The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, or simply Cinemalaya, has been a fixture of the Philippine film industry. It has enlightened audiences from all walks of life on the Filipino experience. It has also been the primary avenue for Filipino storytellers to tell stories they otherwise wouldn’t be able to tell.

Having established and sustained this reputation for two decades, Cinemalaya champions films evoking ‘Reel Reflections’ for its 22nd iteration. This theme, which equates cinema with a mirror, is an apt description of every entry’s intent in this year’s Cinemalaya: to raise awareness of the Filipino’s plights and pains.

Wasted potential

May-i Guia Padilla’s morality drama ‘Tirik’ is immediately immersive. Padilla captures the innate grit in the unkempt streets of Tomas Morato, which audiences pass by as Floyd Tena’s taxi driver Santos drives through it. He also establishes in the beginning that God invented life instead of death, which is shaped up to be the central idea. 

Yet after its charismatic and promising start, the film begins to strain under the various ideas screenwriters Padilla and Charlson Ong explores. The pair genuinely offers promising material, which has potential to be a striking play or a thought-provoking novella. The problem is not just the way the full-length film meanders but also its discontent with settling for less. Miggy Hilario’s static camerawork is okay on its own, but pedestrian direction from Padilla fails to lift a dull film into at least a somewhat visually engaging experience. 

The absence of visual flair is somehow compensated for by the theatrical flair that other cast members bring. When ‘Tirik’ is centered on the tense exchange of ideas between Tena’s character and Rocco Nacino’s Paring Bert for much of its 90-minute runtime, some sort of cognitive dissonance will arise from whenever the film stops for scenes with over-the-top acting. Its dramatics do not mesh well with the grim and hefty tone of the material. These directorial choices, especially when it adds a photo of the acclaimed Ricky Lee at the ending, prove to be confusing.

Compelling acting 

Padilla’s film is largely a two-hander. Floyd Tena is a taxi driver complicit in extrajudicial killings (EJKs), while Rocco Nacino is a priest who is largely clueless about EJKs. Tena makes this burden very palpable, his stress coming through whenever he nearly gets themselves into car accidents. Tena is also a man of haste, contrasting Nacino’s resolve. 

Thanks to their acting, Padilla’s reflective drama about conscience is quite understood. The pair’s acting reinforces the strength of the material. Once it receives a few edits here and there, no doubt the end result will be good. And all that is due to the strength plus the commitment of the fantastic Tena and Nacino, whose presences make a muddled film compelling somehow.

Further information

Cinemalaya 22: Reel Reflections ran from August 6 to 18, 2026. Organized by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the film festival was screened at Shangri-La Plaza, Gateway Cineplex, and Ayala Malls Cinemas. 

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