# Mondomanila > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mondomanila > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mondomanila.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondomanila > Source revision: 1349653737 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{About|the film|the novel|Mondomanila (novel)}} {{multiple issues| {{original research|date=March 2012}} {{unreliable sources|date=March 2012}} }} {{Use Philippine English|date=February 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox film | name = Mondomanila | image = Mondanila 2012 movie poster.png | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [Khavn](/source/Khavn) | producer = Kamias Road
Stephan Holl
Antoinette Köster
Achinette Villamor | screenplay = Norman Wilwayco & [Khavn](/source/Khavn) | music = [Khavn](/source/Khavn) | starring = Tim Mabalot
[Marife Necesito](/source/Marife_Necesito)
[Palito](/source/Palito)
[Whitney Tyson](/source/Whitney_Tyson) | distributor = House of Film
Rapid Eye Movies HE GmbH
[Kamias Road](/source/Kamias_Road)
[Hubert Bals Fund](/source/International_Film_Festival_Rotterdam) | released = {{Film date|2012|01|26|International Film Festival Rotterdam}} | runtime = 75 minutes | country = Philippines | language = Tagalog }} '''''Mondomanila''''' is a 2012 Filipino [experimental](/source/experimental_film) [musical](/source/Musical_film) [exploitation](/source/Exploitation_film) [horror](/source/Horror_(genre)) [comedy-drama](/source/comedy-drama) [crime](/source/Crime_film) film directed by independent filmmaker [Khavn](/source/Khavn), based on a work by Norman Wilwayco, who also co-wrote the script with Khavn. It premiered at the [International Film Festival Rotterdam](/source/International_Film_Festival_Rotterdam) in January 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/iffr-2012/programme/spectrum/spectrum-complete-line-up/ |title=Spectrum: full line-up |accessdate=December 26, 2009 |work=Rotterdam}} The film tells the story of teenage antihero Tony de Guzman and the rough neighborhood he calls home.{{cite web |url=http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2012/en/films-schedule/76/mondomanila |title=Mondomanila |accessdate=August 23, 2012 |work=FantasiaFest}} ==Plot== Tony de Guzman is an anti-hero. Life, according to him, is short, brutal and is never on your side. Grab what you can, when you can. Settle scores. Be randy. Defy the rules. Cheat the system. Tough it out. Tony knows nothing but tough times living, as he does, in the bleak circus of the slums he calls home amongst denizens of the underworld: the crippled pimp, the lonely housewife, the neighborhood gay and his macho father, the prostitutes, the small-time politician, and the Yankee pedophile. This is his story and the story of the world he lives in: a hopeless, closed-in decrepit world gone to seed. ''Mondomanila'' is an unflinching and unflinchingly funny look at life in the underbelly of the urban diaspora—with songs. ==Release== ===Festival circuit=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! Year ! Festival ! Award ! Notes |- | 2010 | [Cinemanila International Film Festival](/source/Cinemanila_International_Film_Festival) | {{Laureate|Best Director}} | Closing film
Film screened was a rough cut, a work in progress |- | 2012 | [International Film Festival Rotterdam](/source/International_Film_Festival_Rotterdam) | | World premiere |- | 2012 | [Jeonju International Film Festival](/source/Jeonju_International_Film_Festival) | | |- | 2012 | [Anthology Film Archives](/source/Anthology_Film_Archives) | | |- | 2012 | [Yerba Buena Center for the Arts](/source/Yerba_Buena_Center_for_the_Arts) | | |- | 2012 | [Edinburgh International Film Festival](/source/Edinburgh_International_Film_Festival) | | premiered in EIFF with another Khavn film, ''Philippine New Wave: This Is Not A Film Movement''{{cite web |url=http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/films/2012/philippine-new-wave-this-is-not-a-film-movement |title=Philippine New Wave: This Is Not a Film Movement |accessdate=August 23, 2012 |work=Edinburgh International Film Festival}} |- | 2012 | [Festival Paris Cinéma](/source/Festival_Paris_Cin%C3%A9ma) | | |- | 2012 | [Sarajevo Film Festival](/source/Sarajevo_Film_Festival) | | |- | 2012 | [Fantasia Festival](/source/Fantasia_Festival) | {{Laureate|Special Mention}}
