Raya Martin — Director (12)

Movie

Good Night, Spain (2011)
Buenas noches, España IMDb TMDB
other title: Buenas noches, España
In another lifetime, a Spanish couple takes drugs and teleports through their television set. A troubled young man travels through the countryside and meets a lost woman. During the trip, they discover a museum housing the expatriated paintings of the most important Filipino artist of the revolution. Eventually, the Spanish couple disappears toward their colony. Inspired by one of the earliest teleportation accounts, which happened between the Philippines and Mexico during the colonial period.

Movie

Track Projections (2007)
Track Projections Douban
other title: 行进之相
This is a beautiful experimental short film by Phillippine director Raya Martin. The composition of shapes and colors are truly impressive, makes one thinks of Brakhage, not only by the absence of sound, but mainly by the desire for a new way of seeing, transforming everyday landscapes into abstract shapes and colors rapidly morphing in front of the viewer

Movie

Death of Nintendo (2020)
Death of Nintendo IMDb TMDB Douban
拉亚·马丁 actor: Noel Comia Jr. / Kim Oquendo …
other title: 任天堂之死 / 닌텐도의 죽음
20世纪90年代的马尼拉,电子游戏刚开始在街头巷尾盛行。在盛夏,米莫和她的好朋友保罗、吉利根、卡琦携手踏上了一趟自我发现的旅程,在打游戏的同时,他们需要面对很多问题:刚刚萌芽的爱情,信仰与亲情的取舍以及无法忽视的来自同辈间的压力。拉亚·马丁转型力作,90年代菲律宾可爱版《伴我同行》。真挚的情感、天马行空的想象力和青翠欲滴的色彩结合在一起,打造出如同电子游戏般活力四射、高潮迭起的青春故事。

Movie

Independencia (2009)
Independencia Douban
other title: 大独立
Mimicking early silent films, Independencia creates a lush metaphor that plays with cinematic illusions and the cultural and mythical history of the Philippines. 雷瓦馬田的菲島殖民歷史三部曲之一,延續《國民的誕生》的詩電影美學,透過近乎早期默片的畫面構圖,以及敏感的光影對比,述說上世紀初菲律賓獨立戰爭期間的小人物小故事。一對母子為逃避戰火跑到山上,過著隱居生活。兒子在森林發現負傷女子,決定帶她回家。若干年後,他們成了夫妻,且育有一子,然而暴風雨和美國大兵的槍彈都已追上來了。模仿美國殖民統治期間的片廠製作,更加插仿製歷史新聞片斷,拍出別樹一幟的風格。

Movie

Autohystoria (2007)
Autohystoria Douban
other title: 大疯民
菲律宾国一男子深夜相邀女网友约炮,步行半小时到达广场汇合后发现对方居然是男性!两人随后又在国家森林公园深处就攻受体位产生争执大大出手打成重伤,一个脑震荡,一个肘骨折,其中一名男子终被射

Movie

A Short Film about the Indio Nacional (2006)
A Short Film about the Indio Nacional WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 国民的诞生 / A Short Film About the Indio Nacional …
This experimental Filipino movie is far from a total success, but at least its in-your-face strangeness will make it somewhat interesting for those interested in seeing films of a different sort. The start is akin to a test of endurance for cinephiles, as the camera stands still showing nothing but a couple sleeping in the floor of a hut for the first 15 minutes (I'm not making this up, I looked at my watch). Eventually, the woman, who is unable to sleep, wakes up the man at her side, telling him to tell her a story so she can sleep. He complies with a rambling monologue about the suffering of the Filipino people. The film then moves on to the better second part, where fake footage in the style of silent movies is shown. This shows life in the Philippines supposedly during the end of the colonial period through a series of vignettes. These vignettes are mildly humorous (one shows a number of children looking at an eclipse with gaping mouths). Eventually, something akin to a story comes out of the movie, as revolutionaries meet to plan rebellion from Spanish rule. It's hard to compare this movie with other films, though its fetishism of silent movies recalls the work of Guy Maddin. I found it also reminiscent of a better movie, "Moeder Dao" in which real documentary footage of colonial life in Indonesia was shown.

Movie

Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017)
Smaller and Smaller Circles Douban
拉亚·马丁 actor: 诺尼·布埃诺卡米诺 / Carla Humphries …
other title: 政治黑幕 / 越来越小的圈子 …
被摘除器官的男孩尸体埋在偌大的垃圾场中,好不容易才被人发现。这次事件可能会有媒体报道,但是,如果主人公是来自贫民窟的无名小孩,这样的新闻会有人关注吗?法医人类学家、耶稣会士兼神父古斯•萨恩斯发现,垃圾场中还有一批数量极其惊人的男孩尸体。萨恩斯和同事杰罗姆走访马尼拉拥挤的大街小巷,深入调查案件过程中,得到了年轻记者乔安娜·博尼法乔的帮助。影片改编自菲律宾作家费丽萨·巴塔坎的获奖小说,展现了人性的美与丑:纯洁与肮脏,崇高与腐败,神圣与邪恶。