Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004) User Reviews

A moving and deeply personal ten-hour epic

[lukecon-63436 · 9/10 · 1 August 2022]

Lav Diaz's ten-hour epic Evolution of a Filipino Family tells the story of a poor and struggling family and the evolution of their farming clan--we gradually see the rise of their farming clan, and then also see the gradual downfall and eventual collapse of their clan--over the process of ten hours.

Also intertwined with the primary storyline are scenes depicting the time period in which these characters' lives are set against--these characters and their storylines being set against the backdrop of the authoritarian government led by dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

I must say that like I felt while watching this ten-hour epic, you might just feel easily swept away by the many characters and their storylines that inhabit this film. When reaching the two-hour mark, I forgot that I still had eight and a half hours left to go. I felt this feeling that I was almost there with the characters, living with them, and being with them in their most difficult and tragic moments in their lives.

In a strange way, you begin to bond with these characters in a more personal way, as if you have known them and lived with them--the characters feel more real to you, rather than simply feeling like fictional characters in a film. You feel as if these characters embody reality in their own sense, and the characters feel real to the viewer as the viewer becomes swept in the characters' lives.

As you watch this ten-hour film, you may wonder why this film is so long. However, once you get acquainted with Lav Diaz's style, you will notice that most of his films follow the same pattern you will notice in this film: they usually run over four hours long (some other films of his ranging in length from 6 to 9 hours long).

You will also notice that in many of Diaz's films, including this one, Diaz makes great use of long takes--many of his shots last very long lengths of time, some lasting 15-20 minutes long (one shot from another film of his lasting a full hour). Diaz uses these long and uninterrupted takes to convey the passage of time, the slow and gradual process of time and how time passes by very slowly and gradually. To convey this process, Diaz will use very long takes in his films to show this effect.

It might take some time to get used to Diaz's unconventional style of filmmaking--also, Diaz is known for his frequent use of still shots in his films. Most of his shots in his films are static and involve minimal to no camera movement.

However, this technique of using still and static shots also makes everything in his films seem real and believable, being that everything is portrayed objectively, rather than from the perspective of certain characters--everything is shown as it is, and usually from a far-away distance to present that objective view of reality that Diaz presents in his films.

Also, Diaz's films are shot on very low and below-typical production values. This can affect the quality of the film, usually in terms of the quality of the cameras used and the video quality--being that a lot of his films are shot on low production values, his films will usually have a Standard Definition quality to it instead of the typical High Definition quality films usually have.

However, Diaz doesn't focus on high production values and quality camera equipment--he also doesn't focus as much on the length of his films--Diaz's focus is simply on capturing the simple, beautiful, tender, warm, yet also the despairing, sorrowful, bleak, and melancholic moments of life--he captures these moments at their realest--and with the finest sense of detail and patience these moments ought to be given more of in the typical Hollywood productions of today.

Wow...

[Smart_Monkey · 10/10 · 23 April 2018]

Lav Diaz is a true national filmmaker, one with purpose and unstoppable drive. Ever since watching Melancholia (2008), I've fallen in love with his uncanny ability to capture a given state of mind so perfectly and infectiously. In Melancholia, he (fittingly) encapsulated the feeling of melancholy in what I'd consider to be the best depiction of depression in all of film. With Florentina Hubaldo, CTE, he created a piercing representation the trauma and cyclical nature of oppression Filipinos have suffered, and continue to suffer. In From What is Before, he displayed the weight of seeing your world collapse, as your loved ones are put through hell and your community fades away due to martial law's strangling effects on society.

In Evolution of a Filipino Family, he rolled all these together into one mammoth-sized relief of his experiences with governmental oppression and Filipino life; a hard, Sisyphean struggle to keep pressing forward. The ups and downs of Filipino culture are examined under a lens of deep empathy, and he examines them in a way which bring you to understand these ideas as though you've lived them. The real-time action makes things feel organic, and by the end of a 10.5 hour journey you feel like you've watched the collapse of a family who actually existed, or who might as well exist. It's by getting close to them that you realize how destructive the external forces which tore them apart are.

