Filipiñana

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

17-year-old Isabel (Jorrybell Agoto) is the newest addition to the roster of “tee-girls” at an exclusive golf course catering to the country’s ultra-rich and a steady flow of Chinese tourists. The president, Dr. Palanca (Teroy Guzman), is always the subject of gossip for his many flings with various employees, much to the chagrin of his ex-Miss Universe wife Maribel (Agot Isidro). Meanwhile, loyal patron and head of golf equipment business Renato (Carlos Siguion-Reyna) tours his New York-based niece Clara (Carmen Castellanos) around the premises, teaching her the basics of the game in hopes that she’d agree to stay in Manila to help run the family business. While the economic elite are enjoying their time engrossed in the game, the tee-girls and caddies are micromanaged military style and have to work under terrible conditions just to get by. It won’t take long before Isabel finds out that she shares something else with Dr. Palanca apart from their Ilocano roots.

Ganggang

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Mel (Raine Dela Cruz) is accustomed to moving house depending on where his father, a soldier, gets assigned by the force. Their latest residence is in a rural community in Bulacan called Barangay Sidhaya. Far from civilization and unaffected by the frenzy of urban Manila, Barangay Sidhaya still teems with activity. Mel meets classmates Ilay (Kenneth “Butchoy” Vincent Mendoza) and Ten-Ten (Don Rishmond Cerbito) who immediately become his best friends, perhaps because all three of them serve as prey for the class bully who happens to be the son of the barangay captain. For entertainment, the kids rely on Ganggang, which involves catching spiders and having them battle one another on a stick. While the children are busy with their games, the adults of the town are caught in a constant risk of getting red-tagged by the military, in an effort to show the country that their anti-communist insurgency initiatives are bearing fruit.

A.ni.mál

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

The Peraltas have built a strong foundation as a political dynasty on their home turf. Dan (Jojit Lorenzo) is up for reelection while his wife Ofel (Frances Makil-Ignacio) is a constant companion and campaign manager of Dr. Grace Reyes (Bituin Escalante), who is running to replace her husband Governor Paul (Reymund Domingo). Meanwhile, their daughter Lily Peralta (Maxine Ignacio) spends most of her time at a local animal shelter as a volunteer, taking as many selfies and videos as she can and posting them online to convince herself that her advocacy for animal rights is legit. One evening as she visits Ninong Paul’s mansion to ask for financial favors regarding her advocacy, she catches him in the act of sexually molesting his dog Bella (Bini) with the help of a bottle of peanut butter. She records a video. When she shows the video to her parents, a heated debate erupts in their household.

Tayo Lang Ang Nakakaalam

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Neil (Martin del Rosario) and Bong (Miguel Odron) have already been romantic partners for half a decade, living together and forming new memories. Neil is even close to Bong’s mother Gloria (Yayo Aguila) who treats him almost like his own son. Their bonds are tested when Bong ends up confined at a hospital. While the doctors say that it is a case of amoebiasis, Bong’s emaciated frame and feeble condition seem to suggest otherwise. To make matters more complicated, relatives from Gloria’s side of the family have been visiting since finding out about Bong’s illness, but Gloria couldn’t introduce Neil properly as her son’s partner because Bong is not out of the closet yet, at least within his family. Bong’s estranged Father (Epy Quizon) also makes an appearance after being gone for so long, further complicating the family dynamics. As Bong’s condition worsens, the revelation of a secret will test the bond they share.

Kaka Sa Yawan

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

21-year-old Niko (Beaver Magtalas) comes back to Mindoro to visit his Father (Luis Alandy) as well as the family home. His return triggers visions of his childhood as a young Niko (Bryce Nicolo Mercader) in the province when he and his father decided to move back there to reconnect with his estranged Mother (Nikki Valdez) who was suffering from a terminal illness. That is also the year when his paths crossed with a Tadyawan boy of his age named Ayan (Dennis Dato), with whom he formed a strong bond of friendship. Niko is welcomed in Ayan’s humble abode on the mountains, eventually becoming a regular visitor there. Niko also convinces Ayan to continue his studies and go back to school with him. That summer gives them a life’s worth of happy memories, at least until tragedy strikes and reminds them that everything in life is fleeting, and each moment must be savored as if it were the last.

