Kid Commotion & The Wine Cellars

My friend and I watched two silent films over the weekend for free at the 4th International Silent Film Festival held at Shangri-La Plaza.

The films are over 75 years old! I don’t have non-blurry photos to show you how the inside of the cinema looked like but to paint a picture, in front of the movie screen is a live band that plays music as the movie shows. It is quite a scene to watch!

The first film we watched was a Japanese film called Kodakara Sodo (Kid Commotion). It is a comedy about a man who struggles to find money to provide for his family. It is actually very funny and ridiculous! I didn’t realize Japan was humorous way before WWII. Radioactive Sago Project provided the live music for the movie. They were amazing! You can hear so many instruments playing and I think their music suited the voice of the movie: it was fun and quirky and full of character! It’s just a shame that the movie only lasted 34 minutes. Wouldn’t it be great if it were a wee bit longer?

The 8-man ensemble of Radioactive Sago Project.

The second film we watched was entitled La Bodega (Wine Cellars). It was shown in 1929 and is based on a novel about the Andalusian wineries and the people who own them, worked on them and lived on them. The women all looked the same…kinda Betty Boop-ish except the whore-y clothes. They had long eyelashes and all their moves were flirty exactly like what you’ll see in an old Betty Boop and or Minnie Mouse cartoon. I’m not that attached to the movie. It was very normal, I guess. Some characters suddenly disappeared or may be I wasn’t paying much attention. Tanglaw provided the musical score for the movie. They were good although I think they didn’t change the tones of the music as much as the story shifted scenes. At one point, I stopped following the movie and just stared at the green-lit band playing some awesome music that didn’t mesh well with the film.

Next stop: The 13th Cine Europa!
It’s the yearly screening of independent European films from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain & Romania!

Venues:
09.-19. Sep. - Manila
Shang Cineplex, Shangri-la Edsa
Level 6, Shangri-La Plaza
EDSA Corner Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong City

24.-26. Sep. - Cagayan de Oro

01.-03. Oct. - Cebu

Popcorn & jellybeans,
SFM

♬ Listening to Two Door Cinema Club
I love that cat! So gangster-royal looking!