Even with its vulgar language at times, this is a film to be credited as a foundational piece in the Filipino-American cinema movement. The premise of a white-washed Filipino American son of immigrant parents is relatable for 2nd generation audiences. In 2001, this was an amazing film that evoked community pride and accomplishment. It's a messy reflection of a time when Fil-Am representation was frustratingly invisible, using familiar tropes that audiences today have seen in many 온라인카지노추천 shows and films. Nostalgia keeps this one relevant.

Since I have a lot of friends who are Filipino, I feel like I know most of these people. It's just a great movie for me.

[b]Plot[/b]: Medium [b]Entertainment[/b]: Medium-High [b]Originality[/b]: Medium-Low [b]Replay[/b] [b]Value[/b]: Low [b]Acting[/b]: Medium [b]Memorable[/b]: Low [list][*]Predictable. [*]Fun to watch. [*]Recommendation: Rent if you aren't looking for something thought-provoking or original. [*]Grade: C [/list]

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[color=black]Solid film about growing up fillipino in america.[/color]

Movie Review: "American Adobo", "The Debut", "Better Luck Tomorrow", "Charlotte Sometimes" This is my ratings of some ASIAN/AMERICAN films that I watched. I did one on "Charlotte Sometimes" and reposted it here again. [color=pink]"American Adobo" (2002)[/color] [color=pink][img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/movie/coverv/70/207470.jpg[/img]Hmmm... where do I begin... lets see... The cast probably wanted to do this movie because of the possible American Market it would be released to. Unfortunately, they should have pushed for a better script and better director. Not to say that the director is not good... but to be commercially successful in America, you need to have a director AND A WRITER with the same sense of structure, character arch and theme that most audiences can identify with. The lack of structure (as a writer) really got me. It was horrible. The characters were stereotypes of the Filipinos I grew up with. And the writing style and lack of subplot dripped with exposition throughout the whole movie. Did someone not mention to the writer that Voice Overs are KINDA bad? And unless you can write like Alan Ball, your VOICE OVERS better rock! This movie was a poor attempt to cross over to the American public. And if American Filipinos enjoyed the film, hmmm... they need to get out more cause laughing at yourself is one thing (and it won't get you far as a filmmaker), identifying with characters in a universal appeal is much better filmmaking. [/color] ** [color=yellow]"The Debut" (2002)[/color] [color=yellow][img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/movie/coverv/69/211669.jpg[/img]Decent film. But still, do Filipino filmmakers think that the american audience won't get it? There was so many over the top scenes that push the tradition of Filipino's on your plate like you wouldn't believe... but you don't have to. It's about story. From story and characters comes the traditions and cultures. You don't have to draw attention to it, just have your Filipino/American characters convey everything through their simple dialogue and subtle actions. [/color] [color=yellow]One scene in particular (if you're F.O.B. you'll get it) is when the lead character has to 'bless' the elders. And he was acting like he didn't 'get it'. And was awkward doing it. COME ON... You know what to do... you're 17 years old... you've been there done that... YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT... but don't act like you've never been aware of such a thing. The writer/director at that point proved he was making this Filipino lead an AMERICAN oblivious to culture yet embarassed of his own culture. How stupid is that?[/color] [color=yellow]A few characters were on the "O.A" side but most of the characters were good. Altough the film got a little tiring since the party (The Debut) seemed to last FOREVER... but it was just one night. Yikes. [/color] [color=yellow]This is definately a lesson on how NOT to make a Filipino/American movie. [/color] [color=yellow]They were on the right track but missed their mark, and if this is a new standard from ASIAN/American movies, everything after should easily raise the standard. Because this was far from compelling in movie making or story telling.[/color] ** [color=magenta]"Better Luck Tomorrow" (2003)[/color] [color=magenta][img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/movie/coverv/77/211877.jpg[/img]Okay - the filmmakers got it right with this one. A pretty much full Asian cast based on a true story. But compelling, deep, flawed and wonderful characters. Thanks to Justin Lin (producer/director)![/color] [color=magenta]The characters were skillfully crafted, the conflict was real, the absurdity of straight 'A' students getting involved with a situation like this was out there yet interesting and completely acceptable in this world... And what was so bad with the ending? NOTHING. It seemed like a blatant tribute to "The Graduate"... and that's a great movie.[/color] [color=magenta]This movie was inspirational. It was how movies from asian filmmakers using asian actors should be made. It completely held the universal emotions that any 'American film' would have and was not over-the-top, was not overly expositional and was NOT overly acted.[/color] [color=magenta]GO RENT IT NOW... [/color] ** [color=cyan]"Charlotte Sometimes" (2003)[/color] [color=cyan][img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/movie/coverv/35/212635_thumb.jpg[/img] There's a good movie that you should rent to learn about LIGHTING, MOOD, CHARACTER and STORY TELLING [b]WITHOUT[/b] too much exposition and dialogue.[/color] [color=cyan]It's called, "CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES" (2003)[/color] [color=cyan]After watching it I thought to myself, "Wow... finally a movie that doesn't have to explain every single thing to get the point across. Finally, a movie with scenes that were NOT over written" - as many of the scenes on the VPL are.[/color] [color=cyan]Good movie. Really good - for a small tiny indie film by nobody. It's dark, edgy, deep, conflicted and quiet. The director let the camera tell the story. Not much dialogue, lingering scenes, deep emotion and scarred characters. The women were beautiful and it was pretty much a full asian cast shot in Silverlake, CA.[/color] [color=cyan]Don't be sleepy when you watch this movie. But watch it for a good lesson in direction and character's actions tell more about who they are instead of words.[/color] [url="http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2003/05/050201.html"][size=4][color=cyan]Ebert's Review[/color][/size][/url]

