Differently Executed: John Woo's SILENT NIGHT in PH Theaters on the 29th

Nathan Studios has a gem up their sleeve with this new PH released John Woo movie called Silent Night. It's an action packed film, created quite differently than usual ones because of how it's made, as it's suggests, it's all silent.  John Woo gleefully placed his different action ballet shots, that will surely be loved by action fans in the Philippines, and worldwide. I'm sure your Dad, Tito, Kuya would need a break from the usual romcom in cinemas and give this a few hours to watch with the whole family. 

You'll be amazed at how this story of a man out for vengeance for his child will be told. Right at the start, the story gives you the feeling that it has heart. The usual suburb Mom and Dad playing in the yard with their son. Yes, the scenes always had family involved. Gang wars erupt, and one gets hit in the crossfire. He starts his long grueling time to recover, train and realize what he's up against. You'll feel the agony on screen in the first few minutes. With his wife also worried about him, he suffered further and became a drunkard staring mostly on what his son had left in his room, the memories and pain he felt was just insurmountable. This caused a rift with his wife, and everyone else in his life. He took off and sought the gang members one by one, and doesn't hold back.

If you're a gamer, the events in this movie reminds me so much of GTA5. It's got firepower, the goons, the gangs, and the fun starts with a huge car chase in the streets. Think of it as your dream sequence where you hold the armaments, where you think of gruesome ways to eliminate the bad guys til the end of the movie. The drama was quite minimal, aimed to only solidify the story's plot and wouldn't ruin the action scenes that John Woo wanted you to see from the very beginning, I'd say this is a showcase of his genius.

If your thirsty for action, make sure to make this part of your movie watching session on the 29th. Yes there are a couple of movies coming out on that date, but if you have the time, you SHOULD see this. After all, it's been a while since the last time John Woo released a film. Thanks to Nathan Studios, you've got the chance to watch it in the Philippines. Actually, they have a few more lined up in the pipeline and each of them are quite different theme wise. It's quite a refreshing thing to see that we have choices in the cinemas now. I can't wait to see the other films that Nathan Studios still have for next year!

JOHN WOO Flick "SILENT NIGHT" in Philippine Theaters November 29

If you're raring to watch an action packed film these holidays, look no further as legendary award winning director JOHN WOO and Joel Kinnaman take you on a gripping film called "SILENT NIGHT". He adds this to hit films like Face Off, Hard Target, Mission Impossible 2, Paycheck, Reign of Assassins and Manhunt among others that he made in a span of 55 years in film. This will be in theaters come November 29 in the Philippines.

Silent Night is sort of a comeback for the director after his last one in Hollywood in 2017. He also is collaborating with Basil Iwanyk who produced Expandables and John Wick among others.

Joel Kinnaman on the other hand has been doing Netflix series House of Cards, Robocop, Suicide Squad. In this film, he's playing a father looking for justice because his son got caught in the crossfire of gangs over the holidays.

Sad for years, he went through rigorous training to find revenge with the same gang, so imagine the bullet ballet John Woo had to execute with that premise alone. Aside from Joel Kinnaman, cast includes Scott Mescudi, and a throng of character actors that will make this action packed film as intense or even better than his previous masterpieces.

John Woo is certainly a visionary, and this film was brought to the Philippines via Nathan Studios and 888 Films International. There will be more in the coming months for sure, but together with their recent hit series Cattleya Killer and Topakk, there will be no moviegoer that will say they're shortchanged when they go to cinemas. Follow Nathan Studios social channels for more updates about the film!

11th International Silent Film Festival at Shangrila Plaza

Have you seen a Silent Film? 

I have, and it all started when I was a kid when Charlie Chaplin was part of the reruns on TV and film showings in school. The whole thought of actually watching a movie without any dialogue must be mind boggling in this generation but it has been in existence since the start of film, more polularized in the 40's and has been treasured by countries across the world as part of their culture. To which I am not actually surprised. In our country though, it's pretty hard to actually preserve films and archiving has been non existent up until a few years ago. Generations upon generations wouldn't be able to watch it anymore if this isn't done and it's importance is indeed priceless, I am envious how other countries were able to keep theirs and watch it up until now. On August 31 to September 3, 2017, we would all get the chance to do this on the 11th International Silent Film Festival happens in Manila, particularly in Shangrila Plaza's Shang Cineplex in Mandaluyong City.

Films were restored courtesy of the film institutes of their respective countries. It constitutes the great film work, even music.

They will be featuring a few films including this one from France called L'Inhumaine (The New Enchantment) which was first shown on screens on the year 1923. Music will be done live during the screening scheduled 9:30PM on September 1 and will be performed by artists HeloiseLaHarpe. According to Diane Roblin and Martin Macalintal (from the French Embassy), he says "We looked for a film that would showcase films that would tell about how passionate France is doing it. It's very hard to do this since the French are really strict in licensing, and we are making this with new music to accompany this film. Ellouise performed in the French week two months ago and I was charmed, we needed to bring onstage how she could portray the actress in the movie and we hope you would be there."

