Georgia Asian Times
January 21, 2021
228 minutes, Philippines, 2017
Reviewed by Arturo Arredondo
Pinoy filmmaker Lav Diaz might be best known in film circles for his prominence in slow cinema; he has even made some of the longest narrative films in movie history. His Evolution of a Filipino Family from 2004 carries a runtime of 10 hours and 43 minutes, 2008’s Melancholia clocks in at 7 and a half hours, while his 2013 opus Norte, the End of History is 4 hours and 10 minutes long. The Woman Who Left is his shortest film — only 3 hours and 48 minutes — and is also Lav Diaz at perhaps his most accessible (hinted by the starring roles by media executive Charo Santos-Concio and TV mainstay John Lloyd Cruz). What’s most remarkable, however, is that he produced, wrote, directed, and shot the film by himself.