Three Films: Eternal Summer, Astig, and Amorosa
In Mandarin, with English subtitles
Jonathan and Shane have been friends for ten years. A Taiwan-born Hong Kong girl with her own story transfers to their school. Shane secretly falls for her. Jonathan hides something. Actually, each one hides something from the other. How the coming of the girls stirs the friendship between the two boys while dealing with preparations for college and life after high school, in general, is the main theme of the movie.
The film is endearing despite that it touches a sensitive topic.
Rating: 3.5/4.0
ASTIG (G.B. Sampedro, 2009)
In Filipino (Tagalog), with English subtitles
Squalor is the English title of this film. It competed in the 2009 edition of Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and won for Sampedro an award for directing.
The films tells the (intersecting) stories of four men in downtown Manila. One is a con artist. Another is the brother of a student who gets entangled in the con artist's web of lies. The other two are the heir of a Chinese businessman and an expectant father who peddles stolen goods.
The story-telling technique used, while not original, still looks interesting for this kind of movie. It must be the editing. The performances of the actors save the movie whose story is almost trite like you've seen it in some old movies and television shows. But it's still a decent movie to watch.
Rating: 3.0/4.0
AMOROSA (Topel Lee, 2012)
In Filipino (Tagalog)
After suffering from a vehicular accident, Rosa, with her children Amiel and Rommel, transfers to the old Pension House owned by Rosa's Aunt (IMDB). But the house is haunted by vengeful ghosts.
I don't know what to say about this film. It's formulaic. Despite its many short comings as a horror film, I was entertained. It's not totally bad, but it's far from being a good movie.
Rating: 2.0/4.0
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