Cine

Speaking of icons, my beloved Jessica Zafra -- frizzy-haired, grumpy, X-Gen icon of my frizzy-haired, grumpy generation -- came out with a review of Sharon Cuneta's new movie Caregiver, which previewed in London a few weeks ago. She wasn't moved, but added:

'Most of us work, all of us have problems. It is also possible to experience alienation and isolation in your homeland. How about a little respect for the Pinoys who stick it around and do the best they can in truly trying circumstances? No one has a monopoly on suffering, but everyone has a unique story. We need fresh insights on the Pinoy experience at home and abroad...'

I agree, but insist that movies about the Pinoy experience in the Philippines are no less subject to recycled cliches. Skin flicks, golden hearted prostitutes (male and female), the homogeneous urban poor -- one frustrated, cinema-going friend called it the 'fokfok-ization of Philippine cinema.' I don't see how Pinoy films can be any less cliched unless the film industry itself becomes less of a corporate, profit-driven cliche. 

But, having said that, thank goodness for the Philippines's thriving independent cinema scene. 

Read the rest of Jessica's review here.

And the trailer for Caregiver is below.