Monday, December 05, 2005

ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros

quand maximo oliveros devient une femme. its about a young boy who suddenly grows up, after being placed forcibly in a position where he has to choose sides between his family and his object of affection. his family is poor and steals cellphones for a living. his object of affection is a cop. a man probably twice his age. somehow it works out in the end, where maximo gets over his adolescent infatuations. and his family turns a new leaf.

its a film which has similar elements to european films, where it doesnt try to make any judgements about anyone/anything. or if it does try to preach. its very subtle. you notice how many times "dont buy pirated dvds" was mentioned. but there many scenes maximo is seen doing his favorite hobby (as you might have guessed many filipinos do too) -- watching pirated movies.

there were a number of long pauses in the movie, which might bore people. i did observe there was substance in these pauses. i find that, for philippine cinema, the quality of this story is very rare. Its unconventional and very progressive. and more importantly, its not your typical pinoy entertainment. Church folks, people with homophobia, and conservatives might take offense watching this movie.

Rating 4 of 5 ****
Its refreshing to see a pinoy film with substance

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