Thursday, May 30, 2019

LESSONS LEARNED FROM QUEZON'S GAME (REVIEW)

A few friends asked me if I have watched any of the recently released Filipino films. I told them “I haven’t watched any Filipino film during the past 2 months or so,” until  a  few  days  ago,  I  opted  to  watch “Quezon’s Game”  which   opened   last   Wednesday.    I  thought  it  would  be  interesting  to  watch "Quezon’s Game" which offers something new to Filipino audience.

To be honest, I don’t have much idea about President Quezon except that he was the first President of the Philippines under American Commonwealth rule and more so, I had no idea that he initiated the entry of thousands of Jews into the country and saved them from being exterminated during the Holocaust era.   I don't know, but I don't remember anything that it was taught in school, probably not. No wonder we see a lot of Zimmermann, Kauffman and Geisler surnames in the country, some of them figured in local show business. I understand that the surname of President Duterte's legal wife is Zimmerman; could she be a descendant of the group that arrived in the country during the Halocaust era?  

The bio film that I expected, turned out to be a saga of how President Quezon persuaded the American government to allow entry of Jewish refugees into the country. Most of the scenes were shot in-door and focused mainly on the topic amidst disapproval from his allies and foes within his government.  Apparently there were 10,000 visas issued but only 1,200 were able to reach Philippine shores as Japan invaded the country in 1941 (just 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor).  Eventually, President Quezon died of severe tuberculosis during the Japanese occupation, two years before the country was finally liberated in 1946.  

The movie, set in the late 30’s shows another side of Manila during the colonial period.  We saw a beautiful city with "calesas" and tranvias (streetcars) lined up the streets of Manila. There’s an ambiance of American elite culture, with soirees and jazz parties frequently held at the palace with mostly American guests and top officials who played poker games with the President. From another perspective, the film looks like more of a Hollywood film than a local one.

Some well known personalities from prominent political clans plays important roles in the story,  notably Sergio Osmena, Sr. (who was the Vice President then), Manuel Roxas and a few others.  President Quezon mentioned that he was not happy with the way Filipinos were treated by the Americans and back in the days some streets and restaurants in Manila didn't allow entry of the locals.  He also reminded the Vice President (who was going to the oval office in Washington to act as emissary), that he will have to  find toilets designated for colored people as it was segregated from the whites.

In 2009, Israel erected a monument in honor of President Quezon’s heroic act for opening doors to the Jews during the time when the rest of the world rejected them.  This is also the reason why Israel grants visa-free access to all Filipinos as a gesture of gratitude. In 1947, the Philippines was the only country in Asia to vote the partition of Palestine leading to the creation of Israel. The ending credits and video clips helps the audience understand more of the story and the aftermath of the President’s efforts that saved thousands of Jews from holocaust.

Quezon’s Game is a great film and it will go down the history of Philippine cinema as one of the best Filipino films ever produced albeit directed by a non-Filipino.  Raymond Bagatsing played the title role  but if I may comment, I find his accent too American and hearing President Quezon speak, you can easily trace his Filipino accent but nonetheless Bagatsing gave an excellent performance. The Director, Matthew Rosen is a British national of Jewish lineage and has been living in the country since the 80’s. I hope the movie does well at the box-office.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

FILIPINO FILMS STRUGGLES TO COPE WITH HOLLYWOOD DOMINATION

Filipinos love to watch movies but while Hollywood blockbuster movies continue to take up the most rooms in cinema houses, the local film industry continue to suffer huge losses with a series of box-office flops specially this year.  From the 39 local films released this year, only two films successfully breached the Php 100M mark gross ("Alone Together" and "Eerie") and the rest were box-office flops, many of which had to be pulled out from theater runs due to poor ticket sales.

Observers attributes the low ticket sales to varying-factors. Movie ticket price increases every year and with the heavy traffic in the city and high cost of living, people would rather just stay at home, watch TV or watch movies on Netflicks. Others engaged in other forms of entertainment using digital platforms, credit it to emerging trends that is shaping modern lifestyle today brought about by technological change.  However, given all these constraints, Hollywood films still continue to capture big audience share and lord it over locally produced films.  One wonders - are the local filmmakers doing the right projects? or we just can't compete with Hollywood. 
The Sharon Cuneta (Kuwaresma) and Gerald Anderson-Julia Barreto (Between Maybes) starrers were shown recently and box-office wise, the two movies were simply blown out of the water by the Keanu Reeves action flick "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum." Both films received good reviews and enjoyed adequate theater runs, however, the positive reviews did not translate to box-office success.  The following week big films like "Alladin" "Godzilla" were shown and further affected the two local movies.

