a sidewalk adventure

I wonder what's really in it for me why I can't be stopped looking for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. I've searched every possible pirated DVD 'labyrinths' in downtown metro but couldn't find one. When I reckon the vendor have difficulty pronouncing it, I know they don't have it. I had a blast hearing titles such as Fang's Nabirin to Pao's Lovering. Really outrageous. I went the other day at the sidewalk fronting Davao Doctor's Hospital but still couldn't find one. I got Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly and The Departed (for lack of a better find). There was The Constant Gardener in the file but wouldn't play. The teenage vendor promised to produce a copy a week after if I'd come back. I told him I would. I found the critically-raved L'Enfant and Candy (starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish) but didn't like the other films in the compilation .

The fantasy-horror Mexican flick Pan's tops my searching for two other indies that would shut me up -- Half Nelson and The Last King of Scotland. I wonder why I even bothered when I think Del Toro's previous film Hellboy sucked. Because of these trips to these piracy havens, I observed some trends among the vendors like the similarity of DVDs which may be attributed to the fact that they have the same 'distributor'. Some of the vendors would ask me, what these films are like or whether they're oldies or current. I wish I would find those three choices sooner because it would really shut me up and push me to start reading those unfinished books I have in the shelf.

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While I was at it, I can't help but remember Bayani Fernando who recently caught the ire of filmmakers and some personages film industry on his philosophical ruminations on the criteria of filmmaking. The case of course was the recent fracas in the MMFF 2007 Awards night. He said something like if one wants to make films like they think what ought to be quality-driven, one should go to Hollywood. Whoever gave license to these shabby, snotty politicians to meddle into something artistic and way beyond their comprehension. They should stick their noses to where they're good at.

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I watched The Illusionist last night, an adaptation of Steven Milhauser's short story Eisenheim the Illusionist. Lesson learned: check the audio. It was poor I never thought it was recorded in a moviehouse because the picture was very clear. It was disturbing to hear Russian dubbers in a couple of scenes in the film. It was very weird I felt the hairs standing on the back of my neck.