JENNY LLANTO CARINGAL, TESS MAGALLANES, AND BENJAMIN VASQUEZ BARCELLANO JR. IN COME LA NOTTE/WHERE THE NIGHT STANDS STILL

OPEN ROADS: NEW ITALIAN CINEMA - LIRYC DELA CRUZ: WHERE THE NIGHT STANDS STILL/COME LA NOTTE (2025)

Risky reunion

A blogger at the Berlinale said this was "basically an amateur movie" but was the most touching thing they saw at the whole Berlin film festival, so far anyway." I was less enchanted. The look of the black and white images is handsome, and the acting of the three Filipino actors is naturalistic. All the torments of the Filapino diaspora are touched upon. But while this has the look and "slow cinema" style of an art film, it seems a wasted opportunity to inform and entertain us and comes across, alas, as largely a vacuous effort. Its long stillnesses - minutes devoted to watching the three snooze silently in lawn chairs, or standing around, or (more interesting) getting out of bed and saying a morning prayer - don't create any real tension, or deelop character. The film has a sudden, unexpected final event that is unprepared, and whose possible consequences are unexplained.

In the film a pious Filipina woman of a certain age, Lilia (Tess Magallanes) is visited by her tormented younger brother Manny, (Benjamin Vasquez Barcellano Jr, reportedly the only seasoned film actor in the cast) and her equally disapproving sister Rosa (Jenny Llanto Caringal) at the very old mansion in Rome she has recently inherited from the woman she has long worked for, who died painfully of Covid, and had no family. The siblings have not met in a long time, and there are many submerged painful feelings. Rosa and Manny both think Lilia should sell the mansion and return to the Philippines, where they think she would be happier. Or do they just feel she is selfish to sit on this valuable property and not share its proceeds with the family she came to this country to help in the first place?

Lilia speaks of several suitors, and a use of social media to meet men. Her character is ambigous because she prays piously morning and evening and moves about quietly and humbly in the house, but at the tasty outdoor luncheon she has prepared for the three of them she sounds feisty, maybe a dame with a late bloom in her. On the other hand she says later she will not live much longer, even as she has touted the wonderful completely free Italian health system and shown that she makes careful use of it and looks after herself. She also has sleeked down white hair that looks fashionable, and this is somewhat ambiguously set off by her wearing tinted glasses. She remains an enigma.

Manny has recently been fired and is out of work. Lilia suggests that he must not be doing something right, which he doesn't take well, though he later apologizes for his outburst. Not much comes from Rosa but it's clear that they have many unhappy memories of growing up, a world Lilia prefers to forget, having escaped earlier to go to Italy to earn money to support the family. In retrospect it's not clear to me whether Manny and Rosa have been working in Italy too, after coming here later, or are visiting from the Philippines. It's not spelled out, at least not in the subtitles: since all the dialogue is ih Filipino dialect some information may have been lost to anglophone viewers.

At the end there is something sudden and violent that happens, but it happens in the dark. We don't know exactly what has happened, and we have no idea why, though of course we can guess. There has been too little insight provided into the thoughts or character of Manny and Rosa. It's a very unsatisfactory ending that justifies the online comment that this is basically an amateur film - even though that is not remotely true. This is a fascinating, if frustrating film. It's just a disappointing one. Maybe Liryc Dela Cruz will do something much more successful next time. He is obviously focused on material of central importance to the Filipino diaspora in Italy that is his focus.

One couldn't help think of great drama in English about family conflict and turmoil, such as Eugene O'Neill's epic Long Day's Journey Into Night or any one of Shakespeare's history plays in which rivalries among members of royal families are played out in such rich detail. Okay, we live in a post-Beckettian world. But Beckett's minimalism is ironic, deeply resonant, and ultimately transcendent. This is a cinma of national experience but also an international film. It has to be judged by a world standard. By that standard it fails to raise a flicker on the galvanometer. This may seem breaking a butterfly upon a whieel, but there is greatness everywhere. Liryc Dela Cruz hasn't unearthed the treasures in his material. There's not enough detail here. The setting is static, and the action goes dead on the screen. But this is a young director, only 32, who will build from his acceptance into the Berlinale to further successes. He apparently is also a gifted photographer and has done everything here. With additional crew in future he can put more time into the writing.

Where the Night Stands Still/Come la notte, 75 mins., premiered Feb. 15, 2025 at the Berlinale. Screened for this review as part of FLC/CineCitta’s Open Roads Italian film series at Lincoln Center (May 29-Jun.5, 2025). Showtimes:
Sunday, June 1 at 3:30pm – Q&A with Liryc Dela Cruz
Tuesday, June 3 at 2:00pm

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.