Here’s a heartfelt and funny cinematic dive into the
Bay Area’s Filipino community – and it’s a movie musical! Colma: The Musical is a coming
of age story following three Filipino-American kids graduating from high
school.
The characters burst into 13 original songs written by
director H.P. Mendoza – and they’re great songs. As one of the kids, the charismatic L.A.
Renigen absolutely soars.
The film was shot on location in Colma, California, the town more known in the Bay Area as the home of San Francisco’s cemeteries. But almost 2,000 living, breathing folks reside there, and they have their stories, too.
H.P. Mendoza is a Bay Area treasure, having written and directed the genre-bending art film I Am a Ghost and the dark indie comedy on domestic violence Bitter Melon.
Colma: The Musical is refreshing on many levels – and it’s a hoot. I recommend the delightful Colma: The Musical for anyone, especially Bay Area residents; you can stream it from Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Bitter Melon is H.P. Mendoza’s dark indie comedy on an issue that a Bay Area family must finally face. The dad has long abandoned the family, and it’s almost like he has moved to a different city (but he hasn’t). Two of the adult sons have moved to New York City and Philadelphia. The third son, Troy, lives in the mom’s family home with his wife and kid – and this guy is a nightmare. Troy (Patrick Epino) has a delusional self-image that he is somehow super-talented, even though he is unemployed and living off his wife and mom; worse, he has an anger management problem, and the entire family tiptoes around on eggshells – trying to avoid any disagreement with him.
It should be no surprise that Troy, who thinks he is entitled to his way all of the time, also beats his wife. The wife is too traumatized to seek help, Troy’s mom is in denial and the siblings, having put the family’s day-to-day life in their rearview mirrors, all combine to enable the abuse. When the two brothers return for the Christmas Holiday, the situation becomes unbearable and the family members decide that they must take an extreme step to deal with Troy.
I’ve just described a pretty grim story line, but Bitter Melon is very funny.
Bitter Melon invites us into a Filipino-American family, which is a welcome look at an underrepresented subject. But Bitter Melon is much more than cultural tourism – the characters and story here are universal, from the adult kids coming back to sleep in their childhood rooms for the holidays, the differences between first and second generation immigrants and the family issues of abuse and denial.
H.P. Mendoza is a Bay Area treasure, having written the screenplay and music for the rollicking and refreshing comedy Colma: The Musical and written and directed the genre-bending art film I Am a Ghost. I recommend the delightful Colma: The Musical for anyone, especially Bay Area residents; you can stream it from Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Bitter Melon begins a Bay Area theatrical run tomorrow.
I Am a Ghost is a singular ghost story about a young woman who has haunted her Victorian home since her death a century ago. First she ambles about the house, repeating the most ordinary chores – sweeping the hall, frying eggs and the like. Then she communicates with a medium hired to rid the house of the ghost; neither can see the other. The medium is having a tough time because, in her life, the young woman suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder (so there are multiple personalities to guide to the Other Side). The movie climaxes with some jolting scares.
It’s a change of pace for writer H.P. Mendoza, whose previous films have been contemporary musical comedies, including the hilarious Colma: The Musical (available on Netflix streaming). At the screening I attended, Mendoza said that I Am a Ghost is neither low-budget, very low-budget or micro-budget – he directed it on no budget (financed on his credit cards). Yet it looks better than some Hollywood films and is a whole lot smarter.
Besides the creepiness and the frights, the story is about memory. The ghost thinks she is having new experiences, but she is merely reliving her past experiences, most of which are banal. Mendoza doesn’t explain this until the audience has endured about 35 minutes of repetitive household tasks.
I Am a Ghost is only 74 minutes long. If you go with the memory idea, it works. If you don’t have the patience, you’ll find the first half of the film to be very tedious.
The dialogue between ghost and medium evokes a session between patient and therapist, with both becoming increasingly frustrated. This interchange is funny and is the highlight of the film. I Am a Ghost is a good choice for ghost story aficionados who are open to a genre-bender.
