Itim

''Itim'' (Filipino for "black"), released overseas as ''The Rites of May'', is a 1976 Filipino thriller film and the directorial debut of Mike de Leon, with a screenplay by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr. and Gil Quito. The film stars Tommy Abuel as a young photographer visiting his father, played by Mario Montenegro, in his provincial town during the Lenten season. There he encounters a mysterious woman, Teresa, played by Charo Santos in her acting debut.

The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics) included the film on their list of the Ten Best Films of the Decade. In 2022, the film was digitally restored, with a subsequent theatrical premiere as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film opens on a séance where an '' espiritista'' exclaims that Rosa (Susan Valdez), a missing Catholic nun, is dead. Her younger sister, Teresa (Charo Santos), is uneasy. Their mother asks the ''espiritista'' if she can speak to Rosa. The ''espiritista'' tells her to wait for Good Friday.

Meanwhile, Jun (Tommy Abuel), a young photographer from Manila, is visiting his mute and wheelchair-bound-father, Dr. Torres (Mario Montenegro), in their provincial hometown during Holy Week. Throughout his visit, Jun photographs various Lenten rituals for the Manila-based magazine he works for.

He comes across Teresa and takes her photograph while she is dazed. Following this are several chance encounters where she exhibits strange behaviors she does not seem to have control over. Soon, however, they discover that it was not chance but the supernatural that brought them together. In the clinic of his father, Jun finds a film negative; he develops it and sees it is a photo of his father and a young woman, who he soon learns is Rosa.

It is revealed in another séance that the spirit of Rosa possesses Teresa. Rosa's spirit lets out that she was having an affair with Dr. Torres, who forced her to have an abortion, resulting in her death. Soon after the incident, Dr. Torres figured in a car accident that left him mute and paralyzed. After revealing what happened, Rosa exacts her revenge, causing Dr. Torres to fall down the stairs and die.

Cast

Production

Development

Originally a cinematographer, Mike de Leon was known for his award-winning work on the 1975 film ''Manila in the Claws of Light'', which was directed by Lino Brocka. Although de Leon did not initially set out to become a director, following ''Manila'', he made the short film ''Monologo'' (''Monologue''). This would serve as a turning point, the experience piquing his interest in directing. Brocka, who de Leon worked with in ''Manila'', was the first person to view the rough cut of ''Monologo.'' He subsequently encouraged de Leon to pursue directing. De Leon has described ''Itim'' as an offshoot of ''Monologo'', which was a ghost story and homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 thriller ''Blow-up''. De Leon said he was also inspired by the ghost stories of Lafcadio Hearn.

The script was written by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., who wrote the script of ''Manila'', and del Mundo's brother-in-law, Gil Quito. Quito conceived of setting the film during Holy Week and incorporating spiritualism. He recalled that the script was written with relative ease, except for the ending. Spiritist Becky Gutierrez was on set as a consultant for the psychic-related elements of the film. She wrote down the incantations from her actual séances for the production team, which were then used to inform the final scene. De Leon also credits production designer Mel Chionglo for assistance in re-writing the séance scene. According to de Leon, screenwriter Ricky Lee initially worked on the script but requested not to be credited. The director believed Lee, known then as a former student activist, made the request due to the lack of overt social relevance in ''Itim''.

Casting

Initially, de Leon was interested in casting big-name actors, as was the convention at the time. The original idea was an erotic thriller with Alma Moreno and Bembol Roco, the latter of whom starred in Brocka's ''Manila''. According to de Leon, after ''Manila'', Roco committed to appear in de Leon's directorial debut but had a schedule conflict with another film he had already signed on to act in. Regarding Moreno, the director was put off when her manager demanded there be full payment upon signing the contract. Following these setbacks, de Leon asked for Brocka's assistance in casting Hilda Koronel, but her fee was beyond their budget. As a result, the production was risked on newcomers, including Charo Santos and Susan Valdez.

After winning the Baron Travel Girl beauty pageant, Santos, then a college student, was noticed by Brocka. Brocka referred Santos to de Leon and a screen test was arranged. Following the screen test, Santos was offered her first acting role with ''Itim''. As Santos refused to do any erotic scenes, or even to kiss on screen, de Leon scrapped the original concept of an erotic thriller and instead delved into Catholic guilt through the lens of the horror genre.

The film also served as the acting debut of Susan Valdez, albeit in a non-speaking role; prior to the film, Valdez was known as a commercial model. The main role of the photographer was given to Tommy Abuel, who de Leon worked with on ''Manila.'' Meanwhile, the more seasoned Mario Montenegro and Mona Lisa were cast due to de Leon's familiarity with them as actors of LVN Pictures, which was formerly run by de Leon's grandmother Narcisa de Leon. De Leon admitted that Montenegro was his favorite of the LVN actors due to his costume films, particularly a childhood favorite, the 1954 feature '' Prinsipe Teñoso''.

De Leon recalled approaching Rolando Tinio, his former teacher, to discuss whether his wife, actress Ella Luansing, would play the ''espiritista'' in the film. However, Tinio turned the discussion instead into a criticism of ''Manila.'' The role eventually went to Sarah Joaquin.

