November 2008 Archives

By Marjorie Gorospe INQUIRER.net ADVOCATING childrenâs rights and mainstreaming classical music is not that easy . Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, however, has done just that through her film âBoses.â Boses is a story of a battered child, Onyok. Abused by his own father, he later finds solace in a shelter. Onyok also learns the violin through his âwoundedâ mentor. The film is a story of friendship between two wounded people: one physically af ter being beaten up by his father and the other wounded due to the passing of a loved one. The filmâs music â mostly coming from the violin -- sets the tone of story. Touching on issues of child abuse, Boses gives a realistic perspecti ve on violence in our society, especially those directed at young ones. In her film, Marfil hopes to explain the ârootsâ of violence involving children . Sometimes, parents burdened with lifeâs concerns blame their children for the ir misfortunes. Throughout the movie, Onyok does not utter a word, a metaphor of a generation o f children suffering in silence. In an interview, Marfil reveals that Onyok (Julian Duque) is actually a musicia n turned actor. âThe issue [which the film hopes to tackle] is that children are abused. But th ere is a way out and thatâs what we need to know,â says Marfil says who hopes t hat the film can open the eyes of viewers to realities of violence against chil dren. After watching the film, a striking message delivered by one the characters was stuck in my head. Cherie Pie Picache, who played the role of administrator in the shelter, declar es: âWala kang karapatang saktan ang anak mo kahit anak mo siya at higit sa lah at dahil anak mo siya [You have no right to hurt your child just because he is your son. He is your son).â

By Gerry Plaza INQUIRER.net MANILA, PhilippinesâA spellbinding victory indeed for Philippine cinema. Visitors to the Cable News Network entertainment web site voted Ishmael Bernal âs âHimala,â which starred Nora Aunor as a simple provincial girl turned faith healer, as the Best Asia-Pacific movie of all time, outclassing such greats as Akira Kurasawaâs âSeven Samuraiâ and Ang Leeâs âCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. â The Filipino classic, originally released in 1982, emerged as the top online vo te-getter in the popular vote that ran in October. CNN announced âHimalaâ as its Asia Pacific Screen Awards Viewers Choice Award w inner on Tuesday in a ceremony in Gold Coast, Australia.

By Anna Valmero Inquirer.net PASIG CITYââWe like to move it!â This hypnotic tune complemented that booty shaking dance of the funny foursome âAlex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the giraffe. Even local stars are mesmerized and can't decide which character to pick as their fa vorite. Watch in the video below. Picking up from where the first movie left off, the zoo animals return to the b ig screen in their âancestral cribâ Africa. With lemur king Julien and Maurice, the four crash-landed on Africa while on the maiden voyage of Air Penguinâs pl ane, run of course by the penguin military quartet. As they set foot on the exp ansive plains, the zoo animals aboard Air Penguin wonder: Africa seems like a g reat placeâ¦but is it better than their Central Park home? Exploring similarities and differences of identity and working our differences encapsulate the more mature themes of the sequel, alongside the nature vs. nurt ure conundrum. For Alex, it was learning the rule of the jungle: losers are booted out or as t he showbiz vernacular says, they donât get the part. It was shocking and even d epressing for Alex when his alpha lion father loses reign due to his sonâs lost . Marty fulfills a life-long dream to run in the wild with his kind, only later to find out that it is not cool to be you when all the others are like you. Me lman becomes the with doctor in the giraffe herd while facing on the side issue s such as his affection for Gloria and his deteriorating health due to his witc h disease. The sassy Gloria encounters a bloat and is warmly welcomed, by hot, chunky male Moto Motoâwho however, can only say to Gloria that âshe is huge.â For the quartet penguins, leader Skipper steals the scene when he shows off his affection for his love doll. The monkeys, who provided outsourcing labor for A ir Penguin plane version 2m, also knew how to demand labor rights such as mater nity benefits. A feast to the eyes, the sequel is characterized by more-realistic details such as the details of each character and the glittering pond water surrounded by a mat of lushâof which rendering is devoted for each grass blade. The film shows the thinning line between computer animation and computer-generated imagery. In the end, each of the four lead animals rose to the challenge and resolved th eir conflicts. More than the similarities with their own kind, they realize dif ferences did not hinder their friendship. More so, when they realize friendship is an effective tool to have when the going gets rough. Innovation and perseverance also bodes well as the quartetâwith the help of the local monkey herdâbuilt again another Air Penguin plane from parts of hijacked jeeps. Speaking of planes, who goes and who stays at Africa? Youâre still reading? Mov e it and find out!

