Next Attraction

This is my first post with an embedded Youtube link. I finally figured out how to do it! The clip is silent.

Yesterday I saw Raya Martin's Next Attraction at the New York Filipino Film Festival and enjoyed it immensely, in spite of its being shown without subtitles. Although I don't speak Tagalog I had no trouble following this experimental, minimalist but highly entertaining film (projected in grainy DVD which also did not seriously detract from my appreciation). The premise is simple: most of the film is a series of long takes in color documenting the making of a short film, the action of which takes place offscreen. Finally the title of the short film appears: Next Attraction, A True Story. Now we see the complete film within the film, but shown silent and in black and white. Raya Martin said this was his coming-out film, and it depicts a young man (Coco Martin) having a fight with his mother (Jaclyn Jose), going out on the street, meeting another young man and having sex with him in the shower, then returning home to shower alone and think about what just happened. I think it's a fascinating example of a gay experimental film that succeeds by using formal strategies to make us complete the simple narrative for ourselves out of the incomplete bits and pieces presented to us.