Italian Premiere | Restored Classics | Out Of Competition
Philippines, 1981/4K 2023, 99’, Filipino
Directed by: Mike De Leon
Screenplay: Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., Raquel N. Villavicencio, Mike De Leon
Cinematography (color): Rody Lacap
Editing: Jess Navarro
Production Design: Cesar Hernando
Music: Lorrie Ilustre
Sound Design: Ramon Reyes
Producers: Simon Ongpin, Ma. Rosario N. Santos
Executive Producer: Rolando S. Atienza
Cast: Vic Silayan, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, Charito Solis, Ruben Rustia, Juan Rodrigo, Aida Carmona, Cora Alforja, Dindo Angeles, Mely Mallari
Date of First Release in Territory: December 25th, 1981
To watch
In the Wink of an Eye (
Kisapmata)
is to know fear. Adapted from a reportage by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin (writing as Quijano de Manila), this crime drama establishes the devastating effect of its simple premise during its opening scene. Dadong (Vic Silayan), the
padre de familia, is skeptical of his only daughter, Mila (Charo Santos), and her engagement to her fiancé, Noel (Jay Ilagan), despite the fact that she’s already 25. On the side, the mother, Adelina (Charito Solis), listens, dutifully sewing, pausing whenever she senses that Dadong is about to burst. The setting couldn’t be simpler: a small living room with wooden furniture in a house where most of the film takes place, conjuring a most claustrophobic atmosphere. “How much longer must I stay in this house?” Milagros writes in her diary. We’re about to find out.
Silayan plays the domineering monster so devastatingly, from his terrifying laugh, his slight demeanor, his deathly stares, to his unhappy scowl. Dadong, a former cop, resonates as the figure of a fascist strongman, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who had the Philippines in an iron grip for nine years under martial law, an allegory De Leon confirms in his two-volume book,
Last Look Back, perhaps his final opus. “No matter how long and sordid their reign, all dictators share the same ignominious fate: whenever they find retribution in life or not, history reveals them for the monsters that they are.”
The terror in the household isn’t confined to Dadong: it’s the willingness of the others to inflict his whims on Mila and Noel. Dadong doesn’t want to let go of his precious daughter. He wants her within arm’s reach. He forces them to live in the house, despite the fact that they are grown adults who can make their own decisions. In one scene, Mila asks her mother, complicit in the evils of Dadong, “Look at us – living together in fear? How can you stand it?” Mila endures, out of fear, but also out of hope, that Noel will take her away. But as the film progresses, that hope is taken little by little.
In the Wink of an Eye can be taken as a crime and psychological horror film on the surface. The events that unfold are so shocking that it’s easy for them to take hold of us after the final credits have rolled. But the dread in
In the Wink of an Eye isn’t singular. That is the genius of the direction and the script; that they’ve made a film capturing this dark era in Philippine history and have it released during the same regime (though martial law had already been lifted), speaks more of its capability to portray the ills that have long had the Philippines in its chokehold. De Leon remained a fierce and steadfast critic of the authoritarian governments of Presidents Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte. He would live to see the day when Marcos’s son would rise to the presidency, an event so sickening that De Leon would make one more short film expressing the indignity of such a fate.
Mike De Leon
De Leon is behind some of the best Filipino films of all time. He also worked as a cinematographer, editor, and writer, lensing Lino Brocka’s seminal film
Manila in the Claws of Light. His films are known for their incisive social commentary and for expanding the depth of storytelling that became his trademark, even when he dabbled in other genres. He became one of the pillars of Philippine cinema, emerging from the Second Golden Age of Filipino Films. His works have also been featured in international film festivals, including Cannes and Venice. In 2022, the Museum of Modern Art ran a retrospective of his films.
Selected filmography
1976 – The Rites of May
1982 – Batch 81
1984 – Sister Stella L
2000 – Third World Hero
2018 – Citizen Jake