Death is such a strange concept, as it could mean either of two things: it could be in a literal sense, that the life source of someone or something has ceased to exist, or it could be in a metaphorical sense, that even though it’s still alive and kicking, its will to live is practically non-existent. Oda sa Wala, or Ode to Nothing, managed to depict that and more, in a way that it conveys an agitating message about loneliness and emptiness, and what it can do to people. The film is about Sonya, an old maid, whose existence is only known when death is looming around the corner, as she runs a funeral parlor in her hometown. Her monotonous…

It takes a while before any of the characters say a word. The opening minutes linger in the silence of this home, and in the details of that silence. Moths flock around an electric light. A woman listens to a Chinese song on a walkman in bed. If you are Chinese, or simply familiar with Chinese folk music, you might recognize the song as Mo Li Hua, a centuries old song about a beautiful flower that catches everyone's eye. If you are neither of those things, it still somehow stands as a piece of compelling incongruity. An older man switches off a light. The woman switches it back on. The tape gets unraveled inside the aging walkman. In the morning,…

My God, I'm so lonely
So I open the window
To hear sounds of people
To hear sounds of people


Venus, planet of love
Was destroyed by global warming
Did its people want too much too?
Did its people want too much?


And I don't want your pity
I just want somebody near me
Guess I'm a coward
I just want to feel alright


And I know no one will save me
I just need someone to kiss
Give me one good honest kiss
And I'll be alright


Nobody, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody
Ooh, nobody, nobody


I've been big and small and
Big and small and
Big and small again
And still nobody wants me
Still nobody wants me


And…

They were not kidding when they talked of how sublime this film was. Its quiet moments, frustrations and absurdity transcends while letting us basks in loneliness.

When I was in college, I didnt have much people to hang out with. I always found myself in someone else’s company. One day, my then companion asked me “Lagi kang nag-iisa, di ka ba nalulungkot?” and I said “Sanay na ko.” And I think about all those moments, my teenager self singing alone in the balcony of our small apartment, holding my own birthday cake at the jeepney and smashing my mp3 player. It’s so familiar seeing parts of these being played out and you feel a kindred spirit across. There she is.…

Standing alone in the quiet shadows of her funeral parlor, Sonya is in despair, as she struggles to attract clients to pay off a stringent debt collector. Then, in the middle of the night, an anonymous elderly woman's corpse is left at her place like a ghost of her past failures. This unexpected arrival becomes Sonya’s only confidant and an unlikely anchor, shedding light on her loneliness and setting the stage for a critique of societal neglect.

Sonya keeps the elderly woman's dead body instead of burying it because it is a presence that does not judge or expect anything. It is a materialized substitute for what she has lost (i.e., her mother) and what she has never had (i.e.,…