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26Jun/109

Poverty Porn

POVERTY PORN.

Katawagan sa mga uri ng midya kagaya ng pelikula, dokyumentaryo, o larawan na pinatatampok at pinagsasamantalahan ang kahirapan para sa sariling ganansya. Madalas na nagagamit itong terminong ito sa pagpuna sa mga film makers sa mga Third World countries kagaya ni Brillante Mendoza. Sinasabing ang kanyang mga gawang pelikula ay nagsasamantala sa kahirapang nagaganap sa ating bansa upang ma-ibenta ito sa mga puti. Patok daw ito sa panlasa ng mga puti dahil sa exotic, thrilling at kakaibang setting ng kahirapan sa ating bansa. Balak bang pagkakitaan ni Alex ang kahirapan? Hindi natin malalaman. Pero dapat ring maipunto na hindi lang dapat ang filmmaker o photographer ang dapat akusahan ng mali. Mahalaga pa ring itanong kung ano ang naiiwan nito sa mga nakakita o nakapanood? Baka higit na dapat kwestyunin ang motibo ng mga audience? Ang dahilan lang ba ngpanonood mo ng mga pelikulang kagaya ng Tribu, Kinatay at Slumdog Milloniare ay dahil sa nakakatuwang mga eksena ng kahirapan? Enjoying?

Pelikula ni Brillante Mendoza na nagwagi ng Best Director sa Cannes Film Festival

Kadalasan sa mga bata umiikot ang tema ng mga pelikulang "poverty porn"

Ilang tao na kaya sa Afrika ang nagamit ng mga taga-Kanluran upang mapagkakitaan? Yung mga litrato ng mga itim na malnourished o hindi kaya naman ay kumakain ng mga exotic foods. Ibinebenta ba ito ng kumukuha ng litrato? Humingi kaya siya ng pahintulot na kunan ng litrato ang mga taong ito? Ilang politiko na nga ba ang gumamit rin ng kahirapan para sa sariling ganansya? Pervasive. Poverty Pornography should be stopped.

MABILISAN: Poverty Porn.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tagged as: alex, brillantes, definition, kinatay, mabilisan, milloniare, porn, pornography, poverty, slumdog, tribu 9 Comments

26Dec/0914

Of Ang Panday and MMFF

I usually watch one entry film for the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) every year with my elementary friends. We know that the entry films are a bit crappy and most of the films are just there for the money. But we still watch every year because it serves as our annual gathering. We usually watch movies whenever we go out and when it's December, you have no choice but to watch an MMFF film. Mind you, we go out slash meet only once a year.

35th Metro Manila Film Festival

Ang Panday/ The Blacksmith

This year though, my two brothers asked me to join them spend their money and watch Bong Revilla's Ang Panday. It is a remake of Fernando Poe Jr.'s film if I'm not mistaken. And the story is written by the controversial Carlo J. Caparas (CC). My mother and my sister decided to join us too. It became a family thing.

We went to Robinson's Manila Movie house and waited for the show. Cinema 4, the one in Pedro Gil wing is a piece of trash. Very dirty. Sleeping operator. The volume is being adjusted for like twenty times. It's a bit distracting and irritating. And there were no ushers! Robinson's is usually not this bad when it comes to entertainment.

Plot

The movie was very plain. Do I really have to mention that the plot is VERY predictable? There were no hidden messages or anything. VERY plain. Dapat paglabas ko ng sinehan, pag-iisipan ko ang mga pangyayari, mag-iisip ako, may intellectual exercise. There should be a discourse worthy or a conversational piece for a movie to be considered as a movie. What? But there aren't any. Lucky for them that I was trying to fit social/ economic/ political/ historical stuff in the movie but I failed. No hope.

Characters

The characterization too is very plain and shallow. Characters failed to leave an impression to the viewers. There is a failure in the part of the writers and that of the directors too to develop the characters, to humanize them and give them life. Introducing characters is not a matter of who, what, when, or where. It's a matter of why. They also failed to connect to the viewers. There were few attempts to connect but all these failed. I could have been a better story writer. Maybe it's not the movie team's fault, maybe it's CC's fault.

Emelita (Rhian Ramos) and Marcos (Geoff Eigenmann) could have done something major. They should have played as a REAL side-kick for the

Panday/Flavio (Bong Revilla). Could have been exciting because of their semi-Assassin and semi-Archer role. They could have participated in the development of the story and contributed to the excitement in the fighting scenes. Rhian Ramos and Geoff Eigenmann were both sexy though.

Lizardo (Phillip Salvador) disappointed me. I thought he would be a Joker a la Heath Ledger type of evil antagonist. It did not work like that, he looks mentally-ill rather than evil. Role should have been given to someone better.

Effects-slash-Animation

I don't really know the difference between the two so i'll treat them as one and the same. Their special effects is thing that they are most proud of, right? I even heard a remark from a GMA 7 executive commending the movie's special effects. Pang-Hollywood daw, pang-international. What? It's quite crappy, though closer to average than trash. Multiplication effects and landscaping animation failed. The only notable animation there is the flying creature, i think it's a dragon. Yes, his/her name is Bagwis. It's quite real in my eyes, very Eragon and War of the Dragons.

The Festival

I wish MMFF could be changed into a festival of excellence, filipinism and creativity. Not a festival for money, profits and revenues. A festival that would be concerned not with profits but with the content and form of the entry films. Exceptional and highly-relevant films should be encouraged as against to another Ang Panday type of movies. No wonder that the industry is dying.

0.5 out of 5 stars relative to all the movies i watched.

3 out of 5 relative to all the entry films in the festival.

P.S. I can't find a decent source of pictures and profiles of the casts. So, yes, Wikipedia. :P

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tagged as: 2009, Ang, Bong, Boo!, Caparas, Carlo, Eigenmann, Emelita, Festival, Film, Flavio, Geoff, Lizardo, manila, Marcos, Metro, Movie, Panday, Phillip, Ramos, review, Revilla, Rhian, Salvador 14 Comments

14Mar/082

STEP UP2 &; the lady of my life

It was very shocking.

I know, I am overacting. STEP UP 2 is now showing on movie theaters and I really really want to watch it. I am very excited about the movie that even sacrificing my studies is considered. Aww.

STEP UP 2. DANCING loves me and i love DANCING. lols!

anyone who can do that? [i am melting]

how about this one?

AFTER seeing this mouth-watering pictures, I decided to ask Lanie if she can go out with me and watch the movie after the graduation rehearsal. I know I can convince her, not because of my persuasion powers but because she don't want to go home early. Ya know, teens nowadays are allergic to their homes.

We agreed that we'll be watching the movie after the practice at Robinson's.

But then, we ended up eating in Max's because it's already late.

------------

I JUST WATCHED STEP UP 2 yesterday, and I was so super amaze. Oh dear God, give me the ability to dance. TWO-THUMBS up! [if I have more thumbs, I will surely raise them too!]

I KISSED her, the lady of my life.

And for me, there is nothing more special than that because by kissing, i think she already showing how she truly love me unless she has other reasons.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Filed under: Movies 2 Comments