Film Critique | Everything Fleeting but Ceaseless

Digging Societal Realities through the Lenses of Regional Cinema

WRITTEN BY MDPN. JOHN ROVIC LOPEZ | FILM STILLS FROM LOOKING FOR RAFFLESIAS AND OTHER FLEETING THINGS BY JAMES FAJARDO

This is not just a mere film of discovery. In a profound sense, there is more to this plot where characters seem to explore and unravel things that are both spoken and unspoken of. The quaint community is deemed weird per se. At least for people like Darren (Kevin Andrews) who sees the disappearances or murders linking to folktales as peculiar. The presence of rare flowers called Rafflesias, crimes left without a trace of the real killer (save the suspected horse demon), and things that are about to be confronted by a shape-shifting teenage boy, Gubat—all of them have one thing in common: corpses.

Several mysteries are familiar to the residents and some are not. There is magic about this film and some gruesome reality behind it. Lurking in the forests of the town, the film is indeed a Rafflesia— beautiful and awe-inspiring in its way but unpleasant in some ways. But aside from this are other fleeting things that leave the audience thinking what they really are and if they really are fleeting.

Looking for Rafflesias and Other Fleeting Things by James Allen Fajardo gives us a film with a long list of important details with a dire need of discussing them over a good cup of coffee. The story is foretold to us by our usual gossipers as their community fears a tikbalang, a supposed to be mythical creature often told in children’s stories but now accused of killing people. Gubat, a professed tikbalang who shapeshifts to a teenage boy becomes so desperate of finding the truth behind the killings. He searches the forests and mountains to seek the truth but rather found someone who changes the ways of his pursuit of some things. He meets an American botanist named Darren, looking for Rafflesias. They, later on, explore a new atmosphere of intimacy and self-discovery.

As someone so fond of seeing queer representations in films, stories with a direct manner of projecting social unacceptance do not amaze me anymore. But films like this (where we are confronted by the prevailing social issues in a way of bringing us back to things that we are familiar with like our folktales and culture) must grace our cinema even more. After all, themes like this are supposed to be magical but at the same time, realistic. Among the many things, I love about this film is its aspect ratio. Presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio, the film brings us back to the 90s—an era where things that are partly embraced now were not accepted at all before. When times were cruel for discussions concerning personal choices and freedom. When people drew attention to gossip more than understanding a bigger picture of society’s misery. The film takes us to a time like we, ourselves, and our peculiarities are not even accepted.

This is what I love about this film. It is a coming-of-age story and it is not. It is about one’s liberation but also one’s confining. I love how Gubat covers the Rafflesia after knowing that Darren will eventually leave him once he finds the flower. A poetic way of expressing attachment and intimacy. The ending also gives me more reasons to love this film. With the use of the element of spaces in reminiscing the scenes, and also the metaphors of the rich Philippine folklores (i.e. the rain during a Tikbalang’s wedding), we are magically presented to things that if we refuse to discuss, will continue fleeting.

The filmmakers behind the film make us realize that we are witnesses to the appearances and disappearances of things; unraveling and discovery of truths. Like how much we try to cover the corpse flower, its foul odor will always prevail. But what’s more beautiful about this narrative is it still leaves us questions to ponder: what are the fleeting things? They might be life and death or personal relationships. They might be the social issues that surround us or the beliefs that confine us. But it surely brings us to a better conclusion: some of the fleeting things we tend to look for remain ceaseless.