MMFF celebrates brotherhood & family

While many have lambasted some of today’s biggest box-office hits for creating films unworthy of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), what they fail to mention is that despite their purported lack of intellect, these films do succeed in providing safe and enjoyable movies for the entire family.

Certainly, we do not dispute the importance of the stellar performances of 10,000 Hours and Robin Padilla. But when we went out over the first weekend of the MMFF, what we saw in the long lines were families: Troupes of cousins headed to the cinemas, as well as grandparents with countless grandkids in tow, all out for a night of family bonding. And the theaters they filled were not those showing films with violent themes. These were the safe-bets, the comedies that promoted family values.

One of these safe movies was Kimmy Dora: Ang Kiyemeng Prequel. The movie is set before the first installment of the movie franchise begins. Playing Kimmy and Dora is theater veteran Eugene Domingo, whom Piolo Pascual decided to bet his money on as the lead of his first comedies.

In the prequel, Kimmy has just returned from abroad with a degree from a prestigious university. Anticipating to be groomed by her father Ariel Ureta to take over the international family empire, she is shocked and dismayed when the board of directors requires her to start at the bottom and work herself up the corporate ladder.

To add insult to injury, the board puts her in direct competition with her twin sister Dora, a simple-minded sibling who’d rather focus on her acting career, but goes along with father’s decision after she meets the charming AVP of Human Resources played by Sam Milby. Soon the company is sabotaged and the sisters are forced to unite and look out for each other, otherwise they put themselves and their family in jeopardy.

The Kimmy Dora story is familiar and Eugene plays out the contrasting characters with expertise. There is a seemingly endless list of cameos that made us not want to blink an eye in case we miss a single moment. Predictably, we know the sisters must save the day otherwise Kimmy Dora 1 and 2 would never have happened and this is comedy, after all. Not Tolstoy.                                  

Vice Ganda in history-making roles

Direk Wenn Deramas once again looked to Vice Ganda for another blockbuster with Girl Boy Bakla Tomboy. A set of quadruplets gets forcibly separated at birth by a wealthy grandmother who takes two of the siblings, Boy and Girl, to the US to grow up with their father Joey Marquez. The mother Maricel Soriano is left with the other two in the province — Bakla and Tomboy. It is a welcome surprise that Maricel won the Best Actress award. We watched her tackle the only straight role in the entire movie and came out with flying colors.   

All siblings grow up knowing they are quadruplets, but it isn’t until Boy requires a liver donor that the American side returns to Manila in search of the long-forgotten Filipino side. What ensues is a forced reconciliation, rekindled love between separated parents and the setting aside of cultural differences and jealousies in the name of family.

Vice takes on the role of each of the quadruplets, the first time in the history of Philippine cinema that an actor has taken on four roles in one movie. The task is daunting, as we know that to prepare for one character is already tough to begin with. However, his portrayals received so much praise from fans it reportedly brought Vice to tears with his tweet: “Sobra akong blessed. Di ko alam kung anung nagawa ko para i-deserve tong pagpapalang to. Ang bait ng Dyos. I can’t help being emotional right now.”

Let us not forget, however, that MMFF has produced other family-oriented hits worthy of a world-class audience. But perhaps what makes the MMFF truly a Filipino film festival is that it remembers that the Christmas season is the time of reunions for majority of Filipinos. This is not only an important market to touch but the perfect time to promote brotherhood and family amongst its viewers. 

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