One More Chance: A Filipino All-time Favorite Film

 

After One More Chance was shown in the movie theaters way back in 2007, it created a character-hangover that everyone who watched it wants to be the main character of the film – Popoy & Basha.

Aside from having two of the biggest stars in the contemporary Philippine Cinema, John Lloyd Cruz & Bea Alonzo, movie goers especially teenagers can completely relate to the plot of the story.

One More Chance portrayed a story of Popoy (John Lloyd) and Basha (Bea) wherein they needed a space in their relationship to find themselves for a while. Popoy is an engineer while Basha is an architect. Basha was the one who first asked to have a ‘cool-off’ in their relationship because she felt like Popoy is being so overprotective to her, depriving her of her freedom as a person. It had been a hard process for Popoy to accept the reality that Basha wanted space. He drowns himself every night & cries every time he remembers and imagines his memories with Basha. Until such time that Popoy wa able to retrieve himself and he met Trisha (Maja Salvador) and they started dating each other until finally, Trisha became Popoy’s new girlfriend. Popoy and Basha met each other because they need to design the house of Popoy’s aunt. It was a promise that Popoy and Basha made to Popoy’s aunt when they were still together, that they will design her house. Seeing Popoy strong again after their break-up, it made Basha feel a sudden regret. She wants to have Popoy back again. Popoy being overridden by his pride and pain decided not to make up with Basha. Popoy decided to leave the country for a working opportunity abroad at the same time, to think over his relationship with Basha. After such time, Popoy returned the country and meet Basha in the site where Basha is the architect of the building. Popoy then, invited Basha for a coffee and a talk, and that’s how the story ended.

One More Chance’s Influence on Pinoy Teenagers

The character of Basha benchmarked the idea that if a woman is broken hearted or is in the process of moving on, one way to predict that situation is when that woman will cut her hair short. Basha dictated that trend which now influenced the stereotyping power of the youth. Teenagers now stereotypes that if a woman cuts her hair short, it means she underwent a break-up or is totally depressed.

One More Chance also gave its viewers lines or dialogues in the movie that they will never forget.

 One More Chance proved the “mirror image” by Lacan in the Psychonalytical  Film Theory. The viewers were able to relate to the film because somehow, they find their personality in one of the characters in thr film or they find their lovestory exactly the same as the film’s characters. The film gave them a mirror image which reflected their own story.

One More Chance currently holds the 6th place in highest-grossing Filipino film of all time. 

How One More Try ruled the 38th MMFF

“Ang pera natin hindi basta-basta nauubos. Pero ang pasensya ko, konting-konti na lang.” is one of the famous lines in the film One More Try that became viral in almost all media channels that made people curious about the film. 

 

“Deviant” is the adjective that best suits the film One More Try. One More Try won the Best Picture Award in the recently held 38^th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). The film was directed by Ruel S. Bayani.

One More Try benchmarked another twist in Philippine drama film’s storyline. From the title, “One More Try” it might give the mass an impression that its all about the wife-husband-mistress love affair story.

One More Try highlighted a story about trust, love and mother-son love.

From the storyline, build-up of the story up to the characters, all were deviated.

The lead characters were Angelica Panganiban (as Jacq), Dingdong Dantes (as Edward) and Angel Locsin (as Grace) disclosed another side of the coin in their acting styles in the film.

Angelica Panganiban who played the role of Jacq, a loving and successful career woman who has a hard time giving his husband a child turned the other side of Angelica’s acting. Audience usually see Angelica in her films as daring, liberated, loud and a party-girl type of character,  she was able to conquer her dramatic role as a wife in OMT. Jacq, tries to be a perfect wife because she thinks that it’s the only way she can do for Edward (Dingdong Dantes) to ease Edward’s longing to have a child. Jacq is an understanding wife who supports all the possible options in order to save Botchok (Edward & Grace’s son) She’s so supportive that she lend his husband to Grace for a one night stand.

 

Dingdong Dantes played the role of Edward who is a husband that is longing for a child. During his college years, Edward made a mistake when she fell inlove with Grace (Angel Locsin) and their affair resulted to their son. Dingdong showed a romantic and daring character in the film as he had love scenes with Angelica and Angel .

 

Angel Locsin played the role of Grace, a mother who will do everything just to save her son from his illness. Angel admitted in an interview with Boy Abunda that she had a hard time in her role since it is her first time to act the role of being a mother. Angel of course, never experienced to be a mother in real life which added the difficulty of her character. Botchok (Miguel Vergara) is Grace & Edward’s son who is diagnosed with a disease & is recommended by the doctor to have an urgent bone marrow transplant. The last and only option to cure their son is to have another baby and to conceive it in a natural way. Grace will do everything just to save the life of their son. She agreed to have a one night stand with his former love interest, Edward. No feelings attached, just sex.

