SEVEN GOOD REASONS TO WATCH THIS YEAR'S MMFF MOVIES

By the time this blog is posted the winners of the MetroManila Film Festival would have been announced.

After two days of marathon watching the ten films weeks before the festival opened, each and every juror has found his and her preferences.  What is interesting is the assortment of professionals and personalities assembled to constitute the panel to assess the films and to decide on who deserves the accolade to be given on  the night of the 27th of December.  One thing is for certain, all ten films will be shown in Los Angeles as part of the first Manila International Film Festival near the end of January of next year.  That, in itself, is a reward.

As one of almost a dozen jurors, I had the privilege of sitting quietly in exclusive screenings of the ten entries.  This gave me time to properly assess and appreciate the effort invested by the finalists  --- from producers to the cinema artists involved in the projects.  There are entries which rise heads above the others because of their originality and excellence in craftsmanship.  There are others which succeeded in marrying commercialism with commendable calibre in production value.

And it cannot be helped that there might be some which you ask yourself, "Teka, bakit napasok yan sa sampu?"  Whatever.  That was the job of another committee.

So here are but seven  reasons why the Filipino moviegoer should really make an effort to see at least one and at most almost all the entries of this year's Christmas festival.  My reasons are personal --- and I am not saying that my words should be taken as Bible truth.  At this point, I am just a moviegoer with a dash of experience in filmmaking assessing the works of my peers.

(1) Zig Dulay's Firefly breaks your heart without being in-your-face with over the top acting that has become an exhausted tradition in Pinoy teleseryes.  That is, Firefly is a magical story that brings tears to your eyes without the stars on the screen screaming, "Umiyak ka, umiyak ka ... nakakaiyak ang ginawa at sinasabi ko!"  Why?  Because the emotions captured by Dulay are real and not like they were being squeezed from an old toothpaste tube.  And with that ending, how could you fail? The magic in love through people and time is so neatly summarized without being sweet to the point of a diabetic coma and so real with performances so touching. This perhaps is the most honest and genuine film of the ten --- and I am giving Zig Dulay a standing ovation for such restrained and controlled direction.

(2) Needless to add, child actor Euwenn Mikaell carries most of the movie Firefly on his shoulders.  But it is the delicately honest performance of Alessandra De Rossi as his mother that reveberates throughout this film.  There was never a performance moment in De Rossi's portrayal of unconditional maternal love so much so that even in her absence, she solidifies the journey undertaken by her son to find the Island of the Fireflies.  Similar credit should be given to Epy Quizon who makes the most out of the limitations of the role given to him ... but one cannot help but appreciate the sensitive and controlled portrayal of Dingdong Dantes as the narrator of the story.  Somehow this supporting performance of Dantes supersedes the much larger role he portrayed in another entry for it is here that you see his maturity as an actor who imbibes emotion through nuances of characterization rather than indication or physicalization.  I wish Mr. Dantes can be given  more roles that demand this kind of intricacy of character that he proved to be most capable of embodying.

(3) Pepe Diokno's Gomburza could serve as a prequel to Marilou Diaz-Abaya's Rizal, another MMFF entry in 1998.  Chronicling the events that led to the martyrdom of three Filipino priests ( Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora), Diokno threads events as they have been recorded, showing the significance of the movement towards secularization in the Philippines as well as the initial sparks of the Filipino rebellion against the centuries of oppression of Spain.   Admirably, the key role of Fr. Burgos was given not to a big name star but to theater actor Cedric Juan --- which added credibility to what the film had to say about the significance of the character rather than the actor being highlighted by the film.  Juan's performance was formidable as he embodied the intellectual Burgos. The film makes no controversial statements (much like the original Rizal )  but instead shows how the martyrdom of the three priests affected the young Pepe Rizal because of his older brother's affiliations with Fr. Burgos.  Somehow the strength of that historical link provides the significant conclusion as to why this film had to be made and be seen by the younger generations of Filipinos.

