Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Insiang Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, No. 2.

Martin Scorsese has been curating the World Cinema Project for well over a decade, and the result has been a veritable cornucopia of international films that in some cases Scorsese’s efforts have helped save from the ravages of time (and vinegar syndrome). As of the writing of this review, the World Cinema Project is closing in on fifty restorations that they’ve undertaken, allowing fans to view films that, as even Scorsese himself states in some of the introductions included in this set, have been woefully underappreciated and rarely seen. This second volume of films aggregates six interesting offerings that have at least some subtextual cross connections at times, but which serve as yet another example of what an incredible job the World Cinema Project does in bringing films of undeniable merit to a wider audience.

Insiang is an absolutely horrifying film on several levels, but for any latent (or overt) PETA members, the film's opening scenes of pigs being slaughtered and then rendered for consumption may be at least as disturbing as anything that happens to the film's titular character, a young woman (played by Hilda Koronel) who is attempting to survive in the slums of Manila. Insiang is in its own way a rather provocative take on a ménage à trois of sorts, one that involves Insiang's harridan mother Tonya (Mona Lisa), and Tonya's much younger lover Dado (Ruel Vernal), who more than obviously (even, and perhaps especially, to Tonya) has eyes for Insiang. This is a dour and often depressing film depicting a coterie of characters absolutely trapped by their socioeconomic statuses, a situation that is further exacerbated by long simmering family dysfunctions.

There's a kind of relentlessly tragic ambience that suffuses this story, but aside from the personal aspects it details, Insiang serves as an indictment of a Philippine culture that simply doesn't seem to care about hordes of people forced to live lives of destitution and despair. The film is elevated by some blistering performances, and while Koronel is exceptional, it's Mona Lisa's devastating work as Tonya that may resonate the most strongly with many. This is a film which may in its own peculiar way remind some of the now legendary Hollywood story of Lana Turner, Cheryl Crane and Johnny Stompanato, albeit with some obvious differences in class, and with one very significant difference in terms of a violent showdown.

Insiang Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Insiang is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. As with all of the films in this set, there are some preliminary text cards describing the restorations, including some information which is also repeated in the insert booklet. The following is from the insert booklet, and omits some more generalized comments about The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, and other collaborators:

Insiang is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. This digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an ARRISCAN wet gate film scanner from the original camera and soundtrack negatives deposited at LTC laboratories in Paris by producer Ruby Tiong Tan. Portions of the film where the internegative had been cut into the negative had to be replaced using a 35 mm positive print preserved at the BFI National Archive. The color grading was supervised by film historian Pierre Rissient. The original optical sound negative presented critical recording issues and required considerably effort to minimize the metallic hiss and distortion. Additional restoration funding was provided by the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Restoration was completed in May 2015.

This is by and large a great looking transfer, one with good saturation levels and some very nicely rendered fine detail. Despite the poverty stricken environments, there's a glut of color in things like apparel, and greens, blues and reds in particular pop with considerable authority. There are some slight fluctuations in color temperature, and a couple of the darkest moments here have a slightly blue tinge at times. One bedroom scene with Insiang and her putative bedroom is bathed in red tones, and fine detail does ebb a bit in this sequence (see screenshot 8). Clarity and grain can also vary somewhat as the film ventures between more controlled interior locales and some of the "fly on the wall" footage shot out and about.

Insiang Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This is the rare Criterion release where audio suffers some fairly serious impediments despite a very nice video transfer. As outlined above in the verbiage from the insert booklet, this soundtrack evidently suffered from significant issues, and the LPCM Mono track offered on this Blu-ray disc can't completely overcome deficits in the source. A lot of the presentation sounds at least relatively okay, if awfully boxy at times, but a lot of the "on the street" material suffers from noticeable distortion as well as the kind of "silver metallic" sound alluded to in the comments from the insert booklet. That same metallic background distortion continues throughout several scenes, seeming to be more prevalent in the outdoor material. Optional English subtitles are available.

Insiang Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Martin Scorsese Introduction (1080p; 2:04)


• Pierre Rissient (1080p; 14:38) is a 2017 piece offering Rissient's thoughts on the film. In French with English subtitles.

Insiang Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Insiang struck me as the sort of story that might have matriculated to American shores as a play by Eugene O'Neill or maybe William Inge. There's an incredible sadness here, but also a kind of steely resilience, but the film's jaundiced take on Philippine socioeconomic woes makes this a more universal story than simply a tale of a woe begotten woman trying to fight back against the vagaries of fate (not to mention her mother's boyfriend). Video is great looking, but audio encounters some hurdles. Recommended.