Big Screen tours the world through the magic of movies.
 

Cinema never fails to remind us of our relationship with the cities we dwell in. 

Starting off in familiar territory, Manila’s been depicted countless times in local and foreign films, but Emman de la Cruz’s Sarong Banggi offers a less-skewered view of our capital than most. Sarong Banggi portrays Manila in a montage of lights, everyday people, and the shadows cast by the night. Via the use of blurred shots of lights, people, and walkways, de la Cruz succinctly captures what it's like to be lost and alienated, in a metropolis bursting with people. It’s a film wherein the characters must reconcile the rift between their ages and their experiences.

This year’s big Oscar winner, Slumdog Millionaire, captures Mumbai with definite eccentricity and richness. Boyle’s kinetic music-video-ish shots and cinematography breathe new life into Mumbai, capturing the people’s struggle and strife in its schmaltz-fantasy template (which works effectively, by the way).

Director Hou Hsiao-hsien effectively uses Shanghai and Taipei in his films Millenium Mambo and Three Times, creating a perfect picture of the hearts and souls that move through the veins of these two cities. In Millenium Mambo, Shu Qi plays a young girl who lives a very static, somewhat uneventful life. She treads through the ennui of modern life lurking in the corners of the city, devoid of any comfort that a bursting metropolis promises. 

Three Times is a triptych of love stories, set in different periods with the same actors playing the same characters. Three Times tells a tale of the rapid change and repercussions of the life we live, whether in the past, present, or future. The film’s final chapter, ‘A Time for Youth’, features a frazzled disconnect with the cities the characters inhabit, aimlessly examining their broken lives through a series of close encounters and break-ups.

Hou also beautifully captured the grace and splendor of Paris in his 2007 film The Flight of the Red Balloon. The film still treads the director’s favorite territories (the slow-burning haunt of time and the connections between past, present, and future) but manages to clinch the themes elegantly. In the film, Simon (Simon Iteneau) follows a mysterious red balloon through the streets and avenues of Paris, exploring the universe that threatens to break through the innocence of the young boy. At times, the film is heartbreaking, intensely mirroring the rift between humans and their surroundings; but as the film slowly makes its way toward the finish line, there’s still a sense of joy present, carried by that red orb.

While Hou creates films where melancholy is intertwined with joy, Richard Linklater brings about the grace and idiosyncrasy of the cities that his characters inhabit. Before Sunrise and Before Sunset—probably two of the most romantic and endearing love stories ever told—find Jesse and Celine walking through Vienna and Paris, finding a unique and distinct connection through conversations and wanderings through streets, cafés, trains, ferries, and even graveyards. 

While New York has been in films many, many times, indie-rock-snorting Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist tells a tale of young love, connected by love of music and alienation. In one night, Nick and Norah lose and find themselves in night-time Manhattan, while a hipster-certified soundtrack blares in the background. The film is no Before Sunrise—no deep conversations happen here (except for that part about The Beatles, perhaps) but the film effectively captures the spirit of the mundane and the heartbreak adolescents go through, despite the razzle-dazzle of urban culture.

Post 9/11 New York comes into full view in Spike Lee’s 25th Hour. Monty (Edward Norton) examines his life during his last day of freedom, having been sentenced to a seven-year stay in prison. New York is a living, breathing creature in this film. Although scarred, its inhabitants struggle to collect themselves, while simultaneously dealing with their personal issues. 25th Hour’s New York is a different creature than we’ve known it to be; it’s a city where repercussions are weighed.

Tokyo, one of the quirkiest and haunting cities in the world, is rabidly deconstructed in the anthology Tokyo! Filmmakers Michel Gondry, Leon Carax, and Bong Joon-Ho carve a distinct and mind-shaking depiction of Japan’s capital city. The shorts are often unconventional—particularly Carax’s segment ‘Merde’, where the character is a mysterious figure that suddenly materializes to the shock of everyone. He’s an enigma—effectively portrayed by Dennis Lavant—and probably one of cinema’s most original and distinct characters to date.

Sofia Coppola captures the Murakami-ness of Tokyo in her film Lost in Translation. Like her Virgin Suicides, the film is often ethereal, distilling the cultural disconnect experienced by her characters, who struggle their way out of the fine mess they find themselves in. Despite the colorful and the sometimes hysterical universe of Tokyo, Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) pass through the stasis of their souls, transcending it bit by bit until the film’s slow-burning conclusion.  

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(Don Garcia is an unemployed registered nurse somewhere in Zambales. He likes cities, coastal towns, and indie music.)