Coming Soon

Three films of different genres are set to premier this week.  The first one is "Quezon's Game," a movie that pays tribute to former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon.  The movie is a co-production of Kinetek, IWant and Star Cinema and has won several awards and recognition from international film festival overseas.  The other two are "Finding You" by Regal Films and "Banal" by APT Entertainment; both caters to young audience.  "Quezon's Game" is a period movie directed by a foreign director (Matthew Rosen) with a cast of foreign and local actors headed by Raymond Bagatsing playing the title role.

Now, which movie will be successful at the box-office?  Having three local films with the same playdate and compete with each other  is certainly not a good idea.  This is something that local film industry leaders should take into account. Last year was not a bad year with  at least 9 or 10 films exceeding 100m gross.  Among the non-MMFF top grossers last year were "The Hows of Us," "Sid&Aya," "Exes Baggage," and "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral."

But I still believe that local cinema is not dying.  We had "The Hows of Us" last year and it just proves that the local movie industry can still produce a monster hit.  Local filmmakers just have to be more creative, focus on entertainment values and go with the times. There were times that rom-com movies were being shown one after the other.  I feel that there's a bit  of over-production of indie films and likewise mainstream movies offers almost the same genres with the same flair and it's just as good as watching a regular tv episode where one can watch for free.  Moviegoers prefers high tech movies with high production and entertainment values and this is why Hollywood films clicks and moviegoers deserves better movies that is worth their hard earned money.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

2019 MYX MUSIC AWARDS

NADINE LUSTRE GETS FULL SUPPORT FROM HER FANS, DOMINATES 2019 MUSIC AWARDS
Nadine Lustre edged out hitmakers Moira de La Torre and Morissette for Female Artist of the Year and took home 4 awards namely:

- Artist of the Year
- Female Artist of the Year

- Music Video of the Year: “St4y Up” by Nadine Lustre directed by Petersen Vargas
- Media Soundtrack of the Year: “Prom” by Nadine Lustre and James Reid
Millenials’ favourite and Idol Philippines judge Moira dela Torre bagged two trophies: Mellow Video of the Year and Collaboration of the Year (“Kung Di Rin Lang Ikaw” by December Avenue feat. Moira dela Torre).
Moira also received recognition from Spotify as “2018’s most streamed Filipino artist.
Winners of  Myx Music Awards are determined by popular fan votes through the internet (60%) and 40% artist votes,  Just like Nadine, her boyfriend also dominated Myx music awards last year.  It's hard to compete with artists who has organized voting scheme in place.  Let's face the reality, Nadine didn't have any hit last year and if there was any, it was only on Myx music chart which is again, voted by fans. i feel the judging process should be changed in order to be more accurate - say 40% from fans and 60% from artists.
Full List of Winners:
Music Video of the Year: “St4y Up” by Nadine Lustre directed by Petersen Vargas
Song of the Year: “Buwan” by Juan Karlos
Artist of the Year: Nadine Lustre
Group of the Year: BoybandPH
Male Artist Of the Year: Darren Espanto
Female Artist of the Year: Nadine Lustre
New Artist of the Year: I Belong To The Zoo
Rock Video of the Year: “In My Prison” by IV of Spades directed by Raymond Dacones
Urban Video of the Year: “Nadarang” by Shanti Dope directed by Hush Magtoto
Mellow Video of the Year: “Tagpuan” by Moira dela Torre directed by John Prats
International Video of the Year: “Fake Love” by BTS
Remake Of The Year: “Dying Inside To Hold You” by Darren Espanto
MYX Bandarito Performance of the Year: I Belong To The Zoo
Media Soundtrack of the Year: “Prom” by Nadine Lustre and James Reid
MYX Celebrity VJ of the Year: AC Bonifacio
Music Video Guest Appearance of the Year: Maris Racal for the video “Lumang Tugtugin” by Inigo Pascual
Collaboration Of The Year: “Kung Di Rin Lang Ikaw” by December Avenue feat. Moira dela Torre
MYX Magna Awardee: Rivermaya

Congratulations to JK Labajo, IV of Spades, Moira and Shanti Dope, well deserved recognition.  I feel that IV of Spades deserves the Group of the Year award than BoybandPH. The winner of La Banda franchise (Pinoy Boyband Superstar) has yet to come up with a monster hit or a least a mild hit to make their presence felt in the industry.  Nadine Lustre winning the Artist of the Year is an overstatement - just my opinion.  If there's anyone who deserves this award, it's got to be JK Labajo whose monster hit "Buwan" made a huge impact and leveled up OPM into another leap of success after slowing down during the past few years.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

