This film is an extremely seductive yet radical ‘ethno-fiction’ set on the islands of Panay and Negros. With the simple premise of spending her last day on Panay as a private loan collector, then taking off to Negros in search of the lover who had appeared in her dreams the film follows Sarah (or rather the actress who plays the role) minus the comfort of a written script as she meets and mingles with locals. Stories from the past unfold through subtitles, narration and songs upon (or at times between) images of the present. Past stories consist of the island’s history of struggle against U.S. conquest or local legends (and sometimes epic poetry). What is interesting is that the creative marriage between present images and past stories are not positioned to evoke nostalgia of the past but to dream of a revolution in the present. For instance, the image of a sugarcane plantation laborer is merged with the tale of a revolutionary who used the same place as a guerilla training ground. There, the sword that originally was a tool of labor is transformed into a warrior’s weapon. The politically radical aspect of this film is the struggle between past and present memories and making new ones. Therefore, the title of this film should be re-read as ‘Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song.’ The fact that it is a woman who dreams of revolution and not a man also stands as a significant sign that marks this film as radical. (BYUN Seong-chan)