I'm a huge fan of indie flicks. So when Howie gave the heads up that Cinemalaya 08 will officially start a few days back, i was really hyped to go catch some of the films set to be screened. Last Thursday, together with Howie and Manongski we went to CCP to catch the rerun of Endo and the very first film of director Joel Ruiz, Baby Angelo. Minor disruption: Joel Ruiz is such an eye candy that my boyfriend just kept laughing when i was hanging, gaping - mouth opened - by his every word. I am biased and truly aestheticallyl inclined ;-)
I missed Endo when it was shown months ago. Hearing very good things said about the movie i really took the chance to see what all the hoopla was about. And true enough, Endo did not disappoint. It's a very heart warming coming of age type of story shot using a digital camera, hence the umm non-authentic feel to it sometimes. But whatever "shortcoming" (hey who am i to judge, i have nothing to show for when it comes to the field of movies hehe) the production of Endo had, it made up tremendously with the strong performance of its actors. I heard that Jason Abalos even won the Best Actor award for his role there. Astig!
Next stop, we were supposed to watch 100, a film by Chris Martinez, only tickets were sold out for that night so we ended up watching Baby Angelo. Hmmm.. Howie did not liked this film at all! haha - - Even sending out late night text as to his analysis why he was disappointed with drool-worthy Joel Ruiz' first foray into full lenght films. This after repeatedly insisting before parting ways, that it reminds him of a school project! (ouch! hehe) Seriously though, the production could use some tweaking here and there (rethink maybe some camera angles, focus as well as the decision behind using natural light in most of the scenes - but then again its an indie film with probably less than a shoestring budget hence...) I thought the movie was generally good though, sans for the annoyingly loud audio screeching from time to time. It started out with a good plot line - think David Lynch's Twin Peaks series. But instead of a small town you have an apartment compound, where eveyrone knows everybody but nothing is what it seems. The director's attempt to inject humor in mundane slices of life was without notice. But then it turned suddenly heavy and the initial brilliance was lost with all the drama. Good point: Ruiz probably thought highly of his audience, and didnt feel the need to over explain things, just the same it probably wouldn't fly commercially. Joel Ruiz need not fret, i have a feeling he would be very successful....he is just that HOT!!! :)
Note: I always always reference David Lynch! His films are incredibly surreal and sublime at the same time!
Next stop, we were supposed to watch 100, a film by Chris Martinez, only tickets were sold out for that night so we ended up watching Baby Angelo. Hmmm.. Howie did not liked this film at all! haha - - Even sending out late night text as to his analysis why he was disappointed with drool-worthy Joel Ruiz' first foray into full lenght films. This after repeatedly insisting before parting ways, that it reminds him of a school project! (ouch! hehe) Seriously though, the production could use some tweaking here and there (rethink maybe some camera angles, focus as well as the decision behind using natural light in most of the scenes - but then again its an indie film with probably less than a shoestring budget hence...) I thought the movie was generally good though, sans for the annoyingly loud audio screeching from time to time. It started out with a good plot line - think David Lynch's Twin Peaks series. But instead of a small town you have an apartment compound, where eveyrone knows everybody but nothing is what it seems. The director's attempt to inject humor in mundane slices of life was without notice. But then it turned suddenly heavy and the initial brilliance was lost with all the drama. Good point: Ruiz probably thought highly of his audience, and didnt feel the need to over explain things, just the same it probably wouldn't fly commercially. Joel Ruiz need not fret, i have a feeling he would be very successful....he is just that HOT!!! :)