Kusina

Kusina - a film with heart / rating 7:10 --- Caught this one at Cinemalaya 2016. No expectations at all, although I somehow knew it would be a quality film because of the leading actress (Judy Ann Santos, an icon of Filipino film and TV).

The film starts off in the early 1940s, in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the invasion of Japanese forces. We meet a young Juanita, who is doted upon by her grandmother and learns the art of cooking (Filipino cooking - with all of its gorgeous textures and meals - see: pinakbet, adobo, ginataan, etc.). Cooking becomes a metaphor for love and loving. Cooking becomes Juanita's tool to connect with the people around her - her father, her grandmother, her husband, her kids. As tragedy and heartbreak mar her life as she courses through womanhood and the history of the country itself (no spoilers here), cooking becomes her refuge.

Albeit for some technical misgivings (sound, lighting, etc.), "Kusina" does its best with adapting the screenplay (Palanca award 2006) to film, presenting it in black box theater form - the setting is the kitchen throughout the whole film.

Worth the watch.