[Movies] Endo (2007) Review

One of the best things about iflix is how their content library includes not just Filipino films but many award-winning films and interesting independent projects that debuted at this or that film festival. Having one place to find good (or at least interesting) local entertainment content is a blessing in itself. It's sadly difficult to legally get your hands on local content unless you catch their DVD runs at the right time.

Endo is one such independent project that debuted at the 2007 Cinemalaya festival and went on to win the Special Jury Prize along with a nomination for Best Film at the festival. The movie went on to win many other awards as granted by different award-giving bodies.

The movie is an interesting twist on what you could consider to be typical Filipino movie fare in the form of a love story. But it's not at all your regular romance and one that's framed by the challenges of contractualization that limit the progress of the Filipino labor force even today.

[Movies] Paglipad ng Anghel (Cinemalaya 2011) Review

One of the great things about the iflix conent library beyond local content but actually a lot of independent productions that have been featured in film festivals like Cinemalaya. So there's some award-winning content to be enjoyed and there's also some weird content that still manages to see the light of day.

I ended up watching Paglipad ng Anghel one slow evening as it was cited as a Cinemalaya participant and it features Sid Lucero, who I went to school with many years ago. It's not like I've been avidly following his career or anything but from time to time I do get curious as to what his projects are like. And every serious actor needs to have an indie production or two under one's belt to help build up credentials and such.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this movie since all that I knew about it stemmed from the title and poster art alone. But hey such is how adventures in movie watching go, right?

[Movies] Ang Nawawala (2012)

At times I can never truly determine how much credit I can give the Cinemalaya film festival a chance whenever it comes along every year. I guess you can call me rather jaded when it comes to local movies, even those that manage to get into this particular festival.

But given enough time, the good stuff float to the surface and more recently we've seen these indie movies get a wider release cycle among local movies outside the festival, which is definitely a good thing.

And this is precisely why I managed to watch Ang Nawawala this weekend. I had heard good things about it during the festival period itself but never found the time to go see it. And while not all theaters are showing it now, fortunately Gateway tends to participate in these distribution ventures more often than not. 

It was thanks to Gateway that we got to watch The Hurt Locker before everyone realized the movie existed post-Oscars. But I digress.

[Movies] Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (2011)

The local indie movie scene is known for producing a particular type of movie, or so they say. You know what I mean - in a third world country like ours, the natural instinct in order to be "realistic" or "cutting edge" or even "risque" is to focus on what have become traditional themes like poverty, child exploitation, corruption in government and the rest. The stuff that make our country less than ideal or that separate us from the rest of the world somehow.

Not that I'm saying that other countries don't have these things - I'm just saying that our so-called "serious" movie makers tend to interpret their role in life as to needing to create movies that practically celebrate the bad stuff about this country.

Local film festivals like Cinemalaya are all about focusing on the indie film scene and giving them a chance to showcase their best works. While I do have my misgivings about the culture of this group as partially stated above, I still believe that there are some good projects among the riff-raff that deserve to be supported one way or another.

Thus may partner and I finally watched a Cinemalaya movie together - and admittedly this was my first time to watch any of these movies during the actual competition period. Thus my thanks to Greenbelt 3 for managing to become part of the main competition screening and giving more people access to this stellar event.