Roque Federizon Lee, known professionally as Roxlee is a Filipino animator, filmmaker, cartoonist, and painter. Considered by many to be the godfather of young Filipino filmmakers, Roxlee is best known for creating Cesar Asar with his brother, Monlee. In the 1980s, his works were done in super-8 film, divided between hand-drawn works like The Great Smoke and pixelated live action pieces like Juan Gapang. “ABCD” belongs to the first category.
“ABCD” is streaming on Metrograph, as part of the Kalampag Tracking Agency Shorts Program
Rox Lee directs an experimental animation short, which uses each of the 26 letter of the English to present a different theme, in just over 5 minutes. The animation style differs significantly, although a sense of a child's drawing and some comic book aesthetics remain throughout the film. At the same time, the sound of a harmonica and Rox Lee's low voice provide the soundtrack of the short.
All segments are interesting in their own, differentiating way, but some definitely stand out. E as in Evil presents an impressive demonic creature. G as Gun presents a bloody shooting, essentially sending an anti-violence message. H for Her includes a nude picture of a woman and kid. I for ink is the most impressive, animation-wise, with the way the colors fall into each other being rather intricate. M for Militarization, includes photos from protests and police and army brutality, in a pacifist message. P for Pointed Matter presents a sketch of piercing boobs, while X for X-rates shows sketches of sex positions. The one who stands out the most, along with I for Ink, is Q for Question, which poses the “Why is the Phil in Debt when we are rich in resources?” question, which seems to embody Roxlee's political opinion. In this segment, his singing voice becomes more intense, in another element that allows the part to stand out.
Constantly shaking images, a frantic pace in order to fit all letters in the rather brief duration, conclude this rather entertaining, contextually rich, but also hard to watch and follow short. On a personal note, is was also very interesting watching where Khavn found one of his inspirations.
