Leonor Will Never Die review: If Being John Malkovich was even weirder

Halfway through Martika Ramirez Escobar’s reality-bending fantasy Leonor Will Never Die, an aging action screenwriter Leonor (Sheila Francisco) goes outside to smoke a cigarette. Leonor is in denial about the seriousness of her financial situation, and her tension over her unpaid electricity bill has led to an argument between her and her son Rudy (Von Cabrera). But it is Noggin’s conch that holds Leonor’s family together after she is put into a coma by a TV that fell out of her neighbor’s window upstairs (the source of another conflict in her family).

Its comic scenario thematically sums up what’s going on in this genre-bending film. wizard of oz From the Beastie Boys “Sabotage” video. The story begins in modern day Manila. There, the adorable granny-like protagonist, Leonor, spends his days immersed in TV series and old action movies. Leonor was big in the film world in his ’80s and his ’90s, but pulled out of filmmaking after his eldest son Ronwald (Anthony Falcon) died in an accident on set a decade ago. . Since then, she has withdrawn into her house, quarreled with Rudy, and spent quiet afternoons sitting with Ronwald’s ghost.

Long deceased, Ronwald is a character in the film, distinguished from his living relatives only by the fact that he is slightly transparent. Leonor Will Never DieIn Leonor’s world, the boundary between life and death is transparent, as is the boundary between imagination and reality. The film is interspersed with fake VHS action film sequences taken from an unfinished script Leonor discovered shortly before the accident. Her body is in a coma, but her mind enters her film world and she becomes both the screenwriter of the film and the character of her own story. All the characters love her, but can’t explain why.)

nevertheless Leonor Will Never Die A loving tribute to the hodgepodge violence of Filipino action movies, it’s equally influenced by quirky indie meta-comedy. On Leonor’s journey across the rainbow to her script, Being John Malkovich Quality – Consider, for example, the scene in which Rudy jumps into a ceiling-mounted television in a hospital waiting room on a mission to save his mother. Occasionally, the film pulls back even further, incorporating behind-the-scenes footage into the story to reveal its own composition. Towards the end of the story, writer-director Escobar becomes a character in a movie about a filmmaker who becomes a character in her movie, appearing on an interlude set during a late-night editing session, where she directs the film. Discuss how to end.

Escobar is a cinematographer by profession, and she and her crew really enjoy playing with different cameras, shooting styles, and formats. For example, action movie scenes are shot at her 4:3. They all create layers of reality for this film. While the “real world” consists of muted colors and long, uninterrupted wide shots, action movie reality is grainier, grainier, and more colorful. Action scenes jokingly use sudden zooms and repeated action shots, with particularly bad punches he sometimes reuses three or four times. But the funniest of these moments comes when the film’s protagonist, aka Ronwald (Rocky Saranbidez), reaches the end of Leonor’s unfinished script. Midway through the chase scene, he stops, turns around with a puzzled look, and looks up at the sky for direction.

These action-movie homages are more than just a fun aesthetic exercise, they present a nostalgic yearning for a simpler world — the machine guns are made of plastic, the good guys and the bad guys are easy to distinguish, and no matter what. It can also solve your problem. Roundhouse kick. As the themes get heavier, action movie character wigs and the absurdity of dialogue keep the lighthearted tone. Even the simple fact that Leonor is a woman has a wistful quality to it. It’s a fantasy.

Photo: music box film

Leonor Will Never Diescrapability has its drawbacks. The story meanders around each new plot point presented and has a loose, collage-like quality coupled with a multimedia shooting style. Audience tolerance for approaches varies.And while Escobar’s honesty is refreshing when she admits onscreen that she doesn’t know how to finish the film, the end of the musical number To do Feeling a little stuck.Still, Escobar’s candid embrace of the process only adds to the film’s appeal. Leonor Will Never Diedespite grappling with serious issues of life, death, and legacy.

Leonor Will Never Die Limited release on November 25th, nationwide deployment throughout December.