My daughter Anna gave me a unique birthday present: A book on the 100-plus “greatest movies of Philippine cinema” by Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon in collaboration with Joel David.

Jo-Ann and Joel used the term Canon that is perhaps, best understood through its synonyms, List and Body of Work.

This book contains reviews on what are, arguably, the 124 best films in Philippine cinema. “What we wanted,” Jo-Ann writes, “was a list of Filipino films that was the repository of wondrous, esteemed, and outstanding cinema. The co-authors have verified that each listed film has an existing copy so that viewers can watch.

Jo-Ann was founding editor-in-chief of Parents, YES!, and the digital site, Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP.ph). Joel David is one of the stalwarts of the Young Critics that was founded by film critics who sought to improve upon what was being done by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP). Joel later founded another group, Kritika, but he had to pursue graduate studies abroad.

He notes that: “The turning point for film criticism was provided by the sudden technological transition in film production, from exceedingly expensive celluloid to extraordinarily democratic digital format, including its outlet, the World Wide Web” (or simply, the Internet). He notes that this development eventually facilitated the flourishing of blogs during the recent couple of decades “and this is where the idea of the canon took a controversial turn — one that gave individual bloggers freedom from pressures and enabled them to maintain “steady, even voluminous output, according to how the spirit of commentary tended to move them.”

Having worked in a previous book project with Jo-Ann as editor, I could visualize how current events goaded and drove her into finally writing the comprehensive foreword to this epic canon, in which she narrated the ebbs and flows of the collective energy that supported her authorship.

She commendably observes that her interest in good Filipino movies is “sidelined by more consuming interests in — don’t laugh — the misuse of taxes, mine, my neighbor’s and the people’s, followed by my interest in animal rights; because my default movie has become the latest action blockbuster for that deliverance I can touch and taste; because I am no longer fanatical about catching sensational cinema from Asia, Europe, and America, with my default viewing now Gaza and Ukraine, and Sudan besides.”

Jo-Ann explains the title “100 SINE. FILM. PELIKULA.” thus: “We completed a canon that celebrates all that is outstanding in Philippine cinema, we recorded the whys, wherefores, and hows of these 100+ films — the number we managed given the time and circumstance — and now we want all to come and celebrate with us.

The reviews on the 124 films are interspersed with capsules of the outstanding work done by eight outstanding directors who have since been named National Artists, namely, in the order they were honored by the country: Lamberto Avellana (1976); Gerardo de Leon (1982); Celestino ‘Lino’ Ortiz Brocka (1997); Ishmael Bernal (2001); Eddie Romero (2003); Ronald Allan Poe a.k.a. Fernando Poe, Jr. (2006); Manuel Conde (2009); and Eric Oteyza de Guia a.k.a. Kidlat Tahimik (2018).

Perusing the list of 100+ films, I ticked off some familiar titles; they’re familiar because I distinctly remember those from my youthful days when cinema and films were viewed and enjoyed in movie houses — a time when I cut classes to watch blockbuster movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, first released in 1969 when I was a freshman at UP. Other memorable movies of that era were The Godfather and The Sting, the latter starring the peerless tandem of Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Among local film heroes, my generation’s favorite action stars were Fernando Poe, Jr., Joseph Estrada and Ramon Revilla, although it was Lino Brocka’s films that conveyed deeply meaningful social commentary. These included: Minsa’y Osang Gamu-Gamo; Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag.

The films with the shortest titles are LSS, of course, for Last Song Syndrome, produced in 2019; and Jay, released in 2008. The latter is about TV producer Jay Santiago “who goes to Pampanga to feature the family of a slain high school teacher to share his given name.” The former is about Zach and Sarah, millennials “saddled with their own domestic problems who notice each other on a bus ride because of their love for the music of Ben & Ben.”

I hope to be able to view again my personal favorites that Jo-Ann and Joel included in their book: Tinimbang Ka Nguni’t Kulang, Burlesk Queen, Heneral Luna, and Balangiga: Howling Wilderness.

Indeed, movies have a way of shaping minds and hearts like no other media. Beyond leisure and relaxation, they feed us with highly nutritious food for thought.

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