Filming

Principal photography commenced at the ancestral home of de Leon in San Miguel, Bulacan over the course of two months in 1976. Since it was his family's home, de Leon took liberties with the set production, including removing walls and moving old furniture around, much to the displeasure of his father when he visited the set.

''Itim'' is regarded as the first major production design work of Chionglo, who would later go on to be a respected director in his own right, best known for the trilogy consisting of '' Sibak'', '' Burlesk King'', and ''Twilight Dancers''. On the set of ''Itim'', Chionglo was also assigned to assist newcomer Santos as her acting coach.

The film also served as the first cinematography work of Rody Lacap, a former color grader and optical print operator at LVN Pictures. Lacap had first been hired by de Leon as a gaffer and lighting director for his short film ''Monologo''. He would go on to be the cinematographer of several of de Leon's other films, including '' Kakabakaba Ka Ba?'', ''Kisapmata'', ''Batch '81'', and ''Sister Stella L.'', as well as Peque Gallaga's ''Oro, Plata, Mata'' and Marilou Diaz-Abaya's '' José Rizal''. Lacap was co-cinematographer with Ely Cruz, who also worked with de Leon on ''Monologo'', and would go on to photograph Peque Gallaga's ''Scorpio Nights'', among others.

Santos described de Leon on set as seeing "a genius in action" adding, "He storyboarded the entire movie in his head, even before the first shot. He expects perfection from everyone." There were similar recollections by actor Valdez, recalling, "Meticulous in preparing a shot. He was particular about how the lighting was set up. Lengthy waiting time when he sets up the lights which shows how much of a consummate director he was." The more experienced Tommy Abuel recalled similarly that de Leon "was mainly concerned with the technical aspects of the film such as camera angles, shots, lighting, etc." De Leon himself admitted he is not an actor's director, but rather treated film acting as an element of the overall film.

Post-production

In order to achieve a bleak and moody atmosphere, de Leon used various post-production techniques that imagined the cinematography's darkness as a protagonist, including exposing the negatives twice. A tricky procedure, several negatives were ruined in the process, requiring the re-shooting of the respective scenes. The film was scored by Max Jocson, who worked with de Leon on ''Manila''. For several scenes of ''Itim'', Jocson scored "against picture" by having live musicians play the score while the film was being projected in real-time.

Themes and allusions

Catholicism and Folk Catholic imaginary

The film is set during Holy Week, which film academic Bliss Cua Lim describes as "a season in which the mundane time of everyday life intersects with a biblical temporality of sin, repentance, and redemption." The final scene occurs during Good Friday, which Lim suggests means the story falls short of the redemption symbolized by Easter Sunday and thus "closes on the darkness of death, remorse, and frailty named in its title."

There are several allusions to Catholic rites, devotions, and images, including the uninterrupted chanting of the ''Pasyon;'' a veiled statue of the Virgin Mary; and a group of twelve life-size saint statues representing the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. These allusions, theologist Antonio Sison contends, are presented through the lens of "folk Catholic imaginary" that blends images of Catholicism with the Filipino primal religion. As such, the séances depicted are not part of Catholic belief but "occupies a niche in folk Catholic practice, which does not take issue with religious syncretism." This distinguishes the séance in ''Itim'' from scenes in similar films of the horror genre, as in ''Itim'' there is seriousness in the séances' religious legitimacy.

The character of Jun, the young photographer, first encounters the apostle statues when he takes photos of them as several women chant the ''Pasyon''. The statues then appear to Jun in a dream. They surround him and then suddenly begin moving towards and circling him, alerting Jun to the heinous deed committed by his father. Sison comments, "The folk Catholic imagery recognizes the divine intervention of religious images who will use dreamscape as a means to interrupt sinful patterns in the characters' lives and make metanoia a possibility, or, at least, a promise."

Release

Initially released in 1976, it was made commercially available in the Philippines in 1977. The film was internationally screened for the first time in 1979 at Filmex in Los Angeles.

Restoration

Although the Asian Film Archive offered to fund the digital restoration of ''Itim'', delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic led director Mike de Leon to fund the restoration himself. The restoration was done by L'Immagine Ritrovata, the same film lab de Leon worked with for the restoration of his films ''Batch '81'' and ''Kisapmata'', as well as for the restoration of ''Manila in the Claws of Light''. The restoration used the original negatives, which had been stored at the British Film Institute since the 1970s.

On May 20, 2022, the restored version premiered at the 75th Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cannes Classics section. It was personally introduced by Cannes Delegate General Thierry Frémaux. The restored version had its Philippine premiere at the 10th QCinema International Film Festival.

In November that same year, the restored film was included in the "Mike De Leon, Self-Portrait of a Filipino Filmmaker" retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was screened alongside screenwriter Clodualdo del Mundo's behind-the-scenes documentary ''Itim: An Exploration in Cinema''. The following month, ''Itim'' was shown in another retrospective, "Mike de Leon: A Life in (Moving) Pictures," at the Three Continents Festival

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