O Desabrochar de Maximo Oliveros

I saw this at the San Francisco Film Festival... it is really a beautifully done film that has both good laughs and good drama. It is amazing that this film was produced for about $10,000 US and was shot in 13 days in the director's own hometown neighborhood. This film will surprise you with its frankness and honesty, and I can't recommend it highly enough. I've seen plenty of boring and trite or irrelevant films at film festivals. This film is certainly worthy of your time and may change the way you look at poverty, at gay people, and at the nature of families and the love of parent and child, sibling and sibling. It is also a wonderful "barrio" film in the tradition of "Macho Dancer," but I think it does that film one better. I would definitely see this movie once or twice again. It is easily as good as any Hollywood film.

Just by watching this film, one can understand inside-out about what's going on in a so-called developing country. All the odds. All the blurry lines. And the great parallel of morality and survivability. This film tells a life story well beyond homosexuality and human attraction, as indicated in the camouflage. Maximo or Maxi represents every soul on earth, who needs time, and perhaps a tragedy, to comprehend the life bestowed on him by others, and another life he may be given a chance to choose. His criminal but ultimately decent family is on one side, and the naively honest and devilishly handsome police officer on the other. And, to cry out loud, he is only 12 years old, living in a slum area and without a mother. Forcing him to choose is cruel. I myself am from Thailand. Not so different from the Philippines portrayed excellently here. I think I can relate very well to the sense of trapping one may feel, having born into a brothel of life like that. I dare an inexperienced westerner to predict the film plot, and how it might end. I do not think you can figure out one move to another. This film is honest, with the story well-told and incredibly fair. It should be nominated for major film awards on behalf of ASEAN, as opposed to the Philippines alone, as it tells an ASEAN story, except for Singapore, as few films can. Maximo walks past the charming Victor on his way to re-enter school. Believe it or not, it is indeed a hard decision to make, in a society less than fair and democratic. He is indeed blossoming.

I really didn't know what to expect on sitting down to watch The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros. Only knowing a few details of the plot - a young Philippino boy, the slums of Manila, a cop - I was worried that this was not likely to be the feelgood film of 2007!

How wrong I was. This film is one of the most unexpected delights of recent years, anchored by a central performance from 12-year-old Nathan Lopez that is dazzlingly mature and breathtakingly charming. Although the film does veer into melodramatic territory in the predictable conflict between JR Valentin's young cop and Maxi's family of petty criminals, the central storyline of Maxi's crush on the hunky policeman is handled with tremendous sensitivity, humour and warmth.

In a perfect world performances like Lopez's would gather awards like daffodils, but in the absence of any trophies I hope he's happy to have created such a memorable character. If your heart doesn't break watching Maxi's story, chances are you have no heart to break.

Is Maxi Gay? Well, he dresses like a girl and has a crush on a hunky policeman. But as the story develops one has to wonder whether Maxi is actually a gay preteen or just a troubled boy in a difficult situation. Does it matter? Not really.

After the death of his mother due to an unknown illness Maxi has taken over her role in taking care of his two brothers and father, all petty thieves. The arrangement seems to work fine. Maxi delights in cooking and cleaning for his family and enjoys a playing Miss Phillipines with his "girl" friends. But everything changes when a hunky young cop arrives. Maxi develops a crush and is forced to choose between his family and his feelings for the cop. Needless to say thinks get complicated and even turn ugly and violent.

This film impressed me when I saw it at a screening at the International Filmfestival Rotterdam. There are faults but mainly the film is strong and well executed. The acting is impressive, although Maxi starts out a bit of a stereotypical screaming queen.

If anything the film is a bit too long, there are several moments that could be deleted without much effect. Also the quality of the picture and sound is understandably not up to western standards, although this does not distract from the story and I have seen much worse.

One of the questions I am left with is whether this accurately portrays Philipine's attitude towards (effeminate) homosexuality. If so that is to be commended, however it is hard to imagine such utter and complete tolerance, not only of Maxi but also of his friends. In a film with such a premise one sort of expects some exploration of the subject. However the lack thereof does not affect the story, it may even make it stronger.

I hope you will go see this movie, if you get the chance!

Although the main character is gay, this is not a gay film. The beauty of the film is that it does not make fun of the gay character. Maxi is well-loved and accepted by his family and the community.

There is plenty of humor but this light treatment of the story does not at all trivialize the message that the film wants to bring across to the audience. Scriptwriter Michiko Yamamoto who also wrote the award-winning "Magnifico" has improved her skill in storytelling and is not at all melodramatic this time. She has done away with subplots that don't move the main story much, a weakness of many Filipino scriptwriters who want to tell everything, including the entire history of the Philippines, in one movie. Her characters are all balanced – no one is all-evil or all-saint. The most touching scenes are those that show the tenderness of Maxi's tough-guy family to him. However, there are technical glitches that need to be fixed, and with digital technology editing may still be possible, e.g. scenes that are too dark or the screen going black for too long, making the oldies in the audience worry that perhaps the "lagarista" has been caught in traffic with the next roll of film. It is not often that Filipinos abroad get to see a rare gem like this film. Thanks to digital film-making and indie cinema and the film festivals in many countries.