Antonio D. Sison

Film review: In Jayro Bustamante's sophisticated storytelling, the real horror seethes and bubbles, be it ever so gradually, in the heart of darkness of a male monster-figure who is to blame for countless crimes against humanity. Real life is not far away.

Movie review: Oneness with earth, water and sky is an audiovisual motif that runs throughout "maɬni — towards the ocean, towards the shore," raising a subversive mirror to our consumerist culture.

Review: Diane Paragas' musical-drama feature "Yellow Rose" succeeds in telling a familiar immigrant story in an original way, but Filipino culture could have shone through more.

Appreciation: In 1968, Ennio Morricone scaled back on his other composing assignments to dedicate his lifework to cinema. His music, so wedded with the unfolding visual story, has become iconic.

Film review: I've been asked a number of times about my recommendation for "quarantine viewing" in the eye a worldwide pandemic. "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" meets all my relevant criteria, including celebrating the resilience and ingenuity of vulnerable people in a cultural context other than our own.

Review: "Indian Horse" is flawed, but it is that rare film that brings to light the sins committed against indigenous peoples by the unholy alliance of Eurocentric colonization and Christianization. 

Film review: "The Farewell" opens for us a window into the intriguing cultural particularities on the other shore, but in its heart are the universal themes of love, regret and forgiveness that families everywhere share.

Film review: A unique intercultural evolution distinguishes Filipino cuisine as the only Latin-Asian national cuisine in the world. 'Ulam: Main Dish' gradually finds its footing when it brings to sharper focus Cailan's and Ponseca's narratives.

Review: From the very opening scene of "Roma," gifted Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón invites the audience into an experience of visual poetry unfettered by formulaic Hollywood conventions and spoon-fed expository narrative. 

Movie review: In the film's story, Paikea does not conform to the expectations of what a messiah-figure ought to be. From the very start, she is a messianic anomaly.

Review: A film of such symbolic and visceral power as "2001: A Space Odyssey" invites various interpretations, like a prism you can turn at different angles, each revealing a new facet.

Movie review: As an Asian-American myself, watching "Crazy Rich Asians" unfold on the big screen was an uplifting experience, as though Hollywood, on this rare instance, became an Asian mirror, reflecting familiar faces from a long-ignored family album.

Review: Within this bubble in time, the Tultepec community is given a freeing moment, a chance to experience a glimmer of eternity in a life that is all too often marked by the stigmata of human struggle.  Credit, of course, goes to San Juan de Dios, the fireproof saint.

Movie review: Two sisters and their artist father's bewitching painting are at the heart of "The Portrait," or "Ang Larawan," a beautifully realized film from the Philippines.

A "conversion of the head" is that juncture when we are "called to social analysis." We come to a realization that there are structural causes for poverty and suffering, and for as long as our values and assumptions remain unexamined, we are complicit in this social injustice.