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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider MMFF season

MMFF season

Published Dec 29, 2023 06:07 pm

MEDIUM RARE

Jullie Y. Daza

My introduction to the 49th Metro Manila Film Festival came by way of the waiter who seemed to know I was in his restaurant to feed my tummy before watching a movie. Without any preamble, he offered, “You here for ‘Rewind’? It’s good.”


When I told him the movie was a production of my son-in-law’s company, he didn’t look as if he believed me. “Actually,” I added, “Rewind is for the weekend, ‘cause today I’m here for Vilma.”


I had seen Vilma Santos on TV the night before, acknowledging her best actress honors by beating Eugene Domingo, Pokwang, Sharon Cuneta, Marian Rivera, and Beauty Gonzales. Except for Mrs. Ralph Recto’s win, it was a night of (a few) surprises. “Firefly” was voted best picture, followed at no. 2 by “Gomburza,” which, to be fair, copped seven major awards. A newcomer, Cedrick Juan (for Gomburza) beat the award-winning veteran Christopher de Leon in his role as Vilma’s “forever” in “When I Met You in Tokyo.”


The Vi-Boyet love story came in as fourth best picture in a festival of 10 competing films. But in the opinion of Jean G, an inveterate movie fan who has seen six of those movies as of Dec. 28, When I Met You should’ve been second best. But then Jean was not a juror. In the jurors’ opinion, the highly touted Gomburza, directed by a 30-something director, Pepe Diokno, was only second best and “Mallari,” a horror movie with leading man Piolo Pascual, was third best.


In her acceptance speech, a tearful Vilma asked her audience to go back to watching Filipino movies. The former child star, mayor, governor and congresswoman could very well have added, “The pandemic’s over.” (Inside the theater, I was the only one wearing a face mask; overacting?)


The buzz is that Rewind is the runaway winner in the MMFF race for most tickets sold. Starring the real-life love team of Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, its appeal seems to be to an audience at least one generation younger than those of Vi’s and Boyet’s age. This bit of extrapolating is not scientific, however.


What’s scientific is that Filipino movies now look so technically polished, moviegoers don’t mind paying the same price as they would for a Hollywood blockbuster. 
 

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