From What Is Before

2014

5h 38m

Drama

List

89%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

94%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

In 1972, a remote village in the Philippines struggles to accept the pronouncement of Ferdinand E. Marcos' Proclamation No. 1081.

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Clarence Tsui

Hollywood Reporter

While not exactly a full-fledged magnum opus, From What Is Before hints at a new direction combining an unhurried visual pace and a more dramatic, forceful approach in tackling history and politics.

Dec 7, 2015

Full Review

Justin Chang

Variety

[A] hauntingly beautiful new picture, which chronicles the gradual decline of a small coastal barrio in the Philippines in the final days before president Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law in 1972.

Dec 7, 2015

Full Review

Eric Kohn

indieWire

Diaz's prolonged approach to storytelling is a tough sit with no easy payoff, but it enables him to cast a remarkable spell defined by a recurring sense of dislocation.

Rated: A-

Dec 7, 2015

Full Review

Oggs Cruz

Rappler

What Diaz has done is to distill centuries of the country's sorrows and agonies into a fascinatingly fractured narrative that will never ever leave you.

Jul 19, 2019

Full Review

C.J. Prince

Way Too Indie

Diaz's style acts as a sort of teleportation device, slowly immersing viewers into his film's world to the point where it's easy to imagine living right alongside the villagers.

Jun 13, 2019

Full Review

Sky Hirschkron

The Film Stage

Given the film's detailed examination of a physical environment, the lackluster sound design is a bit surprising.

Rated: C+

Oct 5, 2018

Full Review

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Audience Member

At five and a half hours long, Lav Diaz's masterpiece is full of layers that unfold slowly, sometimes it feels like a dream due to the captivating beauty of its images, others like a nightmare, due to the almost tragic events that loom over a community besieged during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Sometimes it seems fantastic, other times overwhelmingly real, so real that after a long journey at the end it will leave the viewer with an emptiness in the stomach, devastated by the misery of an entire town.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Although technically flawed at times, Lav Diaz's "Mula Sa Kung Ano Ang Noon" is undeniably one of the best representations of cinema as a visual medium. This film, in its poetic and dreamy mood, creates a truly mesmerizing, unique and at times isolating experience.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Lav Diaz

Director

Perry Dizon

Sito

Roeder

Tony

Hazel Orencio

Itang

Karenina Haniel

Joselina

Reynan Abcede

Hakob

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Synopsis

In 1972, a remote village in the Philippines struggles to accept the pronouncement of Ferdinand E. Marcos' Proclamation No. 1081.

Director: Lav Diaz
Producer: Lav Diaz, Krzysztof Dabrowski
Screenwriter: Lav Diaz
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Tagalog
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 23, 2018
Runtime: 5h 38m