Lino Brocka (1939–1991) was one of Asia and the Global South’s most celebrated filmmakers. A versatile talent, he was at once a bankable director of genre movies, an internationally acclaimed auteur of social films, a pioneer of queer cinema, and an outspoken critic of Ferdinand Marcos’s autocratic regime. José B. Capino examines the figuration of politics in the Filipino director’s movies, illuminating their historical contexts, allegorical tropes, and social critiques. Combining eye-opening archival research with fresh interpretations of over fifteen of Brocka’s major and minor works, Martial Law Melodrama does more than reveal the breadth of his political vision. It also offers a timely lesson about popular cinema’s vital role in the struggle for democracy.
By:
José B. Capino
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9780520314610
ISBN 10: 0520314611
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 07 January 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Country and the City: Social Melodrama and the Symptoms of Authoritarian Rule 2. “A Thoroughly Different Kind of Mother”: Surrogate Autocrats, Restive Youth, and the Maternal Melodrama 3. The Melodramatics of Crime: Film Noir in the Twilight of Martial Law 4. Tales of Unrelenting Misfortunes: Family Melodrama and the 1980s Economic Crisis 5. Men in Revolt: Two Experiments in Political Cinema 6. A Dirty Affair: Political Melodramas of Democratization 7. Picturing “A Faggot’s Dilemma”: Sexuality, Politics, and a Commerce in Queer Movies Coda: Three Non-endings Notes Index
José B. Capino is Associate Professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His first book, Dream Factories of a Former Colony, received the prize in cultural studies from the Association for Asian American Studies.
Reviews for Martial Law Melodrama: Lino Brocka’s Cinema Politics
"""Written in clear and urgent prose, Martial Law Melodrama invites a wide readership, giving access to an intricate sociopolitical history and awakening the desire to revisit Brocka’s impressive oeuvre . . ."" * Film Quarterly * “A close examination of Brocka’s films, which considers them within the context of social and political trends, as well as within the framework of Brocka’s life and career.” * Cineaste *"
