Ploning

"Wow"
This was the first thing me and cookie exclaimed after finishing this movie. One word that can summarize everything that we feel for the movie.

No offense to anyone but when I first heard about the movie in Inquirer, I was quite indifferent about it. Well, maybe I was looking down a little on it. Well, can you blame me? For my taste, there were only quite a few Pinoy movies that actually made me feel proud to be "pinoy". Maybe because Philippine films can be so low budget and most stories are shallow. The last pinoy movie that I really liked was Jose Rizal by Marilou Diaz-Abaya starring Cesar Montano. However, this "like" was more for the screenplay and directing rather than the story itself. We all know our national hero's history and all (Still, nice movie though). The rest of the movies, in my opinion, are mediocre at most. I am not a movie critic. I judge a movie only by two things: 1) effects and 2) predictability. I like a movie where I cannot guess what is going to happen next. I mean, I am a viewer not the director. Sorry to say most of the Philippine movies are predictable.

Ploning has some level of unpredictability to me. From the opening scene, with the haunting song of Ploning, my attention was immediately caught. Dante Nico Garcia and company did a marvelous job hiding the key elements of the story. I was like, is Muo Sei really Thomas? Sure at 1/4 of the movie, he is revealed to be Rodrigo which one can guess to be Digo. But call me stupid, but the other events I was not able to predict. It was like a slow joke building up to a sensational punchline.

Also, one thing I like about this movie is how the actors did their job. Although I'm not a fan of Juday, she did quite well. The rest of the cast was simply amazing. What's different in Ploning from other Philippine movies is that the way actors acted was so so natural. It was as if you're watching an animal planet hidden camera observing how Cuyonan people live. It was surreal. The child Digo played by Cedric Amit was like seeing your brother or nephew from a video camera recording. Bibo, ika nga.

Finally, Muo Sei, with his distant looks, makes you feel that you want to go home. This movie made me remember of the native province of my parents, Lubang. Like my father always told us, no matter where he is, he will always want to contribute to Lubang. No matter how small the contribution. This makes one remember our roots and the happy times we spent at home.

This movie get 5 thumbs up from me. I hope they win the Academy award (I think). I'll be cheering for this one. Good luck guys.