I feel like I've used the word 'miracle' a lot when describing Carl Papa's films. I use it a lot in the context of Filipino cinema anyway, where resources for filmmakers are scarce, and it sometimes feels like movies are good in spite of everything. But Papa, who insists on making animated films on shoestring budgets provided by festival grants, has consistently made films that just make me feel like something otherworldly must have happened.

This time, he had a team of ninety animators, and it still feels magical. What struck me was how expressive the faces remained, even as features got taken away. And this is a film where it really matters, where we have to be convinced of…

I'll get right into it. And I'm sorry, I know this is an unpopular opinion but it needs to be said:

This was such harmful messaging. It was resilience porn for a delicate subject matter that, in reality, would take a lot of time and effort — read: no magical cure! no instant happy ending! — for someone to even begin to heal from.

My reception of this might be different (better) had there been more focus on the healing process. Like if our protagonist came back to reality sooner rather than sticking with the fantasy for most of the film and, in turn, making a spectacle of the trauma.

There needed to be a balance between the escapist fantasies…

Wow, a film about arrested development due to sexual trauma, involving imagined aliens. What a mysterious concept.

Positives first: Cool marriage of rotoscoping and traditional animation, sure. The multiple switches in animation styles as plot device were inspired. There's a tender love story in here as well.

Now to my lukewarm take... At best, portraying sexual trauma as some mythic monster that we have to keep at arm's length all our lives until the it reaches critical mass and we finally decide to kill it by *checks notes* acknowledging it, so only then we can start the healing process, is woefully tired. Come oooon. At worst, it's regressive, anti-corrective, and only further enforces culture of silence. It's easier said than…

tangina, ang bigat.

when eric said the final line, i just broke down. sobrang galing to make a film about sexual abuse in sci-fi like wow, grabe, and yes, u can only make this film in animation bc anlawak ng pwede mong gawin with the film / story.

nakutuban ko na sya when eric’s angkel asked / talked about yung sa tuli,, putangina lang. and throughout the film, my mind was just thinking na omygod yung alien is a metaphor for eric’s angkel and his past experiences !!! and kaya wala syang mouth at unti-unting nawawala ang mata, tainga, kamay, at private part ay dahil isa syang victim. eric was silenced, his abuser made him look at and hear his…