MANILA - Lav Diaz's latest opus, "Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan," on Monday was named as one of the year's best films by an American lifestyle magazine.
The four-hour historical drama, which featured actress Angeli Bayani and Archie Alemania in lead roles, was included in Detail magazine's list of "The 10 Best Under-the-Radar Films of 2014"
Author Calum Marsh described his list as made up of movies that "don't open to 900 screens," but "thrive in arthouses and international festivals, in the home-video market, and, increasingly, in the world of video-on-demand."
He ranked Diaz's "Norte" alongside similarly acclaimed films such as "Listen Up Philip" by American director Alex Ross Perry, "Goodbye to Language" by iconic French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, and Robert Greene's documentary, "The Actress."
"A four-hour Filipino drama derived from Crime and Punishment may sound rather intimidating, but Lav Diaz makes films with an audience in mind," Calum wrote of the local independent film.
"He is a patient filmmaker, to be sure, and 'Norte' likewise asks patience of its audience. But it rewards with simple pleasures. Its scale aside, this isn't a particularly difficult film—indeed, it's reckoning with big themes through the smallest details," he added.
Other films included in the list are Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin," Ramon Zurcher's "The Strange Little Cat," Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Two Days, One Night," Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," and Ruben Ostlund's "Force Majeure."
PH's best bet for the Oscars
The Film Academy of the Philippines, earlier in the year, chose 'Norte' to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Oscars. The official nominees in this category will be announced in Janary 2015, with the awards ceremony scheduled on February 22.
The decision was based off the acclaim --both locally and internationally -- that the film has been garnering during its limited release. It took home the top prizes at the 44th Gawad Urian Awards, and was among the favorites at last year's Cannes Film Festival.
It also bagged the top prize at the Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival in Germany.
Post a Comment