Controversy has erupted over what is perceived to be politically-motivated selection of the honour roll of awardees in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). Only two films were rated “A” by the Cinema Evaluation Board in the 2013 MMFF — Shoot To Kill: Boy Golden of Scenema Concept and Viva Films which stars Governor ER Ejercito of Laguna and KC Cocepcion, and Viva Films’ 10,000 Hours which stars Robin Padilla and Mylene Dizon. Yet not a single distinction was reportedly awarded to Boy Golden.
Political right stuff: the cast of ‘My Little Bossings’
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My Little Bossings, also the top-grossing film in this year’s MMFF which stars Vic Sotto (the film’s co-producer and brother of Senator Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto) presidential sister Kris Aquino and her son James ‘Bimby’ Aquino-Yap is widely-derided as an incoherent, vacuous, product-placement-laced unabashedly commercial product that owes its place under the sun to its popular cast. Some reviewers have outright called it an insult to the intelligence and one seemingly produced with contempt for the audience clearly in mind.
Chito Roño, director of Boy Golden reportedly walked out in disgust before the announcement of the Best Director during the awarding ceremonies and accused the MMFF of deliberately disrespecting the effort that went into the production of his film, noting that the MMFF, being under the Office of the President is under the president’s direct influence and, as such, likely to have been a party to politically-motivated manipulation.
“Pati dito sa MMFF ay pinasok na nila ng kabalbalan. Paano nila ipapaliwanag na ang isang graded A movie ng CEB ay walang nakuhang award sa festival? Ang Best Float naman ay merong ibang sets of judges naman siguro, hindi naman sa technical and acting awards sila involved.
“Akala nga namin ay maglalaban-laban sa padamihan ng awards ang ‘Boy Golden’ at ‘10,000 Hours’, tapos binokya nila ang movie ni ER. Mga bastos sila!” mahabang sintir ng isang kaibigang reporter na nakasama namin right after the awards night.
“We should fight on. We have rave reviews. We can make tonight just a hiccup,” ani direk Chito Roño na hindi na tinapos ang announcement ng Best Director award dahil naramdaman na niyang walang mangyayari sa “Boy Golden” dahil sa trending ng bigayan ng trophies.
Halatado kasing pilit na ibinagsak ang pelikula ni Gov. ER. “I’m still proud of our film. I’m sorry, we were shut out of the film festival awards,” dagdag pa ni Direk Chito.
“Kitang-kita talaga, maliwanag pa sa sikat ng araw. Imagine, pati ba naman Best Production Design ay ibinigay pa nila sa ‘10,000 Hours’ samantalang ‘yung kanila ay puro existing while ang sa ‘Boy Golden’ ay talagang binihisan ang mga location para maging consistent sa pagka-period nu’ng panahon ni Arturo Porcuna.
“Sa Best in Cinematography, kitang-kita naman kung gaano kalayo ang ganda ng ‘Boy Golden’ compared ulit sa ‘10,000 Hours’. Pero wala talaga eh. […]”
Boy Golden which recounts the story of 1960s gangster Arturo Porcuna attracted favourable reviews and was expected to “easily win numerous awards”. To be fair, however, the MMMFF is ultimately “really a competition of commercial movies” according to entertainment writer Roel Villacorta. Villacorta added that for “quality films”, the public should instead look to other fetes such as those offered by indie-focused Cinemalaya.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Rig an impeachment trial, rig surveys , rig death tolls. What’s the big deal with one more?
Indeed!
Looks like only “pagpag” here is defending idiotic films.
Predictable yet idiotic behavior from someone named “pagpag”.
Nation of servants, land of plagiarism… guess we add Country of Rigging. Nice thing to highlight for Pinoy Pride, eh?
you may add as well Habitat for the Hopeless
No wonder,,that is yhe so called Philippines now
PURO KAPALPAKA
I have yet to watch any Filipino movie in cinema. What a waste of time and money.
