Lav Diaz’s “Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon” (From What Is Before): a TIFF Film Review

Reviewed by Roghadal Saint-Michel

Brun Film Correspondent at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival

Warning: Spoiler alert

I have to admit that I had reservations venturing into another Lav Diaz film. The last time I sat through his 11-hour opus, “Ebolusyon ng Pamilyang Pilipino,” I felt that I "evolved" in not wanting to watch another gratuitously long film. I am all for long takes if they are warranted it but not when I am subjected to them just for the heck of it.

Thirty minutes to Diaz’s new film, it is very clear that he himself has evolved. The cinematography in crisp black and white is akin to any Ansel Adams photography. If the famous photographer had gone to the Philippines and photographed parts of the country, his work would have resembled this film. Not a single shot was wasted. I have never seen rural Philippines photographed so beautifully.

Stranger By the Lake (Film Review): "Finding Love in All the Wrong Places"

RATING 4.5 out of 5

Reviewed by Roghadal Saint-Michel (Toronto, Canada)

[Alert: Contain spoiler]  In a nondescript part of France, a lakeshore becomes a playground for homosexual encounters. The lead, Franck, routinely heads to the area and hopes to find a long-term relationship among the various men participating in anonymous sex.

A mysterious man, Michel, tall, dark and handsome (a very Castro Street circa '70s-look) catches Franck's attention and pursues him after befriending a new regular, Henri, who in turn is a brooding, recently divorced man.