By Marjorie Gorospe INQUIRER.net MARIKINA City, Philippines--- Renei Dimla, creator of an animated 6-minute film Anomi, recently shared her masterpiece, which is a painted glass animated film about the irrelevance of social structure. The short film focuses on the promotion of social consciousness as characterize d by the scavenger who collects flies to sell to the rich. The flies symbolize the decay that can ruin everyone, thus stressing the point that everyone will eventually âdecay.â Dimlaâs Anomi won the first place in the Student Category of .MOVâs Silvershort s Awards last October 2008. Dimla showed her short film to the public at the Magnet: Katipunan together wit h the other short films provided by the event organizer of .MOV (pronounced âdo t-movâ), International Film Festival and Cinekatipunan. âSana matapos ko to at makapasa ako (I just wished to finish this an d pass),â Dimla explains when asked if she had a hint that Anomi would win even tually. She created the film not for any contest but mainly as her thesis. Dimla got the idea of Anomi from her experience in working for an organization in Tondo, Manila, where she saw the contrast between the poor people (the scave ngers) and the rich. âThe point is, our society is really stratified. But whatever our status in the society, we will still all suffer under the same decay and only then that we w ill realize that we are equal, and thatâs the only time weâll realize the fulln ess of life,â Dimla stresses. Dimlaâs idea to use the painted glass animation was inspired by the technique u sed in the film âDoon sa Kabila ng Bulkanâ by Ellen Ramos, which happens to be her mentor when she was still taking up an animation elective in the University of the Philippines. Dimla said that perseverance is the key to coming up with a good animated film. According to her, it is an arduous process and it took her three months to fini sh the animated film. .MOV is the first digital filmfest in the Philippines, which they said jumpstar ted the digital revolution in the country back in 2002.

By Clarence Yu JUST as mysteriously as he came into the American movie industry as "The Man Wi th No Name" in his "Spaghetti Western" trilogy and as Dirty Harry in the landma rk cop drama "Dirty Harry," reports have been leaking over the Internet that hi s latest starrer, "Gran Torino" (originally thought as a last sequel to the Dir ty Harry franchise) would be his last film as an actor. Might I mention again that word, actor. I found this official trailer for "Gran Torino" on YouTube: For Eastwood has, in his storied career spanning over 40 years, been n ot only an actor, but a director who has had to work his way up the ladder for recognition, culminating with his Oscar wins in 1992 as Best Director for âUnfo rgiven,â and in 2004 for âMillion Dollar Baby.â Once dismissed as a âlazyâ actor, most of us now know better that Eastwoodâs te chnique is minimalist in nature, using gesture instead of words to convey meani ng. And being lumped in with Charles Bronson and Burt Reynolds did not exactly help, but Eastwood eventually proved critics and fans alike wrong. As one of my personal heroes and directors/actors, the notion that Eastwood, at the ripe yo ung age of 78, would be retiring from acting is quite sad. He still has the pre sence and capability to act, and a physique that tells you instantly that he co uld probably beat you up with his fingers even if you were a third of his age. Anyhow, Eastwood has just recently completed filming two films up fo r possible Oscar contention next year: âThe Changelingâ as director, starring A ngelina Jolie, and the above mentioned âGran Torino.â Although I have been wron g many times, I think Eastwood rightly deserves recognition as an Actor. The film is described as the story of âWalt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran li ving in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.â Iâm personally hoping that he gets Academy recognition for this film, due out i n the United States this December. Whatever the case, I do hope that if does ri de into the sunset, he does it with the same grace in which he rode in.