It was bound to happen.
When you field a movie for commercial screening without much preparation for publicity, you will end up getting pulled out of cinemas unceremoniously. Good thing I saw it on its very first day - last Wednesday. Unfortunately, Veronica B. Velasco's "Last Supper No.3" is 2010's very first really great Filipino movie shown on commercial theaters. And it enjoyed a mere 2 day screening at the Galleria.
Sure, it won last year's Best Picture at the Cinemalaya Filmfest, but I really don't care about festival films that aren't even offered to the public. I don't even give a shit about those glorious awards won by other Pinoy indies abroad for they only serve to celebrate the indie filmmaker's gargantuan egos. Pakialam ko ba kung napalabas ang mga 'to sa Venice, Locarno, Toronto, Timbuktu, Fiji, Congo or Kyoto? What I care for are the ones that are being offered on commercial theaters! Thus I pay to watch these indies - although several of them have proven how unworthy they are of my money!
"Last Supper No.3" follows the series of misfortunes that befall a gay production assistant Wilson Nanawa (the brilliant Joey Paras) and his cohort Andoy Pamatid (J.M. de Guzman) when they misplace a tapestry of the Last Supper. The owners (Jojit Lorenzo and Beverly Salviejo) eventually take them to court when they refuse to pay the trumped up value of P25,000. As things are gradually and religiously settled, Wilson learns that the ugly bureaucratic tentacles of a fucked up legal system won't let him off that easily - until this had to stretch on for more than 2 years!
Allegedly based on a true story, the movie deftly depicts the moribund state of the Philippine justice system as well as that of man's avaricious proclivity to take advantage of the misfortunes of others. This is serious cinema disguised as comedy, and I take my hats off to the exemplary performance of an amazing cast lead by Joey Paras who's exceptionally and spontaneously funny and sympathetic - a perfect mix that translated to excellent cinema!
On view are great cameos by Maricel Soriano as a government clerk who's not immune to bribes and Liza Lorena as the unstable court lady!
That Galleria had to pull out a really great film like "Last Supper No.3" after just 2 days of screening smacks of charade and the blatant pretense to help indie cinema. There were just 3 of us inside the cinema when I watched, but can't they even wait for the weekend before taking it out to pasture - while the horrible "Pilantik" (there were only 4 of us inside the theater when I saw this) is still being shown as I write this?
Sad state we are in!
7 comments:
bitch!
Bwahahaha! Speaking like the neutered dimwit whose passionate eloquence is expressed by cowardly anonymity, limited vocabulary, and implicit idiocy! ;->
yeah, that's really sad. when i learned that LS3 is showing at RGIndiesine, i promoted it on my Facebook account only to find out hours later that it's no longer showing. bad trip.
i saw it last year at cinemalaya film fest but i definitely would love to watch it again.
'tong weekend na to, inilaan ko sa LS3 pero wala na pala. sayang.
pilantik? punyeta, basura na naman.
such is the sad fate of (non-gay) indie movies. our movie was pulled out in Galleria on Friday afternoon to give way to 2012.
cinemalaya films seem to be really doing great. i was checking last year's line up and so far, i liked most of them (the ones shown commercially - except for one).
my criteria for excellent cinema is really from a selfish perspective. if i like it, it's an excellent film. LOL. i guess i feel i am entitled to these opinions because i pay to watch them (well, my dad does haha).
i knew "pilantik" was gonna be bad, but i always end up watching this crap anyway because hope springs eternal - that once in a while a great film comes along! it did - for 2 days!
i just wish that the people behind indiesine - i think it's a cooperative of indie film makers - screen the movies that they show at the Galleria because people are starting to equate "indie" with either a gay exploitation flick or a bad film like "Fidel" or "Pilantik" - there's too long a list to enumerate them.
"last supper no.3" should have been seen by more people, and getting it pulled out after 2 days disappoints me. too bad.
which film was that? the film pulled out for "2012"? i have seen all the local films shown commercially.
there's so much gay flicks coming out. i get to watch them usually with my bff kyle (he is gay and pink films constitute his guilty pleasure) or iyaya (who stopped watching indies after 2 successive indies at the Galleria just recently). they have a niche - captured audience - thus they proliferate like fruit flies on maggots.
i saw "2012" some 2 months after it opened and i was wondering why everyone (including my family) loved it! LOL
bakla ka! ako ang magbibigay sayo ng 160 na binayad mo sa Fidel at Pilantik, nagpopcorn ka ba? sige isama mo na yun. pati pamasahe mo!
kaloka ka! wag kang magkamali na laitin ang pelikula ko, at kahit saang sulok ng iskwater na tinitirhan mo, hahanapin kita at kukurutin ko ang singit mo gurl!
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