(4)  For me, there is one very good reason to watch Mae Cruz Alviar's Rewind: that is Marian Rivera. Despite the highly derivative plot ( for how many second chance movies and a return to the past to correct mistakes have we already seen --- in this case, Gil Junger's 2004 film If Only), the restrained and sensitive portrayal of the suffering wife and mother by Rivera makes the film worth the time and the ticket price.  Whereas other actresses would have gone the route of hysteria, Rivera chose quietness in her character's resolve thereby giving greater depth and pain to her portrayal.  Hers was not only one of the most beautiful faces to grace the local screens but a talent that, when properly honed, creates such intense and definite effect on audiences.  Real life husband Dingdong Dantes also delivers a commendable performance but, as I mentioned earlier, I still prefer him in Firefly where he did not have go through the rituals of hystrionics or highlight acting. 

(5) Let it be said: the tandem of Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon is the pairing that has outlasted the changes brought by time and taste of generations. Till I Met You in Tokyo could have been retitled as Autumn Love --- about two people who did not realize the emptiness and loneliness in their lives as they live through their senior years in a foreign land working as migrants. There is nothing earthshaking about the story of this movie: it is your color by number romance with some things you wish were there and others that you wish they had cut shorter. But then this is all about Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon showing this generation of actors and audiences why they are living legends.  Here they have proven that they can make an otherwise ordinary movie special by sheer power of talent --- and, yes, stardom. It is beautiful to see these two icons portraying roles that only age and years and experience can capture so delicately, sincerely and honestly.  There can never be anyone like them.

(6) Why else would you watch Becky and Badette except for the glaring fact that it stars Eugene Domingo and Pokwang.  This one-two punch of an over-the-top film is pegged on familiar machinations: the personalities of the comediennes --- and the sudden recitation (no, incantation) of familiar lines from old Vilma Santos and Sharon Cuneta movies. But there are downright laugh-out-loud moments that stick to your mind more like memorable gags than part of a much larger story.  Pokwang's re-enactment of the dying scene of Christopher de Leon in Relasyon or ... at its hysterical best, the invitation for Becky and Badette to be celebrity endorsers of an oyster bar sent me falling off my seat.  This is Jun Robles Lana of Ten Little Mistresses at work ... not About Us But not About Us. You pay four hundred bucks for the laughs ... and that is what you will get.

(7) What makes Kampon different is what makes it seemingly not-so-festival.  That comment came from critic who caught the premiere of the film and observed that this is not your jump out of your seat horror movie but something meant for Cinemalaya --- whatever that meant. King Palisoc's direction was characterized by such restraint: no jump scare here but a prevailing feeling of dread and eeriness that prevails throughout the movie.  As someone who caught the special screening commented, "Mataas siya!"  But then again since when was that a demerit in assessing the credibility of a film? The mood and tempo approximated Ari Aster's 2018 film Hereditary where the dread comes quietly and slowly until you finally get the wallop in the end.  In other words, Kampon is not your jump-out-of-your-seat screamfest but one that capitalized on mood and tension.

All ten represent the spectrum of taste adored by the Filipino audiences.  What is important is that we go out and watch these films and give due appreciation to the hard work put in by our film creatives and workers.

Of course there are more reasons to watch the other films: the production design, music and cinematography of Mallari, the sensitive performance of Miles Ocampo in Family of Two or for that single scene when girlfriend and mother have a heart-to-heart talk when the movie went into quiet intensity than nerve-wrecking melodrama. And there is the deconstruction of the entire Pedro Penduko narrative into Jason Paul Laxamana's attempt to redesign an entirely different mythology to a pop culture hero.  All these must be appreciated and placed in proper context to define the significance of this year's MMFF.

The MetroManila Film Festival should be a showcase of what can be done with Philippine cinema. With this year's assortment of entries, a glimpse of that promise has been fulfilled with the hope that 2024 will offer greater opportunities for producers to make great films that the Filipino audience will support with pride.

