I missed ‘Gitling’ when it came out during Cinemalaya and all of its little pocket screenings around the metro and I’ve wanted to see it on the big screen. Fortunately, the film returns to the cinemas from February 5 to February 11 in Ayala Cinemas and FDCP Cinematheques around the country (take note that sometimes it’s labeled with its English title ‘Hyphen’). Written and directed by Jopy Arnaldo, ‘Gitling’ is a quiet, intimate film about two people in the midst of flux who come together for professional reasons but bond over the personal and in the process, find some form of resolution for their own issues.

Makoto Kanno (Ken Yamamura) is a Japanese film director who finds himself in Bacolod City to screen his film at a film festival. Jamie Lazaro (Gabby Padilla) is the local who is hired to act as his interpreter and translator for his new film. They bond over language and movies, they discuss Makoto’s film, which leads them to opening about their own troubles. Makoto is separated from his wife and some scenes show his awkward, strained phone conversations with his wife while Jamie just ended her engagement with her fiancé under difficult circumstances. One is trying to repair a broken relationship while the other is trying to unburden herself from the fallout of the breakup.

This is a story that can only be told in a movie because it’s told in five languages – Japanese, English, Filipino, Hiligaynon, and a made-up language that Jamie invented – and the subtitles play a big part in this, each translation coloured to signal what language is being used in what is being said. The two leads navigate their character’s feelings as they tiptoe around potentially difficult conversation topics jumping from Japanese and English, with Jamie having to shift to Filipino or Hiligaynon when she’s speaking to the world outside of their little intimate space, and later on, as Makoto begins to study and learn Jamie’s language, they speak to each other creating even more walls to shut them out from the world around them.

Arnaldo emphasizes this isolation by his exquisite use of extreme close-ups and his preference to shoot his characters from behind or at their profile. Makoto and Jamie are tearing away any sort of awkwardness by getting through the small talk and pushing deeper and deeper into who they are inside, vulnerable and bare, and Arnoldo, by way of Mycko David’s brilliant cinematography, pushes us away by focusing on their hands, the food they eat while talking, the back of Jamie’s neck, Makoto’s jawline, the blaze of the hot coals that grill their orders of chicken inasal. Arnaldo makes us voyeurs, trying to keep us away from this intimate moment that is entirely theirs to keep for themselves.

And here is where I find myself conflicted as I love the piece on an intellectual level. The performances of Gabby Padilla and Ken Yamamura are pitch perfect. It’s natural and nuanced and it feels so unscripted, so real and authentic. The script is verbose, wordy but these are two people who love language and are trying to connect, to talk about difficult things and finding the words to describe the wealth of emotions they have but also keeping some of it to themselves because this connection is creating complications. Then, at some point, the film that they are both working on, becomes the film that we are watching – the conceit of subtitles transcribing the subtext, the things unsaid on screen for the audience to mull over – and this whole exercise of the film in the film being somewhat the film we are watching. It’s an intellectual exercise that is so enjoyable to sink your teeth into.

But on an emotional level, I feel quite distant from the characters. Their stories, their struggle, I feel the film didn’t give me permission to enjoy it. Their release, their insights were kept at a distance from me. The film protected their safe space. It’s wonderful to take note of as an outsider but as someone watching a movie about healing and relationships, I felt like an intruder. It’s an interesting feeling to have while watching a film, especially one in the romantic drama genre. Beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, great direction, and excellent music by Emmanuel Aguila, ‘Gitling’ is an intelligent movie that made me feel like an unwanted visitor in someone else’s story. There are no easy answers in ‘Gitling’ and the film will make you work for the resolution for yourself but it’s done so beautifully that you should just give in.

My Rating:

Gitling (Hyphen) is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.