Not resting on his laurels

MANILA, Philippines — When you’re a habitual winner like Guerrero Dos, Tuloy ang Laban writer-director Carlo Ortega Cuevas, you don’t rest on your laurels.

Never mind if your awards include Best International Filmmaker at the Festival of World Cinema in London, Best Newcomer Filmmaker of the Year at the World Film Awards in Jakarta, Best Feature Comedy in the Amsterdam International Festival of World Cinema, Best Foreign Feature Film at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Best Screenplay at the International Film Festival in Manhattan, and your world made it to the official selection of Moscow’s seventh Indian Cine International Festival.

You still want to make films that not only tell stories, but make the audience feel better without telling them what to do with their lives.

“I want people to feel the values I want to share,” the young director says.

The challenge, he explains, lies in entertaining his audience while convincing young people that, no matter what they think, it’s never cool to play a truant. It’s not right to skip or be late for school. It’s a lot better to wait for what you want, even though it seems to take forever.

That’s why he came up with what he calls is the “mid-quel” of Guerrero, with 2017 PMPC (Philippine Movie Press Club) Star Awards Best Child Actor Julio Cesar Sabenorio in the lead role. The new film plays around the name Guerrero, a Spanish word for warrior.

Everyone in the cast is a fighter in his/her own right. We meet Miguel (Sabenorio) again, and he’s waiting for his older brother to snap out of coma after getting a severe beating in the boxing ring. There’s Ruben (Art de Guzman), who masks his big capacity to love his ailing wife by snapping at everyone he sees. There’s the nurse (Mia Suarez), who keeps her cool while Ruben launches his non-stop tirades at her.

Cuevas promises a third Guerrero installment if the mid-quel turns out to be successful. After all, the finale scene hints at something yet to come for the Guerreros (yes, that’s as far as this writer can go, for now).

But one thing’s sure. This film is just what the doctor ordered for those who want to stop the world from turning, step out, vanish into thin air, and become but a memory for good.

(Guerrero Dos, Tuloy ang Laban will be shown internationally after its Philippine premiere).