Flaxgirl and I rented [i]Gigli[/i] tonight, in that adventurous "Let's see if it's that bad" spirit that caused us to sit down in Washington and watch all of [i]The Master of Disguise[/i]. [i]Gigli[/i] is not as bad as that. Mind you, it's awful, but it's not 0/10 awful. Just 1/10 awful. Just D- awful. Review below. We also got [i]The Debut[/i], which Flaxgirl has wanted me to watch with her forever. The film is all about Filipino families. She found much of it hilarious in that "it's funny because it's true way." Even I, with my brief few months of indoctrination into the ways of Filipino families, could recognize some traits in the onscreen family that I'd seen in hers. Interesting, at any rate. Review lower down. [b]Gigli (2003)[/b] Amazingly, [i]Gigli[/i] manages not to be as bad as all the hype - but at the same time, it's still a truly awful movie. Imagine a bad episode of [i]Seinfeld[/i] stretched out to feature length... then stretched some more. Unconscionably, [i]Gigli[/i] runs 121 minutes, mostly due to a lot of repeated lines and entire scenes that appear to be improvised (and if they weren't, they might as well have been). Why [i]Seinfeld[/i]? Because all [i]Gigli[/i]'s dialogue can't hide that this is a film about nothing. Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is assigned to kidnap Brian (Justin Bartha), the mentally challenged brother of a federal prosecutor. His boss doesn't trust him, so he also assigns Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) to the job of guarding the kid. Then everyone sits around for two hours talking about nothing, and not even in that interesting way that some movies have. The dialogue is painfully bad and every scene drags on far longer than it should. Add to that the utter lack of chemistry between Lopez and Affleck as they're supposedly falling for each other - they do so because that's what movie characters do, but there's never the slightest sense that the situation is at all natural - and you've got a really difficult movie to watch. There are a couple of amusing sequences, such as when Brian asks Larry to read to him before falling asleep and Larry, with no real reading material in the house, reads the description on the back of a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Most of what seems like it's supposed to be funny isn't really, though - and even worse, the film makes a horrendously executed attempt at being serious, mostly by playing violins during scenes that would seem goofy otherwise (and still do, of course, but now we know it isn't intentional). The backlash against [i]Gigli[/i] as "the Bennifer movie" was unfortunate, but to suggest the movie doesn't deserve a whole lot of razzing is giving it far too much credit. When you try to salvage a film with no worthwhile plot or dialogue by plugging in a couple of camera-friendly stars and calling in favors to get cameos from actors with actual chops (Christopher Walken I know will appear in anything, but what in God's name was Al Pacino doing in this, even uncredited?), you're still not going to end up with much - [i]Gigli[/i]'s attempts to gloss over its myriad problems are far too evident for it to be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. [b]The Debut (2001)[/b] Films that aim stories about particular subcultures at a majority white audience are rarely very novel except in location. [i]Bend It Like Beckham[/i] is a good recent example; it's a fairly standard sports-meets-romance sort of film, except the heroine happens to be an Indian living in Britain. In the case of [i]The Debut[/i], the same is more or less true. It's not like we haven't seen kids breaking away from familial expectations before, we just haven't seen it in the context of Filipino families. Two basic conflicts spin in opposite directions throughout the movie. At the beginning, Ben (Dante Basco) is clearly attached more to white culture; he draws pictures from white models, has only white friends, is interested in a white woman. At the same time, his parents are resistant to his art and insist that he go to UCLA and become a doctor. By the end, they've met in the middle; Ben is more attached to his family and Filipino culture in general, while his family is more accepting of the idea of him going to art school. Sure, it's utterly rote, and the execution is a tad obvious (look, he's drawing all white models! Oh, and now he's seen the error of his ways and is drawing Asian models!), but it's handled well enough not to offend. [i]The Debut[/i] practically seems written to be "The White Person's Primer for Asian Subculture," complete with Ben's two white friends who seem enthralled by the novelty of all things Filipino acting as the guides/surrogate audience members. Obviously part of the desire to get the film made was that Filipinos in the United States don't see themselves onscreen all that much - unless you're one of the eight people who saw [i]Surf Ninjas[/i] - but there still seems to be a conscious effort to expose the culture itself to a wider audience. At least, let's hope that's what it was; otherwise, all the dance sequences would feel like padding just to get the film up to its already brisk 88-minute running time. [i]The Debut[/i] is an easy film to identify with, whether you're Filipino or not; even if your family didn't have big wooden spoons hung up on the wall, you know what it's like to feel embarrassed by your parents, or to want to do something your parents don't think is what you should be doing with your life. Writers Gene Cajayon and John Manal Castro do a good job of mixing that universality with a lot of specifics to the Filipino culture, which keeps a pretty standard plot from seeming too stale. The acting you can take or leave, but it doesn't take much away from the movie despite some performers who aren't really up to snuff. [i]The Debut[/i] is still a passable little film that gets its point across and does so in breezy fashion.

MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED IT WOULD BE, IT IS A BIT PREDICTABLE AND ROUTINE, BUT IT IS VERY WELL DONE. VERY EFFECTIVE.

This movie is a great movie since some people can relate to the main character and in real life most people live the characters life in simular way.......

What a great coming-of-age Asian American movie. Imagine, an AA male and AA female hooking up on film?

zoveelste variatie op het prom night/highschool genre, gekruid met wat fillipijnse elementen. Desalniettemin leuk genoeg om uit te zien.

I really wanted this to be better than it was. I really related to the parents scenes and their expectations, as well as the other Filipino characters expectations. But the good intentions were poorly executed. I don't know if it was bad editing, acting, or directing. This movie just sucked and it was cheesy, I'm sorry for being negative, but that is my honest feedback. The best actors were Dante, the gossipy parents, and Dante's love interest. There needs to be a better Filipino movie out there.

Probably the best FilAm film out there.

A seminal milestone in Fil-Am cinema.

made me cry and want to roar, "i'm filipina and proud of it!" SEE. IT.

this movie is F'N RAGER MANNN!

When this movie came out, it was the first time when I actually saw the story of my life on screen. My criticism is that movie followed the formula of a typical immigrant parent vs. new gen American aka my story. But I enjoyed the performances and the Music! Hopefully there'll be more movies coming out that will show the different aspects of what it's like to be a Filipino-American.

Gotta love the Bosco Brothers..

This brought me back to my younger days when Pinoys were Pinoys. If you want to try to understand us, watch this movie it will give you a little insight on why we do what we do.

a very enjoyable film!