The Philippine Movies Thread

Do I recommend this? Yes, definitely.

This isn't an overrated film. It may have only gotten a 7 here on IMDb but people's praises for this film (including the international audience) is well-earned. To some extent. I have just one but substantial complaint over this which I will dwell on later.

Erik Matti, the director, has shown he has potential. Starring the country's most versatile actors (Joel Torre, Michael de Mesa, Michael Flores) with some of the country's most sought-after leading men (Piolo Pascual, Gerald Anderson, Rayver Cruz), what came out was one of the best Philippine action movies ever released.

The story is based on real events. And if it weren't, I'm very sure it was patterned over the ills of society present in the Philippines today.

The synopsis:
Joel Torre (Tatang) and Gerald Anderson(Daniel) plays two "imprisoned" criminals who still enjoys liberty and earning money as gun-for-hires. Technically they should be behind bars, but you know the power of money, they can buy their liberty. (Yeah, kudos to these jailguards). They work for Thelma (Vivian Velez) who takes orders from an upper echelon who unsurprisingly is a politician. You know what powerful men with so much money do to protect their "business". Piolo Pascual plays Francis, an NBI agent, who happens to have a father-in-law (Michael de Mesa) who's a protector/coddler.


If there's one person that surprised me big time, its Joey Marquez. He's one of the country's comediennes, he has starred in some family sitcoms, just fooling around, etc. and here comes this. I never thought he could pull the drama and the action (despite his huge body built, he can surely run). Even in the crying scenes, he was at par. Piolo Pascual who?


Now let's go to my one but substantial complaint: Plot development is not proportional to runtime. Its got an almost 2 hours runtime, yet it only centered on the main plot which begun the moment the film started. Sure there were some developments but for a 1.53 hour long film, a lot should've happened. With OTJ, there was a lot of drama, character psychology, and of course, action, but the plot was basically just over the place. It could be squeezed down to a 1-hour film if they really wanted to. Not that there's any irrelevant scene, but you know how much have happened visually and you're still on the same place? Another one but just a minor complaint. Why Gerald Anderson to play the criminal role? He just looks so handsome and clean that he doesn't look like a thug really.


Having said that, there's nothing else I can complain of. Especially with the soundtrack. Erik Matti sure knows how to coordinate his music with his scenes. They're jiving.






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Between Mind and Heart-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6owzGQ1g7c

Given that this is the one that has met with most enthusiasm from friends and acquaintances onto whom I’ve tried to push some contemporary Filipino films, it’s probably a good pick with which to kick your thread off.

I completely get where you’re coming from with your comment on the runtime - I agree that it could have been a lot tighter – but I wouldn’t go as far as to say Matti could have got the job done in an hour! I think there’s much more than the basic crime drama – the core of the movie is really two dual stories running in tandem along the same plot, both involving the relationship that a brash and ambitious young man has with a mentor/surrogate father figure. The title of the film was almost reminiscent of a ‘bring-your-son-to-work’ day at the office.

As for Gerald Anderson being too clean to play the thug, I never felt that at all, although he was an unknown face to me. Piolo Pascual, on the other hand, seemed to be completely out of place – way too much of a pretty boy to be a cop.

At any rate, Matti’s next film Honor Thy Father (continuing with the paternal theme, I wonder?) is firmly on my most-anticipated list. I note that a Michiko Yamamoto pops up with writing credits again – she also got a credit for the story on the sitenoise praised Norte, the End of History.

Hi clayton. :) Yeah, I'm looking forward to the day I post my review of Honor Thy Father here. I've also been anticipating for it.





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Between Mind and Heart-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6owzGQ1g7c

Graceland (2012) plays off two principal characters that are almost at opposite ends of a moral spectrum – Menggie Cobarrubios is a corrupt politician whose casual vice is buying, drugging and sexually abusing pubescent girls as young as his own daughter, while Arnold Reyes plays his driver, who silently disdains of his employer's activities, and who devotes himself to prayer, his dying wife and his daughter. When a case of mistaken identity results in the driver’s daughter being kidnapped for ransom, the driver knows his lowly status will render his own child worthless and thus doomed, and realises that the only way to save her is to create the impression that the kidnappers also have his boss’s daughter – and so begins a desperate cat-and-mouse race against time.

Essentially, this is a morality play, as the driver is forced to compromise his values, and the consequences of those compromises reverberate beyond his control. The film clocks in at only 84 minutes, but there’s so much going in on there that it really is a deceptively lean affair – it is economical storytelling at its finest, and a film that I preferred over two quite highly praised crime dramas of the following year, On the Job and Metro Manila.

Seeing as this thread had its genesis in other threads listing people’s Top 10s from different nations, I thought I might post here a list of the films from the Philippines that have tickled my fancy – I certainly don’t hold it up as a list of the 10 greatest that the Philippines has to offer, but I do like to think that there’s at least one gem for everyone in here.

Ekstra (2013)
Crying Ladies (2003)
Foster Child (2007)
Burlesk Queen (1977)
Kinatay (2009)
Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanag (1975)
Graceland (2012)
The Road (2011)
Virgin People (1984) (because no list of pinoy cinema would be complete without at least one bomba film!)
On the Job (2013)
That Thing Called Tadhana (2014)

For those that like things a little less conventional, you could go 16mm with Perfumed Nightmare aka Mababangong bangungot (1977), or explore the digital world of Khavn.