Ms. Heloise adds "I am a harpist and a singer and have performed in Manila and I have French and Vietnamese roots. I was happy when they contacted me, this was the start of an era where women were slowly getting their independence, to love, to show how electronic sound with jazz in it's soul. I sang it in French, but it's like world language in the image and visual. My harp is electronic, so it's a little contemporary even if the film is from the 20's, I hope you get to experience the 1 and a half hour film like what we intended it to be."

For the Italian film "A Perfect Family" (Una Famiglia Prefetta), a familiar face Ruben Maria Soriquez and Alessandro Milani (from the Philippine Italian Association) was there to introduce the film. The musical scoring is also going to be done live by Tom's Story (instrumental rock trio of Gabba Santiago, Tom Naval and Christer de Guia. According to Ruben "This year we want to present something that would be able to bridge cultures, some iconic characters and musicians. The advantage of a contemporary film is that I don't have to talk about it that much. It's called Una Famiglia Perfetta. This film is an experiment, I shot it with my first HD camera 10 years ago, a footage that I shot in a span of 3 years not knowing where it would take me. It's not an ordinary film, with me, my wife and my son. I don't know if this has historical value, but I hope you like what we've done. The musical scoring has been done by a Filipino Meth rock band called Tom's Story, and I've met them just today. But I found them similar to what I used to do with my old band. My son, my whole family enjoyed it so much. There is a psychological touch in the film and you'll see that, I hope you find that interesting."

Jo Andrew from FDCP introduced this Taglish film called TAGLISH. He starts "The musical score is from Kapitan Kulam and they are quite famous in the indie scene. I hope you get to watch it Festival wide."

He adds "We thought it would be interesting to show a love affair by four people, in a cafe known for non conservative things in Vienna. It's interesting and this wasn't a power house cast, but Austrians know them now. It's called Cafe Elektrik. We brought in Rivermaya to live score the film and it shouldn't be bothering the plot, a foreign film would need no introduction since Rivermaya already knows what Filipinos listen to."

Pandoras Box on the other hand is one of the big 20's films in Germany, made by an Austrian. The main character is a woman, and she's very interesting once you get to know how how the story unfolds. Sandwich will be providing musical scoring, we found them good for the film and this is also the first time they are scoring a film and she says "we hope to see you on September 3."

The Cultural attache for the US Embassy also joined in and said "Thank you for letting us participate year after year, we are doing The General which is also directed by the star in the film, an epic comedy, a southern confederate train and it's recovery will be seen and it's said to be one of the greatest films of all time. Also had stunts with full sizes trains and presenting a Filipino soul band scoring a 1920's film set in an American Civil war."

Bing Austria adds "We will try to sound 1920's and be soul, where we will have soul and funk music, try to not make you dance, hopefully this closing number will be a party."

From the Japan Foundation who will show DRAGNET GIRL, Hirowa san says "We promote cultural exchange between Japan and the Philippines and we have Espejo Rondalla doing musical scoring. This was released in 1933 and is a gangster film, it is unique, done by a narrator. Japan does it not only with music, but with live performers standing beside it. It was once popular in Japan and is embedded in culture like Japanese performing arts. Like in Kabuki, in puppet arts, we have narrators to explain it all and the Japanes audience is used to that system in Japanese silent movies. Sometimes the performers are more popular than the movie itself, so this is a unique artform still alive in Japan. I hope the Philippine music will provide good accompaniment during the festival."

The 11th International Silent Film Festival is harnessing young, up and coming artists and musicians. They also support spoken poetry and dance. They are also mounting 2 part programa in the grand atrium, done by young film makers. Also on September 3 there will be animation of Filipino folklore called Marianing and more works of art by Filipino film makers and musicians. So there's more to really see at the Shangrila Plaza. 

For the Schedule:

August 31 - 8pm is El Golfo from Spain

September 1 - 7:30pm is Underground from UK. 

9:30pm is The New Enchantment/L'Inhumaine from France.

September 2 - 3pm is A Perfect Family (Una Famiglia Perfetta) from Italy.

5pm is Dragnet Girl from Japan

8pm is Taglish from Philippines

September 3 - 3pm is Cafe Elektric from Austria

5pm is Pandoras Box from Germany

8pm is The General from the US

Make sure you catch the films during this weekend which includes Para Sa Sining side events like The Silent Film Exhibition from August 31-September 3 and Musika X Pelicula at 3pm, 7:15pm and 9pm on September 3. 

I'll be there too. :)