The storyline of the film also tackled about trust in marriage. Jacq agreed to lend Edward to Grace for a one night stand in order to conceive another child which will give cure to their son’s disease. The martyrdom of Jacq of doing that simply shows that there is a trust in their relationship though it tainted their relationship at first.

One More Try being the “deviant” film in the MMFF led them to be the Best Picture on the recent Metro Manila Film Fest. Dindong Dantes won as the Best Actor in this film. 

Women as Peacemakers in Philippine Film

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” 
― Nora Ephron

                                          

It has always been an issue that women are powerless beings. They are often called the “submissive” while men are the “dominant” In the book Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, Anastasia Steele changed Christian Grey’s perception on women as his submissive and that women are objects for pleasure. Anastasia was successful in breaking the taboo that women are just mere followers of men.

In the early Philippine Cinema, women were portrayed to be powerless individuals too. In the film, Tinimbang Ngunit Kulang (Weighed But Found Wanting) by Lino Brocka on the year 1974, Kuala (Lolita Rodriguez) went insane because Cesar (Eddie Garcia) forced to abort their child. On the scene when Kuala was undergoing the process of abortion with the folk healer, you will see that Cesar covers her mouth to prevent her from shouting, he also hold a tight grip on Kuala’s hands that hinders her from escaping the process. With the non-verbal cues presented, it was a clear portrayal that a woman is a powerless and weak individual on the film.

           

 

                       

After the abortion, Kuala went insane. It is a symbol that women are emotionally weak because Kuala was not able to handle the loss of her child. Kuala then met Betong Ketong (Mario O’Hara) who then became the father of their child.

According to Genderlect Theory of Conmunication, there is a difference between the two genders. Women seek connection, men seek status. This may be the reason why we can’t find women as abusing, arrogant and as superior as men on films. Women on Philippine films are often the peacemaker. If you happen to see a film that has a scene of gang war, there is always a woman beside the antagonist male character who will speak sweetly and convince him to keep calm and chill.

 

           

Darna, who is a heroine in the Pinoy comics of Mars Ravelo lived during the 1940s is a perfect example how the image of women changed – from being powerless to superheroine. Darna’s mission is to fight and keep the peace in the community. She fought criminals and other villains.

Though women attracts male audiences because of the so called “woman’s body power” Darna’s birth gave the Filipino movie goers a new side of women when she had her first action flight in 1951  in Fernando Poe Senior’s Royal films production- “DARNA” 

 

The Matrix (1999) A Film Review

We are all residual images living inside the matrix.

The Matrix is a 1999 movie by the Wachowski brothers that falls under the science fiction film genre. The theme of the movie can be a metaphor of many situations happening in the present. It can be a metaphor for technologically entangled individuals, for man’s superiority, for a psychological state that might be happening inside a human’s brain and it can also be man’s attitude towards the government.

The movie detached us from the real world in order for us to see the other side of the world. I perceived the story as a heroic story. I found a hero in Neo’s character. Neo was destined to save Morpheus and the rest of the team. Like a butterfly, he underwent metamorphosis to discover himself. It took him time to discover his capabilities and his potentials. When the hardest test inside the Matrix world came, he realized that he is the one – the one destined to create change.

The Matrix is a computer generated real world that best represents our dreams. We are living in a Matrix, a world that is being governed by our dreams. We are all residual images that keep on imagining who we want to be. That sometimes, we are being satisfied with the pleasure that we get from dreaming. Neo can be a metaphor of our hidden side. A side that we still haven’t discovered yet. There is a hero inside each of us that is being hindered by our fears and our doubts. Like what Neo did, we have to overcome those fears and let courage live above us. We have our mission for existence. In the film, Neo’s mission is to save his team and to find his successor. In reality, our mission is to get out of the imaginary world and actuate our dreams.

For me, The Matrix movie has only one message – to accept and start change.

In artistic aspects, the movie is formalist-inspired. It has psychological implications and it depicts a virtual world. The movie changed the dimension of the viewers in a way that they made use of a computer system to indicate the setting of the film. It is superficial and the characters’ life inside the Matrix is being supported by the system. Over all, the Matrix movie is another benchmark film in the genre of SciFi movies.

 

(C) JAPascua2012

 

Young Film Readers

This blog site is a requirement for our Cinema102 class which is Film Theory and Criticism.

Expect a lot of film reviews of old and new films here. 

 

(c) PASCUA | OLARTE 2012

The Breaking Dawn 2 (Trailer)

title=”The Breaking Dawn 2 (Trailer)”>The Breaking Dawn 2 (Trailer)

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