'Kono Basho': Quiet movie speaks volumes

Scene from 'Kono Basho'

Like the famed Sakura season of Japan, there is a timing to fully appreciate the power of and poignancy/positivity in "Kono Basho." 

Currently being screened in select cinemas around Metro Manila for a limited time only as it is an official entry in the Main Competition Full-Length film category of the 20th edition of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent  Film Festival that runs from Aug. 2 and 11, that time is now---or you might miss this movie that I thought I didn't need to see until I did. 

See, even now as I write this article, the message about regret, then the revival of relationships paralleled by the rehabilitation of a city nearly annihilated by tsunami, is fully sprung inside me. In just 85 minutes of watching "Kono Basho," a seed was planted and I'm glad I gave it time to grow (which it did very unassumingly like creeping vines). 

And now, the lessons are branches in a tree with fruits ready for picking in precise seasons of life. "Kono Basho" not only stays with you, but, like a warm hug, it affects you; changes something inside you for the better upon surrender. 

The movie helmed by Jaime Pacena II is about estranged half-sisters who are reunited at their father's funeral in Rikuzentakata City. The resentment they have for their set-up that neither of them has a say, soon rears its ugly head. But some things happen that teach them to find solace in shared grief, and become instrumental in the city's ongoing recovery.

There is an economy of words felt in the movie that is by design as it gives the setting the chance to contribute to the storytelling. The natural beauty of the location and the silence is almost another character of and by itself. No wonder, the movie was made with Japan integrally in mind---it would not have had the same effect otherwise.

Thus, too, "Kono Basho" becomes a love letter to a city that has lost so much. It reminds that the end is the beginning is the end. And that you don't need to be alone in grief. That grief and love go together because like sun and moon, night and day, the dark must give way to the light---then back again. Cycle.

There are talks that Gabby Padilla, the lead Filipina actress, must be a contender for Best Actress in this year's festival. We agree. Her consistency, her commitment to the character she plays named Ella is almost criminal. 

Japanese actress Arisa Nakano Briones, the other sister in the movie, is also a revelation. A scene where she was painting abstract on a blank canvass had us in tears.

You can still catch "Kono Basho" at Ayala Malls Manila Bay, Market! Market!, U.P. Town Center, Greenbelt and Trinoma.  The movie is produced by Jay in partnership with Project 8 Projects and Mentorque Productions.