Oda sa Wala, directed by Ruedas Baltazar, tells the haunting yet deeply human story of Sonya, portrayed with quiet brilliance by Pokwang which is a lonely, middle-aged mortician struggling to make ends meet. She fights every day to keep her family’s failing funeral parlor afloat, while silently drowning in crippling debt and an overwhelming sense of isolation. One thing that really struck me was how the film’s visuals are intentionally minimalistic and repetitive, often from the coffin’s limited point of view. It’s such a clever and moving choice, symbolizing not just death, but also Sonya’s trapped existence, boxed in by financial strain and years of emotional suppression. Her growing desperation to escape this hopeless cycle leads her to an unusual bond with an unclaimed corpse, mysteriously left at her funeral home by unknown men. I found this part deeply unsettling and weird where she dresses the body, talks to it, even dines with it, as though clinging to the illusion of life in a place surrounded by death. It was as if she poured all her longing for connection and meaning into this lifeless body, believing that maybe, just maybe, it brought her some luck or a second chance.