A FESTIVAL OF TEN FILIPINO FILMS: AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE MMFF 2023

Christmas in Manila means the annual MetroManila Film Festival.

Yes, I had the good fortune of sitting as one of jurors (again) of the annual festival of Filipino films when local cinema is brought out like the star of a Christmas tree and the Grinches of the world are lamenting why their much awaited foreign movies have to be pushed as far back as the first week of January of the following year.  

Given the present state of cinema patronage in our country, we are only too lucky that it is by law that Filipino movies are given ten days in a year to be shown exclusively in Metro Manila cinemas (and not even in provinces).  

For the rest of the year one only hopes that a movie or two (maybe three) will make money in the remnants of the box office.  Indeed, let us face the sordid truth: bihira nang manood ng pelikula sa sinehan ang tao ngayon. With the advent and rise of streaming platforms and even hastened by the conditions of the pandemic, moviegoing has ceased to be the cheapest and most accessible form of entertainment.

(Consider the mathematics.  The Filipino minimum wage earner takes home P570.00/day for his hard work --- without subtracting the cost of transportation and food.  The average cost of a movie ticket nowadays is between P350.00 to P400.00.  It is quite clear that Aleng Tacing and Mang Juaning together with their offsprings Letlet and Junjun can no longer afford to watch movies.   

Consider this equation again.  If Juaning and Tacing together with their two kids decide to watch a entry at the MMFF, the Tatay needs to dole out between P1400 to P1600 para makapanood lang ng isang sine. Joskuday.  That means that together with transportation expenses and food (kahit man lamang popcorn), he would be spending over P2000.

So there goes the dream of binge watching MMFF movies like what we used to do in the past. 

The annual Christmas celebration of a family is to watch two to three movies on Christmas day or during the stretch of the festival.  You either try to cover as many of the entries you desire in seeing or you re-watch a film that you find as your favorite either by yourself or with new company.  But with the somewhat expensive price of cinema tickets, this has become a luxury and only permissible to the few who can afford to spend close to if not P400 a ticket for each viewing.)

The truth of the matter is that people have become highly selective in the films that they watch in moviehouses especially if they are living on a budget.  

Yes, there will always be those with money to burn or who do not consider the price of tickets as an impediment to their earthly pleasures.  However, a nice question to ask: is this the Pinoy moviegoing crowd? Is this the same crowd who gets excited when a new Kathniel movie is on the rise in the horizon?  Or are these the exceptional few who watch Past Lives or Aftersun in exclusive micro-cinemas?

Having considered all that, the hope is that this year's Metro Manila Film Festival scores as well if not better than last year's edition.

Yes, 2022 was a good reboot from the dearth of two years due to the pandemic.  But still it did not (and could not) come close to the numbers yielded by 2019.  It was like weaning a child to get back to his original form although realizing that nothing can bring back the pre-pandemic age.  

More important is that the box office results of 2022 already indicated a major change in the preference of the market.  

When Viva Films' Deleter of Mikhail Red, starring Nadine Lustre nudged out a Vice Ganda movie to be the top grosser of the festival, something was already said without being openly declared.  The market who spend money for the festival was no longer the masa who loved a good old traditional comedy but opted for a horror film about technology and the dark web, about call center agents who turn nights into days and the lurking dangers in the computer screen.  In other words, this is a completely different audience from what used to be considered as the familiar moviegoer of the past... especially those who feasted on the annual MMFF.

So where did the regular Pinoy moviegoer go after the scourge of the pandemic and the rise in movie ticket prices?

For those who have access to the internet, they are into streaming and YouTube and all the other available platforms that you can have at a slice of the ticket price without having to worry about dressing up, paying for transport or even eating out.  No, they have not migrated to commercial television as well since it seems like even most popular tv shows (by that we refer to the teleseryes from the major networks and now content providers) have also found their secondary platforms through access to the internet-based venues like YouTube.

