An untold number of persons have disappeared in the Philippines over the years, before, during and after the Marcos dictatorship. Melancholia is devoted to the grief and search for meaning over such disappearances, told across a vivid array of Philippine society.
The Filipino master of slow cinema intertwines a story of impoverished treasure hunters with the tale of a drifting woman coming to terms with a damaged mind and body. Extraordinary handheld camerawork captures the minutest of details, bringing the struggles of life into stark reality.
Like some of the best 19th-century novelists, Lav Diaz is a genius at interweaving multiple stories to create a truly expanded canvas of characters, landscapes and social and political struggle. In this masterpiece, three strands oppose each other and then, in an impressive arc, fall into parallel.
One of the most crucial aspects of the cinema of Filipino director Lav Diaz is a desire—or, most likely, a need—to connect the Philippines of the colonial past with the Philippines of the present. This film vividly does exactly that: a portrait of today seen through the eyes of a country’s history.