I have been disinterested with the local film festival circuit for almost a decade now, and it is a sad fact that I only make the effort to watch the entries when they’re given their brief stints in the more accessible cinemahouses. The latest film I could file under that category is Jade Castro’s Endo.
The movie trailer (posted above), the score (by Ang Bandang Shirley’s frontman/songwriter Owel Alvero), and its awards (from Cinemalaya and Festival des 3 Continents 2007)/credits (screenwriting powerhouse Michiko Yamamoto as producer), were already factors that begs for the tag ‘promising‘. That boy Jason Abalos looks like he’s out to prove something, and that Ina Feleo seems to lovingly occupy the screen with a relentless, muted charm. My assumptions were proven right: no recent local -nor foreign- movie I’ve seen lately comes even close to the simple greatness of this honest romance.
CAMERAS: Yashica Electro 35 GSN, Fed 2
FILM: Fomapan 100, Lucky 100
DEVELOPER: Rodinal
SLIDESHOW MUSIC: Tsunagaru Haruka Achira by Toe, from the New Sentimentality record