MODULE 10 TOPIC: WRITING A REVIEW

A Cinemalaya film by Adi Bontuyan called Taya. It is a short film that connects a lot of things
such as realities in life through the symbols and representations like Filipino games. This type of film is a
genre of Literary Fiction where it includes political criticism, social commentary and reflections on
Humanity.

The Short film Taya was released way back 2013 which it wins the Audience Choice Award and
Special Jury awards in Cinemalaya Film Festival 2013. It amaze a lot of people because of the characters
used were very professional even though they are just youngsters they deliver the short film into
perfection from start to finish. Also the usage of music, camera angles, cinematography, and editing are
nicely done by them.

Taya is a film that is all about a young boy named JunJun, a 12 year old boy who recently move
to his new residence. But JunJun is unaware about the situation of his new place, although he made new
friends and learns how to play the different traditional Filipino Games. However those traditional games
connect the reality in life, a game like “Bangsak” which it separates into 2 words. “Bang” is a significant
sound of a gunshot and “sak” is significant of a stab.

This short film is really an award winning film for me because of the cinematography and the
story line of the film and also I am a big fan of our local or what we called traditional games. I have
experience it all. The games and the wounds that I got way back when I was just a toddler and the part
when you wake up in the afternoon all of your friends are waiting outside and they keep calling your
name until you go out. I really like how the actors/actress delivers it so well even though they are just
youngsters they did it so well like a true professional actors/actress.

The camera shots were intellectually amazing because you can clearly understand the plot,
setting, and situation that are happening in the film. The Background Music contributes the overall
mood/flow a lot where you can really feel the emotions of the scene you’ve watch. The special effects
were smoothly added and also the editing skills were nicely done. The scenes of the film were logically
arranged well where there is no questionable part of the scene and you can truly understand it where it
starts from childhood games up to reality. The theme and settings is all about the crisis that the place
had. It shows us how hard they’re life is, how hard when you’re from the bottom that all is against you.
So let us be thankful of what we have every day, on what we are right now, and the life that God has
given to us.

This short film has given me a lot of realizations of life where our traditional games is not just a
typical games it is the reality of our upcoming future, and it gives me a mixed emotions. I realized how
blessed I am in my life right where I cannot experience those type of problems and it made to be more
contented of what I have right now. To those loves short films and haven’t seen this yet, I 100%
recommend this to you to watch where you feel the sad reality of our lives.
MY THOUGHTS:

I learned a lot from this topic. I now know on how to critic a movie/short films, how to right the
reviews about a certain film, also the parts of the movie review which is the Introduction, Plot summary,
Description, Analysis, and lastly the Conclusion/evaluation.