Karnal

This special limited edition slipcover (designed by Costantino Zicarelli) is limited to 1,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Named after Yasujiro Ozu’s custom-made, tatami-level, crab-like tripod, Kani is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context. Vinegar Syndrome’s sister company, OCN Distribution, is thrilled to be representing this diverse and unique home video line!

A fork in the road brings Narcing (Phillip Salvador) back to his hometown of Mulawin, rumored to be located not so far from Hell. Freshly married, he arrives from Manila in the hopes of introducing his wife Puring (Cecille Castillo) to his relatives. Gusting (Vic Silayan), the family’s domineering patriarch, does not welcome the couple kindly. Still scarred by the suicide of wife, Gusting immediately resents his son for what he perceives as a betrayal: the loss of land-owning heritage to the vulgarity of city women. Spite mingles with jealousy, turning to something altogether more sinister when Narcing’s behavior begins mirroring that of his father who, in turn, begins noticing Puring’s uncanny resemblance to his wife.

Following Brutal (1980) and Moral (1982), Marilou Diaz-Abaya closes her informal feminist trilogy with Karnal, a striking example of Filipino Gothic set in the 1930s. Inspired by a sordid true crime story, what begins as archetypal Filipino melodrama soon turns to horror: a Village of the Damned-inspired study of the places that turn people into monsters and of the cruel, feudalistic patriarchy that continues to have deadly repercussions for Philippines politics today. The latter is embodied brilliantly by Vic Silayan, on the heels of a similar, monstrous turn as a tyrannical father in Kisapmata (1981).

directed by: Marilou Diaz-Abaya
starring: Charito Solis, Phillip Salvador, Vic Silayan, Cecille Castillo, Joel Torre
1983 / 112 min / 1.77:1 / Tagalog DTS-HD MA 2.0

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