The stream-of-consciousness editing and narrative structure make it feel like characters are reflecting on their past throughout, feelings and memories are stitched together to form a window into a country's collective suffering. Beneath everything is this underlying dread which runs through a majority of the film, and it's delivered on for what feels like an eternity of utter hopelessness taking place over 3-4 hours. His characters encapsulate specific areas of Filipino culture and society with painstaking accuracy, and one thread that runs among each of them is this helplessness. Not just directionlessness in life, but literally nowhere to go. It's societal entrapment, governmental entrapment. Rumors and religion rule their lives, they're stuck fighting to live decently in poverty but there is always a major deterrent in the possibilities they find for improvement, there is seemingly no end.

While there isn't that much "action", it's more the collective impact of becoming accustomed to their pace of living only to see it inevitably dismantled. How everything comes together is absolutely staggering and can't be explained further than you just have to experience it. His mastery of aesthetic brings to life images and storylines that will haunt me forever, in a completely distinct way from other filmmakers I've seen. The burnt, grainy, hazy cinematography makes it very atmospheric and true to its themes in a production sense. Filipino is etched into this film's dna, and it's palpable in every frame. The characters, the communities, all these events he paints feel pulled straight from reality, and they kind of are:

"I have a very clear picture of that period and the characters' struggles. I grew up during that period and I know these characters; I have tried to understand that period and will continue to try and fathom it, and ultimately, with my works, I am examining and confronting it." - Lav Diaz, Lying Down in a World of Tempest

What struck me particularly is how he captures family in the Philippines too. The large role of family undeniably embedded in the culture and, having family there as well, it resonated so deeply to see people here who I could actually know. Who maybe I do know. While these characters make mistakes, it's clear there's so much love between them and that they're trying, desperately trying to live happily. The weight of poverty and a government/system which relentlessly pushes them down, preventing them from growing past their flaws. And it's difficult to blame them when they have no way to know better. With this though, they still continue to try, and they still manage to have moments of warmth between the stretches of emptiness. And while the film is ultimately tragic, it's important to me that Diaz included these moments which seem to have been missing in a lot of his other work.

There's a plot which involves a grandma taking care of 3 teenage girls, and by far it's one of the best portrayals of family I've seen in cinema. The film communicates this aching pain and alienation that consumes them with such incredible realism, as they live outcasted from society surviving on next to nothing. Yet they make it by, through this familial bond that just completely struck me to the core. You see them quarrel, you see them gather around and listen to the radio, you see them accept some of the harsh realities around them. And it just hit like a ton of bricks for me to see someone capture that way of life, to give a voice to those without one. It made me think back to my own family, what they've been through and what they're going through currently. It made me realize how fortunate I am to have what I have now. It made me realize the depth of suffering that really occurred during the Marcos regime, that entire segment of the Philippine population. It hit me in a place few films have.

Though it is definitely the roughest I've seen from Diaz, I think that roughness makes it even better. There's great authenticity and you can tell it truly, truly comes from the heart. He made this on an extremely limited budget over the course of 8 years with friends; no script, just a strong sense of direction. He wanted to make a truthful film about the Filipino struggle, he wanted to display truth about the condition of his country in making Evolution. And he did it. Through this endless passion and compassion for his people, he strung together one of the most deeply powerful explorations of Filipino culture ever. Family, perseverance, love, tragedy, survival, empathy, having the will to keep going no matter what the circumstances are, family bonding, singing, listening to dramas on the radio.

This is the one to define the Philippines.

Nice try

[jeffalindogan · 4/10 · 9 April 2022]

This movie tried to break the Guiness World book of Records for the longest movie. Who can watch this in one sitting? The movie can be compressed to a two hour movie.