September 18, 2012
I have known about this movie when it was one of the featured films in the recent Cinemalaya Film Fest. However aside from the terrible title, the synopsis describing a film an elderly gay man with his dog was so bleak, it did not interest me at all. Maybe because it won Eddie Garcia a Best Actor award, it was given a commercial run which was good, but I still did not have a plan to watch it. Well, that is until this morning when I found out that this film will be our country's entry to the Oscars Foreign Language Film category for this year. Honestly, that was the only reason why I felt I should give it a chance after all.
Unfortunately, this film turned out to be as bleak and as dry as its synopsis suggested. It was indeed about an elderly gay man named Rene (Eddie Garcia) and his dog Bwakaw (played by an "aspin"/"askal" named Princess). The drama played for an hour and a half or maybe more, as slow, as straightforward and as predictable as that.
There were of course some people in his neighborhood he interacted with, like his nosy next-door neighbor Nitang (Beverly Salviejo), the gays at the beauty salon (Soxie Topacio and Joey Paras), his co-workers in the Post Office (Luz Valdez and Allan Paule), the priest who was always seen fanning himself (Gardo Versoza) and the tricycle driver the old curmudgeon decided to befriend (Rez Cortez). The elegant Ms. Armida Siguion-Reyna stood out in her featured role as Alicia, the girlfriend Rene kept hanging for 15 years, only not to marry. I see the name of Bibeth Orteza in the cast list, but I honestly do not remember seeing her in the film.
OK, there were some scenes that made me laugh. There was even a scene that made me tear up. There was a scene that I felt certain was bound to happen, it did, but I wish it did not. However, the main fault of this film is that there were no big surprises at all. There were no hidden symbolism or deeper meanings. It did not challenge me think at all. I felt I have seen this same story of growing old lonely told many times before in many a made-for-TV drama show. "Bwakaw" is not really that bad, but is this it? Is this really the BEST we have to show the world this year to compete for the Oscars?
I heard so much about this film because of its family friendly theme.
ReplyDeleteAlso pet friendly theme.
ReplyDeleteIt always weirds me out when Cinemalaya movies feature more and more "mainstream" actors instead of more, well, independent talent. And I understand this movie was part of the Director's Showcase, but still.
ReplyDeleteI'll still want to check it out given the whole Oscar submission bit. We'll see how it fares.
I regrettably admit that I'm not much into our pinoy movies; BUT! I go for indie films so thanks for your review, I will check this movie out soon!
ReplyDeleteI have been hearing so much about this movie and now that it has also become our entry to the Oscar's, I might actually go check it out myself (with your notes in mind). Thanks for this review!
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ReplyDeleteLife of could have been and should have been. It really is so dry for me. I am suprise that this is our bet for Oscars. Yawn...
ReplyDeleteBWAKAW... the title itself sounds very weird. Of all dog names, why this particular term to call for a pet. Seems an interesting movie to watch just as I may know the reason behind the dog's name.
ReplyDeleteA friend mentioned about this movie and we're planning to actually watch it together. Interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteI skipped the festival and just decided to watch which movies will come out the "best." Saves time. And money. Haha. So far BWAKAW and ANG NAWAWALA seem to be the most talked-about. This is the first BWAKAW review I've read, and now I feel like I don't need to rush and see this. The trailer did not even pique my interest.
ReplyDeleteFrom Direk William Mayo's Facebook status, which I saw a few days ago:
"FILM ACADEMY OF THE PHILIPPINES SELECTION COMMITTEE IS PRESENTLY REVIEWING PHILIPPINES' OSCAR ENTRY TO THE 'BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM' FYI - ALL ENTRIES SHOULD HAVE A 7-DAYS COMMERCIAL EXHIBITION. ITS AN OSCAR RULE. THE COMMITTEE IS CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING MOVIES.
1. MANILA KINGPIN
2. SEGUNDA MANO
3. A MOTHER STORY
4. MGA MUMUNTING LIHIM
THE FOLLOWING MAY BE CONSIDERED ONCE...IT ASCERTAINED THEIR 7DAYS -CONSECUTIVE- COMMERCIAL EXHIBITION.
1. BWAKAW
2. BUSONG
3. MIGRANTE
4. GRACELAND
5. CAPTIVE"
Marri, the name of the dog doesn't sit well with me too. What does Bwakaw mean anyway? Does it mean "matakaw"?
ReplyDeleteStephanie. Thanks for the info about the other films under consideration. I can't believe a terrible movie like Segunda Mano was even there! Manila Kingpin was good, except for the glaring miscasting of the lead actor. Really, a melodramatic Pokwang movie that could be an extended episode of a tv drama show? Lihim would be the best of the first four films.
ReplyDeleteOf the indie films in the second list: Busong was too esoteric. Captive was too vertiginous. Bwakaw too dry. Haven't seen the other two.
In the last festival, Posas and Sta. Nina were good too. Posas had a brief commercial run, but not considered. Sat. Nina did not have a run at all, so not eligible. A thought with a star like Coco Martin, it would get released.
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