Hey Lola, I Got Quoted by Adobo Magazine

As they say, third time’s a charmer. This is the third time that my review in PEP got quoted. First was for “Dayo” and then “Engkwentro”. What’s special about my third one is that Adobo Magazine mentioned my name and not just PEP, unlike the first two. At ka-level ko na ang Screen Daily at Incontention. Feelingero!

See the article below.

Adobo main course presents “Lola”, Brillante Mendoza’s Dubai Filmfest Best Film winner

The year 2009 was simply marvelous for Brillante Mendoza. The Filipino director beat the odds and was named Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for “Kinatay”. The same movie won for Mendoza the same award at the Sitges Film Festival in Catalunya, Spain.

Though “Kinatay” made him known worldwide, Mendoza’s other gem is “Lola” (Grandmother), and this movie does not shy away from awards either.

Awarded Best Feature Film at the 6th Dubai International Film Festival in 2009, “Lola” was in Official Competition at the 66th Venezia Film Festival 2009, as well. At Venezia, “Lola” was the second surprise selection for the competition, a coveted position for filmmakers. The movie also opened the 11th Cinemanila International Film Festival this year.

In “Lola”, Mendoza’s two main characters are withered and wrinkled, gray and grieving. Against type, the movie speaks to the young and reckless, through the ways of the old and practical. Seemingly, the youth take for granted what the elderly fight so hard to obtain, that is survival.

Released in September 2009, the Philippine-French production is in Filipino/Tagalog with English subtitles. The movie features two of Philippine cinema’s veterans from the 1960s, Anita Linda and Rustica Carpio. Playing the roles of Lola Sepa and Lola Puring, respectively, the actresses play characters at odds with the other when their grandsons are involved in a crime. They eventually realize they share the same plight and poignancy that plague and personify the elderly.

“In this film, Mendoza forces his viewers to walk in his characters' shoes until our feet get blisters from the long, agonizing walk. It's a dragging and tedious journey, but once we reach the destination, the pay-off makes it worthwhile,” writes reviewer Fidel Antonio Medel of the Philippine Entertainment Portal.

The blog incontention.com writes, " 'Lola,' an unadorned social drama that requires, but ultimately rewards, considerable patience on the viewer’s part, sees the director broadening his range and earning the hype."

" 'Lola'’s handheld aesthetic, gritty neo-realist feel and slow pacing will obviously confine it to arthouse circuits, but within this niche Lola could turn out to be Mendoza’s most commercially viable film to date internationally," reviews Screendaily.com.

“Mendoza’s style is so allergic to exposition that it takes a while for the story to take a grip–but in the end, this reticent, unforced approach makes the drama all the more affecting,” it adds.

Adobo main course presents the award-winning “Lola” on Tuesday, February 2, 2009 at Cinema 1, Greenbelt 3, 7PM. Tickets are at P250.00 each.

Join us as we present the best of Filipino talent appreciated around the world.

The original article is posted here.

Read my full review of “Lola” here.