IDOL PHILIPPINES JUDGES DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS

Now on its 3rd week, TV ratings for reality show Idol Philippines continue to soar up but draws mixed reactions from viewers on social media with varying comments (and violent reactions) thrown on the four judges. Some says the reality show is getting to be like a mini extension of GGV and It’s Showtime, with Vice Ganda making fun of contestants - typical of a comedy bar.  At one point viewers observed that Regine was a bit peeved when a few contestants successively sang Moira’s songs. Viewers also quipped that Moira and James looks too young to sit as judges with the former looking like she’s ready to fall asleep (any moment) whenever she opens her mouth (charot lang).  When they are not happy with the contestant’s performance, they would say  “sorry is this just not your time yet, you have the voice, you're talented, it's just not ready." But they say the opposite to good-looking contestants and  would tell them - okay "we'll give you a chance to improve so it's a yes for now."  
It would have been better, in my opinion, to have Regine Velesquez, Jaya and Arnel Pineda (if to add a bit of international flair) instead of Vice Ganda, Moira and James Reid and have Luis Manzano do the hosting or have Billy Crawford shift to  the judging panel instead. James and Moira are too young and inexperienced compared to the recommended judges as mentioned above. Vice Ganda is a comedian and more of a novelty singer.

Some says instead of focusing of the talent itself, the show put more emphasis on back track stories with a series of sob stories all you can think of, from cancer patient to a neglected son, fit enough to be featured on Charo Santos drama anthology MMK. But nonetheless it proves one thing -- the Philippines is a country of singers and there are just too many undiscovered talents out there and this is a big opportunity for them to showcase their talent in one of the world’s most popular reality singing competition.  

But whatever they say, I find the show entertaining.  I think it is fair to say that all the judges are doing their job well; it’s just that what is American Idol in the U.S. is different from Idol Philippines and with Vice Ganda around, expect the scenario to be like a comedy bar, but this is what clicks with the audience so be it. 

This early, among those who are likely to advance to the next round  are Jasper Lacson, Lance Busa (winner of Bolt of Talent), Dan Ombao, Kevin Hermogenes, Juancho Gabriel and Matty Juniousa.   

Thursday, May 9, 2019

OPM IS HERE TO STAY


OPM is alive and kicking, giving the local music scene a vibrant mood with successive viral hits.   "Dalagang Pilipina" by new group Almo$t is the current toast of the town alongside with "Buwan," and "Mundo."

"Wish 107.5 FM mobile Bus” is instrumental in helping local artists showcase their music. It has become so popular, enjoying massive support from its 5.5 million subscribers on YouTube.  It's beyond conventional, providing platforms where local artists are invited to perform live and their performances are posted on Wish 107.5 YouTube channel.  The platform boosted music careers of new breed of artists like IV of Spades, Shanti Dope, TJ Monteverde, Marc Carpio to name a few.  They also give awards annually, aimed to pay tribute to acts and artists who have given significant contributions in the music scene. 

Here are three of the most viewed live performances on Wish 107.5 Mobile Bus (covers of foreign songs are excluded).

1) "Mundo" (IV of Spades) - 113,853,780 views
2) "Bakit Ba Ikaw" (Michael Pangilinan) - 109,589,371
3) "Akin ka na Lang" (Morissette Amon) - 79,790,782

"Dalagang Pilipina” by Almo$t is on its way to the top gaining 50,743,478 views in just 5 months. The song has elicited massive memes online.

Inigo Pascual’s monster hit “Dahil Sa'yo” is still one of the most viewed in the music-lyrics category with  93,115,246 views.   Other popular music videos includes old and new hits like Sam Concepcion’s “Dati.” Yeng Constantino’s “Ikaw,” KC Tandingan’s “Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako,” and “Kathang Isip" by Ben&Ben.  24 year old Moira de la Torre writes her own songs, creating her own style which sits well with millenials.
It is interesting to note that record labels have found alternative ways to combat poor CD sales using digital platforms and earning through commercials.

JK Labajo has his own YouTube channel with more than 300k subscribers, boosted by his monster hit “Buwan.”  The song had only 57 million views at the start of the year but jumped to 113 million views in barely 5 months. 

OPM has widened its audience in the region eliciting various covers by foreign wannabes.  Moster hits like “Buwan,” “Akin Ka Na Lang,” and “Take That Man” elicit more "reaction videos" from foreign vloggers.

Young and vibrant Funk Pop/Rock group IV of Spades continue to shine even without their former front-man.  These young and talented lads write their own songs and has already performed in Hongkong and Indonesia. They are currently on national tour and will soon invade some key cities in the U.S.

Kpop vs OPM?

I admit that I do like a few KPop songs but I have never been a big fan of them.  With the recurring popularity of OPM music, be it rock, pop or funk rock, who needs Kpop?  Let’s support Original Pilipino Music.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...