ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros

i managed to crack a smile when i first read the title of this movie months ago. back then, all i knew was that the film has been scheduled to make the rounds at international filmfests. and it was directed by aureaus solito, a theater stalwart from the state university.

i missed probably the first five to ten minutes of the movie. bummer. no thanks to the slow-moving staff at tokyo tokyo.

the movie was simple and beautiful. no big-name stars. no dazzling special effects or computer animation. just a simple telling of a story about a young boy falling in love for the very first time. which happens to almost every single boy out there, right? except this boy was falling in love with a policeman. hence the title, nagdadalaga na si maximo. (they're calling the film 'the blossoming of maximo oliveros' in the filmfest circuit.)

the love story is universal. since almost every human being in this world goes through that phase called first love. and in this movie, the audience gets to see maximo falling in love for the very first time. the only problem? the policeman gets in between maximo and his loving family of small-time crooks.

nathan lopez was very good as the 12-year-old effeminate gay boy while jr valentin proved that he can also act, essaying the role of the principled policeman. and by the way, maximo has a blog! who knew.

the best scene for me? maximo doing the cartwheel after he stole a kiss from the surprised policeman. you could just feel him gliding, ecstatic and in love na in love.

ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros will be the first filipino movie to compete at next year's sundance film festival in park city, utah.

the best part about watching the film? knowing that some of the people i worked with before had a hand at making this great indie film, including lily esquillon, who was the film's production designer. bravo, lily!