Part of the Eksena Cinema Quarantine: Covid-19 Filmmakers' Diaries, a project under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, National Committee on Cinema (NCCA-NCC), in cooperation with University of St. La Salle Artists' Hub, which features sixteen filmmakers chronicling their struggles and triumphs during the pandemic time, “Random People” is one of the most interesting “Quarantine Films” we have seen during the latest years.
“Random People” is screening on International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and is also available through the This Is Short Platform
Arden Rod Condez has recorded ten couples from his hometown, Pandan, Antique, who allowed his camera into their homes and essentially into their lives, capturing some of their most intimate moments. The first segment takes place by the beach, where an elderly couple are sitting near the water, talking. The second, and funniest one, shows another elderly couple, where the wife is helping her husband wash, with him joking and her tickling him until both laugh intently. A number of the latest vignettes show people lying on the partners' laps, occasionally sleeping, occasionally caressing each other, occasionally kissing. The next series of segments becomes even more intimate, with a number of couples kissing in ways that suggest these are foreplay moments. Lastly, an old man visits the grave of his wife, lighting a candle and placing some fresh flowers, obviously moved.
Arden Rod Condez manages to capture moments of intimacy during the time of social distancing, in a message of hope that seems to state that life goes on, and love, caring and sex continue to exist and bloom even under these extreme circumstances. At the same time, particularly through the last segment, he also manages to highlight how perilous these times are, and that amidst all the aforementioned concepts, death still is lurking behind every corner, in a segment that also functions as a tribute to the people that did not survive the virus.
The cinematography of the documentary is quite interesting, since it features both interior and exterior shots, occasionally very intriguing, natural framing as in scene in the bathroom, while bolstering a view that is both sensitive and unobtrusive, but at the same time, also leaves a sense to the viewers that they are peaking to the couples, particularly during the most intimate scenes. That the editing of those parts allows the film to move faster works quite well for the narrative in terms of entertainment, while the order of the segments is also ideal.
Life ends but life goes on at the same time. This is the message Arden Rod Condez communicates with “Random People” in rather eloquent and artful fashion.
