With the announcement yesterday of the final 10 contenders in this year's Metro Manila Film Festival, the anticipated acting and box-office showdown among the last four Philippine movie queens — Nora Aunor, Vilma Santos, Sharon Cuneta, Maricel Soriano — did not materialize.

Only Cuneta's A Family of Two (A Mother and Son's Story) and Santos's When I Met You In Tokyo were in the lineup. Aunor and Soriano's respective movies didn't make the cut.

Despite Aunor's National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts gravitas and the presence of national treasure and Cannes Best Actress Jaclyn Jose, Pieta did not pass the criteria of the selection committee. Same fate with the Diamond Star and five-time MMFF best actress winner Maricel Soriano's In His Mother's Eyes, which failed to pull the heartstrings of the judges.

Also snubbed were last year's best actress and box office victor Nadine Lustre, with her second horror collaboration with director Mikhael Red, Nokturno, getting a nada. Moro, the film of another Cannes winner, Brillante Mendoza, and one that is as surely relevant as today's headlines, likewise failed to impress. The Screen Daily review from film critic Allan Hunter was of no help in boosting its stock. Not MMFF-worthy enough!

The Selection Committee's criteria for both finished script and film submissions are: artistic appeal and commercial appeal, 80 percent; Filipino cultural sensibility and global appeal, 20 percent.
Which makes me wonder: the films of Aunor, Soriano, Lustre and Mendoza — pangit ba talaga ang mga pelikulang buo na kanilang sinumite (were these films really poorly made) that they did not make the cut?

Another problematic area in the MMFF are the films chosen based on their finished scripts. Even if the intended actors for the lead parts are mentioned, a script does not give the full motion picture experience, its artistic, production and technical merits. And many people doubt the cinematic imagination of the members of the Selection Committee to "see" the scripts as finished films.

Major strength
Of the 10 films in competition, arousing curiosity is Derick Cabrido's Mallari. Its major strength is star Piolo Pascual going out of his matinee-idol comfort zone to play the role of a serial killer, a priest at that, during the Spanish colonial regime. And director Cabrido knows how to bring terror and thrill to the silver screen.

After the tremendous success of last year's Family Matters, director Nuel Naval is back with a family drama with not only Cuneta but also Alden Richards, the two playing mother and son.

Becky and Badette's major draws are the tandem of two intelligent comediennes, Eugene Domingo and Marietta Subong, also known as Pokwang, and director Jun Lana's quest to be the millennial Joey Gosiengfiao, film master of Pinoy Camp.

"It's the laugh-out-loud comedy of this MMFF," Lana said. "With all the troubles we face and experience, kung gusto nating maaliw, maging masaya, tumawa, Becky and Badette is the movie."

Firefly's biggest curiosity factors are its coming-of-age theme and road trip story and the newest boy wonder Euwenn Mikaell.

As director Zig Dulay put it: "Isasama ka ng pelikula sa isang byahe ng buhay kung saan ang dala-dala mo ay 'yung mga bilin at turo ng 'yung magulang, isang byahe patungo hindi lamang sa pinapangarap mo kundi pangarap sa'yo ng magulang mo — isang exciting, inspirational at motivational na byahe pabalik sa'yong kabataan, byaheng kailanman hindi mo makakalimutan."

The annual MMFF has always been a magnet for controversy, so expect that this year will be no different as the same issues will come cropping up: the films' distribution in cinemas, the favored status given to early box-office champs while films lagging in audiences but may also be noteworthy getting the unceremonious "first-day, last day" treatment, the awards nights results that always bring more jeers than cheers.

Add to that the perennial questions about the millions earned from the festival — where they go, who truly benefits from the funds, etc.

Here's hoping MMFF 2023 will bring Filipino audiences back to the cinema, and that the 10 entries turn out to be true works of both artistic excellence and commercial appeal worthy of moviegoers' support.