Looking forward to MMFF 2017

The winners of the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 had been announced and we would like to congratulate all the winners. We have finished watching all eight official entries and we would like to commend them for being a part of the festival.

The MMFF 2016 officially ended yesterday after the appeal of the MMFF Execom to extend the screening of the eight entries fell on deaf ears. Most probably, only the entries that are earning money – “Die Beautiful,” “Seklusyon,” “Vince & Kath & James” and “Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2”— will have additional screening days until January 7th.

But those movies that did not fare well at the box-office – “Saving Sally,” “Sunday Beauty Queen,” “Oro” and “Kabisera” —will be replaced by other movies that are opening today, like “Mang Kepweng Returns” starring Vhong Navarro. Or there still might be holdover screenings for “Super Parental Guardians” which was shown at the theater near us from December 25 until January 3, the entire duration of the festival.

We laud the efforts of MMFF executives to appeal to theater owners to extend the screenings of entries but we also understand that theater owners have to earn money too.

If we are to believe reports that the festival gross this year pales in comparison with that of 2015, maybe the change that the MMFF 2016 aimed for did not hit its target as far as revenue is concerned.

True, there were long lines in malls where we went but maybe the earnings were still not big enough. Nevertheless, we would like to applaud the MMFF Executive Committee for bringing back quality movies to the festival, not just the moneymakers that was the practice for several years.

As for the awards given out last December 29, while we agree with some of their choices like Paolo Ballesteros for best actor and Christian Bables for best supporting actor both for the movie “Die Beautiful,” we had our personal choices in some categories. This is not to undermine the choices of the MMFF jury but we feel that these actors and movies ought to be rewarded as well for their work.

For Best Actress, our bet is Ms. Eugene Domingo for “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2.” Ms. Irma Adlawan (who won Best Actress for “Oro”) and Nora Aunor (who was nominated for “Kabisera”) were both good but personally, we feel that Ms. Eugene was excellent in her role in “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2” where she made a caricature of herself. Her role is more complex yet she nailed it to the core. We could not think of any other actress who can do justice to the role except her.

“Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2” is even better on second viewing, the same with “Saving Sally” starring Rhian Ramos and Enzo Marcos.

We would have loved to see Gladys Reyes winning the best supporting actress award for “Die Beautiful” for her role as the suffering sister of Paolo’s character.

For the best screenplay, our personal choices are “Die Beautiful” by Jun Lana and “Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2” for Chris Martinez.

Our choice for Best Picture is “Die Beautiful” as well, with “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2” as a close second.

“Seklusyon” is a very technically well-crafted film but we didn’t like it that much as a movie. Yes, it won best screenplay but we were lost as to its real intention. Maybe we just saw it differently as we didn’t see what the jury saw for us to say that yes, it deserves to win best screenplay.

As for “Kabisera,” while we loved Ate Guy’s performance, the movie suffers from bad writing and bad direction. The idea of having two directors work on it did not give the film the right focus.

“Sunday Beauty Queen” is good, as well as “Saving Sally.” While “Oro” boasts of good performances, we personally didn’t really like it. But we are not discrediting the awards it won, although there is an issue regarding the scene with a dog being killed.

Overall, we enjoyed watching all eight entries (we even watched some entries twice) and this early, we are wondering what sort of films will make it to the next edition of the MMFF.

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Vhong’s “Mang Kepweng Returns” is the first Tagalog film that is debuting after the MMFF. Today also happens to be Vhong’s birthday and this is the first time that a movie of the “It’s Showtime!” host is being released on his special day.

Playing his leading lady is Kim Domingo who was absent at the movie’s major press conference before Christmas.

“Mang Kepweng Returns” was one of the movies that failed to enter the Magic 8 of this year’s MMFF.

The movie was directed by GB Sampedro, who is a good friend of Vhong. It had been their wish to do a film together and they are hopeful that “Mang Kepweng Returns” will appeal to millennials.

Also in the cast are James Blanco and Sunshine Cruz who play husband and wife.