I’m killing time while I’m burning a back-up of my pictures in my CD. Amazingly enough, for all the months since the last CD picture burning, and the newer batch still didn’t fill up the new disc. I’m becoming less of a photowhore now that I’m out of Lasalle. Oh well.
I think I’ll jump on the film bandwagon for this one. While everyone’s raving on how great a film Cinemalaya’s Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros was, I won’t be a bitch and claim otherwise, but I was curious enough to stumble on a few careful reactions over the web before I formulated my own criticism. Amazingly enough, all of the write-ups dealt about the gayness of the film. Tina, however, has given me and Ger re-education, and it did prompt us to watch again the film and give it a second chance, with her viewpoint in mind. (Yes Tina, I’m afraid we missed out on a lot. Hehe.)
Maxi takes us on a comical ride to the streets of Sta Ana where he grows up as the youngest “lady” of his family of all men–his Papa, Kuya Boy and Kuya Bogs making a living through the discreet business of cellphone snatching. When he one night gets into trouble with a near molestation, he meets Victor, the knight in shining badge and blue uniform. He then becomes Maxi’s object of distraction, being the simpatiko good guy he is; but after learning that one of his older brothers is involved in a possible murder, Maxi struggles with the fight between morality and protecting the only family he has left.
What it amazes me, however, is how this concept has escaped most of the movie-goers who have offered their own views online. Either people have had too much movies with forced displays of fights between morality, or they have chosen to view such movies simply for what they are. On the lighter track, true, Cinemalaya’s Maxi has offered ample amount of entertainment to keep us on our seats till the end. Who wouldn’t want to reminisce first love albeit in the eyes of a gay child? Remember how you got 
those feelings creeping up your chest when Victor got a mild surprise after Maxi gave him a kiss in his cheek? Oh, and definitely that moment when he cried up to his brother after getting turned down by Victor? How many of us actually yearned for an older brother or sister who would comfort us as much?
True, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros is another gay story whose conflicts may be a little bit different on the sides. Technical-wise it has gotten a little rough too, what with automatic focusing here and there, and even a few bad quality night shots around. The experimental shots may have even offended some, but overall, it’s not just another gay film; as Tina have said, it was in fact something about a child confronted with the world’s brutal truths while trying to keep his own. While people delved on the child’s fantasies with his cop crush, they failed to see how the symbolisms have entwined themselves on each of the places Maximo came to linger as a child, and grow up knowing a little more than everybody thought come closing credits.
It was easy to guess how Maximo would inevitably fall for Victor–after all, he was the �ber guapo guy with the shyness reminiscent of Dennis Trillo, and he was soo darn good to be true. Sarap batukan. But it was the reason why Maxi fell for him in the first place. He was the guy contrast everybody he grew up with, and he was the epitome of what Maximo hoped to be.
And that’s where the story evolves. In Maximo’s pursuit of better hopes, his hero falls into lust and greed, which costs Maxi his loved ones. Then, he was made to choose the life he has lived and actually survive, or live with the morality and remain poor–something that most of us encounter everyday and still we try to battle. Tina even points out something curious: most of the stories inside Maximo does not have a begining (like the idea why Kuya Bogie had hatred for Maxi’s Father) like most of the things in life are; that they just pop up and they have nothing to do with us yet we learn to deal with it.
In the end, we all wait for that turn around which would hopefully change things. And Maximo successfully does that for everybody, albeit not for Victor. When our darling cop has completely changed into something far from his ideals, Maxi walks past him, and leaves him in his empty state which was too low, even for Maxi. And we all end up hoping for a better life for all the Maxi hopefulls. Or at least, some of us did. Some just hoped Maxi and Victor would end up together, as most of them thought it’s the only point of the film–gay entertainment.
And that’s too lame a judgement for a story, even for an indie film.
