donsol

Love is an ocean of emotions.

The movie is about the May-December love affair of Daniel, a Butanding Interaction Officer and Teresa, a widow and breast cancer survivor. It shows the struggle of love in an unexpected moment and how fate will decide on their uncertain romance. The love that blooms may be uncertain but these things are indeed for sure…"love has a way of hurting us… love has a way of confusing us… love has a way of changing us…"

My Rating:

Synopsis:

Donsol, a fishing town in Sorsogon province, serves as a sanctuary to a group of whale sharks, the largest fish in the world. Locally, known as butanding, whale sharks visit the waters of Donsol from November to May. In this film, Donsol is a place of refuge for the butanding but also a holding pen for lost and lonely people who wish for things they are no longer likely to get. Daniel, a Butanding Interaction Officer who accompanies tourists on whale watching expeditions and assists them in interacting with the sharks, is a broken hearted man who meets an older woman, Teresa, a widow fighting breast cancer. The two share their miseries and discover that they like being together. Will their newfound bond be strong or will it be blown along with the amihan wind which signals the end of the butanding migratory visit to the small town?

Filmaker Profile:

ADOLFO ALIX, JR. graduated magna cum laude from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila with a degree in Mass Communication. He was a scholar of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. He was co-writer of the multi-awarded Mga Munting Tinig by Gil Portes and art director of the prizewinning Mano Po by Joel Lamangan. He also co-wrote Gil Portes’ Beautiful Life, Homecoming and Mourning Girls and Joyce Bernal’s D’Anothers. He teaches scriptwriting at San Beda College-Alabang.

batad, sa paang palay

My Views:

ang huling araw ng linggo

My Views:

Ang "Ang Huling Araw ng Linggo" ay umiikot sa istorya ng isang araw na buhay ng pitong indibidwal. Inilahad ang kuwento sa bawat araw na nakatuon sa isang tauhan at ang kanilang kaugnayan sa iba. Nakalihig ang istorya ng bawat tauhan sa mga suliraning bumabagabag sa kanila at sa mga paraan nila ng pakikipaglaban. Sa bandang huli, ipinakita ang kanilang pagtatagumpay sa kani-kanilang laban ng buhay sa maayos na pagresolba ng mga bagay bagay.  Kapupulutan ng aral ang bawat karakter at ang kani-kanilang kuwento. Bagamat pangkaraniwan ang ilang mga tagpo at walang masyadong kakaiba sa mga kuwento, makatotohanan naman ang mga kaganapan at makatarungan ang pagganap ng mga karakter sa pelikula sa pangunguna ni Johny Delgado, Boots Anson Roa, Jennifer Mendoza at Baron Geisler.

Pumapagitna sa pelikula ang epekto ng pananampalataya upang malagpasan ang mga suliranin ng tao. Ipinakita din kung paanong may solusyon ang lahat ng problema at handa itong kayanin ng sinuman kung may lakas lamang ng loob at pagtitiwala na mapagtatagumpayan ang laban.

katangi-tangi ang pangwakas na salaysay sa pelikula, anila: " Bakit kailangang magsalita at magdulot ng pasakit sa iba… Siguro dapat isipin na iisa lamang tayo… Kapag sinaktan ang iba, dapat isiping sarili din ang sinasaktan… Mahirap magbago pero kailangan… para sa minamahal, para sa sarili… Dahil may taong tutulong kahit anong mangyari… Wag mawalan ng loob kapag nagkamali… Kalimutan ang nakaraan at magsimulang muli… At umaasang magiging maayos ang lahat at magpatuloy… Kailangan magpatuloy…

My Rating:

Synopsis:

ANG HULING ARAW NG LINGGO is a story of seven individuals told in an interweaving manner. The film centers on the everday life and tribulations of the character. Each character is given a day to depict his or her life, disposition and resolution to his or her problems. Domeng is waiting inside the church; Linda is in tears while reading a letter; Aling Maritess is kissing a young man’s chest, Kulas is exchanging blows with his manager, Julie is following a man entering a house, Brian is breaking into a safe and Sally is approaching Domeng with a gun in her hand inside the church. The film begins and ends with the same scene, showing life as a cycle of random event in which decisions made are as important as the choices not taken.

Filmaker Profile:

NICK JOSEPH OLANKA is a graduating student of Film and Audio Visual Communication from the UP College of Mass Communication in Diliman. He has taken workshops in cinematography, photography and theater. For the UP Repertory Company, he directed Haplos ng Dahas, Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Sino Ba Kayo, New Yorker in Tondo, Parokyano and Ang Paglilitis Ni Mang Serapio. In film and video, he was director, writer and producer of Lunes ng Hapis, Happy Birthday Millie and Drive. He worked as production assistant for FILMEX under his summer internship program in 2004. His short film Lunes ng Hapis won the 2005 Kodak Film School Competition and is the Philippine entry for the Asia-Pacific Kodak Film School Competition.

pain of leaving

Today, as I go home from work, I walked in the corridors of my workplace as I leave the office feeling incomplete. As much as possible, I prefer walking alone in times that I am sad. Yet every time I walk alone, the more loneliness drowns me.

