8 Reasons to Catch "Nilalang"

Nilalang (Creature), n. An animal or a person. Or in other cases an entity--a creature not classified as an animal nor a person such as fairies, ghouls, dwarves, elves, werewolves, and other fictional entities (or are they really fictional?)

Nilalang (The Entity) is a suspense, thriller, horror, action film featured in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). This film features the Zahagur, an entity that originated from Japan. It kills beautiful women to remain the most beautiful entity. Its like a beauty contest where Zahagur wants to keep its crown, only in a brutal way.

It was initially set in Japan where Zahagur was introduced. After the prologue, the set was placed in Manila, showing Tony (Cesar Montano) and his team raiding Zahagur's location. Perhaps the entity followed Miyuki (Maria Ozawa), her target, that led it in the Philippines. While in pursuit of its target, it goes on a killing spree of beautiful women. One of these is the ex-girlfriend of Tony and later on his NBI partner, (Meg Imperial). Determined to end the spirit's killing, he consulted with Miyuki's father on how they could kill a ghost. And the action follows.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Cesar Montano as Tony
Maria Ozawa as Miyuki
Meg Imperial as Jane
Yam Concepcion as Akane
Cholo Barretto as Totoy
Kiko Matos as Mark
Dido Dela Paz as Col. Guevarra
and with the special participation of Aubrey Miles

Nilalang, a film entry in the MMFF, must have its reasons why it is worthy being in this year's film fest. Here are the reason's why you should watch it:

1) Maria Ozawa in Action - she is known for being an adult film star in Japan. With two first times (a) doing an action film and (b) doing a film outside her countryhome, she did a pretty good job. Yes there are still some sexy scenes for her but when in action, you wouldn't imagine that it's actually her doing the fights.

2) High-Definition Camera - they wouldn't be able to give justice to every fighting scenes and details of their set if they didn't use a high-definition camera. Trust me when I say that the film has a very good graphics. Not pixelated anymore for us to enjoy the real action-thriller theme of the film.

3) Legit Set - an old barn house in Japan where the prologue happened; the NBI office; crime scenes; bizarre club with demonic ambience; and an old wrecked, creepy building where the final battle with Zahagur happened. All organized with good materials.

4) Visual Effects - natural and edited, the way they produced the film was just splendid. Those scenes in dark places would still enable you to see clearly what's happening without losing the quality of the natural lights. As well as the lighting for the dark places to create the creepy effect was beautiful. Prosthetics to the cuts in the victims' bodies and to the faces of the people Zahagur has possessed were brilliantly made.

5) Sound Effects - well as a person who has a critical ear for music, I could say that they really deserve the award for the Best Music Engineering. The scores were just brilliantly composed to give the precise feeling for every scenes. It's not that all the other movies does not, this film just gives us the real music that's intense and more appropriate. Plus, the background noises that's just in the right volume to blend in the surrounding.

6) No Ads - yes, you can finally see a film that's independently produced. Meaning, if you're much annoyed to the brand and products being featured in several films from their sponsors, this film offers you an ad-free viewing. And you're assured that you really paid viewing every second of the movie's theme.

7) Diversity in the Fest - it's true that Filipino audiences would like to be entertained with laughters in watching films, and that's the norm in our culture. But is laughter the only form of entertainment? Nilalang was created to entertain us with fear and thrilling actions. And it's not a bad thing. Just like the movie "Inside Out" it teaches us how to appreciate not only the joy of laughter, but the importance of the other forms of feelings to entertain us, as well. So if you're open for other kind of entertainment, then Nilalang is open for you as well.

8) Internationally Competitive - as a fan of police procedural and fringe science genre from international television series, I really was amazed by how this film was constructed. I do not know how to explain exactly, but the progression of the storyline--considering that this is a police procedural and dealing with a spirit, yes the production is somewhat leveling to the way the international producers produce their films/tv series.

Don't you want to be part of the Philippine history's big leap in the film industry? This may not yet be the best, but I tell you, this one's a big break for our film industry. If we continue to support a production like this, more producers would follow a trend to produce somewhat like this film but even better that's going to level to the standards of even Hollywood.

So now you have the reasons to catch up with the Nilalang in the cinema near you.

Review by : Daniel Cruz
Editted by : AXL Powerhouse