time.
"Digital technology has democratised film-making," he said. "It has levelled up the playing field between Third and First World countries."
De Rossi, who at 26 has been acting for half her life, welcomed the role, which Solito gave her in part because her complexion -- which on the French Riveria would pass as a great suntan -- is considered "too dark" by the standard of Manila's commercial film and television industry.
"I usually get bad-girl roles, especially on television," she told AFP as she relished her first-ever visit to Cannes. "Now I'm getting roles that make me grow as an actor and a person."