With all these drastic changes taking place, where does the MMFF hope to bring Philippine cinema?

The curated entries this year have more of the same categories selected through their genres: family-friendly, comedies and horror.  But instead of the usual eight finalists, now it was expanded into ten to give more chances to producers to exhibit during that annual window where no foreign movies are shown in MetroManila.

Whether the addition of two more movies to the roster is good or bad will be revealed after all the ticket sales have been gathered and reported.  By law of averages, only three (or at miraculously most perhaps four) of the original eight finalists make money.  Two or three at the bottom end of the list will collapse due to the sheer weight of competition expressed through uncontrollable funds for the campaign.  Far worse, if a movie reveals a dismal performance in the box office, chances are (as most likely) that it will be pulled out of screenings and replaced by the better performing movies --- or reduced to alternate screenings with equally underperforming entries thus reducing the number of showings by half.

It is a myth (if not an urban legend) to think that all MMFF entries make money.  

The truth of the matter is that it is still a producer's gamble.  Big, small and independent film companies scramble to get into the roster of finalists hoping that their movies will stand a chance of making ample money through cinema screenings.  Otherwise, showing one's films on a regular basis has become a Herculean challenge: last year, for instance, only three Filipino films made a lucrative amount of money to earn profit if not break even.  All the rest of the Filipino movies, although improving in patronage since the moviehouses reopened, still fell short of return of investment.

But regardless, having seen the ten entries of the festival assured me that it would be worth the time, money and effort to see a bunch of them.  The curation of this year's festival gives a glimpse to all possible choices and interests for the cinematic experience way beyond the reductive pleasures of streaming.  More important than that, the road map of Filipino cinema in the year to come can be assessed by the patronage of the local audiences to go out and see their Christmas movies again.

At this point in time, it is not only a question of economics --- but that of survival. Filipino producers must not be dispirted by the lackluster performance in the box office of their products but instead see this as a challenge --- and as a demand for change.  We cannot be diminished to being content providers for streaming platforms: otherwise we will lose the very essence of our national cinema.

Instead we should look over and beyond what we limit as parochial taste and cater to an audience over and beyond the margins of our national territory.  We should stretch the boundaries to an international market, turning our popular culture into an integral part of the soft economy of  the country with the hope of globalizing our cinematic output.

But before we can do that, against all odds, Filipinos must first patronize --- even love and respect Filipino cinema --- before we can proudly flaunt our version of the art form to the world. If we cannot support or even love our own, how can we expect others to give our cinema the respect that it is so deserves.

So this is with the hope that Filipinos do go out of their houses and rediscover the joys of moviegoing.  

Yes, it has become more difficult and inaccessible if not impractical BUT there is no greater satisfaction than stepping out of a moviehouse after a screening and realizing that there is so much of life that can be said in two hours or less captured by a beautiful film.

HORROR MOVIES FOR CHRISTMAS: SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL --- NOT JUST A FRANCHISE

What people are not quite aware is that SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL as a movie franchise did not originate with Regal Films.

In 1984, the first of what evolved into one of the longest (if not the longest)  running movie franchise in the country was produced by Athena Productions and distributed by Regal Entertainment.   The film has become iconic --- even legendary, written by three giants of screenwriters of the time: Jose Carreon ("Baso"), Amado Lacuesta ("Pridyeder") and Uro de la Cruz ("Manananggal").

Moreover, each of these classic episodes was directed by equally iconic directors:  Emmanuel Borlaza megged "Baso", National Artist Ishmael Bernal did "Pridyeder" while Peque Gallaga handled "Manananggal".

For even if almost four decades had passed since its initial exhibition, the maiden presentation of SHAKE has become embedded in the collective consciousness of Philippine popular culture fans.  One cannot talk about Pinoy horror cinema without referring to Janice de Belen --- slithering in front a carnivorous refrigerator and bathed in its electric light or Irma Alegre flying across coconut trees with a young and bewildered Herbert Bautista ( playfully named Douglas in the episode in honor of the irreplaceable Douglas Quijano who put together the project) parrying the attack of a half-bodied visceral monster with a blessed pagaspas.

