A tribute to MAXI

you have probebly heard about my Maximo experience, but i did not include in the same article, my views about the movie, and being almost nominated for an OSCAR, i figured it is about time i pay tribute to MAXIMO...

the movie ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros, (you know what, its english translation "the blossoming..." is not as special as "ang pagdadalaga" may irony kasi pag tagalog, pag blossoming lang, parang kulang...) has nbeen receiving a lot of awards from the foreign film society... it has am 80+ something percent in the tomatometer, and 100% in ther cream of the crop... it was really fun to see a filipino film be that accepted by the film critics abroad...

Maximo is about a little gay boy who lives... well, if you still dont know the story you better start living your life... come on? really???

in november 2005, the movie was finally shown in mainsteam cinema, with the financial support of Star Cinema... and just by transferring a digital movie to the celluyloid, made a whole lot of difference in tne film industry...

what i like about the movie was that everything about it, was really fresh... it was somethiong new, ok, not really new... but it was different... this was the first filipino movie that was independently made that actually made me wanting more... and then there were a lot more...

in this movie, i came to know Ping Medina, Niel Ryan Sese, and Soliman Cruz... i have seen jeff jeturians bridal shower, so JR Valentin was familiar to me... Both Sese and Cruz were regular "extras" in mainstream TV and Movie, so it was easy to notice tham, but this is the frist time i saw Ping, and i was amazed by his acting... actually i forgot he IS the son of Pen Medina... the movie was very well acted, the whole ensemble was living the moment...

A fellow in Pinoyexchange said that seeing Kuya Bodjie (Pascua) as a bad ass cop, was the coolest thing he ever saw in Phiulippine Cinema, when i've read that, i could not help it, but agree... to all of you oart of my generation, and even after ours, wil always remeber kuya bodjie as our generations version of "steve" of blues clues and to see him kill someone... i was speechless... and then you see him get killed in another film, and then you see him crying in again another film, it just erases everything you remember from childhood...

In 2005, Super! writer Pepe Diokno and Jame Gabrillo, wrote in their critique that the movie was good, but it could have been shot better, and Joselito Zulueta in his review, said that it was not a gay movie, but a film about family... I DISAGREE... although, the respect i have for Mr. Zulueta can never be tarnished, and all his writings i believe in and take as my gospel, but this is the only thing he wrote i disagree on...

because to me, it is a gay film, it ia about a gay boy and his hoodlum of a family... but to me it is still a gay film... perhaps, we always connote gay movies to sex movies... because, i think for us gay movies are the likes of Macho Dancer, Masahista or Tanga and Chos... i am not saying we, as a film going public, and filipino, are bigots when it come to this, but maybe because, being gay was not yet, up until now, presented this way, the way this movie did, we always see gay characters as full of angst, or secretive, to borderline suicidal, we have not seen a gay movie that is just that... about a person, being gay... no sex, no fuss, no muss...

but i agree, the movie made everything sterotypical about being gay and filipino family crumble, -the father was not beating his gay son, gay son was not loud, the brothers loved their little "sister" and they even treat him fairly, no one was ostracizing maxi... and when there was one group, they ended up naked... it transformed the streotypical gay, to an archetypal picture of a filipino gay boy... and perhaps his family...

but more than the good acting and and even better story... this movie really made it... never mind that it was the first film to ever compete in the sundance film fest, or was the first filipino film to be nominated in the independent spirit awards in the US... to me, their greatest achievement happened here., in this country.. when it was shown, in the theaters here in Metro Manila, a lot came rushing to watch the movie.... in groups... to think, all actors were relatively unknown to most people and people, up until today, still talk about maxi. and i think this was the paradigm shift all of us are waiting for... Ang pagdadalaga ni maximo Oliveros was the tipping point of Filipinbo Cinema... a point when the filipino audience decided that we will not let our film industry die, they decided to do something... this movie is like EDSA of the film industry... of course, they did not do this single handedly, writers, all over the country, started telling the people to watch... and most of those who have read their columns went to find out whether it was all they said it to be... and they were not disappointed, we were not disappointed... and then the beginning of the dawning of a new age...of filipino cinema... after the movie, a lot came out, therer was Big Time, then Kubrador, then Kaleldo, then Sarong banggi... but my cousins and some friends still have not seen maxi, and that is all they want to see... and maybe, perhaps, after seeing maxi, they will move on, perhaps to another indie...

i will take this moment to thank those who are part of Maxi, because of their effort, the trust of filipino people to the filipino filmmakers have been rekindled... and hoefully would last...