
2009 Cinemalaya: 10 Finalists
24K
Directed by Ana Agabin

Find out what being a “certified treasure hunter” is all about. Julio Diaz plays a middle-class treasure hunter who has been digging for Japanese treasure for years. He and his companions are in the final stage of their current site in the mountains of Suyo, Ilocos Sur, an area reputed as a Japanese stronghold during World War II. All the signs at their site indicate that they are certain to find treasure.Sounds boring to me, but I am always in this festival hoping for the best. It looks like a contender to be, being somewhat historical in a way. I think that they do like this kind of movie, like last year's "Concerto". Though I yawned most of the times, I find it baffling that it got rave reviews. But something tells me that this movie might really be a surprise. We'll see.
Ang Nerseri (The Nursery)
Directed by Vic Acedillo, Jr.
Directed by Vic Acedillo, Jr.

The film tells the story of Cocoy, a 12-year-old boy who is given a monumental task of responsibility of taking care of his older siblings while his mother, Mai, goes to the remote province to get financial assistance to pay the expensive hospital bills of her three mentally sick children. His mother is gone for two weeks and Cocoy’s struggle in managing his personal, school and home life is a nerve-racking challenge. In the end he faces truth and life head-on as he fights for his own sanity.Intriguing! I think that Filipino's have a soft spot for heart tugging movies and this movie might be it. Might be this year's "Boses". I am really a sucker for films that centers on children, and child actors who deliver outstanding performances (but I am addicted to movies about old people).
The film evolves the character of Fe, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who is forced to come home due to the effects of the global financial crisis. She returns to her rural town only to find that her husband has grown to be hostile towards her. His unpredictable mood often leads to physical violence but Fe turns the other cheek. Fe later on finds out that his husband's attitude toward her is because of an affair with another woman. As this happened, Fe tries to break away from the abusive relationship and finds refuge in the arms of another man, Arturo, who happens to be her former suitor. But Arturo is also married and due to his obligations to his own family, he cannot elope and with Fe. When the men in her real life cannot live up to her needs, she turns to a mysterious suitor who offers her the fantasy of an escape. The term panggagahasa used in the title does not only refer to the sexual kind but also other acts that takes away her social dignity, making her consider fixes no matter how unlikely they may seem.This is the movie that really got me interested. Not just because of the title but because Irma Adlawan is in it, and I go wherever she goes just like what I do with Mailes Kanapi. I think that the story might not be entirely THAT original but I think that it has a shot of becoming exceptional. The performance might carry this movie. But I really have high hopes for this movie.
Astig's story revolves around the life of four young men whose life stories "parallel and contrast with the landmarks and various images of Manila." It tells the story of Ariel, a conman who has to leave his girlfriend upon learning that she is in love with him; Boy, an expectant young father who has to sell his body to pay his wife's hospital bill; Ronald, a Chinese mestizo who is coming to grips with his identity; and Baste, an overly protective son of an OFW who has to avenge his sister. The film tells the stories of the tough guys of Manila and their resolve to survive the dirt and filth of the "Distinguished and Ever Loyal City."Of all the movies, this one I think has the real shot of becoming the audience's favorite. It is packed with realatively known and famous actors top billed by Dennis Trillo. But I will see this because I am curious how Sid Lucero will folow up his perfect performance in "Selda".
Colorum
Directed by Jon Steffan Ballesteros
From WikiI am seeing this because this is the type of movie that I really like. This is a rare kind of movie here in the Philippines where they put the "veteran" actor/actress as the lead of their movie and the movie centers on him/her.
Dinig Sana Kita is a story of love between Kiko, a deaf young man who loves to dance, with Nina, a troubled rocker girl who has engrossed her self in the world of rock music and abuses her hearing by listening to blaring basses and heavy metal tunes. They meet in a Baguio camp's deaf seminar that mixes deaf and normal-hearing teens in team building activities. This experience help them discover that they have a lot more in common with each other than with their own kind. They find an understanding about music and learn that their lives are not so different. The eventually realize that they understand each other better and more than anyone else despite the gap in communication.Now here's my bet for audience pick if the movie is any good. The creators of "Tulad ng Dati" (one of my fave Filipino films of the decade) backed this movie up and I hope that the conjure the same magic the did and bring it to this movie. This has the potential to be a commercial success because this is a love story of teeny agers. I hope this is good, I really do, please let it not be "Agaton and Mindy". Plus, me loves the poster.
Richard (Felix Roco) and Raymond (Daniel Medrana) are two teenage brothers. Richard is the leader of his gang, "Bagong Buwan," while Raymond is just being inducted into rival gang, "Batang Dilim." Complications at a deadly midnight engkwentro (square-off), when Raymond is given the task of killing his older brother.Curious about this because, the roster includes two gangster, the slums movie. And it will not go without one being compared to the other. I think that this will get less attention because the stars are not that well known but I am waiting for it to topple Astig.
Meanwhile, the City Death Squad lurks the streets. This real-life vigilante group is allegedly backed by the city mayor (Celso Ad Castillo) and responsible for many unsolved murders of teen gangsters. Today, they are hunting down Richard. Will they take the younger brother, too?
Based on a true story, Last Supper No. 3 is a humorous look at the circuitous path our legal system takes to justice. Assistant Production Designer Wilson NaƱawa is tasked to look for a Last Supper to use as a prop for a TV commercial. He finds three, but loses the one owned by Gareth Pugeda. What happens next changes Wilson forever as he spends the next two years entangled in bureaucracy and red tape facing estafa and serious physical injury charges. How will this ordinary man fare against a system he knows nothing about? Will justice prevail for Wilson? Or will he be imprisoned for the loss of Last Supper No. 3?Cinemalaya does not really go with big small movies, usually they award small films. Of the films in the roster, I have a feeling that this movie might be the critics fave. Last year, I predicted that "Jay" will win over "100", and it did. But then again, we'll just wait and see. Mailes Kanapi is in this movie, so expect me to be in the gala showing!
Mangatyanan tells about the story of Laya or Himalaya Marquez, a girl who has never had a complete dream since she was 12. Although her dreams are interrupted not by her waking up but because of his father. Danilo Marquez, his father who is a famous photographer, has constantly abused her sexually as a child and eventually tore her family apart.This movie, if not properly made could easily bomb. I don't have that much interest seeing it. The trailer looks, rather blah and not intriguing at all. Will the movie suck or not?
At present, Laya is 27 years old and has developed a cold attitude to hide the pain of her terrible childhood. She works as a photographer for travel books and was sent to Isabela to capture a rare harvest ritual called Mangatyanan by the dying tribe of Labwanan. What she finds there, however, is a group held together by their desperate leader Mang Renato. Soon, Laya senses a connection between the tribe's problems and her own predicaments.
Events happen and go out of control as the tribe crumbles and Laya is forced to flee but something happens that brings her face-to-face with the past she tried to run away from. The story leaves you wanting to know if she will confront her past or if she will keep on running away.
Sanglaan
Sanglaan looks at seemingly simple relationships and uncomplicated events happening in a very mundane institution. A religious and single-minded businesswoman with a losing proposition, afraid of old age. A timid, vulnerable girl hopelessly in love with a high school crush. A security guard whose wife has a fragile heart. A charming and mysterious seaman just passing through. And a loan shark who won’t take “no” for an answer. These are some of the characters that populate the milieu of Sanglaan, a light, funny, poignant and very Pinoy story about hope and redemption..Could this be the little little film that could? I think that the concept of many stories intertwining into one, is banal and commonplace. I just hope that they spun something golden.


