What was astounding about the first Shake movie was that it did not enjoy all the flourishes and advantages that technology offered at that time.  The effects were all practical without the aid of any computer (which in the mid 80's was merely a concept or a technological dream.)  This writer precisely remembers Don Escudero, production designer of the Manananggal episode narrate how Irma Alegre (with bat wings attached to her back) was mounted atop a jeep and shot from an angle as if she were flying.  Now that was innovation at its best.  

(Later on, Gallaga put Vangie Labalan to stand on a platform mounted on a crane to simulate that she was floating seen through the second floor window of a provincial house.  No rigging involved but just ... safety in balance.)

Since then, SHAKE has produced some of the most unforgettable adventures into local horror including monsters and creatures of the underworld that were redesigned to create innovative versions of fear.

Pinoy movie buffs can never forget the two Manilyn Reynes episodes in separate editions of SHAKE.  How can a timeline of the franchise be complete without her encounter with the lake creature Undin. Or perhaps how can one refer to terror in local cinema without mentioning the Aswang episode where Manilyn is lured into a town by her classmate, Anna Roces --- only to find out that she will be the sacrificial meal for the entire townfolk of cannibal monsters led by Rez Cortez and Vangie Labalan.

One can go on and on running through the years with annual editions of Shake mostly directed by Peque Gallaga.

It was Gallaga who casted Lilia Cuntapay in the Kris Aquino episode entitled Yaya ... or what about Janice de Belen who sought for her Ate (portrayed by Gina Alajar) as a living dead conjured by the late Subas Herrero and Armida Siguion-Reyna.  Or that episode with Eddie Gutierrez and Eric Quizon in an isolated house in Baguio where the ghosts of unborn babies from the scalpel of an abortionist come to haunt the residents.  Or what about that creature that lives atop a tree in a park across a typical middle class subdivision that seduces children ...

The list goes on and on as various editions of Shake Rattle and Roll have evolved through the years and in the hands of generations of filmmakers who represent the moment in popular culture's timeline when the production was concocted and released.   From a tradition that was started by Borlaza, Bernal and especially Gallaga, you have a roster of directors interpreting horror that is a reflection of the audience's changing taste and preferences.

Now you have Jerrold Tarrog, Richard Somes, Perci Intalan, Chris Martinez and so many other new generation directors continuing not merely a franchise but what has become a tradition.

Shake went into a hiatus for nine years and is back to reassert Regal Entertainment's interest and excitement in reviving the series.  But for the first time. Shake will not be a part of the Christmas Filipino movie festival: it is showing a few weeks earlier (side by side with another interesting film starring Maricel Soriano and Roderick Paulate) creating a festival feeling  all of its own.  

With Iza Calzado and a troop of new actors and actresses filling the cast of the trilogy, Shake has reinvented itself again to cater to the post-pandemic audiences and exploring new territories of horror.  

But as earlier mentioned, Shake has become more than just a franchise.  If something lasts for almost four decades, there must be something in these materials that find their places in the collective consciousness of the Filipino audiences.  And because this is so, Shake Rattle and Roll has ... above everything else ... become a tradition that is truly Filipino and curiously embedded in the very groundwork of our culture.

THE WORLD OF THE WOKE DOLL: A KNEEJERK REACTION

 I haven't blogged for so long that it feels strange to come back here.  But then I feel I must even though I am pounding away on my keyboard so late this night.

This is not a movie review.

I will leave that with those whose eloquence in dissecting films is far superior than my capacity to make movies.  Rather, this is a reaction --- a knee jerk response after watching a film that everybody is obliged to see if only to prove one's level of taste and education.

