The best film for us is Chito Rono’s “Emir”, an endearing musical about the plight of an Ilocana maiden who becomes a governess of the sheik’s son in a Middle Eastern country. Made with a reported budget of P70,000,000 it unfortunately bombed at tills. Next would be “Here Comes the Bride” by Chris Martinez, an escapist comedy about multiple body switches that really succeeds in making viewers laugh out loud; “Till My Heartaches End” by Joey Reyes, definitely the year’s most well written romance with well defined characters that defied the norm in Star Cinema love stories in that the lead characters don’t end up with each other; “Sa’Yo Lamang” by Laurice Guillen, a family melodrama about a broken family with flawed parents that tries to be whole again; “Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria” (Eleuteria’s Dream) by Remton Zuasola, the year’s most innovative film made in one long take using the Visayan language, about a young girl leaving her impoverished family to become a mail order bride; “Sigwa” by Joel Lamangan, a nostalgic look at political activists of the 70s and what happened to them 40 years later.
The year’s list of best lead actresses: Dawn Zulueta as the balikbayan activist connecting with her past while looking for her missing daughter in “Sigwa”, Angelica Panganiban as the bashful bride possessed by a flamboyant gay man and Eugene Domingo as the assertive lawyer possessed by the bashful bride in “Here Comes the Bride”, Kim Chiu as the young nursing graduate who falls in love for the first time and makes her world revolve solely around her man in “Till My Heartaches End”, Lorna Tolentino as the unfaithful wife and mom stricken with cancer and Bea Alonzo as the eldest daughter who finds it hard to forgive her erring dad in “Sa’Yo Lamang”, Jodi Sta. Maria as the impoverished wife and mother who avenges the death of her daughter in “Chassis”, Lovi Poe as the bored young provinciana who wants to study in Manila in “Mayohan”, Toni Gonzaga as the bride forsaken by her groom on their wedding day in “My Amnesia Girl”, and Frencheska Farr as the singing Ilocana “yaya” in “Emir”.
The year’s top lead actors: John Lloyd Cruz as the groom who gets cold feet and runs away on his wedding day in “Amnesia Girl” and as the young man torn between his true love and the rich woman who can help him in his career in “Miss You Like Crazy” (take note that both films won’t be nominated for best picture but John Lloyd still manages to deliver an outstanding performance in both films, one a comedy and the other, a boring drama); Sid Lucero as the gay activist turned college teacher nurturing an intense love for a lawyer friend in “Muli”; Gerald Anderson as the ambitious career-oriented young man who feels suffocated by a clinging girlfriend in “Till My Heartaches End”, and Pen Medina as the convict-assassin at the end of his rope in “Layang Bilanggo”
For supporting actor, those who stand out are Tirso Cruz III as the former political activist who becomes an apologist for the government and Allen Dizon as the double agent who pretends to be a rebel in “Sigwa”, Dolphy as the ailing narrator and Sid Lucero as the young man secretly in love with their tenant who explodes into a violent fit of jealousy in “Rosario”, Jaime Fabregas as the aging grandpa possessed by an Ilonga housemaid in “Here Comes the Bride” and as the former Metrocom agent who’s the best friend of Pen Medina in “Layang Bilanggo”, Gregg Tecson as the father who doesn’t want his daughter to leave for abroad in “Damgo ni Eleuteria”, and Nico Antonio as the psychotic young man who killed his own brother in “Magkakapatid”.
For supporting actress, those who delivered memorable performances are Dulce as the head mayordoma and Julia Clarete as the flirtatious maid in “Emir”, Lovi Poe and Gina Alajar playing the same character of an activist raped by the military who later harbors a dark secret in “Sigwa”, Matet de Leon as the easy going but very supportive cousin in “Till My Heartaches End”, the cousin Merle and the mail order bride recruiter Suzy in “Damgo ni Eleuteria” (sorry but we weren’t able to get the names of the very competent unknown actresses who played them), and Rita Iringan as the mysterious young woman who brings two brothers to a tribe of cannibals in “Dagim”.
Here are the local films shown in 2010.
JANUARY – “Sagrada Familia” (this premiered in 2009 so it became eligible for awards but the theatrical release was really in 2010), “Puntod”, “Paano Na Kaya”, “Iliw”, “Fidel”.
FEBRUARY – “Sped Hearts”, “SRO”, “Miss You Like Crazy”, “Marino”, “Pilantik”.
MARCH – “Pitas”, “Red Shoes”, “Parisukat”.
APRIL – “Babe, I Love You”, “Santuario”, “Bigasan”, “D’ Survivors”, “Working Girls”.
MAY – “You to Me Are Everything”, “Here Comes the Bride”, “Pulupot”.
JUNE – “Noy”, “Haba”, “Fling”, “Emir”, “I’ll Be There”, “Buenavista”, “Pendong”.
JULY – “Cinco”, “Lagpas”, “666”, “Hating Kapatid”, “Araro”, “Halik sa Tubig”, and the entries to the Cine Malaya Filmfest at the CCP: “Sigwa”, “Donor”, “Two Funerals”, “Paglilitis kay Andres Bonifacio”, “Pink Halo-Halo”, “Sampaguita”, “Magkakapatid”, “Halaw”, “Limbunan”, “Vox Populi”, “Techie”, “The Leaving”, “Rekrut”.
AUGUST – “In Your Eyes”.
SEPTEMBER – “Muli”, “Sa’Yo Lamang”.
OCTOBER – “White House”, “I Do”, “Till My Heartaches End”, “Petrang Kabayo”.
NOVEMBER – “Ang Babae sa Sementeryo”, “My Amnesia Girl”, Entries to the Cinema One Digital Filmfest: “Damgo Ni Eleuteria”, “Ishmael”, “Dagim”, “Third World Happy”, “Layang Bilanggo”, “Astro Mayabang”, “Tsardyer”.
DECEMBER – “Karera”, “Ang Ikasampu”. Local films exhibited in the CineManila International Filmfest at Robinson’s Galleria: “Mondo Manila”, “Brod”, “Sheika”, “Ang Mundo sa Panahon ng Bato”, “Happy Land”, “H.I.V.”, “Balangay”, “Di Natatapos ang Gabi”, “Chassis”, “Ang Ninanais”. Entries to the Metro Manila Filmfest: “Rosario”, “Si Agimat at si Enteng Kabisote”, “Super Inday and the Golden Bibe”, “Shake, Rattle & Roll 12”, “Tanging Ina Mo, Last Na ‘To”, “Dalaw”, “Fr. Jejemon”, “RPG Metanoia”. Entries to the Metro Filmfest Digital section: “Senior Year”, “Presa”, “Slow Fade”, “Rindido”, “Nasaan si Hefte”.
It’s easy to see that low budget indie digital films outnumber the mainstream ones. The most prolific film company is Star Cinema with “Paano Na Kaya”, “Miss You Like Crazy”, “Babe, I Love You”, “Here Comes the Bride”, “Cinco”, “Sa’Yo Lamang”, “I Do”, “Till My Heartaches End”, “My Amnesia Girl”, “Dalaw”, “Tanging Ina Mo” and “RPG Metanoia”, or a total of 12 films.
