Albino
By Gym Lumbera / Philippines, USA
No Dialogue / 2013 / 63 MINS
Imagine

Playful, whimsical, and sometimes eerie, Anak Araw is director Gym Lumbera’s reimagining of the Filipino colonialist experience through the eyes of an albino boy who is trying to teach himself English. The disjointed narrative, coupled with the magical realist nature of some of the happenings on the island, imbues the monochromatic film with a surreal mood. Bizarre scenes of musicians dropping dead in the middle of a jungle are juxtaposed with documentary footage of famous Filipino comedian Togo’s funeral and the concluding track of Nat King Cole singing the Filipino classic, Dahil Sa Iyo, giving Anak Araw a dream-like nostalgic atmosphere. Lumbera crafts arresting imagery that linger long after the lights come on, injecting humour and kitsch into the larger themes of language, identity, and loss.