Hi, please don’t generalize the Philippine cinema just because the local mainstream isn’t providing any quality films. The local independent film festivals such as Cinemalaya, Cinema One, Sineng Pambansa, Cinemanila… even MMFF New Wave, they all feature quality films and I must say that 2013 is indeed a great year for discovering filmmakers. All they need is a strong support from the audience. And we would all really have a waste of time and money if we’re always looking at the wrong place.
I see your point but pinoys like what they like as you can see by what is supported at noontime and in the box office. If pinoys won’t encourage their own quality then the budding film makers you speak of have nobody to blame than the ones who will flock to see that accomplished thespian Baby James Yap.
B-grade movie pala ang My Little Bossings. B as in BASURA. Congrats Bossing and Kris.
but it is highest grossing film for its first week. it is all because of bimby. maganda ang film
Bimby SUCKS balls. 😀
Enjoy eating PAGPAG, though.
So what if it’s the highest grossing film? The film quality (engrossing and intelligent story line) sucks.
MMFF is now a big joke…I mean, there’s an award for BEST FLOAT?! Who the hell cares about floats? Will it add to the quality of the film?
“Its the highest grossing film”
That statement alone fails to answer the
“So what?” question.
Films should be judged according to it’s quality, box office returns mean diddly squat if the quality of the film is shitty like your propaganda,pagpag.
Like I said before, Morons only appreciate moronic things.
Johnny Dear i just love the way you execute all the idiots here!! 🙂
you mean my little bossings still counts as B grade? really? i thought it set a new low in the film industry =/ well i guess they were somehow able to appeal to the idiot masses who arent looking for anything other than familiar celebrities or a momentary high.
watched only Pagpag and 10,000hrs but might give Golden Boy a try.
dami ngang awards, baba naman sa box office!
Highest grossing film doesn’t equate to being the best film FYI or are you too dumb to realize that?
Yeah, it’s just like junk food: very tempting yet bad for one’s health.
You prefer QUANTITY over QUALITY. That’s why you love SHIT, like PAGPAG. 😀
i saw anchorman 2
Ron Burgundy is driving his van and says: “Only
Olympic sport Filipinos are good at is eating cats and
dogs.”
and certainly sh!t at making movies.
Anchorman 2 is way way way better than “my little bossings”, although it’s very predictable that morons like “pagpag” would appreciate moronic films like that one since only MORONS would appreciate moronic things.
They should know better. The harlot is the sister of the President. They can do what they want. Including winning any award. It is their time, as Filipino culture of Abuse of Power , has demonstrated. The harlot, Kris Aquino is a bad influence, to the young.
She is telling the young to have fornications with several men. Have children with them. Then, be successful in Show Biz. Anyway, where are the Churches, who are supposed to be Guardians of Morality. Immorality is good, as per Kris Aquino. Silence from the Churches means CONSENT…
why is Chito Rono even complaining? As a vetaran in Pinoy Showbiz he should be aware that the MMFF is nothing but a joke. It is a festival of mainly trashy films, and the awards night wherein they honor the trashiest of these films is even more of a joke. Intellectuals should just ignore this yearly tradition and let the stupid members of society who continue to support this abomination drown in all its mediocrity.
And the fact the the worst film of all these trashy entries continues to be the top grossing entry really tells a lot about Filipinos in general. No wonder people like Noynoy and Erap win by a landslide during elections. This nation is a nation of MORONS.
It’s funny how suddenly people want Erap back. I remember when I was in elementary school when people are having a strike saying “ERAP RESIGN”. Fast forward and now they are voting for the SAME GUY that they wanted to kick out. I mean WTF? That makes no sense. They want him to resign only to vote for him again?
@Jane Doe:
“The Dog returns to eat its own vomit”.
Watched 3 so far. 2 were chosen as to which is next to be played while the other one I requested for Boy Golden. Why you ask? Ejercito has a good team as I’ve experienced so far from his last two movies. I just hope he keep producing and less as an actor. There really is an effort there.
If it helps, your article got featured for like five seconds on TV Patrol’s Jan 2 episode. In particular, this article. Special mention to Johnny Derp’s comments.
