Fantasia '19 Film Review - Ode to Nothing

The majority of Ode To Nothing takes place in a big old gated home that has a funeral business on the main floor. Sonya (Marietta Subong) runs the funeral home where clients are scarce. Her aging father Joone (Mang Rudy) appears once a day to eat at the large dining table on the second floor not ever speaking to his daughter.  Local heavy Thoedor (Dido De La Paz) is often luring about looking to collect on the debt owed threating violence, taking furniture, reminding Sonya that the interest is building and that he holds her deed.

Into this desperate situation one night two men drop off an elderly bloodied female body to be dealt with no questions asked. They will pay cash so Sonya takes the body placing it on the lesser used table. After the arrival of the old woman Sonya's luck begins to change. She sees an influx of customers, with multiples becoming common. Accompanying flower sales increase and she can make a significant payment to Theodor to gain some breathing space. Plus the local taho vendor Elmer (Anthony Falcon) for whom Sonya has a thing begins to pay her more attention. However, the obsession over the corpse moves to a new level when Sonya brings it up to the living space and both she and her dad begin to treat it as the third member of the family.

Isolation, loneliness, and loss are the main themes explored in Dwein Baltazar's film. Sonya job as an embalmer alone in a room with corpses all day is isolated and lonely as it gets. The interactions with customers and how they display grief runs the gambit peoples reaction to loss. Neil Daza's lens gives the piece a smoky soft yellow tinge especially evident in the nighttime scenes in the hallways and bedrooms for the family living quarters.

The set, makeup, and prosthetics departments play a major part in the film. They forge the structures to get the old lady upright and mobile, make her look presentable as possible and cobble together the form that is the old woman herself. Well acted, thoughtfully written and gripping visually Ode to Nothing is the push and pull of long passages of silence followed by brief hectic periods of activity that the production team envisioned and delivers.

***1/2 Out of 4.

Ode To Nothing | Dwein Baltazar | Philipines| 2019 | 92 Minutes.

Tags: Funeral Home, Embalmer, Cassette Tape, Debt, Deed, Taho Vendor, Corpse, Luck, Flowers.