Since movie houses opened post-pandemic, it has been my habit to inquire from ticket counter staff how our movies have been doing at the box office.

The other day, when I asked the sales clerk at Trinoma how the movie Five Break-Ups and A Romance was performing, the answer I got was quite positive. The lady said the Alden Richards-Julia Montes romance-drama has been doing very well.

So, what makes a Filipino movie attract audiences these days, I asked further. She said it has to be good, story-wise, it has to offer something new, it has to have great performances.

I sneaked in to watch Five Break-Ups, and although that particular theater had only a handful in the audience, I found that the movie met all three major expectations cited by the ticket lady.

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All eyes are on When I Met You In Tokyo, the reunion movie between Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon, one of 10 entries in the MMFF come Dec. 25.

For one, Vilma and Boyet are featured in a light romantic drama, something they have never done before. While their tandem has stood the test of time since it started in the late 1970s, they were almost always cast in heavy drama roles.

Vilma recalled in a recent media conference that she and Boyet have done the rounds of a variety of roles. They started as young, illicit lovers in Tag-ulan sa Tag-araw, later graduating to married roles and, in the case of Vilma, mistress roles.

Noting the decline being experienced by the local movie industry, Vilma and Boyet aired an appeal to the public to support our own movies. They can start by patronizing all 10 entries in the 39-year-old film festival. By the way, today, Nov. 3, is the 70th birth anniversary of Vilma Santos, movie queen. Happy birthday, dear Vi!

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Elevate is the theme of the 11th QCinema International Film Festival, slated from Nov. 17-26, 2023. True enough, the festival’s film line-up is
mind-blowing.

Filmfest director Ed Lejano announced that the New Horizons section of the 11th edition of QCinema features five acclaimed directorial film debuts.

City of Wind, by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, the Mongolian entry to the 96th Academy Awards, is a coming-of-age film of a young shaman who experiences what it is to be young and in love.

Foremost By Night, by Victor Iriarte, revolves around two women who meet for the first time. One is in search of her biological son, whom she gave up for adoption. The other, unable to bear children of her own, adopted a child she raised as her own.

Scrapper, by Charlotte Regan, is about 12-year-old Georgie, who is wise beyond her years, reconnecting with her absent father after her mother died.

Through The Night, by Delphine Girard, is based on Girard’s Oscar-nominated short film A Sister. In this film, she expands on the fallout of a traumatic event. Women from the Rote Island, by Jeremias Nyangoen, is set on the southernmost island of Indonesia, where a grieving wife who is set to bury her husband is awaiting the return of her daughter.