Friday, August 12, 2016

CINEMALAYA 2016: Review of LANDO AT BUGOY: Paternal Predicaments

August 11, 2016




Father and son relationships are tricky, especially while the boy is growing up. Based on my own personal experience, a father learns how to deal with his son by trial and error. A son is never an exact miniature version of his father, despite what others may think or say. Fatherhood is a constant struggle that every father wishes to master, but simply could not. There are simply no instant correct answers nor magic formulas to paternal success. 

Set in the picturesque island province of Camiguin and told in the Visayan language, the simple title "Lando at Bugoy" refers to a father and son with those names. They live together in the same house, just the two of them only, yet they still really do not know each other, nor can they stand one another. 

Lando is 40 years old, a high school dropout who now earns a living by carving tombstones (called "lapida" in the vernacular). His rebellious teenage son Bugoy is a delinquent student who would rather smoke and drink with his gang. One day, Lando decides to go back to school and becomes Bugoy's classmate. Will their shaky relationship take a turn for the better? or the worse?

Allen Dizon is Lando. As a performer, he had been constantly improving in the indie films I have seen him in. He had already proven his acting mettle when he won many Best Actor awards for his role in the recent Kapampangan film 'Magkakabaung". His character in that movie and in this one both have occupations that dealt with death. Impressive how he now speaks in Visayan for this one. 

As a student trying to fit in with classmates more than half of his age, Dizon can be charming or cheesy, either way, his Lando was likable. I felt his sincerity and his effort. As a father, I totally feel his frustration about his son's hostile and disrespectful attitude towards him. It would really hurt a father to hear a son shouting back at him, what more cursing him.  

Newcomer Gold Azeron was very natural in his acting as Bugoy. His role was rather one-dimensional as Bugoy was just being an angry or naughty kid for most of the film. Since he was also a titular character, it was too bad his role was not as well-molded as that of Lando.

Notable among the supporting characters was Roger Gonzales as Bugoy's father, who gets to say some pretty sensible advice about fatherhood. I was hoping He could be having more scenes with Lando and Bugoy than what he had. Special mention goes to the pretty Rachel Ann Ang Rosello as the English teacher, Ms. Emma. Her flawless English was delivered with nary a Visayan accent, which felt a little off given the very rural setting. However, she is quite disarming, especially with her scenes with Dizon.

Writer/director Victor Acedillo Jr. came up with a generally delightful slice of provincial life with this film. I liked how he tackled the various predicaments Lando had to deal with as a single father.  However, after a painstakingly-executed buildup, we get a disappointingly abrupt climax that came out of nowhere. There was big development in Bugoy's character, but we do not actually see what happened to result in this change. I wish this part was not too rushed.  

It was revealed before the end credits that this was actually inspired by a real-life story of one Camiguin teacher named Silvino Bajao. This fact made the whole film more worthwhile. 7/10. 


15 comments:

  1. Hmmm, it takes a lot of courage for a parent to go to any length to prove what is right or wrong to their child... This looks like an interesting movie

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  2. Haven't watched the movie yet but seems like I need to put this one in my list.

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  3. What an interesting twist. Parents and kids don't always have a great relationship and it just gets more complicated as the teen years roll in. It would be nice to see what happens in the movie! Thanks for the review.

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  4. I love movies that are based on True Stories. You are right that knowledge make them worthwhile. This is my kind of movie, really. But is it funny or emotional? I love such movies that leave a powerful impact and are close to reality!

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  5. Great movie.. It's sounds very interesting.. Wanna watch it!

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  6. I would love to see Camiguin as a Backdrop of the film. I'm also impressed with the Cinemalaya films recently.

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  7. Whether the story is adapted to a real life experience, I hate seeing kids fight back their parents. Anyway, this movie is interesting and I am pretty sure that viewers can learn a lesson from this.

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  8. Another great review of wonderful movie from no other person than the great Fred. Keep it up, it looks great and interesting.

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  9. I agree that fatherhood is ling journey that through the children, they can also learn new things from them. Well, this kind of movie that I liked most.

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  10. I agree that fatherhood can be as challenging as motherhood. It will be a great to see stories depicting this journey.

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  11. Emotional movie I must say. Can't deny the depth of knowledge needed in making our world beautiful. The journey of fatherhood is huge and highly tasking, however the fruits of such journey is definitely rewarding in the end.

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  12. I've never tried going to Cinemalaya before! These are such refreshing changes to the usual shallow love stories :O

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  13. The other movie that changed my opinion after watching the post credits that it's based on a real story was Black Mass. So I definitely understand what you mean!

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  14. That's awesome that it was based on a true life story. It sounds def. interesting.

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  15. Sounds interesting. There's an Indian movie called Santosh Subramanian in Tamil language. You should watch it. It also deals with dad & son relationship issues..

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