It’s Raining Frogs Outside

Over the past couple of years, there have, quite understandably, been all manner of films reckoning with life during the pandemic. They have ranged from diaristic documentaries to narrative exercises in relating monotony. Few, however, have managed to convey and invoke the feeling of multiple lockdowns and existential angst in the way that Maria Estela Paiso’s fantastic debut short It’s Raining Frogs Outside does. Coming from a background in music videos and post-production, Paiso injects the work with febrile energy, the film bristling with an empathetic restlessness.

That is partly down to form, and this is a film that manages to cram a whole host of techniques into a mere 14 minutes. Recognisable cut-out animation transitions into melding scans of documents and ephemera. Archival images are combined with distorted video, underwater footage, and various incarnations of CGI. The result is a jumble of forms that all feel cohesive, but also conjure the sensation of agitation that sets in after prolonged confinement. As the screen morphs from one mode to another, it prompts a twist in the gut in its search for some – any – vestige of comfort. What is most striking about Paiso’s film is that it communicates myriad anxieties as a bodily experience.

For Paiso’s protagonist, Maya (Alyana Cabral), the provocations are a melange of self-doubt and the unease of being back in the family home as an adult. They overlap with the odd sensation of desperately longing for the outside world and a fear of what it now encompasses. Some concerns are more universal than others, but the specifics are less important than the feeling of fevered apprehension they inspire. It might seem odd to suggest that all of this makes for a pleasurable watch, but the energy of the visuals and the film’s ability to elicit such a physical response make it a marvel to behold.

Director, screenplay, editor: Maria Estela Paiso
Cast, music: Alyana Cabral
Cinematography: Eric Bico
Producer: Gale Osorio
Sound: Yügen Bei Bei, Lawrence S. Ang
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Shorts)
In Filipino
14 minutes