This is supposed to be the miracle week: two big Hollywood films opened at the height of the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) and the Writers' Guild of America (WGA) strike.  Whereas Hollywood is on fire while all productions are paralyzed, two of the most anticipated films opened to give that much needed boost to the box office in the post pandemic era.

Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's (yes, the Christopher Nolan) Oppenheimer opened the same time sending a frenzy of people rushing to cinemas (again) after staying away and learning the joys of Netflix binging because of that damn virus. But enough of that.

I felt it was somehow as "civil responsibility" to see these two films since they opened a day or two earlier in Manila because of our new movies open midweek while the Western world unfold their initial screenings  during the weekend.  I have also been told by those who saw the previews and the first day showing that Gerwig's Barbie was not what you think it is --- or nothing close to what was seen in the trailer.

Oh, OK.

I was also forewarned that this was going beyond kiddie entertainment (which probably meant that this was something more substantial than that inane Mario Brothers movie or all the recent attempts to Disney to be relevant by being so "woke." 

"But this Barbie is 'woke"," a friend of mine said.  I gasped.

For the record, I now grow hives everytime I hear 'woke' repeated more than three times in the same paragraph.  I used to nod my head in agreement when I heard buzzwords like inclusiveness, empathy, non-binary, non-judgmental.  These are words that want you to grab the hand of the one seated right next to you and sing Kumbaya or that old Coca-Cola jingle that goes, "I'd like to teach the world to sing ..."  Whatever.

"Brace yourself," another friend warned me. "It is not what you think it is."

OK. I was excited because Greta Gerwig always surprised me. Lady Bird and Little Women charmed me. I even liked her as an actress in Jackie.  And her husband Noah Baumbach (who wrote and directed Marriage Story) is my newfound idol. Now for both Greta and Noah to collaborate on this story of a Mattel legend, what could they have been thinking?

Well, yes: after watching the movie ... I am still asking what they could have been thinking.

So did this Barbie live up to my expectations?

Honestly, I do not know what to feel.  

The very fact that this film was greenlighted by a major studio was already a major feat.  The mere th0ught that Mattel agreed to have this project filmed  (considering what it says about the toy giant ) is like the parting of the Red Sea. Did the producers know what Greta and Noah were planning to do?

Yes, the movie is woke.  I

 never imagined (well, maybe I could have) that this film is a series of statements about gender and how the masculine/feminine dichotomy is dictated by society.  Barbieland as the antithesis of the Real World is underlined by the difference between the role of the titular doll with forever tilted feet with that of her vapid male consort, Ken.

All the glittery doll house like simulations of a fantastic soundstage set can be such visual overload while the stupefied audience is fed statement after statement about what it means to be a girl, a boy and a doll.  Not only do you get a sensory overload but a lecture of the role of men and women in their biological co-existence.

Teka, this is a Barbie movie, right? I ... I came here to be entertained and not to be lectured on  specific topics in Gender Studies.

Regardless of what I feel about the movie, one thing is for sure.  Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling threw themselves into their iconic doll roles with all the heart and sincerity humanly possible with their looks and talents.  And if ever I did not laugh for any single moment in the entire nearly two hours of the showing, it was not because the actors did poorly but because I was overwhelmed by all the undertones of seeeeeriousness in what the movie wanted to say.

Napagod ako. And at times, inantok.

I guess that is the backlash of being woke. Even fun can turn out to be contrived.

When the lights went on and the screening ended, I realized I was literally surrounded by little girls and tweens.

All these giggly specimens of innocence on the verge of daunting adulthood were seemingly shell shocked by what they saw. 

These little girls must have thought that they would get into a cuteness overload with all that pink splattered in front of their peripheral vision and projected larger than life.  Rather, in the end, they had to wrestle with the concept of patriarchy and why Barbie ended the movie by going to a ... doctor.

The look of confusion can best summarize the bewilderment of puberty.

Like Barbie, The Movie ... you just don't know what pink thing hit you.

