K’na the Dreamweaver

Verdict: Proceed with Caution

Pinoy Rebyu Score: 2.92 (12 ratings)

Genre: Drama

Writer/Director: Ida Anita del Mundo

Cast: Mara Lopez, RK Bagatsing, Alex Vincent Medina, Nonie Buencamino, Bembol Roco, Erlinda Villalobos

Synopsis: When K’na, a young T’boli woman, becomes a dreamweaver, she has the chance to weave together her village’s warring clans. But, will she give up true love to do so?

Reviews:

5.0 Macky Macarayan (The FilmSoc Report)

“I immediately liked K’na the Dreamweaver because of its unpretentious attack on a cultural tale. It is simple, straight, and yet arrestingly beautiful. It takes you on its arms and almost lulls you into a dream, and by the time it ends, it leaves an unforgettable poignant impression worthy of a second experience.” (Read full review)

4.0 Rob San Miguel (Brun Philippines)

“K’na the Dreamweaver runs like a fairy tale. And perhaps it should be analyzed as a fairy tale following a set of aesthetics unique only to folk stories and fairy tales. The slow pace and the folk tale-like dialogues also give the film an interesting demeanor.” (Read full review)

3.5 Philbert Dy (Click the City)

“The movie is kind of a gentle little fairytale, telling the story of a princess made to choose between true love and duty to her people. The languid pace will certainly be a challenge for a lot of people, but it’s entirely appropriate to the milieu. What’s less appropriate is the strange tendency for the camera to jerk at certain moments, breaking the tranquility of the image. ” (Read full review)

3.5 Zig Marasigan (Rappler)

“K’na the Dreamweaver is near magical in its quality, with a tone that is both poetic and uplifting. But it is, more importantly, a testament that dreams like those of the T’Boli tribes in South Cotabato should not be forgotten.” (Read full review)

3.0 J. Neil Garcia

“The commitment to the trope of dreaming and dream-weaving proves less than wieldy, as well as less than effective: this otherwise promising trope doesn’t really take magical flight in this nativist drama (the gratingly untrained and audibly twangy T’boli dialogue being mouthed by the leads certainly doesn’t help its cause any), even as its figurative pursuit is visibly and eagerly indulged in by del Mundo, to the detriment of such basic narrative requisites as motivation and inner depth: to be frank, the characters in this film just aren’t ‘realized’ enough, for they act too much like the mythic ‘types’ that they are.” (Read full review)

3.0 John Tawasil (Present Confusion)

“There really isn’t much more to say about this film. It’s not a film for everyone, and it is relatively simple as films go, but it’s a treat for those willing to explore the nuances of another culture.” (Read full review)

2.5 Manuel Pangaruy (Tagailog Special Presents)

“Mababaw nga lang ang premise pero kahit papaano ay naabot naman ito sa pinaka-human na paraan na hindi kinakailangan ng stop-over sa peace and order situation sa Mindanao. Medyo kahawig nga lang ng Limbunan (Gutierrez Mangansakan II) ang punto kaya wala nang masyadong epekto sa akin ang redeeming value ng pelikula.” (Read full review)

2.5 Skilty Labastilla (Pinoy Rebyu)

“By focusing on the fairly predictable tragic love story of the lead characters (and not even enough of the dreamweaving process), the film wastes a massive opportunity to highlight issues that are more relevant to the lives of present-day T’bolis, such as their gradually diminishing land and natural resources due to the encroachment of lowlanders and their commerce.” (Read full review)

2.5 Wanggo Gallaga (Juice.ph)

“Because of its setting and its ambition, the film demands an epic feel and while the visuals are stunning, the film never really manages to reach its full potential. It’s a gorgeous story and the script works but del Mundo has yet to have a firm grasp on the medium to truly give the story the treatment it needs to truly soar.” (Read full review)

2.5 Nicol Latayan (Tit for Tat)

“I wish they’d focused more on the T’boli culture rather than the romance. There’s nothing wrong per se about the tale of romance featured in the movie, but it would have ended up with a different effect had it tried to do other instead.” (Read full review)

1.5 Richard Bolisay (Lilok Pelikula)

“The film, instead of treating its subject with maturity and wisdom, settles for the dull kind of picturesque, dipping its toes into several sociopolitical issues just to enliven its core but failing to leave any remarkable impression, capturing only the unexciting luster of complexities and preferring blindness to insight. K’na keeps mentioning the importance of design, but its own is not even worth a second look.” (Read full review)

1.5 Carl Papa (Whatever Carl)

“I think that the film, though feeling a bit like Limbunan ( a far superior Cinemalaya film by Gutierrez Mangansakan II), was a wasted opportunity. You have the environment and the setting so rich that you could think of other stories that would at least be a little unique. Instead the film was just a normal story set in this beautiful place that is obviously has a more beautiful story to tell.” (Read full review)