A scene from Whether the Weather is Fine. Courtesy of TIFF.
Carlos Francisco Manatad's Whether the Weather is Fine will surprise you with its melancholic surrealist drama and absurdist comedy approach to a real-life disaster and capture you with its heart.
Whether the Weather is Fine, which had its North American premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, is perhaps the best indication that the Filipino film industry is alive and well. The film focuses on the City of Tacloban, Director Carlos Francisco Manatad's hometown, amidst the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan — it was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded and one of the deadliest. However, the first two shots of the film tell us that this isn't going to be your standard disaster movie.
The first real shot of the movie is of a clear blue sky outlining the irony of beautiful weather following the destruction. The second shot introduces us to Miguel (Daniel Padilla doing terrific work), who inexplicably wakes up on the couch of a destroyed home. A few feet from him lies a corpse and from his pocket, he pulls out a fish. It's that tongue-in-cheek tone that immediately sets Whether the Weather is Fine from any expectations you may have based on its premise.
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Eventually, Miguel finds his girlfriend Andrea (Rans Rifol) and his mother Norma (Charo Santos-Concio) amongst the destruction. With an eerie loudspeaker warning of an incoming second storm, the trio decides it's time to move on. How each of them accomplishes that differs.
Manatad captures the dreamlike state victims of disaster find themselves in with magical realism. All senses are heightened. It's like the world doesn't entirely make sense. And that's because it doesn't — much like Joe Talbot's terrific The Last Black Man in San Francisco. When something as life-altering as Typhoon Haiyan happens, what you once knew no longer applies.
Through it all, the film maintains a darkly comedic tone as each of the characters tries to find what they're looking for — escape, a purpose, forgiveness. The increasingly surreal and bleak scenes — helping a dog leading one character to become the messiah, an impromptu song and dance — become set-dressing to the engrossing journey each of the characters goes on.
However, it's in the moments of hope that Whether the Weather is Fine comes together. There are two musical sequences that highlight what the film ultimately trying to say. There's something about the Filipino spirit that is unbreakable. Something as a Filipino-American I've always tried to capture. Manatad tells us that through all the absurdity of life, sometimes all you need is an escape. And sometimes that escape is breaking out into song.
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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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