Taklub Trailer Impressions: Brillante Menoza - Nora Aunor 68th Cannes Film Festival Entry Capturing the Tragedy of Typhoon Yolanda

Taklub is a Center Stage Productions drama film under the Direction of Brilliante Mendoza and written by Honeylyn Joy Alipio starring Nora Aunor, Julio Diaz, and Aaron Rivera. Taklub was first screened on 19 May 2015 (competing) in the Un Certain Regard section at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Taklub won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival 2015, the Ecumenical Jury Prize-Special Mention.Let's take a sneak peak at the official international trailer and what Taklub is all about here.


Taklub
Plot / Synopsis

“Taklub” is a film that captures the reality of post-Haiyan situation in the city of Tacloban, Philippines back in 2013, treating it like a documentary that capture actors blending-in with real people coping-up with the outcome of the devastation.


Taklub (Trap) is a story of three major characters - Bebeth (Nora Aunor), Larry (Julio Diaz), and Erwin (Aaron Rivera), whose lives intertwined after Super-typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Typhoon Yolanda) hit the city of Tacloban (Eastern Visayas) leaving the breathing figures in search of their dead ones, of keeping their sanity intact, and protecting what little faith there may be.

Watch Taklub Official trailer here:


Taklub Official Trailer Impression
Taklub Film Trailer Review

Here are some additional information and production notes about Taklub for your information...

After Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in 2013, director Brillante Mendoza was asked by others if he would make a film about the disaster, to which he thought could be insensitive for him to exploit the tragedies that have occurred for the victims' lives. Some months later, he was asked by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to create a documentary film about climate change. For it to have a better impact towards audiences, Mendoza suggested to make a narrative film instead.

Source: Wikipedia

What is there to say about Brillante Mendoza's Taklub? His credentials alone is more than enough to give you an idea to what the quality of the film is. The trailer itself shows well-shot tidbits of a drama-heavy film that attempts to capture the tragedy that was Typhoon Yolanda when hit the country back in 2013. With excellent cast of actors, a compelling tragic premise, cinematography, and film direction (as far as the trailer has shown,) Taklub can already be considered one of the better "quality" Filipino films. Many local film critics and quality film afficionado in the country is already interested to see Taklub. Let's hope that it hits local theaters soon.


How about you guys? What do you think about this 68th Cannes Film Festival entry by Brillante Mendoza? Have you seen any of his prior works? If you have seen them, how does this compare to his previous films? What do you think about the film's premise focusing on the tragedy of Yolanda? Share your thoughts about Brillante Mendoza's Taklub (Trap) in the comments section below:

Thy Womb (Sinapupunan) Trailer Impressions: Brillante Mendoza's International Film Fest Entry Thy Womb Starring Philippine's Superstar Nora Aunor

Thy Womb with an alternative Filipino title of Sinapupunan is a 2012 drama film written by Henry Burgos and directed by Brillante Mendoza which stars Nora Aunor, Bembol Roco, Lovi Poe, and Mercedes Cabral. Thy Womb is produced by the Center Stage Productions and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and will make an international film debut to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Mendoza's Thy Womb has also been invited to the Toronto International Film Festival in September and the Busan International Film Festival in October. There is no exact date as to when will the film be released on nationwide theaters, but hopefully a news will soon be available for it. Let's check out this latest film featuring the superstar, Miss Nora Aunor.

Thy Womb
Plot / Synopsis

The film is about a Badjao midwife coping with the irony of her own infertility amid the deprivations of her gypsy community in Tawi-Tawi. A saga of island life stuck between the devil of passion and the deep blue sea of tradition.

Source: Wikipedia

Watch Thy Womb Official trailer here:


Thy Womb Official Trailer Impression
Sinapupunan Film Trailer Review

Thy Womb looks and feels like it is the ideal film for intelligent movie goers, film critics, and alike. When you attached the name of 2009's Cannes Film Festival Best Director Brillante Mendoza and a theme contrary to what most Filipino films studios have been spewing and force feeding us through out the years, there might be this initial hostility or alien reception towards this film from the average Filipino film goer. Hopefully it transcends my seemingly ridiculous analysis. Well in any case, this is one movie I personally would want to see. The theme is very much fresh. I've always wondered how would other cultural groups would handle the everyday struggled or special challenges of a Christian Filipino, and so here is one. In an industry that is overly saturated with horror, comedy, and countless romantic films, a drama film like Thy Womb which features the lives of Filipinos who live under a different culture is a welcome thing on my book.

I believe that this trailer is just to inform the Filipinos that Thy Womb is competing for an international Film Festival, so we have to cheer for them, okay? Well that might be effective, but the trailer would be more nicer if they just dropped the voice-over or simply focus on what the film will mostly tackle. Well, this was also included in the trailer, but the introduction of the some of the artists involved in the film is not really that necessary... not unless the movie goers are really oblivious of who Lovi Poe is. Hopefully the trailer would be updated once they've decide to release the film locally. The cinematography looks superb! Tawi-Tawi looks stunning and picturesque in this trailer alone, what more on the actual film. There is also no doubt that the actors lead by Miss Aunor will be on their best feet to lead the film into bagging home the Golden Lion, and they should. This is not just some local December film festival that they want to win over, but some thing on a much higher level and caliber. With organizations like the Center Stage Productions and the Film Development Council of the Philippines backing it up, there is really this high expectation from this film. Hopefully we can soon see Thy Womb on the local big screen.

How about you guys, what do you think of the film's main theme? How about the plot and the actors in it? Share your thoughts about Thy Womb's official trailer in the comments section below: