SARI-SARING SINENG PINOY

Filipino Movies I'm Thankful For

'MERIKA (Adrian Films, 1984)
Directed By: Gil M. Portes

An affecting portrait of loneliness so thoughtfully realized by Nora Aunor's  touching performance and Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. and Gil Quito's homely screenplay.

BATCH '81 (MVP Pictures, 1982)
Directed By: Mike de Leon

Ostensibly the story of seven young men who join a college fraternity, Batch '81 is an orgy of physical and psychological violence.  What makes the film classic is its use of the technical virtuosity displayed by Mike de Leon to convey political, social and philosophical meaning.

TUBOG SA GINTO (LEA Productions, 1971)
Directed By: Lino Brocka

Based on a Mars Ravelo serial, Tubog Sa Ginto dared to explore the life of a married homosexual, a bold pioneering attempt to treat the subject with honesty and compassion.

BILANGIN ANG BITUIN SA LANGIT (Regal Films, 1989)
Directed By: Elwood Perez

Regal Films' competent melodrama painstakingly deals with the discourse of love and the pleasure of romance, of true love even, it valiantly stands its ground and never succumbs to the facile polemics of orthodox feminism.

LILET (Velarde & Associates Film Productions, 1971)
Directed By: Gerardo de Leon

Using the simplest of resources, director Gerardo de Leon manages to convey the titular character's descent into madness where much of the imagery is memorably revolting or surreally disturbing.


KUNG AKO'Y IIWAN MO (LEA Productions, 1980)
Directed By: Laurice Guillen

Nora Aunor's performance in the film has been criticized as patingin-tingin lang. This was Ingmar Bergman's contribution to World Cinema, an understanding of the face develops the plot and lights up inward emotions obscured by verbalization.


BAGETS (VIVA Films, 1983)
Directed By: Maryo J. delos Reyes

Loyalty, moral values and philosophical outlook are all put to task in Bagets, a film that celebrates and chastises the decadence of youth.

MGA LIHIM NG KALAPATI (FLT Film Productions, 1987)
Directed By: Celso Ad Castillo

Just as riveting and engaging as the film's texture is its rhythm which is almost stenographic in movement and nervous in its flourishes. Complimenting Mga Lihim Ng Kalapati's consistency in visual design is the highly plastic rendering of the unconscious fears, premonitions, nightmares as it intercepts the lived moments of waking reality.

ANG PAGDADALAGA NI MAXIMO OLIVEROS (UFO Pictures, 2005)
Directed By: Auraeus Solito

It is a movie about family values, not so much about sexual orientation but about clannish relationships that underpin much of the Filipino's resilience and strength amid adversity. Poignant and deeply touching, Maximo Oliveros shows how innocence is no insurance against violence.

IKAW AY AKIN (Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions, 1978)
Directed By: Ishmael Bernal

Ensuing from the competing affections of two women over a man is a struggle that does not at all resort to conventional melodramatic tactics. Ikaw Ay Akin is filled with emotional rigor through which the affairs of the heart are dealt with and dealt intelligently.

THE PASSIONATE STRANGERS (MJP Productions, 1968)
Directed By: Eddie Romero

The Passionate Strangers exhibits visuals that capture the topography of the film's location and the lives of its damned inhabitants. It established progression in the narrative as well as nuances in the behavior, character and action of the dramatis personae simply by resorting to adept composition and minimalist camera approach.

EBOLUSYON NG PAMILYANG PILIPINO (Sine Olivia, 2004)
Directed By: Lav Diaz

Ebolusyon Ng Pamilyang Pilipino is a powerful movie. It is a movie that makes us abide by the torment and agony that is Philippine history in the last thirty years. It relieves the darkness of Martial Law, the dilemmas of the Aquino transition and the bedlam that constitutes the present. The movie explains much of the horror and confronts it.

BOMBA STAR (Regal Films, 1980)
Directed By: Joey Gosiengfiao

How Joey Gosiengfiao's Bomba Star situates Alma Moreno in confrontations and conversations with family and friends in various settings evokes an imagery that is heartfelt but valiant. This holds true of how the film sets up characters whose lives resonate with Moreno such as the one deliciously portrayed by Marissa Delgado.

BULAKLAK SA CITY JAIL (Cherubim Films, 1984)
Directed By: Mario O'Hara

The film's stylish film noir techniques breathe energy into the gripping story of a woman felon. Bulaklak Sa City Jail successfully creates a milieu that overflows with the whole range of human degradation and deprivation. The dark, folk-gothic lighting captures the perverse corruption  of the big city and the lives it mangles.

ONCE UPON A TIME (Regal Films, 1986)
Directed By: Peque Gallaga And Lorenzo A. Reyes

Once Upon A Time used the magic of cinematography and editing to give shape and reality to creatures of the imagination which continue to satisfy not only the childlike but also the mature viewer who secretly longs for the verification of his deepest fantasy.

COMPANY OF WOMEN (Athena Productions, 1985)
Directed By: Mel Chionglo

Company Of Women may be categorized as nothing but pornography which seems to be art only because it seems to be saying something important and because it was beautifully photographed on the whole and is well-acted in parts.