Cine Sauté

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ● 4 out of 5 stars It's not easy for me to love musicals. Of the many such films I've watched (discounting Disney animated musicals), only a handful made a lasting impression. Films like High School Musical , The Producers , Les Miserables , La La Land , and most recently, The Greatest Showman . It's the first film (and first musical) I've watched this year. It is a fictionalized biopic of American showman and circus proprietor P. T. Barnum who rose to fame at the turn of the 20th century for his Barnum & Bailey Circus. A powerhouse cast led by Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zach Efron, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson gets the film going. It's easy to expect excellent performances from Jackman and Efron given their previous experience in Les Miserables and High School Musical respectively. The same is true for Zendaya who has a budding musical career while occasionally appearing in movies. Both Williams and Ferguson are a revelation. I...

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ● 4 out of 5 stars I was the only one who clapped inside the movie theater when Meet Me in St. Gallen ended. The lady seated beside the empty seat next to me was visibly annoyed and impulsively said, “ Bwisit ka! ” I ignored her and just smiled on my way out. It’s very rare for me to clap and show a smile of fulfillment at the end of a romantic-comedy film, let alone a Filipino film. I remember the joy of watching That Thing Called Tadhana in 2014 and feeling genuine kilig for the nuanced story line. Just this December, Kita Kita premiered in PBO just six months after its cinematic release. I was moved by the unorthodox pairing of the two lead characters, their unique love story and the film’s setting and cinematography. Also endearing to me are two of Jennylyn Mercado’s recent romantic-comedies in the Metro Manila Film Festival— English Only Please and Walang Forever . While they aren’t as perfect as Tadhana and Kita Kita, Mercado’s commanding performance keeps the...

I have always been a fan of movies and film-making. My love affair with film and TV began in my youth. I spent part of my childhood in our province Romblon, in the island municipality of Banton in the middle of the Sibuyan Sea. The remote island had no 24-hour electricity; power is provided at night by a diesel generator operated by the local government and lasts from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. As such, the island had limited access to films and TV. It was the '90s, and for locals to watch a movie, they had to buy or rent a Betamax or VHS tape in Manila, bring it to the island by outrigger boat and view on TV through a Betamax or VHS player. Not everyone on the poor island can afford to buy a player or TV, let alone afford to pay electricity. Those who had these privileges opened movie theaters in their homes where they would show these movies to the public. Our family was one of the few that operated a movie theater in the town. Every day, after school at 4:00 p.m., I would ...