just before the awards ceremony, two photo finish reviews!
New Breed: Babagwa
Greg (Alex Medina) is a failed model turned internet scammer. Using fake identities created on Facebook, Greg scams many wealthy and not so wealthy targets with his charm. His handler(Joey Paras) mentors him and guides him from target to target. However, one day, he falls in love with his target, a rich old maid (Alma Concepcion) who he befriends...
I know a lot of internet scammers; mostly of the type called a 419 scam. Thankfully I was wise to discover the nature of these scams before I encountered them, but many are not so lucky.
I was intrigued by the lengths they will go to make the money and gain your trust. (There's also a community dedicated to 'baiting' these scammers and wasting their time instead of having them prey on some unsuspecting victim.) And you may be surprised how willingly the targets give much, if not all of their hard earned money to these people, who take everything and run, never to be seen again.
Babagwa plays on this idea and runs with it. As one watches the movie, one wonders where the titular spider's lair really is (or, for that matter, what it truly means in this context.) We see how trust is gained through flattery and conversational skills, through misdirection and trickery, through charisma and charm. It's almost an art form. These fake personas manifest themselves in the film as alternate scenes and even as hallucinations for the guilty.
The characters in Babagwa, as evil as their actions may be, are not clearly painted black or white as far as their motivations go. Each character has their own issues in life to straighten out. The money only serves to help them achieve that goal.
Alex Medina is great as Greg, whose frustrations ooze out the screen. Much of the acting props, however, go to Joey Paras who plays his handler. Joey Paras' character cares for his family, who is about to be evicted, but when it comes to business, he is a viper, ready to strike out and take from the rich to supplement himself. Someone give this person an award, it is long overdue. Technically, the film looks and sounds great, and I have no complaints.
The fantastic ending sequence of the film may be obvious to some, but it still teaches us that everything has a price.
8 Facebook friends over 10.
New Breed: Nuwebe
Watch this first.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/121448/frontrow/the-story-of-a-ten-year-old-mother-in-ang-pinakabata
With that out of the way, we come back to this film. Nuwebe is a dramatization of the events referred to in the above video. Mixed with the film is a completely unnecessary sideplot involving supernatural elements that never pans out.
Of course, the rape and improbable impregnation of a child really shakes up the dynamics of a family, if not outright destroys them. There's a lot of story potential to be had in this film. In the end, it doesn't work as well as I'd hoped.
I felt the movie could have been trimmed down to focus more on the act and the aftermath of the act itself. The first third of the movie seemed like padding sometimes, with a few exceptions, mainly relating to character development. Once the proverbial shit hits the fan, the entire family structure unravels. Some of the revelations of the mother are especially telling.
Nuwebe has a great cast and great actors, especially the child actors that act beyond their age. But the excessively dramatic monologues I attribute more to a script problem that tries to emulate the above video a bit too much. Ever see a 9 year old from the mountains speak cono? Me neither. People were unfortunately laughing at the cinema at moments that are supposed to be dramatic.
Visually the film is a treat. There are lush vistas of the countryside and it follows in most scenes in the village. The music is also decent to good.
Unfortunately, the film sputters to an end, at the point where it should be at its strongest. At times I thought the story would probably be better served as a documentary, or at least, in the style that we see in the last third of the film.
6 underaged moms out of 10.
New Breed: Babagwa
Greg (Alex Medina) is a failed model turned internet scammer. Using fake identities created on Facebook, Greg scams many wealthy and not so wealthy targets with his charm. His handler(Joey Paras) mentors him and guides him from target to target. However, one day, he falls in love with his target, a rich old maid (Alma Concepcion) who he befriends...
I know a lot of internet scammers; mostly of the type called a 419 scam. Thankfully I was wise to discover the nature of these scams before I encountered them, but many are not so lucky.
I was intrigued by the lengths they will go to make the money and gain your trust. (There's also a community dedicated to 'baiting' these scammers and wasting their time instead of having them prey on some unsuspecting victim.) And you may be surprised how willingly the targets give much, if not all of their hard earned money to these people, who take everything and run, never to be seen again.
Babagwa plays on this idea and runs with it. As one watches the movie, one wonders where the titular spider's lair really is (or, for that matter, what it truly means in this context.) We see how trust is gained through flattery and conversational skills, through misdirection and trickery, through charisma and charm. It's almost an art form. These fake personas manifest themselves in the film as alternate scenes and even as hallucinations for the guilty.
The characters in Babagwa, as evil as their actions may be, are not clearly painted black or white as far as their motivations go. Each character has their own issues in life to straighten out. The money only serves to help them achieve that goal.
Alex Medina is great as Greg, whose frustrations ooze out the screen. Much of the acting props, however, go to Joey Paras who plays his handler. Joey Paras' character cares for his family, who is about to be evicted, but when it comes to business, he is a viper, ready to strike out and take from the rich to supplement himself. Someone give this person an award, it is long overdue. Technically, the film looks and sounds great, and I have no complaints.
The fantastic ending sequence of the film may be obvious to some, but it still teaches us that everything has a price.
8 Facebook friends over 10.
New Breed: Nuwebe
Watch this first.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/121448/frontrow/the-story-of-a-ten-year-old-mother-in-ang-pinakabata
With that out of the way, we come back to this film. Nuwebe is a dramatization of the events referred to in the above video. Mixed with the film is a completely unnecessary sideplot involving supernatural elements that never pans out.
Of course, the rape and improbable impregnation of a child really shakes up the dynamics of a family, if not outright destroys them. There's a lot of story potential to be had in this film. In the end, it doesn't work as well as I'd hoped.
I felt the movie could have been trimmed down to focus more on the act and the aftermath of the act itself. The first third of the movie seemed like padding sometimes, with a few exceptions, mainly relating to character development. Once the proverbial shit hits the fan, the entire family structure unravels. Some of the revelations of the mother are especially telling.
Nuwebe has a great cast and great actors, especially the child actors that act beyond their age. But the excessively dramatic monologues I attribute more to a script problem that tries to emulate the above video a bit too much. Ever see a 9 year old from the mountains speak cono? Me neither. People were unfortunately laughing at the cinema at moments that are supposed to be dramatic.
Visually the film is a treat. There are lush vistas of the countryside and it follows in most scenes in the village. The music is also decent to good.
Unfortunately, the film sputters to an end, at the point where it should be at its strongest. At times I thought the story would probably be better served as a documentary, or at least, in the style that we see in the last third of the film.
6 underaged moms out of 10.
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