THE SUMMER FEST: A BETTER SUMMER MMFF 2023

 At first I wanted to wait for the movies to open on Black Saturday before I put out my five cents worth about the first Summer Metro Manila Film Festival.

Aba, may summer edition na pala?  Yes, this has been planned years ago but the pandemic changed the tune of all the plans laid out for the next three years.  So now that the movie houses have opened and Deleter proved to be a great success in last December's MMFF edition, the summer MMFF is finally pushing through.

Admittedly I was not so sure about the viability of this summer adventure.  For one thing, only three out of the eight movies last December made a killing at the box office. The difference between the gross earnings of Deleter to the third placer was not only substantial but indicative of market behavior.

What affirmed my concerns was Mario Bautista's article on his own prospects of the summer festival.

https://www.showbizportal.net/2023/04/we-are-afraid-for-entries-in-summer.html?fbclid=IwAR3loilOndfRfhMEDr1FZG48IxVaHH3aEkBgfapYDTzFcfqbXvWm7BBPGDk

He was right on all points: the movie ticket at P300+ has made it unaffordable to that sector of the market who are the avid Filipino cinema enthusiasts.  When the movie ticket is more than fifty per cent of the minimum wage required by the government to its workers, you know that moviehouses will run on empty ... not unless the film being shown is deemed as worthy of the expense or for a special occasion.

That has been illustrated in the past few weeks when Filipino films opening on non-event weeks earn a pathetic low on its first day of showing, not enough enough for the producers to recuperate for the expenses of the DCPs sent to cinemas for screening.

Then there is what Mario Bautista cited (which analysts of the industry have long bewailed): the rise of alternative forms of entertainment brought about by technology and hastened by the change of lifestyle during the pandemic.  Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Viu and the various platforms of Viva have plucked away moviegoers from braving Manila traffic, paying what they feel is an exorbitant amount for tickets --- whereas they can get similar pleasure for one fourth the price and with less hassles.

This does not even include the addiction to YouTube, Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram Live which have become portable and accessible sources of short term entertainment. It is not even free TV or cable networks that have posed threats to the box office harvest of movie houses: it is the various social media platforms that have recalibrated all the equations of entertainment especially during the three years of the pandemic when people could not converge in confined public spaces.

Another important factor (which people tend to take for granted) is the diminishing power of the star system in our country especially brought about by the closure of the largest network by the government.  When ABS-CBN ceased to be a multi-media company and downsized into becoming a content provider, one of its greatest assets --- its stars --- also lost a substantial amount of their clout.

Above the title stardom no longer guarantees box office patronage --- or not as much as it used to.  Now the stars are the "sensations of the moment" personalities like the influencers, or the TikTok celebrities or anybody who knows to market himself or herself for the fifteen seconds of fame.

In the December MMFF, the biggest grosser did not feature a box office star.  The movie that topped the box office was driven by its content and not by star power alone.  One lesson learned from the most recent festival and should be a benchmark to producers is that if you depend on star power, it may not necessarily sustain its box office clout after a first surge of attendance. Word of mouth is now the most powerful form of marketing over and above the fact that your audience is those who can afford to buy the tickets and no longer the madlang people who used to go to movie houses in droves.

All these factors lead to the threats that face the Summer MMFF when a great number of those who can still afford to watch movies are either out of the country or out of town for the extraordinarily long weekend.  And for those who chose to have staycations, it is a matter of convincing them to get out of their houses to go watch a Pinoy film.

"But they have been cooped up in their homes for so many days, baka naman they want to go out for a change?"

Hindi rin. Remember that people have gotten used to being cooped up for almost three years of their lives.  Also take note that while people were relegated to the silence and laid-back atmosphere of the City during Holy Week, they were not exactly staring at the ceiling and counting sheep.  They may have been watching The Glory on Netflix ... and for all you know, Partners in Crime and/or Love you With an Accent which they should have watched in the moviehouses last December but opted to turn these movies into Holy Week entertainment.

