THE DIPLOMAT HOTEL
I am not a fan of suspense thriller movies. Everybody I know knows that. So basically, when I was invited to watch Ad Castillo's The Diplomat Hotel, I was hesitant. But I gave it a shot anyway, and it is a good call. Superb movie. The cast is very good. Overall cinematography is fairly good. But what caught my attention the most is its content. Simply put, the message is that the only fears we have are the fears we create in our own minds. Well-written and well-directed, the movie transcends a fictional and 'typical' a-ghost-will-show-up-any-minute kind of film to what reality is within us.
I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in monsters under my bed. The Diplomat Hotel most certainly solidifies those disbeliefs of mine despite portraying rather a very scary movie (I know it's scary as the viewers next to me can't look at the screen long enough that they could have just thrown their fifty bucks into the fireplace, and there are screams at every corner of the theatre). It clarifies that our fears are self-inflicted. It is developed by the negative things and experiences we had in the past, and if we couldn't handle those very well, basically they make us crazy. We have to learn how to let go of our baggage to lessen our fears about the imaginary things that often worry us, because if we didn't, it would just stand on our way of life. The movie reminds me of the 2011 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture "Black Swan" which basically had the same content.
LIARS
"Ang katotohanan, hindi kumukupas." The film revolves around that passage. It shows how big a deal telling the truth is, as well as the aftermath and the consequences of it. I like how the director showed a less popular sport in a very basketball-dominated setting. He manages to integrate baseball to show a very intriguing issue on sports politics. I mean, it's not new to anyone sports savvy that there are under-the-table transactions going on some games, may it basketball, baseball, and whatnot. And I like how it also integrated a very interesting (well, for me) dilemma in the newsroom — to expose or not to expose. It leaves the viewers to critically think about how the truth should come out, and how to handle its effects right after.
I remembered while watching the movie a quote I've read days ago on Twitter: "When in doubt, tell the truth." It may affect and ruin others' lives, but down the road, if one lives a life in and full of lies, a much deeper wound would have been created if the truth surfaces. And we all know the truth comes out sooner or later. The raw acting of the children and newly-introduced actors is also an asset of the movie as it shows the sincerity of the message.
Integration
The two movies stand on a common ground. Both films are somehow based on real life stories and experiences, and they show journalists as central characters. The Diplomat Hotel depicts a broadcast journalist and right off the bat, it shows how scary to be one. People sometimes think these people are part of their lives, as if they are robots being shown on television. And sometimes, to produce a very good subject, these people submerge themselves into the story that they lose their sense of being. Liars, on the other hand, depicts a newspaper writer who faced with a dilemma to whether tell the truth about an sports anomaly or not, as it involves kids. It is as sensitive as it could. Both movies leave me thinking 'boy is it a very hard profession', and yet inspired as again, both movies show how passionate people in the media really are.
Photo credit: VYAC Productions and Teamwork Productions