"For the accuracy with which the director looks at his country’s most disadvantaged, uncompromising but full of humanity" | Opening Film - Camera Lucida Section |} ==Background== Khavn, known for his staunch advocacy of guerilla shooting methods, has a reputation for shooting very quickly on a small budget. However, unlike his other features, Mondomanila took Khavn nine years and numerous attempts, to make.{{cite web |url=http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/mondomanila/ |title=Mondomanila SP-2012 |work=Rotterdam}} Mondomanila entered production in 2003 but was stopped after the first day because of major miscasting issues. Most of the scenes were scrapped; what Khavn managed to salvage became parts of another film, ''Mondomanila: Overdosed Nightmare'', which premiered at the [Cinemalaya International Film Festival](/source/Cinemalaya_International_Film_Festival) in 2008. Writes critic Richard Bolisay:
"This film has lived up to its name—cranky, blasphemous, berserk, carnivorous—for the nightmare is not only overdosed, it is sacrilegious, the darkness is so imperial it looks like a work of evil, a devil of a craftsman Khavn is—and there is no point in deconstructing its stark elements because it only extinguishes the fire. The surrealist at work subscribes to absolute nihilism. The motive is anarchy. The enemy is false religion."{{cite web |url=http://lilokpelikula.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/scarred-scared-in-khavn-dela-cruzs-overdosed-nightmare-2008/ |title=Scarred, Scared in Khavn dela Cruz's Overdosed Nightmare (2008) |accessdate=2008-07-24 |work=Richard Bolisay}}
In 2004, Khavn shot ''Mondomanila: Institute of Poets'' based on the short story which won a [Palanca](/source/Palana_Awards) in 2000. The short film, which starred Filipino actor [Marvin Agustin](/source/Marvin_Agustin), premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2005,{{cite web |url=http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/films/mondomanila-institusyon-ng-makata/ |title=Mondomanila: Institute of Poets SE-2005 |work=Institute-Rotterdam}} and was singled out by Brazilian critic Jorge Didaco, then writing for Senses of Cinema, as one of the ten best films of 2005.{{cite web |url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/38/world_poll1/#Didaco |title=2005 World Poll – Part 1 |accessdate=February 7, 2007 |work=Senses of Cinema}} In between 2004 and 2009, Khavn worked on varying versions of the screenplay; one was a ten-hour epic which, though more faithful to the novel, had to be abandoned for practical reasons: cost would have been enormous and Khavn could not find project backers. In 2006, Mondomanila was one of the four projects awarded the first ever [Digital Production](/source/Digital_Production) Grant by the Hubert Bals Fund.{{cite web |url=http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/archive/news/new_overview/hubert_bals_fund_introduces_digital_production_grant/ |title=Hubert Bals Fund introduces digital production grant |work=Rotterdam01}} Khavn used this seed money to polish the screenplay. The final version of Mondomanila entered production in 2009. This time around, it was co-produced by the [German](/source/Germany) film company, Rapid Eye Movies, co-managed by Stephan Holl and Antoinette Köster. In 2010, Khavn screened a work in progress version of Mondomanila at the MFMF! Mondomanila FilmFest Motherf%*#ers {{cite web |url=http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=634272 |title=Khavn dela Cruz's 'Mondomanila' premieres at UP Film Center |accessdate=November 29, 2010 |work=The Philippine Star}} and the [Cinemanila International Film Festival](/source/Cinemanila_International_Film_Festival). The rough cut won for Khavn Best Director. House of Film, a [Beverly Hills](/source/Beverly_Hills)-based sales company, for worldwide distribution is the world sales agent of Mondomanila.{{cite web |url=http://www.houseoffilm.com/documentaries/ |title=House of Film }} ==Reception== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | header_background = | footer = | footer_align = left/right/center | footer_background = | width = | image1 = | width1 = 125 | caption1 = ''Muse, duck egg vendor & Tony D's bestfriend'' | image4 = | width4 = 150 | caption4 = ''Dugyot, the duck lover'' }} {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | header_background = | footer = | footer_align = left/right/center | footer_background = | width = | image2 = | width2 = 120 | caption2 = ''Ogo X, the one-armed rapper'' | image3 = | width3 = 157 | caption3 = ''Ungay, the coal vendor'' }} In an interview with Festival Scope during the film's premiere in [Rotterdam](/source/Rotterdam), Khavn was asked why he did not choose to do a literal adaptation of the novel. He explained: {{blockquote|I chose to go straight to the heart of 'Mondomanila' and make a film that sprung from that. There was already some strong and grotesque imagery in the novel. But in the film, everything is heightened, pushed the farthest it could go.