BS Aquino’s political influence is apparent even in the film festival. The yellow dictator has already expanded his political control horizon. Fixed awards for certain movies starring his relatives. Foul!!!
mga put@ng ina nyo english pa kayo ng english. Magtayo kayo ng sarili nyong FF.Tapos kayo ang mga director kc magagaling kayo.
Haha, you’re an example of a piece of crap na talunan. Cry me a river, then.
Haha, looks like someone’s butthurt
That spiel is soooo last year, wala na kayong maisip sigurong ibabato sa amin kaya yan lang ang kaya mong ipost dito.
Your tears are delicious.
Sige pa, ipakita mo pa ang pagiging talunan mo dito at lalo ka pang mapapahiya.
Mas matalino si LOURD DE VEYRA kesa sa iyo. 😀
http://www.spot.ph/this-is-a-crazy-planets/55300/an-open-letter-to-vic-sotto
Read and weep.
Estas loco Magaling Ranger asshurt?
Guess the genius you see “little bossings” is lost to some. http://dachronicler.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/a-fucking-review-of-my-little-bossings-by-a-fucking-cynical-dude/
Ganyan naman ang film dito sa Pinas. Mindset ata ng mga direktor “kung panget ang plot, daanin sa artista”. Sad to say, effective sa karamihan ng mga manunuod. Kawawa tuloy yung mga talagang mahuhusay. Siguro sanayan na lang yan.
I already saw this coming. There’s nothing we can do. FOR NOW.
Before, I dismissed My Little Bossings as shit. Only SHIT people will love shit. Well guess what. *shrugs*
hahaha.. what else to expect? everything now is abnormal.. why do we have to wonder? poor Philippines and poor us Filipinos.. 😉
I guess the Bimbo and Bimbi team does it again!
I think one of the basis for the best picture i, 2, and 3 is the box office receipts. I remember that in one of their announcements. Besides the “Boy Golden” i think, in my opinion is a repeat of the same genre of last year’s Salonga movie..so I guess it did not attract movie watchers. Fickle minded na ang movie watchers ngayon.
Kung ako producer, di na ako gagawa nang quality movie ang trend ay comedy – kahit mababaw ang kwento ok lang basta tawa nang tawa ang tao — yung original purpose na to upgrade develop good quality films wala na – Remember Rosario film ni Jennylyn Mercado– di man lang na nominate — as usual mmff is politics/manipulation at iba pa
Agree. Magpapera na lang tayo sa komedyang mababaw, yun naman ang gusto ng mga kababayan natin. KaBABAwan, kaBABAyan.
Well, we can now add Vice Ganda’s films in the pool of consitent earning films.
Which speaks to our values. We are more Pauly Shore/ RuPaul than we are Laurence Olivier/ Kevin Spacey. Depressing.
Shameful. They even gave My Little Bossings a B-Grade. What the.
If production C takes far less effort to earn a greater amount of money than production A, then production C naturally is chosen over A.
Same goes for Pinoy movies these days. It takes far less effort to produce Crap while earning more than it is to produce good quality films that have a smaller market.
The masa are more likely to watch Pinoy movies than other foreign films given the language barriers, so they have limited tastes when it comes to movies. Given that the Pinoy film studios are aware of that, they cater to that demand and rarely attempt to diversify or expand the preferences of their masa market by showing them a different kind of film, due to other factors involved such as the Pinoy masa’s reluctance to change, or politics. And so it’s a vicious cycle – the masa’s taste in films remain limited and the Pinoy film studios are reluctant to innovate because there’s greater guaranteed profit in remaking and recycling the same old trashy movies the masa watches.
So long as these movies have familiar names, stick to old familiar cliched plots, and the jokes are funny enough, the masa will be pleased. Mababa lang kaligayahan e.
It’s quite sad really. The MMFF is supposed to be like the Cannes or Oscars of the Philippines, and it has sunken to such a low level, it needs to be discontinued.
10,000 hours and Boy Golden are must see film. We didn’t even bother watching the other “crappy” films. Sorry. Reviews for 10,000 hours and Boy Golden are posted on out blog too. 🙂
http://migsandalaine.blogspot.com/
must see *films 🙂