Rough Groove

Gulong - Sockie Fernandez, 2007

Well, for a change, this really is a very heartwarming and funny film set in some province just as classes are ending and summer is starting. It tells of two cousins, adamant of buying an old bike, found ways to raise the money needed to pay for it but coincidentally always find a situation wherein their hard earned money are spent for more important uses. I just love the warm tone which was easy on the eyes and set the tone for the movie.

I’m not really fond of kid-doing-good-things- and-everyone-is-happy kind of stories but since it is Cinemalaya, this is an exception

Parents would surely love this, though.

Endo - Jade Castro, 2007

Endo is short for end of contract, a current concern for many Filipino workers who are employed as casuals usually working in 6 months period after which their contract expires and they are left with no other option but to look for another work. This is so because employers would want to keep costs low and would not be bothered with wage increases, insurance and benefits that are the norm in gainfully employed workers.

This endo mentality permeates also the mindset of the characters (and perhaps ordinary people under contract work?) that life seems to hang in the balance just as loves are lost and gained as work contracts are completed and started again.

What I do like about the movie is that its about love and hope. Losing it and finding it. That there is more to life being contented with just having a salary to meet the most basic of needs or to have someone just to be able to be with. It has life’s lessons that we sometimes need to be reminded of from time to time.

I say this is one of the must see films in the recent Cinemalaya. A love story deftly told by Jade Castro, a good writer now director. With Michiko Yamamoto as one of the producer, you can be assured of a good movie.

Tukso - Dennis Marasigan, 2007

From the director who brought us the entertaining Sa North Diversion Road during the Cinema One Originals here comes again another engaging movie which is part of Cinemalaya 2007. Dennis Marasigan’s Tukso is a story about a village lass who one day wound up dead. Was it an accident? Or was she murdered? A female investigator looks into the case and a set of people close to or those that might have a knowledge of the incident were interviewed thus enabling the viewer to have a peek of their lives, their relationship with other people and of the lass.

There is a seeming parallel with the director’s two movies in the way the style is presented. In the Sa North Diversion Road, the same story is told again and again by the same characters but as different kinds of persons. In Tukso, the story is told by different people with different perspectives. Can this be his storytelling style?

As for the cast? Well, I’m always thrilled to see Irma Adlawan in her top form again. Very talented, very Irma. Of course, there are also commendable performances by Sid Lucero, Ping Medina and Ricky Davao to cite a few.

Harassment during the premiere of Tribu

It was rather unfortunate that even at the recent Cinemalaya, a true celebration of independent Philippine cinema at the CCP, the cast and director of Tribu has been harassed by (some) snotty CCP people. Unlike the rest of the competing films shown last Sunday where the director will introduce his film, his cast and production staff, that was not given to Jim Libiran, the director. I found it odd at first and didn’t mind it later thinking that the director might have begged off but when he went up the stage after the movie was shown, he cried of discrimination. In fact, the gang members who were in the cast were supposed to present an entertainment number but was not able to. Even during their practice at the venue, the director continued, they were approached by security and told to keep quite.

Forgive the exuberance of the youth. Libiran is making a positive change into the lives of these people and the last thing that snotty CCP personnel can do is continue the myth that the masa has no place in such a venue. Let them savor their victory. Let them enjoy what they have achieved in such a hallowed place. They have come a long way in making the movie, their movie, a reality.

Tribu - Jim Libiran, 2007

Think of shades of City of God (but not quite) transplanted in the underbelly of Manila that is Tondo and you have a forceful film by Jim Libiran that would make anyone who cares about good movies take notice. But this is not your usual poverty film that has been showcased since Lino Brocka et al made their political commentary and has made it a trademark of the Philippines. It is about the often hushed and not so seen underworld that Tondo is portrayed to be, often associated to be, often heard to be but not quite seen to be. It is just powerful, moving and raw.

The juvenile hiphop gangs in the old and historic district of Tondo have a world of their own. Their territories marked with invisible boundaries that only become apparent with the descent of darkness. Unfortunately, despite a veneer of calmness during the day, where people, despite their poverty still enjoy life their own way, come night and the rabid rivalry between gangs just ensures that a member’s life is not assured of longevity.

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