MMFF 2013: My Little Bossings

In light of recent events regarding this film and statements made by one of the principal actors on its box office take, I've decided to give this film a watch. I liken giving this film a chance to Jesus healing some lepers. Okay, that may not be the best analogy to give.

In short, the tragedy of My Little Bossings is not in the fact that it isn't a good film. It still isn't a good film, but that isn't the point. Instead, I submit to you, that the true tragedy for this film, and for moviegoers everywhere, lies in two very simple facts about the film.

1. It doesn't try to be good.

My Little Bossings is a film that could have been made by a couple of high school students in three days. Devoid of anything resembling a solid plot, it gets by using a series of vignettes, comedy segments and completely unrelated scenes of product placement.To its credit, the product placements are not as in your face as some of the previous films made by Vic Sotto. Some of the films in the Enteng Kabisote series, for example, were far more in line with the prostitution-like way these products were being shilled. In fact, this movie tones down a lot of things.

Without the fantasy and special effects of the previous MMFF offerings by this studio, I bet that the expense for making this film is reduced substantially. In addition, I'm sure these product placements made quite a substantial chunk of financing the film. This film is made to make money.

Veteran actors Vic Sotto and Aiza Seguerra really make up the core of the story, and  to their credit I actually found their subplot vastly more interesting than the weird kidnapping-pyramid scam-rich kid antics that formed the bulk of the film. What little chemistry is left in this trainwreck comes from their honest and decent performances. Removing the two children altogether and focusing on their story could have made a halfway decent film, or at best a halfway decent lenten episode of Eat Bulaga!. But no, this is not what we get.

Ryzza Mae is talented, yes. But her co-star has no acting chops whatsoever. This is not really a surprise when your father is the stoic and almost unemotional James Yap and your mother has the acting ability of a bag of wet noodles. Bimby's English (nosebleed-inducing) speech reminds me of my own childhood, before I realized I sounded weird for some reason.

The problem with this film is not that it's horribly bad. If a film is horribly bad we can sometimes laugh at it for the ridiculous crap that it is. No, this film suffers from being mediocre, and consequently, forgettable. No one will remember this film in a few years. No one probably remembers that time when Enteng Kabisote and Panday teamed up, either.

And what perpetuates this? Complacency. We, as a moviegoing audience, have watched year after year of cinematic crap that we really don't care, and the filmmakers, confident that whatever they put on screen, given the right names and people, will make some money, don't really even try to make a good film. Which brings me to my next point.

2. It doesn't need to be good.

When I look at posts that defend the film, I see the same arguments again and again. Let's try to address them one by one.

"This is a children's film. This is a film for kids." This statement is an insult to children everywhere. To have children settle for this is like telling your child that you can settle with elementary school and not go to high school anymore.

When I was a kid, I loved movies that challenged my imagination. Cool stuff like Star Wars and even Demolition Man (that I watched in secret because it was rated R) made me think of the future and realize that I can do more with myself. Had I watched crap like this because of my parents? I would have resented them later on for wasting my time. Is it really wrong to want more out of a cinematic experience with a Filipino movie?

"If you don't want to see it, don't watch it." this is a very valid point. As long as we nurture this culture of "pwede na to," every time we thing that something is just enough for us, we will stagnate.as a people and as a culture. And this attitude isn't just applied to when we watch movies. It applies every time we commute to work in horrible conditions and we say "pwede na to." (This is enough.) It applies every time we have politicians that steal us blind, yet we still vote for them every four to six years and we say, "pwede na to." (This is enough.) It applies every time we look at our cities, our infrastructure, our way of life, and we say "pwede na to." (This is enough.) This is not just a thing with movies, this is a thing with us and our culture. "Pwede na to."

Really?

Do we really deserve this?

Yes, the tragedy of this movie is not because it's bad, it's because THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SEE.

I end with a scene early on in the movie capitulating the essence of this entire post. To troll with Vic Sotto's character, Bimby collects a bunch of dog shit and throws it in the pool. Vic gets away and two of the servants try to dredge the shit with a net. Bimby then throws these two goons inside the pool with the shit inside.

If this was some sort of self referential thing, with Bimby representing the filmmakers of this and other horrible films, and the goons representing us, the moviegoing public, and the dog shit representing their stale, awful product, then My Little Bossings is secretly a work of genius.