The Neurotic

I've talked about Dose(12) by Senedy Que in a previous post. If you guys haven't watched it... why haven't you. It's a great piece of philippine cinema and avoids the current pitfalls of gay indie film and deserving of our support.

The film will have a one week limited engagement at Robinson's Galleria Indiesine from July 1 to 7 as part of Cinema One's lineup (as it did several months back). Spread the word! I'll be sure to catch it again.


TBR (The Bakla Review)'s take on 'Dose'

Last night I went to watch 'Dose' (which means 12) with TBR (the Bakla Review) and I have to say it is one of the best indie films I have seen through out the year. Wait, slash that, one of the best indie films ever. Go catch it! It's showing now at Robinson's Galleria as part of cinema one filmfest, check your timing as they show it only once a day (they cycle through several films throughout the day).

It is a really good film. A story very well told without being over the top or being explicit, and the best part? It didn't need to be explicit.






*Another film that is showing in cinemans is '100'! We were suppose to catch the last full show but we were tied up with a previous engagement. :(

Gah. I feel like such a pedophile..... but this Mario kid, especially the way he acted as the dopey eyed teenager in "Love of Siam" pulled at my heart strings. No wonder he won a best actor award for the film. ><





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Several posts back I mentioned that watching 2 movies in a day is stretching it for me a bit, let alone 3 to 4. I set a record back then for myself with Mave as we watched 4 movies. I felt bloated and guilty after, but it was nonetheless fun.

With the soaring fuel prices I have taken to limiting my trips around the metro. Goes without saying that I rarely meet up with Winston these days who lives on the other side of the pond called Metro Manila. To maximize everything (our time and money), we set yesterday, saturday, as our movie marathon day. Three movies in one day.


We started with a light does of Hancock. I was still semi-asleep when we caught this.



Followed it with a good helping of Wanted. Yes, I watched it again. He apparently never caught it after my "despicable act of betrayal" and watching it with other friends. We were suppose to catch Journey to the Center of the Earth until he played the guilt card on me....



Saved the best for last. Batman: The Dark Knight. The best superhero movie to date. Bar none. No questions asked. Catch it. Catch it again and again. It's that good.




I've said it once and I'll say it again. This summer's movies are awesome! This summer has got to be the best as far as movies go in recent memory. Next triple movie treat? Hellboy, The Mummy and X-files. Oh and he apparently wants to try and watch some indie films with me....can you imagine that? *shrug*

Mave and I had a lot of catching up to do. Catching up with the movies that is. Three movies, back-to-back-to-back. Not even a day into my Singapore vacation and I already broke a personal record, as far as I can remember that is. Normally, I don't do well watching two movies back-to-back let alone three. This time around though, even with three movies, it wasn't all that bad.... I just felt bloated from all the cola and popcorn that we ate. Lolz.


We started off with a hefty amount of....

*Whoa, Harrison Ford's age has caught up with him....another childhood hero losing steam.

Offset the taste with...

*Totally agree with CC's review. I also felt that the movie was a goodbye. A goodbye to fun times. That even when fabulous people grow old they stop having fun. It felt a little sad honestly....


and cap it off with a delicious....

*What can I say...If only Prince Caspian wasn't so young. ><

After that gluttony, the next day we relaxed with....

*"My Bestfriend's Wedding" deflated....it was a fun movie with some funny scenes....but it felt forced... something to watch though if you want a change of pace.

Rested, we are off to have fun (and finish everything) today with...






It does help that this year's summer movies are all pretty great and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. With the Hulk, Batman: The Dark Knight, X-Files, Hellboy still coming up in the next week. It sure is a great time at the cinemas. I bet that this year is one of the highest grossing years for cinemas in a long time.

I finally got to watch the three independent films that I mentioned in my previous post . I talked about Sikil before. So the over the course of this week I went to watch "Selda" and "Daybreak".

First off, and probably the most important thing that I want to say is that, I am officially Sid Lucero and Coco Martin crazy! What I wouldn't give to see these two young actors in a single movie (though they are affiliated to rivaling networks). Even produce a movie just to see it happen! (lol!)





Selda, if you remove the strange coincidences that surrounded the three main characters and tragic ending, would have been a good movie for me. At least better than what is shown in the Filipino mainstream cinema. It tackles an interesting (and sometimes disgusting) look at the sad state of inmates in our local prison. How much can a person take before he breaks down and reaches out to anyone for what everyone needs, a human connection. Any human connection and how deep and long lasting, even a fleeting connection can be.




Daybreak is a short but poignant film on what a relationship could have been if circumstances allowed it. It uses a LOT of establishment scenes that, except for one, were executed nicely. These scenes depended heavily on the two main actor's skills to convey the message. I maybe biased here, but Coco Martin did a great job of doing that. He was a sight to behold, not only because he was cute, but because he gave such a convincing portrayal of the character.

Been hearing about this film since last year when it was still in production....still not yet showing and will have its premiere in March 2008. Wonder how long before they release the DVD for this. Certainly want to watch it. :D

I went to watch this movie with the Bakla Review. This movie is, for me, a great way to start the year for indie films. If you want a review go read the Bakla Review's blog. He, in fact, did a great job of it, much better than I can hope to do. What I want to say is that I totally related to "Enzo" in the movie. Enzo is the boy who grew up with the unspoken passion (sikil) for his best friend. He gave his all to support his best friend, Andong. Call him a martyr or an idiot. I was that guy before.

I sighed when Enzo picked up his Andong's girl to help him rendezvous with each other. I felt my heart grow heavy when I saw Enzo wait outside in the cold pavement while the love of his life made love with his girl. I felt a tinge when Enzo picked up his friend from the dumps, after his girl left him, to help him live a better life, only to be left. It felt surreal when the girl tells Enzo that she can never have Andong all to herself as Andong needs Enzo, because Enzo is his strength.

This image is all too real and really close to home for me. The awkward and pregnant silence could just kill you.

Some people who know me know that I have a taste for independent films because of its unpolished and usually raw form of story telling. The Philippine cinema has been seeing an influx in great indie films as of late. Most of them telling a story with a gay twist or even just a man loving another man. These three are the films I can't wait to see. Popcorn anyone?


*Thanks to AJ of Bakla Ako and also to The Bakla Review for posting about these movies. :D



Sikil




Daybreak (featuring Coco Martin!)




Selda (featuring Sid Lucero, who is my Coco Martin for this year, whatever that means. lolz)

Thanks to MGG (www.manilagayguy.com), I was able to catch the movie Roxxxane (check out the clip below). It was, along with Lalake sa Parola, an almost good movie. The first hour was interesting enough....but after that, the topic and plot was a little too weak to sustain the story for another hour. There were layers, if one wanted to really look at the metaphors that the movie presented, but these layers were not essential to the plot itself. The character, of the which the movie was titled after, didn't really have an important role and was in fact replaceable. This was the story of Marlon, played by Jay Aquitana, how his neurosis would set about events that would lead to tragedy. If they moved the story faster...made it into maybe and hour and a half....streamlined the sub-plots, then I think it would have been a better movie. As it is? I'm left confused as to what they wanted us to take away from the movie.

I must say before the show, that Janvier Daily was really arresting in his presence. You could not help but notice him amongst the crowd (and not just because of his height). Jay Aquitana though, younger brother of Antonio Aquitana (one of my all time crushes way back like when he was introduced in "Bubble Gang"), kind of grows on you throughout the movie.