What is ironic is that after seeing all the eight entries of this year's Summer MIFF, the conclusion is clear: this is a far better batch than what we were offered last December.

No, this is not a repeat of the "art-oriented" menu served December of so many years ago.  Instead, we have credible commercial films (and one art house work) that is simply well-made and for certain cases well-acted.

When more than half of the entries is worth your time and money, then you know that this is a good festival, perhaps one of the best for the past few years.  It will be on the eve of tragic if people do not support these films because these are the kinds of Filipino movies we should be producing ... and hopefully showing to the world.  These are the films that need the full support of the audience if they indeed still care about the future of our national cinema.

Again, this year --- there is only one big star in the line-up of finalists and he is appearing in  a movie which is not within the expectations of the larger chunk of fans. Coco Martin's return to Brilliante Mendoza's ouvre in Apag is not exactly what his legions of fans is used to seeing.  This is not even the kind of role you would find the star in his festival entries.  Rather, Coco returns to his roots in this family drama about loyalty, redemption and Kapampangan cuisine.

But if there are four films worth noting as must sees or should be seen, then the following entries are worth your ticket and time:

(a) Love You Long Time: Directed by JP Habac stars Carlo Aquino and Eisel Serrano. If one expects yet another time travel movie, then the surprise comes in a well-thought out screenplay that plays with the trope of lost chances and forgiveness without crossing to the level of sappy or melodramatic.  The novelty of the film is its approach to a tired narrative to give it a fresh insight into two lovers who meet in different timelines.

(b) Unravel :  Directed by RC De los Reyes may look like it was sponsored by the Travel Commission of Switzerland because of its "touristy" coverage of one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  But the outstanding and engaging performance of its lead stars, Gerald Anderson and Kylie Padilla, are more than enough reasons to watch this heartbreaking movie about love and life.  Both Anderson and Padilla are such wonderful surprises in the way they tackled their roles that the movie is practically a rediscovery of these actors.

(c) Here Comes the Groom: Directed by Chris Martinez.  Although less complicated than what is considered an iconic predecessor, this version of the fatal effects of an eclipse at a specific spot called Magnetic Hill in Tagaytay still elicits the right kind of laughs and guffaws.  When the soul switching takes place between a van containing a homophobic padre de familia and his brood going to a wedding with another vehicle containing screaming drag queens on their way to a competition, the humor is built-in because it is both hysterical as well as intelligent. And this could have only been achieved by outstanding performances of Enchong Dee, Maris Racal, Kempee de Leon, Gladys Reyes and, of course, Eugene Domingo. But wait ... there's more!  The biggest surprise here is Kaladkaren ...who when morphed into a male becomes completely unrecognizable. Panoorin nyo na lang, OK?

And finally ...

(d) About Us But not About Us: Directed by Jun Robles Lana. (Note to Direk Jun: I hate you!! How can you make a movie that has a running time of ninety minutes of two people talking and manage to maintain your audience to be at the edge of their seats?)  Let me just say this: this is the best of Direk Jun Lana's works made possible by what I consider as my Wow Moment for the year so far --- the performances of Elijah Canlas and especially --- most especially --- Romnick Sarmenta. If Unravel is a rediscovery of Andersen and Padilla, About Us is my eureka moment for Sarmenta whose acting is flawless --- absolutely flawless --- going beyond the standards of Filipino craft because of its sheer sincerity and truth. Enough said: this, I believe, is the best Filipino film of 2023 --- and if there is any other work that can exceed this, then I shall say we are at the cusp of renaissance of sorts.

Have I said enough to convince the reader to please ... please go out and watch as many if not all of the Summer MMFF movies.  

Kung hindi tayo ang maniniwala sa pelikulang gawa natin, sino pa? Kung uunahin natin ang paghuhusga kaysa sa pagpapanood, ano na ang tatahakin ng pelikulang Pilipino?

Give these movies a chance. You will be happy to find out that you were wrong with your hasty prejudgment.