Hope for Filipino Movies

The production of Filipino movies is steadily declining. And the Filipino entertainers sardine themselves in the television shows. Even the famous movie stars of the 80s and 90s are now just settling for the many teleserye shows (TV series) of the TV networks. I am not a big fan of highly commercialized Filipino movies but I believe in the local talents. I believe that there is big room for improvement in locally produced movies if only they will be supported, and if the moviegoers will support the right movies.

Whenever I can, I make it a point to support Filipino movies. And a good chance to do this is every Christmas season, when the Metro Manila Film Festival is annually held. At this time, foreign movies are temporarily pulled out to give way to local movies. Last December 2008, I was able to see four of them – Tanging Ina, Desperadas 2, Baler, and Dayo.

Suffice it to say that there is a great lacking in these movies, although I liked Baler and Dayo. It seems like the producers are giving the Filipino viewers what they like, and this sort of reflects what most Filipinos crave for.

However, upon closer inspection, I see hope for our local films. The likes of Baler and Dayo showed great promise. Baler, in my opinion, was very commercialized as it banked greatly on the fame of lead stars Jericho Rosales and Anne Curtis, but it at least showcased the realities of hard times during the days of Spanish colonialism in the late 1800s.

Dayo is an animated film that did poorly in the recently concluded MMFF. It will be unfair to compare it to American animated films that use more advanced graphic technology. There were instances when the characters looked flat, but for starters, I find this forgivable. Dayo can hold up on its own. It had a very good storyline although it faltered towards the middle. And sadly, the movie hardly filled up the theaters.