Filipino director Janus Victoria is nominated for the Sutherland Trophy for debut feature for her film DIAMONDS IN THE SAND. It’s a low-key, low-budget, utterly charming dramedy that takes us into a world we might never have otherwise encountered.
The iconic Lily Franky (SHOPLIFTERS) plays Yoji, a deeply lonely middle-aged salary-man in Tokyo. He is shocked into action when he one day discovers his neighbour’s decomposing remnants - apparently a tragic end so common in Japan that it has its own terminology and specialist cleaning services. And then his aged mother passes away, apparently warning him of his own sure fate. So when he forms a tentative friendship with his late mother’s carer, Minerva (Maria Isabel Lopez), he throws caution to the wind and follows her back to the Philippines for a holiday. While there Yoji discovers a ramshackle, poor but friendly neighbourhood full of casual invitations to supper and real community spirit. He meets Minerva’s newly graduating daughter Angel, and the rogueish gambling addict Uncle Toto.
There’s always a tension in the film as to how transactional the relationships are. Yoji is clearly much wealthier than his newfound friends. And Angel laments the futility of studying when she will earn more as a carer in Japan. Meanwhile Minerva regrets that whoever is in power in Manila, the drug-related violence and corruption endures. Despite the harsh reality and uneasy cross-cultural tensions, DIAMONDS IN THE SAND retains its optimistic belief in the power and indeed desperate importance of human connection. It is a film that is full of a nuanced understanding of the world it is depicting, and is full of compassion. Kudos to the director and all involved in so vividly realising memorable people and a sense of place on a micro budget.
DIAMONDS IN THE SAND has a running time of 102 minutes.
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