Hand of God

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Lt. Edgardo Reyes (Ruru Madrid) is relocated from Cotabato to a new assignment, also in Mindanao. The soldiers he commands, who have been stationed there way longer than he, warn him not to trust the locals. Still, he still insists in sharing the joys of football to the town’s children by setting up a goal post and teaching them how to play. True enough, rebel leader Omar (Jhong Hilario) pays the town a visit and orders his men to tear down the goal post so they could melt the steel to make guns. One of the townswomen, Farida (Iza Calzado), is also suspicious of Reyes, but allows her son Khaleel (KD Omalin) who is training under Omar to be a child soldier to join the games as goalie. Soon, Reyes hatches a plan to take the kids to Manila so they can compete there, much to the reluctance of town elder Pak Ismail (Ronnie Lazaro) who fears that such a decision will be seen by the rebels as taking sides.

Status: Rejected

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Virginia Divinagracia (Ruby Ruiz) is one year shy of her 70th anniversary on earth. She lives with her breadwinner daughter Anna (Alessandra de Rossi) who is a single mother to her granddaughter Sophia (Yani Villarosa) who is studying to become a nurse. Virginia also has a son named Clark who is working illegally in the United States, which is one reason why she is eager to get a visa to join him there, but she is denied by the US Embassy for the fourth consecutive time. As Anna becomes more and more vocal about the family’s money problems, Virginia seeks solace in her friend Tessie (Beverly Salviejo) who prods her to beef up her social media accounts. There she meets “Steve”, a retired American soldier looking for love and companionship. He promises to take her with him to America through a fiance visa. Will Virginia finally fulfill her dream of setting foot in the USA?

Mag-iina (The Mothering)

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Anj (Janine Gutierrez) comes back to the family home after a long time spent abroad, mostly in New York. There she meets Yñigo (Lucas Andalio), the orphan boy her aunt Ysobel (Cherry Pie Picache) has adopted and named after her deceased brother. In fact, her father’s 40th day death anniversary is the main reason for her reluctant return, knowing that she’s going to have to deal with her unhinged and perpetually drugged mother Mita (Agot Isidro). And of course, there’s also her grandmother Angela (Jackie Lou Blanco), the headstrong matriarch and national artist who keeps herself locked in her room painting all the time. Meanwhile, loyal househelp Katte (Ness Roque) serves as the bearer of family secrets and constant victim of the family’s not so evident cruelty. When Yñigo the kid starts acting eerily like Yñigo the recently deceased, Anj is thrusted right into the center of the family drama she worked hard all these years to avoid.

Tirik

♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Parish priest Bert (Rocco Nacino) takes care of his parishioners and always lends a helping hand to those in need. One of those parishioners is taxi driver Santos (Floyd Tena) who owes the priest a debt of gratitude for his financial assistance to his wife and son. Bert’s parish also serves as a temporary refuge for sleep and rest whenever Santos is left without a place to stay in the wee hours of the morning after driving around the metro. One day, Bert is scheduled to travel all the way to Dasmariñas in Cavite for a church service there. Santos offers his cab and insists to take the priest to wherever it is he ought to be. The road trip takes hours and they have their own fair share of adventures along the way as well as confessions and revelations that might just put their friendship to the test, if they make it through the day in one piece.

2 Valid IDs

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Indigent farmer Silvia (Marietta Subong) travels to Manila to accompany her sick husband Ramon (Joey Marquez) at a public hospital ward where they await his operation. Despite their lack of funds, they find new hope in his New Zealand-based aunt who sends them a little over a hundred thousand pesos in exchange for their land in Pangasinan. The problem is, the remittance center won’t release the funds because Silvia’s postal ID is no longer considered a primary ID. On top of that, she actually needs two valid IDs for her first transaction. Luckily, Silvia has found a loyal assistant in Denver (Zaijian Jaranilla), a college dropout who serves as his comatose grandfather’s carer on the bed next to Ramon’s. As they go through the requirements for getting one of the many listed valid IDs, they realize how ridiculous the process is. But then again, do they really have a choice?

