Daily TribuneLamentably, these competition entries to the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival will likely be given the fewest number of cinema houses
DIRECTOR Zig Dulay with Alessandra De Rossi and Euwenn Mikaell.
Two must-see films offerings this holiday season are Zig Dulay's Firefly and Lem Lorca's Broken Heart's Trip.
These dynamic little big films are filled with emotion, clever narrative and praiseworthy acting by its cast. Lamentably, however, these competition entries to the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival will likely be given the fewest number of cinema houses.
Why is this so? The heads of the annual festival and the owners of cinemas can hopefully provide an explanation regarding the inequitable cinema house distribution, which is terribly unfair to these films.
Awe and wonder
Zig Dulay's Firefly offers a straightforward narrative that showcases the power of a mother's love, the innocence of a child and his resolve to hold on to a promise, and the literal quest to find the island of the fireflies.
The film's story starts with the adult Tonton (Dingdong Dantes, in a role dubbed as special participation) being interviewed by a skeptical journalist (Max Collins) after winning the National Book Award. The interview unravels the origin of his stories.
Set in 1999 and told through the young Tonton's (Euwenn Mikaell) pristine memories of life with his mother (Alessandra de Rossi), a peculiar tale sticks with the little boy, about a mythical island, a brave firefly and his butterfly friend. To encourage her son, the mother tells him the island is real and that he could make a wish if he ever made it there. The mother draws a map on how to find the island.
Firefly remind you of Ang Lee's Life of Pi, where the author of a story is being interviewed to authenticate the veracity of his tale, as well as the Korean hit drama, It's Okay Not To Be Okay, where animation and what seemed like a fairy tale were employed to push the fantastical narrative.
However, these comparisons are easily erased because what makes this Dulay film unique is how it depicts the greatest love of all — a mother's love as the central anchor and force of the film, along with the pure heart of a boy that allows him to be courageous and daring.
The film has so much emotion, but never resorts to being emotionally manipulative. The story and screenplay by Angeli Atienza weaves realistic and fairy tale-like elements seamlessly. Adding more wow factor is the cinematography of Neil Daza. There is beauty and charm in the way Daza presents the mother and son's impoverished environs. And the road to find the island, with its delights and dangers, will get one hooked.
The biggest strengths of this film are De Rossi, Mikaell and Dantes, all of them giving nuanced, textured, truthful depictions of a mother and son's bond, in a story brimming with a sense of gratitude, longing, pain and remembering.
Firefly is produced by GMA Pictures and GMA Public Affairs.
Pink love
Think Amazing Race with gay men for contestants who are motivated to win the cash prize and forget their disaster of a romance. In a nutshell, this is Lem Lorca's Broken Heart's Trip, written by Archie del Mundo from a story by Lex Bonife.
What people can see in this film are different types of gay men — the discreet dude, the flamboyant fairy, the young urban professional, the transwoman who gives her all for the glory of love, the tough-yet-softie queen, along with the men who inflict pain on them.
All the major actors in this film — Christian Bables, Teejay Marquez, Marvin Yap, Petite and Iyah Minah — infuse their characters with profuse truth and sincerity.
Yes, it does hurt more when we laugh, and with Lorca's quick on the uptake direction, each of the pink characters in this film are treated not like caricatures but with a lot of sensitivity and sympathy, bestowed with grace and wisdom as they go through their own private universes of pain.
It's an honest portrayal of why many gay men love until they bleed — kasi nga, ang importante, nagmahal ka (because what's important is that you've loved).
Broken Heart's Trip is produced by BMC Productions and Smartflms.
Both films are showing in cinemas starting 25 December.
