BFI London Film Festival: Taklub

BFI London Film Festival: 238 films. From 71 countries. 16 cinemas. 12 days. One Festival.

Anyone familiar with Brilliante Ma Mendoza’s work through more outré films like Kinatay (LFF2009) and Captive (LFF2012) will see him operating in an entirely different register with Taklub. It’s a compassionate portrait of life in the Filipino city of Tacloban following the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Yolanda in 2010.

The worst hit were the poorest communities along the coastline and Mendoza’s film opens among them. Babeth (the wonderful Nora Aunor) witnesses a fire that kills all but one member of a displaced family and her shock at yet more tragedy propels her into action, raising money for the grieving father. Through her eyes, we observe a people who, far from defeated, are resilient and determined to rebuild their lives. With huge ships washedup on the roadside, an entire infrastructure in a state of disrepair and thousands still missing, the odds seem stacked against them. But Babeth represents hope and Mendoza’s film is a moving testament to the community’s spirit of rejuvenation.

(Notes by Ian Haydn Smith)

Taklub, dir. Brillante Ma Mendoza, Philippines 2015, 97 mins.