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Ang Panday 2: MMFF 2011 Parade Best Float

As the MMFF wore on it was with the air of a 10-year-old boy going for his circumcision that we dragged ourselves to the cinema. Unlike the 10-year-old boy, we did not have the comfort of knowing that the pain had to be endured only once. The MMFF is an annual event that has long outlived its aesthetic aspirations, though the filmmakers still make public relations noises about “art” and “talent”.

Why does it go on? Money. The organizers always crow about how much money the festival made: it is the only reason the MMFF continues to exist. We like money, but if the cost of making money is to keep the masses stupid, it is too much. Hell, we like escapist movies but there is a difference between distracting the audience from reality and treating them like idiots who will pay P160 to have their intelligence insulted. And we speak as some of those presumed idiots.

Let’s get one thing straight: The MMFF movies are big hits because the audience is virtually held hostage. We have no choice. Nothing else is showing. Many Pinoys only bring their entire families to the movie theatres during the holidays—the festival has become an annual tradition. So if an MMFF movie is a blockbuster it doesn’t mean the public loved it; it means the public wanted to go to the movies and they thought it would be worth their trouble.

And since these movies “made money”, producers are justified in turning out the same drivel the next year. It’s a cycle of stupidity that shows no sign of ending.

Fine, no one forced us to watch all seven MMFF entries. We did it of our own free will and in the knowledge that the movies would probably suck so hard, black holes would open up in the shopping malls. Why did we do this to ourselves? Because we feel compelled to point out how major studios present reheated garbage and call it “entertainment”. Because we enjoy mocking those well-paid professionals who turn out lazy, shoddy, insipid, substandard product. This year they made it too easy for us.

But the saddest reason of all is that we love the movies and we keep hoping that our belief in Pinoy cinema will be rewarded. When we weren’t old enough to see them, the MMFF included movies like Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon and Burlesk Queen (which despite the title and the controversy is not about naked women but art for the people). Later editions gave us Kisapmata, Himala, Brutal, Karma, Bulaklak ng City Jail. We can remember when the Shake, Rattle and Roll series was brilliant.

Is there a conspiracy among local producers and filmmakers to make the martial law era look like a golden age of Pinoy cinema? Or does the film industry really need censorship and repression in order to make good movies?

Read all our reviews in the MMFF 2011 Binge in InterAksyon.com.