Film Review: Faraway

Reminiscent of From Dusk Till Dawn and Highlander, Faraway begins as a realistic account set in the contemporary Philippines*, but ends as a horrific, surreal fairy tale involving semi-immortal people who can may be killed by having their heads removed.  Faraway also serves as a vehicle for a model and actress named Dana Jamison, who stars as a blue-eyed tourist, named Audrey - a "white girl" who claims to be "half filipino** [herself]." 

Nick Medina co-stars as a bespectacled, whiskered, jaded, sarcastic, vulgar, expatriate businessman, named "Nick," from the U.S.A.  I say "vulgar," because I lost track of how many times he said "f***" or a derivative thereof.  Of all the characters in this story, I find him the most entertaining.

Genelyka Castin and Leonard Olaer co-star as "native" Philippines, named Hazel and Rey, respectively.  Faraway also features Vivencio E. Mataganas (a surname which means "kill-joy" in Spanish), who plays the leader of a gang of bandits, and Gabriel Enriquez, who plays the King of the Diwata, a mythical race of immortals.  Viewers may catch brief glimpses of Maria Olsen and Rachel Appelbaum, both of whom starred in Something Sinister, which I previously reviewed; they play the minor roles of the Muses of Misfortune and Luck, respectively.

Randal Kamradt wrote, directed, and produced Faraway, and dedicated it to his grandfather, Russell Kamradt.  Maria Olsen of MOnsterworks66, and Randal Kamradt Senior of Soliloquy Films, L.L.C. [Limited Liability Corporation] also served as producers.  Composer Benedict Nichols, Randal Kamradt, Tyler Lozano, and Miguel Ochoa provided the music, which features vocals by Araceli Campos. 

Faraway starts out as a realistic adventure through the Philippines, but eventually takes a supernatural turn.  It might also be an excellent visual aid for English speakers who want to study Philippine languages, because there is so much dialogue in at least one such language (perhaps Tagalog***), with English subtitles.  I imagine that the next version of the D.V.D. [Digital Video Disc] will have options for English and Philippine audio and subtitles.  I wish the version I viewed had English subtitles throughout, because it was often difficult for me to follow the dialogue, due, in part, to the Philippine accents; however, this lent a certain amount of realism to the bandits; I imagine that if I were in a confrontation with Philippine bandits, I wouldn't understand half of what they said, either.

Faraway has various plots and sub-plots which kept my interest to the end, and begs various questions, including:

Why do Audrey and her life (and the death of her father) parallel the life of a fairy tale princess so closely?

Why is Audrey so determined to get to a certain place in the Philippines?

How can such a small, young woman out drink a bar full of alcoholic Philippines?

How do you play Black Jack blindfolded?

How much fun are shadow puppets?

Why are some people "rich and powerful," while others remain "short order cooks"?

Are we the masters of our destinies, or do other, more powerful people create our fates?

Who will survive this ordeal?

Who kills whom?

Who rescues whom?

What are the chances that there will be a sequel?

For answers to these and many other questions, see the movie!

For more information, visit:

Faraway had its U.S. premiere at the Indie Fest U.S.A. International in Garden Grove, California, Saturday, October 18, 2014.

Film review by William Mortensen Vaughan
----------------------------
  * Faraway was filmed in Biliran, the Philippines.

 ** "Filipino" is Spanish for "Philippine."

*** According to California State University, Northridge, "The Philippines [have] eight major dialects... [as follows:]
Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Tagalog, and Waray." Tagalog is arguably the most important, because it is the one taught throughout the Philippines.