Saying goodbye to a beloved friend is sad. As if a part of myself has died. Leaving me shattered and making me feel alone even more. For five years that I spent with people in my workplace, I’ve met a lot of people, get acquainted with countless personas and befriended almost everyone. But only few leave a mark that was sculpted by time and memoirs.

They come, some stay and others go. This isn’t the very first time that someone close to me bids goodbye. I’ve been through this same road before but I am still not used to the feeling of being left by myself.

Goodbye Jona. We’ve met and we’ve shared countless memories. Some good, some sad, some bad but most filled with fun and laughter that I hope you will cherish for lifetime. We may have different circles but for me you were one of the very few that I trust. In years you have shown who you really are, and accepted me for who I am.

Until the time that I already realized and accepted the fate of our friendship, I anticipate sadness to envelope me for sometime. That is the price I have to pay for taming and sewing attachment with friends. Change is inevitable, leaving is unavoidable, a fact that up to now I cannot handle. A fact that I regret being a fact.

Sometimes I prefer being alone. Not because I want to, but because as much as possible I don’t want to get so acquainted with someone for when he or she leaves, I feel the pain of leaving unbearable, hiding it makes it more horrendous.

Thanks for the friendship. I am still a phone call away.

mudraks

My Views:

Ang mudraks ang isa sa pinaka-nakaantig na pelikulang kalahok sa Cinemalaya. Maganda ang pagkakagawa ng pelikula sa kalahatan, maayos ang sinematograpiya, maganda ang pagkakalatag ng tunog at musika, sinuportahan pa ng mga aktor na makatarungan nagbigay buhay sa mga karakter na kanilang ginampanan. Sa pangunguna ni Rio Locsin na maayos na nadala ang kanyang karakter bilang isang dakilang mudraks, hanggang kay Roxanne Barcelo na gumanap na anak at Ricky Davao bilang asawa. Ang mudraks ay binuo ng kumpletong mga elemento ng isang makabagbagdamdamin pelikula sa pagtalakay sa isang sensitibong isyung pampamilya.

Ano nga ba ang mudraks?

Ang mudraks ay salitang kalye para sa taong nagluwal sa ating lahat, sa taong nagtiyaga, nag-aruga at nagmahal sa atin ng walang kapalit, sa taong handang isakripisyo ang buhay para sa kanyang pamilya… ang ating mga ina.

It is a tribute to every mother striving to be a superwoman and best mom in their own ways. They who have dedicated their lives for their family. They who bear all the pain and sufferings her family brings. They who cries secretly. They who love without expecting to be loved. They who have their own language that we don’t intend to know so we don’t understand what they mean.

Sa papel na ginampanan ni Rio Locsin sa pelikula bilang Obesssive Compulsive subalit tipikal na ina, nakaantig niyang naipakita ang mga pagdurusa na kanyang tiniis para lamang sa kanyang pamilya. Ang pagkakaroon ng mga anak na galit sa kanya at asawang nagtataksil sa kanya. Mga bagay na dumudurog sa puso subalit handa niyang tiisin dahil sa pag-ibig. Subalit dumating ang punto na nag-umapaw na ang galit at nataabunan na ang pagmamahal ng awa sarili, at siya bilang isang ina, bilang isang babae at bilang iang tao, natural lamang na lumayo upang bigyang panahon ang sarili na paghilumin ang sugat at sakit na kanyang mga tinamo sa sigwa ng pakikipaglaban para sa kanyang pamilya.

Sabi ng kanyang anak na babae, "you will continue what you are doing… loving people who don’t love you… for that is what you are… that is what you ‘only’ are".

Para sa mga dakilang ina ng tahanan. Mabuhay kayo.

My Rating:  

Synopsis:

Inside the Rabadon house, nobody talks. Lives are kept to themselves; problems are not shared; questions are not entertained. The people living inside it have become used to leaving everything unstirred especially Margaret, the mother of the home.

Margaret’s desire for cleanliness and order alienates her from her family. She cannot confront the problems of her life and so she confronts dirty dishes, ugly stains, and disorderly appliances. To get to know her family, she snoops around - entering rooms, opening cabinets, reading journals she is not supposed to read.

But everything changes when a journal entry of her daughter’s makes her unravel, stirring the unstirred life that she has held on to for years.

Filmaker Profile:

ARAH JELL G. BADAYOS is an undergraduate student of Film and Audio Visual Communications at U.P. Diliman. She has attended workshops in writing, photography and directing. She has written for ABS CBN productions Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay (2003), Mangarap Ka (2004) and Star Cinema’s All About Love, which is currently in production. She is a writer for ABS-CBN’s Vietnam Rose.