Thursday, December 08, 2005

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros

The movie is about a young gay lad named Maxie. Who lives in one of the least well develop neighbourhoods in Manila. Despite his environment and his family, who earn their daily bread by stealing and being the local goon squad, Maxie lives a peaceful life. In fact he does not seem to have any problem. His family accepts him for what he is and there is genuine bonding between the family members - for all intents and purposes a well-balanced and well-grounded family.

The crisis and agent of change comes in when a new cop is assigned to the neighbourhood.

Teenage puppy love is a volatile environment to stage a story. There are so many paths that can be taken that will lead to disaster. One is the usual road of focusing on the sexual side of things (pandering to flesh shots) and threading the fine line and not glorifying paedophilia.

Happily, the movie does none of this. And presents a believable story, filled with three-dimensional characters, strengthened by witty and credible dialogue, and believable acting. Competent direction and editing brings to fore an entertaining and engaging story of Maxie Oliveros.

It is not surprising then that this film was selected to be one of the official entries to the Sundance Film Festival. And it truly deserves the accolades given to it.

This is the best Filipino film of 2005.

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005)
Directed by Aureaus Solito
Cast: Nathan Lopez, JR Valentin, Soliman Cruz, Neil Ryan Sese, Ping Medina, Bodgie Pascua.
Released by ufo Pictures.Running time: 1 hr 40 m

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