Does Message Trump Medium, or do Hot Men Trump Message?
There's been a spate of Filipino digital movies lately that all seem to have gay themes. I've caught a few of them and to be honest have been disappointed by most. Most had nice cinematography but really awkward dialogue and artificial acting that they could be androids. Some of the actors honestly looked like they could not relate to the situation at all but were nice beefcakes very willing to show some skin with low pay but high exposure so the casting person said it will make a nice poster so what the heck!
A lot of the topics also dealt with grimy, dirty scenarios heavily relying on the same themes of poverty, neighborhood gossip and reputation management, yada yada yada. Sure, these are real topics that perhaps many people can relate to and play on many stereotypes that actors would love to sink their teeth into -- the flaming queen, the snarky yuppie usually in Advertising, the dumb poor muscleman, the hunky poverty victim turned prostitute, the respectable but painfully closeted rich guy, and the funny fugly sidekick fag hag. Unfortunately they don't get any rounder than a square wheel.
But after awhile you feel these characters are repetitive and the plot lines stretched needlessly thin. I especially hate really overt symbolism like many precious minutes of your life devoted to the filmmakers' version of the floating plastic bag from American Beauty. Cue bad synthesizer scoring. The point had been made quite some time ago, so now we would prefer some brevity.
Some of the movies I've finished with a wry smile and a hopefully imperceptible shake of the head. Some were bad enough to make me walk out, never mind more gratuitious nudity. There's also the big difference of leaving the movie feeling Good-Dirty and Bad-Dirty. Like "you ain't foolin' anyone to think this is an art film" kind of Dirty versus "stuck in my head sexy and why don't I do something shameless more often" kind of Dirty .
Two noteable standouts though have been "Maximo Oliveros" of course which I agree with every good review because it made me tear up and cheer at the end, and "Selda" which I had the chance to see yesterday.
Amazing acting from Sid Lucero, you could feel him scared shitless, acting brave, angry, discontent and numb -- all the while thinking "Shit! It could be me if I found myself accidentally in prison by tomorrow." I wonder if he can get an award for this movie. P.S. Ara Mina can act! Hooray! Lucky too coz believe me no one in the movie theater wanted to see her boobies! Emilio Garcia's enigmatic Aragorn-ish constant brooding and intense tough guy was a little too cold at the start to do a 360 degree turn after he gets set free. Who knew the dude could laugh, much less cook? This from a guy who dishes out Jaded Life Lessons in Less Than 10 Words when you're going through a Major Emotional Crisis?
If it were me though I wouldn't want him for a best friend, but hey whatever coz they're so straight they don't do Long Amateur Pscyhoanalysis Marathons, Bitchy Backbiting and Don't Do Small Talk. But hey maybe some people really do just offer you a cigarette at the worst times of your life and you take it as an Unspoken sign that Everything's Gonna Be Okay so Quit Whining. But I don't think they're straight men either, maybe Androids again.
I think the movie deserves a lot of aplomb. Can we conclude that it's the actors and intelligent heartfelt story telling -- and not the skinnydipping-prone beefcakes and steamy situations -- that make people sit up and take notice?
But I support the rest of the films because I think it's high time that the Pinoy gay filmmaker has a voice. And perhaps these are baby steps as with any fledgling cinema and only when 2-Dimensional characters and plots have finally been exhausted then truly original work and moving storytelling will be extruded from this emerging genre. Sure movies need to get seen and sell tickets to a particularly voracious audience, but here's hoping that the most memorable part of their time in the cinema is the time they're facing the screen.
A lot of the topics also dealt with grimy, dirty scenarios heavily relying on the same themes of poverty, neighborhood gossip and reputation management, yada yada yada. Sure, these are real topics that perhaps many people can relate to and play on many stereotypes that actors would love to sink their teeth into -- the flaming queen, the snarky yuppie usually in Advertising, the dumb poor muscleman, the hunky poverty victim turned prostitute, the respectable but painfully closeted rich guy, and the funny fugly sidekick fag hag. Unfortunately they don't get any rounder than a square wheel.
But after awhile you feel these characters are repetitive and the plot lines stretched needlessly thin. I especially hate really overt symbolism like many precious minutes of your life devoted to the filmmakers' version of the floating plastic bag from American Beauty. Cue bad synthesizer scoring. The point had been made quite some time ago, so now we would prefer some brevity.
Some of the movies I've finished with a wry smile and a hopefully imperceptible shake of the head. Some were bad enough to make me walk out, never mind more gratuitious nudity. There's also the big difference of leaving the movie feeling Good-Dirty and Bad-Dirty. Like "you ain't foolin' anyone to think this is an art film" kind of Dirty versus "stuck in my head sexy and why don't I do something shameless more often" kind of Dirty .
Two noteable standouts though have been "Maximo Oliveros" of course which I agree with every good review because it made me tear up and cheer at the end, and "Selda" which I had the chance to see yesterday.
Amazing acting from Sid Lucero, you could feel him scared shitless, acting brave, angry, discontent and numb -- all the while thinking "Shit! It could be me if I found myself accidentally in prison by tomorrow." I wonder if he can get an award for this movie. P.S. Ara Mina can act! Hooray! Lucky too coz believe me no one in the movie theater wanted to see her boobies! Emilio Garcia's enigmatic Aragorn-ish constant brooding and intense tough guy was a little too cold at the start to do a 360 degree turn after he gets set free. Who knew the dude could laugh, much less cook? This from a guy who dishes out Jaded Life Lessons in Less Than 10 Words when you're going through a Major Emotional Crisis?
If it were me though I wouldn't want him for a best friend, but hey whatever coz they're so straight they don't do Long Amateur Pscyhoanalysis Marathons, Bitchy Backbiting and Don't Do Small Talk. But hey maybe some people really do just offer you a cigarette at the worst times of your life and you take it as an Unspoken sign that Everything's Gonna Be Okay so Quit Whining. But I don't think they're straight men either, maybe Androids again.
I think the movie deserves a lot of aplomb. Can we conclude that it's the actors and intelligent heartfelt story telling -- and not the skinnydipping-prone beefcakes and steamy situations -- that make people sit up and take notice?
But I support the rest of the films because I think it's high time that the Pinoy gay filmmaker has a voice. And perhaps these are baby steps as with any fledgling cinema and only when 2-Dimensional characters and plots have finally been exhausted then truly original work and moving storytelling will be extruded from this emerging genre. Sure movies need to get seen and sell tickets to a particularly voracious audience, but here's hoping that the most memorable part of their time in the cinema is the time they're facing the screen.