adventures in neverland

it started rather well. full of promise. the movie dementia, a horror drama, starring the superstar nora aunor. if there is one reason to watch the film, it is her. to see how much more she can give on the big screen after years of delighting the audience with her brand of art that no other thespian, dead or alive, in the local industry can surpass, or even equal. ms. aunor is simply an artist in a league of her own, second to none. it turns out that ms. aunor still has a few aces up her sleeves. in a genre that has yet to elevate itself into an art form, or even something that should be taken seriously. actually, it's an exciting mix -- ms. aunor in a horror movie. a far cry from her heavy drama outputs where she has essayed some of her best performances to date -- tatlong taong wala diyos, himala, bona, to the more recent ang kwento ni mabuti and hustisya, just to name a few. as i've mentioned earlier, dementia started really well -- shots of the lush, but quite ...

for the first time in her five decades or more as an actress, nora aunor, the most talented and amply awarded living filipino actress, played against type. in hustisya (an entry to this year's cinemalaya film festival), the superstar is not your usual underdog who is a victim of oppression or injustice or circumstances. for a change, we are given a nora who is capable of doing the most vicious crime there is (human trafficking, corrupting a priest, bribing government officials), who will fight for her rightful place in the sun even if it means killing somebody. my most favourite scene in the movie is the one towards the end: showing the bejeweled and well-dressed nora aunor laughing out loud, as though telling everyone, including the government who refused to give her the national artist award that she truly deserves, to go fuck themselves. pardon the french, please. for that scene alone, she rightfully deserves the festival's best actress trophy. if you think that you...

over an hour before the screening of nora aunor's latest film -- hustisya (justice) -- at the cultural center of the philippines, a long queue was already formed at the side of tanghalang aurelio tolentino theatre, the biggest in the complex. the film was one of the entries to the directors' showcase of this year's cinemalaya , which is also the tenth year of the festival for independent films. ahead of me in the line was a mother and her teenage daughter. the mother, in her early forty's, was posing in front of the movie's poster, as her daughter took some photos. after a few more shots, with the mother asking her daughter to show to her the shots and when she didn't like it, she would ask her to take some more photos, the photo shoot was over. when the daughter was standing in front of me, i smiled at her. she smiled back, bit shyly. her mother smiled at me too. there was already a camaraderie among us fans even if we haven't officially met. that...

of course i have done it before. bitch countless of times about the state of philippine cinema. of how producers offered nothing but vapid, vacuous, mindless, stupid, crappy movies. i especially reserve my most venomous and villainous remarks in december, when the entire country is plagued and held hostaged by the metro manila film festival and all that the local cineplexes can offer are the entries to this horrendous event that has become synonymous with trashy movies through the years. but i have gone tired of it. instead of bitching about it, i supported worthy movies that are shown during the cinemalaya, cinemanila, cinefilipino and other festivals that featured indie films made by upstart artists and lovers of cinema. these are the filmmakers who put their craft above everything else, money included. these are the artists who are willing to suffer for their works, for their goal of uplifting the state of philippine cinema. i also bought dvds (not pirated) of quality...

the year two thousand and thirteen is proving to be a great year for lovers of philippine cinema. after a good harvest at the cinemalaya in late july to early august (please click  here  to read about some of my cinemalaya reviews),  came the sineng pambansa national film festival all-masters edition (whew!) and the first cinefilipino film festival. the last two festivals, held one week apart in september, also featured films that were beyond the ordinary. if vilma santos heralded the cinemalaya festival, her erstwhile rival as queen of philippine cinema nora aunor was clearly the biggest come on of the cinefilipino festival. coincidentally (or not!), if ms. santos' entry at the cinemalaya festival, ekstra, was the top grosser in terms of box-office receipts, ms. aunor's ang kwento ni mabuti likewise earned the most among the cinefilipino entries. so whoever said that both actresses' luster at the box-office had diminished through the years is probably hal...