The Artist’s Den supported local films just hours ago by watching entries in the MMFF08; namely, Iskul Bukol, Dayo, and Shake, Rattle, and Roll X.
For IB20, I didn’t know what was creepier: young women fawning over a geriatric Vic Sotto , or the repeated buttocks exposure of a young boy.
Of course, I applaud their handling of the ensemble cast problem: just allot 10 minutes to 80% of the Iskul Bukol cast, 20 minutes to characters that werenjmn’t in the original series, a fourth of the movie to the infamous Escalera brothers, then undeservingly devote the rest to the professor-turned-archeologist Vic Ungasis. It’s like the movie spat at the idea of equal screen time.
After IB20, we then watched Dayo, the first local animated feature that didn’t try to copy straight from Disney. Good scoring, innovative use of the Visayan dialect in a cartoon format, and we got to meet Michael V. (who voice-acted the tikbalang Narsi) and director Robert Quilao after the movie. However, the little manananggal Anna spoke so much like a fag hag in the movie I’m sure she connected with the lower half of a boy more than once in her life.
But the breakout film for this MMFF has got to be the Nieves segment of SRRX. Directed by Mike Tuviera, the beautiful, kick-ass engkanto slayer in the title role (played by an impressively comic Marian Rivera) is a worthy successor to the iconic Panday. She’s like Alexandra Trese with a personality, a Darna for the 21st century, and definitely the anti-Maria Clara, as she’d unhesitatingly fight off supernatural forces for her man. The SRR series have always had a great segment, but I was delightfully surprised on how a Pinoy film appealed to my geek side.
If you guys still have a little time and money left, I suggest you watch Baler.
It may be another love team movie but it is well-researched and a lot of attention was paid to historical detail.
Directed by Mark Meilly (who megged Crying Ladies)
Here are my thoughts:
On Iskul Bukol, for me, it would have been quite okay to not have made the title about the reunion because honestly, the time spent on it was less than 5 mins.. We saw the other characters no longer than that.. So if we disregard the notion that it’s a ‘reunion’, there is a somewhat good story to it. I love it that they went to Cambodia and showed a lot of the signs (it’s the travel bug in me).. I also can relate to Ungasis being an Archelogist, because I have a friend who’s currently taking up her Masteral’s degree in Archeo, and yes, the movie showed the actual Archeo department in UP Diliman.. In addition to the Faculty Center.. and the ground floor of CAL.
On Dayo, Fag hag is a bit too strong don’t you think? I think the young girl picked it up from the ‘frequent visits’ to the world above, particularly to the neighbor of Bubuy. I think you also forgot to mention that Lea Salonga sang the Lipad ending theme song. I loved the voices of the characters particularly Bubuy’s grandparents, voiced by Noel Trinidad and Nova Villa.
In any case, it was really nice meeting Michael V and Robert (director).. We were so star-struck that we were a bit (just a bit) shy at approaching them but we overcame it. 😀 All of us are looking forward to the sequel.
On SSRX, it really rocks!!! The first episode, Emergency, was okay for me.. An evil and half-naked Wendell Ramos is fine by me… =D I just didn’t like how they inserted the romance of the young doctors (sorry, I don’t know their names). The sidekick guy was funny.. and I admire his quick thinking (which saved his life!) I think what this episode was saying is that humans can also be cruel.. The second episode, Class Picture, gave me the creeps. Good thing I didn’t come from an all girls school, but I have friends who did, and I can somehow relate to how strict and disciplinarian the nuns (especially from the spanish period) can be. Once again, Jean Garcia was very effective with her role. I have nothing against Kim Chiu and Gerald (I actually like them a bit) but I think their roles could have been portrayed with anyone. I was more impressed with the first 2 victims (you got to watch this to know what I mean). The third episode, Nieves (The Engkanto Slayer), made me laugh out loud so many times! The introduction was hilarious! And her pairing up with ***** (I won’t spoil you guys) was perfect. I never really liked Marian before but her portrayal of Nieves was awesome. The story was also well written. I would very much like it if they develop this to a full blown movie.. or maybe a tv series..
Leo: I know what you mean. My lola watched Baler and she loved it. The rest of my family watched Tanging Ina. The only movies left are Desperadas, One Night Only, Magkaibigan. I don’t know if I still have the energy time and money to watch the others, but I might. Though not with Lyndon. =p
hmmm… marian as alexandra trese anyone? 😀