{{cite web |url=https://www.festivalscope.com/film/mondomanila |title=Mondomanila directed by Khavn De La Cruz |work=Festival Scope}}}} [Twitch Film](/source/Twitch_Film)'s Oggs Cruz points out that Mondomanila "will probably draw comparisons with the films of [John Waters](/source/John_Waters_(filmmaker)), for its unabashed obnoxiousness, and [Alejandro Jodorowsky](/source/Alejandro_Jodorowsky), for its unabashed strangeness. However, the film is a strange creature altogether, more venomous than any of Waters’ trash and more useful than any of Jodorowsky’s excesses."{{cite web |url=http://oggsmoggs.tumblr.com/post/2162942762/mondomanila-khavn-dela-cruz-2010 |title=Mondomanila |accessdate=December 4, 2010 |work=Oggs Cruz}} Indiocine's Macky Macarayan found some of the characters confusing, and believes a traditional ending featuring the narrator would have served the film better. But he praises the film for being a very honest social commentary, calling it "raw, uninhibited, and unforgiving". "Everything is exaggerated, meant as an inverse, or metaphorically presented. Subtlety is not in Khavn's vocabulary; he likes to confront the issues head on, but at least he has some style. Like Nolan's ''[Inception](/source/Inception)'' you have to dig further."{{cite web |url=http://www.indiocine.org/2011/11/mondo-manila-2010.html |title=Mondomanila |accessdate=November 19, 2011 |work=Indiocine}} One viewer notes that in the film, Khavn combines the abrasive aspects of two of his other films, ''Squatterpunk'' and ''The Family That Eats Soil'', to "transvaluate Julia Kristeva's notions of the abject and turns it from a source of horror to something darkly humorous".{{cite web |url=https://cinefilipinas.blogspot.com/2010/12/mondomanila-filmfest-motherfuckers.html |title=Mondomanila (Khavn dela Cruz, 2010)|accessdate=December 6, 2010 |work=Cinefilipinas}} Film blogger Sanriel Ajero finds ''Mondomanila'' "quite offensive, as one would expect from the sick mind of Khavn, and by this virtue alone, should warrant a divisive reaction from its audience" but praises its vision. "Personally, I’m with the half that enjoyed the hell of it. Surely one of the few brave local directors we have now, that continually pushes the boundaries of violence and gore, even of lyricism and poetry.”{{cite web |url=http://sanriel.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/list-best-of-philippine-cinema-2010/ |title=LIST: Best of Philippine Cinema 2010 |accessdate=January 17, 2011 |work=Sanriel}} Lagarista's Dodo Dayao calls ''Mondomanila'' "''Glee'' on crack", likening it to [Dusan Makavejev](/source/Dusan_Makavejev)’s [Sweet Movie](/source/Sweet_Movie) but calls it "quintessential Khavn. Only with a grander sense of culmination." {{blockquote|There are almost inarguable parallels that run between the two films. But the twist here is that Khavn hasn’t seen Makavejev, and prefers to boil it down to something like John Waters by way of [Tod Browning](/source/Tod_Browning) by way of [Gualtiero Jacopetti](/source/Gualtiero_Jacopetti). And it comes as no surprise how many are positioning the film, which is having its world premiere this week at [Rotterdam](/source/Rotterdam), as his [magnum opus](/source/Masterpiece), a coming to a head of his wildly prolific career, which in many ways it is.{{cite web |url=http://lagarista.com/site/entry/ruined_hearts_and_zombie_storm_operas_khavn_in_2012 |title=Ruined Hearts And Zombie Storm Operas: Khavn in 2012 |accessdate=2012-02-02 |work=Lagarista}}}} ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links == * {{IMDb title|1819603|Mondomanila}} * {{Official website|http://www.khavn.com/}} * [http://lagarista.com/site/entry/ruined_hearts_and_zombie_storm_operas_khavn_in_2012 Ruined Hearts And Zombie Storm Operas: Khavn in 2012] — An Interview with Dodo Dayao for [http://lagarista.com Lagarista] * [http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=635919&publicationSubCategoryId=448 This is not Mondomanila] — An Interview with Ping Medina for the [http://www.philstar.com/ Philippine Star] * [http://filmint.nu/?p=4184 A Conversation with Khavn De La Cruz] — An Interview with Yusef Sayed for [http://filmint.nu/ Film International] {{DEFAULTSORT:Mondomanila}} Category:2012 films Category:2010s Tagalog-language films Category:2012 Philippine films Category:Philippine comedy-drama films Category:Films based on Philippine novels Category:Films directed by Khavn De La Cruz --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mondomanila](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondomanila) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondomanila?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.