iSNATS comments

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Ang galing ng "iSNATS"! it's like a good book, compelling me to keep turning the page -- unable to stop reading -- anticipating what next?. it has scenes that seems so painfully real my heart feels like imploding! but maybe it's just me. then again, i'm only speaking as the next regular ardent movie-goer, who when watching a film hopes to be treated with something more than entertainment. "iSNATS" is well-researched to give us a personal look inside the world of snatchers and gangstas, not to justify their actions but to make us understand and be aware of such lives other than our own. that we all have our addictions, and we merely try to get through each day satisfying them. such as the lead character J, whose addiction to the almighty gadget that is the cellphone takes him and his loyal friends to a chaotic web of drama and violence that spins out of control. (little did he know that his latest acquisition was jinxed!) and because this is the Philippines, there is humor and laughter amidst all the mess.in "iSNATS" the characters are competently portrayed, the dialogues superbly realistic, the entire atmosphere magnificently Pinoy. the chosen background music enhanced the pacing and color of the action. the story is brilliantly told, with details here and there that you shouldn't miss. the open-minded viewer (and listener) would find not-so-hidden meanings in between. I shall say no more. just watch the film... and CONGRATULATIONS, MIKE!
-Joyce Morrison

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iSNATS (Snatch) is probably one of the best examples to debunk the common attribution to the life-changing impact of technology in the so-called information age. The story revolves around the life of a small-time snatcher of cellular phones -- a small-time crime gone big, a cellphone snatcher who got involved into the myriad of crimes that led to loss of friends after snatching the cellphone of a motorist who turned out to be part of a drug syndicate (synopsis here). It wasn't just a snatch of reality, but a snatch of the status symbol, a depiction of how life is replicated in the realms of a kind of living for the deprived.While the cinematography portrays so much of the rather quite often-used shots of railways life, of that old Philippine National Railways, the shantytowns and the dark streets in contrast to baywalks, promenades and the city lights. To me, it almost made a documentary of Manila's famous and infamous streets where all sorts of things have happened -- from protests to massacres, it nonetheless showed how poverty breeds the kind of system working for its own. But the treatment was given a twist by showing how snatchers weren't committing crimes just to augment the need of the stomach, but rather, an obsession to things one doesn't have. The film also showed how life is enjoyed by and how dreams are not even articulated, instead just moments enjoyed, existential to a point. Being the independent film that it is, the leading roles where acted by actors hardly seen on TV. In fact, I doubt if they ever appear in local television shows, but they acted as good a s any actor, faces as ordinary as the circumstances they render. The story was careful to present the character without having to condemn and yet without attempts to moralize -- just a sheer presentation of how a culture of crime and consumption leads to an inevitable existence of the basic need to survive. The cellphone was used as a symbol of advancement, the changes in society, that people keep coming and going in the decaying streets of the city, yet the institutions and structures remain the same, also a witness to the perpetration of cultures and subcultures it doesn't care about at all.The film didn't win awards, but at least it was an honest film, faithful to what it can only give and what it can't. I am just so proud I know the guy who made this one. I just realized it makes a lot of difference to appreciate an art piece when you know where it is coming from than just being a clueless spectator.
- BLiNKiNG SENSES