Sisa

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

When Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, the resulting Philippine-American war had entire Filipino communities under close inspection at garrisoned communities where they were practically treated as slaves under strict curfew and surveillance. The arrival of a mentally ill woman whom they end up calling Sisa (Hilda Koronel) reminds the women of the toll of war on mental health. She is taken in by Delia (Eugene Domingo) whose husband and sons were all killed by the Americans. She also meets Leonor (Jennica Garcia), a widow who becomes the kept woman of the American general in command of the area, earning the ire of the women in the community who see her as a whore. The amnesty announcement from president Roosevelt involves several high ranking officials visiting the community and is also the targeted day for a mutiny. Has freedom finally come?

Until She Remembers

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Angel (Barbie Forteza) is having a hard time at school and it doesn’t help that neither parent is there to support her. Her father Raymund (Albert Martinez) and mother Gloria (Angel Aquino) are always away for work. To make matters worse, she hears them arguing one night about her and it seems they are clearly headed for separation. In need of a guardian to go to school at the behest of her teacher, she asks her grandmother Concha (Charo Santos-Concio) to come with her. She also moves to her house temporarily as respite from the toxic environment back at home. Soon she finds out that her grandma has pancreatic cancer and has been given only a few months to live. She also discovers some secrets about her past, including an abruptly ended romance with one of her teachers back in high school. With the help of a friend, she tracks down Catherine (Boots Anson-Roa) who is now suffering from Alzheimer's, so the two could reunite.

About Us But Not About Us

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Literature professor Ericson (Romnick Sarmenta) is a gay man in his 40’s. He finds himself at a restaurant in BGC where he is about to meet up with a student of his with whom he has formed a close bond. Lancelot (Elijah Canlas) is an aspiring writer who idolizes Marcus, Eric’s partner who was considered the Nick Joaquin of his generation. Given the COVID pandemic restrictions in place, the two are given 90 minutes by the restaurant, after which they have to leave so the place can be sanitized for the next guests. Marcus’ name surfaces repeatedly in the conversation. After all, it hasn’t been long since his suicide and the two are still reeling from the aftermath. As they reminisce, new revelations are served with a side dish of apple pie. In the end, Lancelot presents Eric a Filipino novel he claims to have written entitled Teorya Ng Mga Tanong, the very same novel Marcus was working on before he died.

Everyone Knows Every Juan

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

The Sevilla siblings decide to meet back at their ancestral home to commemorate the first year death anniversary of their mother. The house is now under the care of the youngest daughter Raquel (Alessandra de Rossi) who is residing there with her live-in partner Alfred (JM de Guzman) and maid Anna (Angeli Bayani). Soon, the other brothers and sisters arrive: eldest son and celebrity plastic surgeon Tupe (Edu Manzano); eldest daughter and black sheep Josie (Ruby Ruiz); candidate for councillor Rose (Gina Alajar); musician Roel (Joel Torre); and religious fanatic Ramil (Ronnie Lazaro). One of the topics on their agenda is the division of assets now that the matriarch is gone. There is one problem, though. Their mother’s diary indicates that she wanted their gardener Jacob (Kelvin Miranda) to inherit the house, a curiosity which provokes a discussion and confrontation among the siblings and other occupants of the house.

The Loved One

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Ellie (Anne Curtis) and Eric (Jericho Rosales) meet several times through common friends, first in a bar, and then at a wedding. They start dating soon after that before becoming a couple. They get a shared condominium unit and move in, living in before deciding on lifelong commitments. She is a Gemini and identifies as a rebel while he is a shy Leo. Their perspectives in life as well as their stand on various issues vary greatly. Soon, cracks begin to form. He wants stability as well as a clear future. She, on the contrary, is on a constant search for purpose or whatever missing element that would make her life more meaningful. 10 years later, they meet again under different circumstances, in hopes of leaving the past behind and reaching an agreement for their current setup. In this relationship, who is the lover and who is the loved one?

