Smaller and Smaller Circles

I really like the film overall but there were some technical problems on the way to the climax of the film. One was the sound design of the footsteps as the priest walks on the wooden floor of the old building. Two is the shutter angle problem of the lightning strike or I'm guessing it was a light striking from outside the windows to fake a lightning strike.

Okay...so this is absolutely something different for a Filipino film! I was excited to watch it when I saw it on Netflix. I've never read the book though.

As a crime-mystery fan, at first I thought "Wow, they're making something like the Zodiac and Spotlight films!" Well, it didn't really go that well if that's what they were trying to do!

Anway, the story is way too different! It's a good story though but there were times I didn't catch some dialogue especially Father Jerome Lucero played by Sid Lucero who was eating his words. It's so hard to understand when there are no subtitles on the English parts. Other than that, they all played their roles very well.

Cinematography was fine. Color was okay but the Music which I'm very critical of was sub-par in my opinion. It's still a typical filipino "type" of music!

The book was brilliant, one of the most compelling reads I ever read. And yes, it's cliche to say the book was better, but in this case, it really was. The changes were almost entirely in the second half, and it shows. They sucked so much of the tension out of the driving pace of the book by making them, and as a result, the film suffers. Is it still well acted with a fascinating setting? Yes. But the changes about catching the killer (how, when, and events surrounding it) are far less compelling and far more Hollywood than the book, so read the book. It is considered "the first Filipino crime novel," and it won "the Philippine National Book Award" for a reason. The book unfolds at an unbelievable pace that sucks you in, and though I found the film good, after having just finished the book-a masterpiece and one of the best debuts I ever read, and I have read a lot-I can only be disappointed.

Two Jesuit priests tackles an improbable case of solving a serial killer in the slums of a garbage town. It was very well made. Dialogue was impeccable. Some would say to quote from the film "unnatural" but entirely plausible from the time period it was supposed to be shot in.

So rare for Philippine cinema to have a slow procedural film about a serial killer investigated nonetheless by expert forensic priests. There would be some shade thrown to undying issues of the church, but it never did tackle why this pair of CSI priests operate. There some dabbling on social commentary but in the end focuses solely on the mystery at hand.

Running nearly two hours long, the first half was very much episodic like and then finishes with a second half of knowing what will happen but eventually being discontented of an ending to justify the whole movie.

This film is definitely something different for Filipino cinema! I was excited to watch it when I saw it on Netflix, though I haven't read the book it's based on.

That said, the story itself is unique and compelling. However, I struggled to catch some of the dialogue-especially with Father Jerome Lucero (played by Sid Lucero), who tended to mumble his lines. It was challenging to follow those moments without subtitles for the English parts. Still, the cast did a great job portraying their roles.

The cinematography was decent, and the color grading was okay. However, the music-something I'm very particular about-felt underwhelming. It had that typical Filipino "style" of scoring, which, in my opinion, could have been more dynamic and impactful.