Big Time, Dilim, atbp.
By Joey Fernandez

How does one write about a movie you love? I’ve seen Big Time twice and I absolutely adored it both times. Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez may have come out with what probably will be one of the funnest movies of the year. Big Time is about two criminals who want to make it… well, big. Danny and Jonas have been partners in crime since their grade school days and they feel they have to move on to larger things. I don’t want to spoil anything for you about the movie, but it was a riotous romp that just about everyone can enjoy.

Anyway, you can watch this movie and other films at the Cinemalaya Film Festival, which started today and ends July 17. Their website is at http://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph/film-cinemalaya.htm

One of the biggest peeves I have about Filipino film and art in general, is that it doesn’t capture something about our culture. Ferdinand Marcos ingrained in us that Filipino culture has something to do with people in bahags and nose flutes. Elitists lionized the alibata and the bahay kubo as our only true Filipino culture, while other educated ones bemoaned our lack of it. But whether you like it or not, Pinoy pop culture is our Filipino culture. We are a mish-mash of Spanish, American, Malay culture, that sometimes we don’t know who we are. That, however, is exactly what we are, a mixture. I was recently posting on twitchfilm, a website about movies, about Filipino cult movies and surprisingly I was able to find out a lot about it. On internationalhero.co.uk,, I quote, “Not the most obvious country to have created enough superhumans to warrant it's own page, the Philippines nonetheless has produced a large number of suitable characters, and has a strong tradition of ‘Pinoy Komiks’ stretching back more than fifty years.” This is our culture, it may not be glamorous, but it sure is fun.

So, I say, stop aiming for the highfalutin and the esoteric, pop culture is where it’s at. And eventually the big bucks roll in. *grin*

On another note, I’d also like to promote Topel Lee’s new genre film, Dilim. As a Rica Peralejo press release writes it, “Dilim, the lead character, is a mysterious vigilante and vampire-like creature who roams at night to save crime victims and eat criminals. Is he a cult group member or an alien out to cleanse society?” I wasn’t going to announce this film yet (coz I wanted to see it first, hehehe), but it’s going to be showing at the Cinema One Originals Digital Film Fest 2005 at the SM Megamall Cinema on July 29, 30 and 31. It will be the opening film!

So that’s it for now, I guess. Looks like we have two, TWO! great pop culture films coming out this year. Hurray for Philippine Cinema and happy viewing :).