Kani Releasing, one of the latest of Vinegar Syndrome’s partner labels, brings an unjustly neglected classic of Pinoy cinema to American shores courtesy of this spiffy new blu-ray in the wave of February 2022 partner label releases. Join me as we look at this bravura action melodrama from acclaimed director Lino Brocka.
Lorens (Phillip Salvador) is the older brother, loutish and drunkenly at times but also primary caretaker of the family farm. Ellis (Christopher De Leon) is the younger brother, a bit on the flighty side, prone to impregnating women including his mother’s housekeeper but attending college (although not very well apparently) at the behest of the matriarch of the family Señora Pina (Mona Lisa) who treats him as the favorite sibling. When Ellis makes a decision to drop out of college with a new fiancée (Carmi Martin) in tow and a desire to take over the family farm, mother Pina grants his request which sparks a series of escalating tensions leading to death and ruin for many involved.
The director Lino Brocka is known in the west primarily for his critically acclaimed social commentary-laced dramas like Insiang, Weighted But Found Wanting and Manila in the Claws of Light. According to the nice visual essay on the disc from Jose B. Capino, Cain and Abel was Brocka’s attempt at marrying the popular, commercial action films prevalent in the Philippines at the time with the social melodramas Brocka had been making to create a kind of elevated commercial art. I feel like Brocka succeeds quite admirably for the most part. The plot definitely is more of a slow burn with interfamily tensions slowly building and finally boiling over in a series of escalating acts of violence in the final third of the film. Brocka’s penchant for nuanced character development is on full display here with multi-dimensional personalities that could’ve been easily rendered generic stereotypes in less competent hands. Much of the skillful writing is of course attributable to highly prolific screenwriter “Ricky” Lee (who’s still at it to this day!) with particularly strong female characters that are able to see the tragedy looming on the horizon long before the stubborn brothers.
Brocka’s skill behind the camera is also on full display here. He shows a strong talent for both long, roving takes and excellent use of deep focus at times with the whole film framed really well to reflect the inner mental state of the characters. The color palette is also vibrantly naturalistic with a very nice production design and helps to make the whole film more visually appealing.
On the technical front, the 2K restoration for this release looks quite good with nice natural grain and a reasonable image quality for the time period and country of origin (a lot of films from the Philippines from this era if prints exist at all look like hot garbage). The colors do look a little washed out at times but that could be attributable to the neo-realist style of filmmaking that Brocka often employed. The audio is a solid 2.0 Stereo mix that handles the action scenes in the back half of the film reasonably well.
The extras here vary in quality with the two biggest highlights to me being the aforementioned visual essay “Cain and Abel: An Appreciation” as well as the included booklet featuring an info-rich essay from Jose B. Capino and some brief comments from screenwriter Ricky Lee. also included are interviews with regular collaborators of Brocka’s Christopher de Leon and Carmi Martin. While I wouldn’t call either essential (with de Leon’s in particular being a little rambling), they both offer nice little nuggets of insight into the Filipino film industry of this era and in particular some of the working habits of Brocka specifically.
While I was hesitant about watching this to some extent given how painful some Pinoy melodramas can be, Brocka’s steady hand with a more grounded approach keeps the more dramatic elements from descending into schmaltz while offering a tragic and exciting story that’s well worth checking out. Plus the fine treatment from Kani on this blu-ray is just the icing on the cake. Definitely recommended.