Next Attraction (2008) Poster

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Touching the Untouchable
charliekoon30 January 2009
Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice. - Virginia Woolf Third world art is tough for critics to criticize. Next Attraction is so clever with its guard to criticisms. Next Attraction is really good in terms of improvisation. It also receives a special recognition in the recently concluded 10th Cinemanila. It is quite predictable though. I think that is the entire idea of it. As long as you have no budget, you have a weird concept; they will be praised as the new artists.

Next Attraction is about making a film. They have a steady camera recording the behind the scenes of a certain short film. Apparently, there's a progression within those steady shots. We get the details of what the short film is all about. It is about a guy (Coco Martin) being reprimanded by her mother (Jacklyn Jose) for an act he committed. You can hear the dialogues but it is an art film so you expect something more profound. Instead you get to see a steady shot of the cameraman shooting the scene and the supposed to be director of the film. After fifty minutes of more or less fifteen long takes of behind the scenes, the film shooting packs up. The second part of the film is the short film which is roughly ten or fifteen minutes long.

Actually, the film has achieved many of its supposed goals. Next Attraction has a different perspective with its use of the strategic anticipation within the story. Nonetheless, the audience did acquire much anticipation. It is quite easy to understand the very concept of it all why they shot the film like that. It has inputs in making a radical approach in film making. The film doesn't tolerate clichés or any form of 'hackneyism'.

To be honest, the film experience is like; I was brought into a different planet and literally got back without any trace of libido. I could have purchased Viagra afterwards. I know this might be my personal opinion on this film but it seems to be as important as how I objectively evaluate films in general. I am no robot. I could easily give four or even five stars with all those deleted scenes. But it is still a film. The film's 'in your face' attitude is quite disturbing. Like "Oh we don't have the money, and this is our film", is a bit puzzling to be of good practice. To show some form of appreciation, the film has its defenders for what they have done and I am just not that enthusiastic about it. Anyway, Raya Martin is merely trying without expecting people to actually realize what his goal was in the first place.

Next Attraction is too safe for my opinion to be made by an artist who makes risks. It is quite easy to perceive art films that really have the edge to be noticed. Next Attraction will get the attention it ought to have. But I'm a bit confused as to why the film is shot in digital format, while the short film is with the use of film stock? Is he not too confident enough to stash some cash for a film stock for all the behind the scenes? If it is of equal importance, why did he shoot it in two different medium? Actually, I watch DVDs with bonus features. It's pretty much this movie.

Rating: 2.5/5
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1/10
This is why the director needed some beer for the screening.
tiborrys29 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
To open these brief thoughts on "Next Attraction" I would like to add that this is my first posted comment/review on IMDb. Foremost, I will not deeply analyze this movie since there really isn't anything to dive into except you consider security camera footage as a form of art.

A friend and I watched this at the Viennale Film Festival 2009. The director Raya Martin was also present at this screening. Previously I watched "Independencia" by Raya Martin which I found interesting, so I thought I knew what my movie-mate and I were getting into. Before the "film" started the audience got a brief intro by one of the Viennale staff members who praised the upcoming feature and its director for its genius. The movie, according to description, is a view on the process of film making, which sounds intriguing.

The result barely consists of painfully long shots of a film-crew working (sometimes working, usually doing nothing though) on a short. A digital camcorder was placed somewhere on set to record the "happening"... little editing... that's it. Shaky cam home-videos or PowerPoint presentations are more involving and creative than this. I don't have anything against long shots (I even enjoyed the 5 min. freeway scene in the original Solaris) but this was just bland and hollow. *SPOILER* (not really) Then the movie switches to the short film, kept in 16mm b/w, no audio (except the sound of raindrops on a tin can), roughly displaying a homosexual teenager experiencing his first sexuality. There is not much more to say on behalf this, whatever it is.

Throughout the screening people continually left the cinema… I can understand why. Afterwards the audience was invited to ask some questions to the director. The remaining audience was so speechless that the Viennale presenter had to break the uncomfortable silence by asking Raya what gave him the idea of making this film. Raya Martin explained that "Next Attraction" was his coming-out movie which he primarily made for his parents.. I ask myself "What does this have to do with film making and why submit this to a film fest!?" Wouldn't it be easier showing Wong-Kar Wai's genius "Happy Together" instead of wasting precious 16mm film and the time of an international audience?

Someone in the audience then asked if this wasn't more of a documentary than a feature film. I got the impression that this question upset the Viennale presenter, who answered with counter-question. He asked what about this film was like a documentary. Only because someone else was portraying the director doesn't make this to a piece of fiction. After these illusions of grandeur my friend and I couldn't take it anymore.

I consider myself a passionate cinephile who wants to get into film-making myself. I enjoy watching everything from avant-garde cinema to zombie flicks. "Next Attraction" was a real eye-opener of how distorted lots of film-students view on the materia becomes. It ends with no love for movies but an arrogant approach of achieving something different, something you could call art or at least talk people into believing it is art. I only recommend this to self indulgent cinema viewers that believe they know more about the art than the usual "feeble minded" cinema viewer.
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