Kubrador

I saw Kubrador today. It's about a jueteng bookie played by Gina Pareno. It was good, but I only figured that out about three-fourths into the movie. At first I thought Kubrador was slow and boring. You see, I thought the movie had a traditional plot. You know, one with a beginning, middle and an end. But it didn't. It was more like 6 separate episodes from a kubrador's life. The "stories" are not related, apart from sharing a main character; one storyline does not lead to the next (which really got me frustrated during most of the movie.)

I thought that the scenes built on each other, like a regular movie (you know, one with plot development). And they sort of did, then did not. Which left the viewer wondering whether there was a main storyline. Finally, on the fourth unresolved story (they're not strictly stories since the movie flows from scene to scene uninterrupted) I figured it out. There IS NO PLOT. These are just random days in the life of a kubrador.

Ahhh. Light shines on marblehead.

Of course, I could just be the one big idiot who didn't get it and everyone else in the theater (the 5 other people) knew what was going on from the start. The confusion could have been easily solved by separating each "sketch" with a dark screen. I have no idea why the director did not use this rather basic storytelling technique.

(I have seen several full length movies without a traditional plot: Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, 13 Conversations About One Thing. And that genre can be a very effective way of storytelling (with seemingly unrelated events having an underlying theme that is very subtlely, yet so effectively presented), but you need to make your viewer know that the scenes are disjointed. Otherwise, the moviegoer will try to patch the scenes together for continuity: it's human nature. And if continuity is something the filmmaker is not going for, the end result is a rather confusing and frustrating experience.)

But anyway, moving on.

After I walked out of the theater, I tried to remember the earlier scenes, tried to separate them and enjoy them individually. They were good. The chase scene that opened the movie gave the viewer an overview of the topography of a Manila slum colony. (The kubrador who is chased does not appear elsewhere in the film, so don't bother waiting to figure out what happens to him.) The sketch where Amy (Pareno) collects bets from customers was great for her character development, but it should be viewed precisely for this purpose only. (I kept watching out for the bettors to see if they would appear later in the film: they never did).

There were a number of "non-actors" involved, and their performances were honest and meaningful. However, the professional actors (apart from Pareno whose performance was noteworthy) were hams.

Overall I thought Kubrador was satisfactory (although the camera work progressively deteriorated). It is an accurate depiction of slum life in Manila and succeeded in making subtle political statements in the process. (In one memorable scene in a cemetery, a man asks where he can find Erap's grave. Mahusay.)