Love You So Bad

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

College student Savannah Aquino (Bianca de Vera) has a rather notorious reputation at school, buoyed by her popularity and promiscuity, even though she has become hot topic lately due to her breakup with boyfriend LA Dolores (Dustin Yu), who is popular in his own way for maintaining a bad boy image. Both of them come from broken families: she, living with her aunt because her mother abandoned her to start a new family; he, perpetually hated by the man he has always known as his father because he isn’t really his son. Enter Victor Alvarez (Will Ashley), the overachiever council president who gets friendzoned by Vanna and agrees to be her pretend boyfriend when LA ghosts her for weeks. As the two fly to his hometown to work on their thesis, they get to know one another even more and feelings start to develop. Why not just make it real?

I'mPerfect

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Jessica (Krystal Go) is attending a school for individuals with Down Syndrome. Most of her friends are her schoolmates and her world revolves around school, her part-time job waiting tables at a cafe, and her home life with her single mom Norma (Sylvia Sanchez). Her father Arman (Joey Marquez) abandoned them when she was born but is now trying to worm himself back into their lives, wanting to make amends. Sparks fly with the arrival of new student Jiro (Earl Amaba), the elder son in a family of doctors. His mother Lizel (Lorna Tolentino) and father Dan (Tonton Gutierrez) as well as his younger brother Ryan (Zaijian Jaranilla) are all supportive despite his reluctance to go to school and socialize after years of being homeschooled. As Jessica and Jiro fall in love, they elope and head over to Mindanao where his previous nanny Claring (Janice de Belen) resides. Although hesitant, she takes them in without letting their respective parents’ knowledge.

Manila's Finest

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

1969. The Manila Police District crew is known to many as “Manila’s Finest” or an epitome of public service dedicated to peace keeping within the city’s borders. Captain Homer Magtibay (Piolo Pascual) is a family man; a loving husband to his wife Yoly (Rica Peralejo) and father to Agnes (Ashtine Olviga), who gets entangled in student rallies demanding change from the current administration. Magtibay’s partner in the force is first lieutenant Billy Ojeda (Enrique Gil) who is accused of frustrated homicide in the aftermath of a Mendiola rally that leaves battered bodies on both sides in its wake. Things get more complicated when the Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command or METROCOM, through officer Danilo Abad (Cedrick Juan), starts encroaching on the MPD’s mandate by snatching jurisdiction over criminals and setting them free based on their usefulness as assets. As changes occur within the force, the impending threat of Martial Law looms in the shadows.

Unmarry

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Attorney Jacqueline Lambridas (Eugene Domingo) is an influencer lawyer who specializes in annulment cases. A scheduling mishap brings two of her clients together. Her cousin Ivan (Zanjoe Marudo) is asking her to represent him as his defense counsel in an annulment case filed against him by his wife Maya (Solenn Heussaff) who is a prominent TV journalist and with whom he shares a son. Pastry chef Celine (Angelica Panganiban) is filing for annulment from her elitist snob husband Stephen (Tom Rodriguez) who controls all of her finances and makes life difficult for her as punishment for her legal decisions. All parties meet up at court as Jackie explains, through a series of online videos, how annulment in the Philippines works, the steps required to file, the legal basis for it, as well as what happens next. Meanwhile, what begins as emotional support for each other between Ivan and Celine blossoms into something more intimate.

Shake, Rattle & Roll Evil Origins

♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

I was going to give Shake, Rattle & Roll Evil Origins just one star, but let’s be fair because there is an obvious attempt at a cohesive main storyline here spanning two and a half centuries, connecting all three vignettes. Unfortunately, they dropped the ball with the execution of the concept. I have expectations because the last SR&R, the one that was released in 2023 and missed an MMFF slot, was actually quite good. This is the 17th entry in a franchise dating all the way back to 1984. In short, it is already part of every Pinoy millennial’s childhood. It’s such a shame that they can’t innovate well enough to honor that legacy and instead just decided to rehash horror/thriller tropes, without contributing anything new. If anything, this film just serves as an excuse to extend the 15 seconds of fame of some PBB starlets by giving them more mainstream exposure. This is how an industry stagnates, y’all.