And in the separate category of “Outsiders Looking In”, the following films are made by non-Filipinos, but were either made in the Philippines, or deal with the Filipino OFW experience:

Metro Manila (2013)
Pinoy Sunday (2009) – with a Malaysian director and writer, set in Taipei, and almost entirely in Tagalog, this comedy is as international as it is funny.
Ilo Ilo (2013)

Hope y’all find a bit of grist for the mill in the above, and I’d love to hear your comments on them, and suggestions of what I’m missing out on here.

Hello again clayton, I really do appreciate you helping me out on the Philippine thread. . I've been procrastinating again and I still hadn't come up with my own list. I promised myself I'd start that thread soon and I'll copy your list there but gah, I'm really sorry it took me forever to start it.

Here's mine:

Wait, before I write my own list, I want to say that my list isn't really a favorites list. Because if I put my favorites there, I'd put GIRL BOY BAKLA TOMBOY http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2996804/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 as one of the top because it was made for pure laughs!

My list comprises of movies which I think are representative of Philippine culture, Philippine society, and Philippine movie-making in general. Or to borrow sitenoise's term, the film's echo.

My list mostly lacks films from before 1980s because I don't know, I still haven't mustered seeing a lot of them in the same way I've been procrastinating on Ozu and Kurosawa in Japan which are considered to be legends.

If you're looking for classical Filipino movies, the names to look for are Lino Brocka and Peque Gallaga. I've seen some of their movies but it didn't register much so I can't really recommend one.

Now here goes my list:

First would be JOSE RIZAL (1998) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186257/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1-- story of the Philippines' national hero. This movie showcases Philippine talent in acting, while getting History lessons. The almost 3 hour runtime didn't discourage me because of its content and well-execution.


Second would be DEKADA '70(2002) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325233/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1-- I've said this before and I'll say this again. The Philippines is a land of drama actors. And this one is one of those movies where you get the tears falling everywhere while getting history lessons(this time, its set on Martial law era).

Third would be THE FLOR CONTEMPLACION STORY (1995) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113082/?ref_=rvi_tt-- this movie shows the plight of Filipinos who work overseas for a living. This has also been a celebrated true-to-life story of an OFW sentenced to death abroad, with a themesong that up to this day still plays in my head.

Fourth would be TANGING YAMAN (2000) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283037/?ref_=rvi_tt--this is considered to be one the best Philippine family dramas of all time.

Fifth would be FENG SHUI (2004) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430082/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1--Kris Aquino can't act. That's a given. But she was lucky to have bagged the lead role in this horror movie that made I've classified as in the levels of "Ringu" and "Ju-on". That says something.

Sixth would be MILA (2001) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292108/?ref_=rvi_tt--Maricel Soriano is one of my favorite actresses. This is a movie of unsung heros who live their lives for others. This is an inspiring, tear-jerking movie.

Seventh would be EKSTRA (2013) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3031022/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1--Vilma Santos is another favorite of mine and she just shone in this movie even brighter in all her other mainstream movies.

Eight would be NOY(2010) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659291/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1--Coco Martin injected the heat of Philippine elections with this, indie/documentary while incorporating footages of the 2010 national elections. I thought the movie would just show pure election propaganda, but it showed a story of--well, the usual story we see about the Philippines: poverty and crime.

Note: I wanted to put Norte here but something tells me I am still about to see a Lav Diaz film that will make it into my top list.


I'll put my comments to your list on my next post.






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Between Mind and Heart-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6owzGQ1g7c

Thanks for your list. The thing I love about it is that there's one film that I absolutely love (Ekstra), one film that on my really-want-to-see list (Noy), and a whole bunch of films that I've never, or only vaguely, heard of to explore 

Hello clayton, just finished watching Graceland and I can say I understand where you're coming from when you said you prefer this over OTJ and Metro Manila. As of now, I'm leaning towards your judgment because I've had some issues with OTJ's runtime but I'm still torn between Graceland and Metro Manila because both have similar elements. Although I have to say Graceland is a very good thriller because I was hooked the whole time.

You summarized the movie well in one paragraph, so I'm not gonna even try summarizing the film with so many words. However, I had one part where I was confused. In your summary, you said "...the driver knows his lowly status will render his own child worthless and thus doomed, and realises that the only way to save her is to create the impression that the kidnappers also have his boss’s daughter – and so begins a desperate cat-and-mouse race against time."
If I got it correctly, it was the kidnappers--with whom he was in collaboration with (at first) who made the impression that they got the politician's daughter?????

Shout out to Menggie Cobarrubios. You know I admire people like him. They're the type of people who no one recognizes, yet the movie industry won't be complete without them. He usually plays the good loving dad, or the corrupt politician. And he can pull both off.

This is one of the best Philippine crime/thrillers I've seen. Highly Highly recommended. And the cliffhanger ending was a bang.




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Between Mind and Heart-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6owzGQ1g7c