The Boy Who Stutters

“Don’t fix the broken, you’ll end up the same way.” “I’m not fixing you. I actually like you, the way you are.” Guess what! I have been on both spectra. At times, I wasn’t sure whether I said that or I was the one who replied. Being single this year has placed me in passiveness, but that doesn’t mean I never became active. I tried. I surely tried. I partly regret some people for I neglected them, or they neglected me that’s why I regret them now. It’s shameful to admit that either is almost always the case. This is the third year-ender entry since the inception of this blog and it is getting more personal.  Just a disclaimer.  My head aches. Last year I wrote about heartaches and asked ‘who has a heart that doesn’t ache?’ I guess our heads are no better bearer. What’s worse - being emotionally bruised or physically scarred? I realized pain is still compared even the agony is shared. My head aches and my eyes have no tears to shed. Don’t make me count t...

You might have been wondering if why I didn’t have any letter this week. I didn’t forget it at all. I planned it so you would ask yourself. Or maybe I really have forgotten it and I missed writing to you one. Whatever my reasons are or whatsoever excuses I have, don’t be sad because I have this one for you. For the love of my life, it’s been three months of being together. Three months seemed so fast that I didn’t notice that we have changed maturely and immaturely at the same time. We were thinking what if we didn’t actually end up like this and we didn’t happen. You, being the old Faith I knew, and I, being the same old Ace you all knew. You have affected me in several ways I can’t put words into. You have affected me in several ways I didn’t expect from you. You have affected me in several ways I haven’t known you could do.  And I have affected you so much that you become addicted to me. I guess you are now addicted to the feeling I let you feel and not to only the idea of ...

             Have you ever wanted to watch a movie but due to financial restraints and priority conditions you weren’t able to? Money and Time are indeed prerogatives which everyone does not equally have. In times where the Philippine cinema and film industry is still progressing, or to put it bluntly, struggling for a legitimate identity and worthy recognition, finding ways to attain such goals is not only crucial but also necessary. For instance, efforts by national agencies and organizations like Film Development Council of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Cinemalaya, which have greatly contributed, in their respective dispositions, to the historical development and critical progress of Philippine cinema and film industry still need further reinforcements to achieve its ‘greatest glory’. Having a macro-perspective in finding means to help solve the said struggle, granting free t...

As you walk your way to work, someone hands you a small device. Before you could even see the person and ask what it is, the stranger has mysteriously vanished. Intriguing enough, you kept it until you reached your workplace. You finally recognized it to be a flash drive so you plugged it into your computer and checked what it is. BLUEPRINT OF TIME MACHINE, it says. You opened it and acknowledged that it is; you say so because you are a scientist.             Addressing all scientific complications ever conceived, the blueprint can indeed give a true time machine upon examining – theoretically and scientifically. However, you found a disclaimer at the end that once a time machine is constructed from the blueprint, it will start another world war with a note of PEOPLE FROM THE FUTURE. If the note is rendered true, you then concluded that it was probably someone from the future who gave the source material to you.   Now, s...

“If the field does not provide food for the peasant, then burn every stack of wheat from that field” (Allama Iqbal).  When everything has become political, there is always a huge gap between a majority and the minorities where the latter is more often than not, if not always, oppressed by the former. This has always been the case since time immemorial; the world history proves this with regards to the beginning of political thought and social formations which formed civilizations across lands. From the Eurocentric view of political economy to the modern perspective of the world order, the greed for power in the form of wealth and through politics is greatly sought and lived by people of today and especially of the past. Such ideology for power and domination has caused an immense conflict from people with different dogma, such that of the historically, culturally, and politically marginalized sectors of society. In the context of the Philippines, just like other colonized st...

SYNOPSIS “The story of Ray Kroc, a salesman who turned two brothers' innovative fast-food eatery, McDonald's, into the biggest restaurant business in the world, with a combination of ambition, persistence, and ruthlessness” (IMDb). The Founder is a 2016 biopic film directed by John Lee Hancock, written by Robert Siegel, and starred Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, and Laura Dern; which is based on a true story of how a man gained supremacy in the food industry. The film highlights business principles, personal integrity, and success through wealth as its themes while being a sight of wonder as a motion picture. CONTENT OF THE FILM TACKLED Starting as a salesman, Ray Kroc travels from state to state to offer and market supposedly useful products by Prince Castle but always gets rejected or ignored. Receiving a call of six orders of his 5-spindle milkshake maker, he thought it was a mistake until he finally called the customer to clear the said order whic...

The end of a world war started the beginning of a new world             In commemoration of the centennial of the First World War, a forum was conducted last November 9, 2018 in UP Film Institute where Professor Nick Deocampo, a film historian, gave a lecture entitled “1918: The Year That Changed The World Film Order”.   As an armistice was signed in November 1918 that signaled the end of the WWI, it also signaled a beginning of a new world cinema. The war did not spare much of the European industry, hence Europe has experienced a total devastation of film infrastructure that resulted to an end to their film dominance; whereas the United States of America started its overseas conquest to set up Hollywood , their movie industry, to the world. 1918 also gave birth to the notion of national cinema to Asia particularly that of the Philippines. What followed were history!         ...

"The film is open for interpretation, but i don't owe you any explanation." displays a disclaimer before the movie started. It was necessary after all, you'd realize, as the film concludes. If any, Ariel was conscious that it may be problematic and his film IS indeed problematic. Kings of Reality Shows is the first reality movie in the Philippines that documents Ariel and Maverick’s journey to the US 10 years ago while they were trying to audition for American Idol Season 7. Since the film was canned, Ariel picked up the story where it left off and proceeded to write his true-to-life story. ( Philstar ) Ariel Villasanta persevered to obtain the film rights from GMA films even at the expense of mortgaging his own house. With the help also from his friends - his contemporaries, celebrities, and politicians, he earned the support and received pledges to finally show the movie to the big screen. He doesn't want to have 'regrets'. That's the basi...

Too normal yet resounding, personal but all-encompassing. The statement lies in the subtlety of multiple narratives ingrained in each character and their connection that makes up the film. "Nakakapagod ba akong alagaan?" "Kung alam mo lang."   Sila-Sila (The Same People) is a story of several people. They say it's not a ghost story but a ghosting story. Oh, the nuances indeed. The nuances are paradoxically easy to feel. Regardless of your gender or sexual orientation, you would feel the intimacy, the agony, the desire, the silent but loud feelings. Even the awkwardness, tension, the push and pull drive of the impulse, Gab (Gio Gahol) embodies such persona which displays a conflicted mind and heart. As the story makes someone at his 30s, who is confronted by his personal baggage of the past, the central character, the people that implicated him with happiness and heartbreaks have respective responsibilities and motivations that help him ease that bagga...

What truly sets the Independent Cinema apart from the Mainstream Cinema? The film industry was generally classified financially and thematically into two: the independent and the mainstream. That is why the Philippine cinema has been subject to change, to progress, and even to confuse one with the other. The history of the Philippine Cinema proves this with regard to the Spanish and American influences during their occupation which led to the birth of cinema in the country   (Deocampo) and the political impact of the past which shaped the ‘nation’ and the ‘cinema’ (Campos) . Today, Filipino independent films, also known as “indie films,” have been establishing its identity that distinguishes it from the commercialized mainstream movies or popular cinema through the establishments of various Philippine Independent Film Festivals and the historical feats of independent Filipino filmmakers in both local and international arena. Redefining indie films as its own style or genre in the...