Movie Review: "Mga Pusang Gala" (2005)

Local independent cinema is undergoing a rennaisance. Since the advent of the digital video camera, Every kid with a computer and a DV cam is starting to produce and shoot their own movies. Now all we need to do is sort out the bad ones and watch the inspired, well produced ones..

Recently, local movies have been earning dimes and quarters and sadly, there are no signs of improvement, while we quietly anticipate the new Harry Potter movie, they give us Enteng Kabisote 2. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Consquently, Filipino independent cinema remains the only faint glimmer of hope in a dying industry. I was willing to do my part. I was very, very hesitant at first. To be frank, gay-themed movies aren't exactly my cup of tea. I was extremely pleased that the gay element was kept to a minimal (the movie is PG-13) and was not a central part of the movie.

Boyet (Ricky Davao) is a pocketbook novelist with a thing for cats (the furry kind and the club-going, muscular-kind). Marta (Irma Adlawan) is and Ad exec with a boyfriend who's almost always never there. They're neighbors sharing a duplex. Boyet writes his noviels using Marta's loves and losses as an inspiration. Together they form a bizzarely symbiotic relationship as they seek that which is most important in life, this crazy thing called love.

Mga Pusang Gala is an excellent story based on the play Mga Estrangero at Ang Gabi by Jun Lana (I was later told by my very informed friends that the movie was based on an original play by Jun Lana entitled Libog at Kabilugan ng Buwan). Ellen Ongkeko Marfil, the film's director had the wise judgement of not deviating from the theater-like feel of the story. Most of the story takes place in the duplex compound (which is very practical, given the story). The camera work is pretty standard at the beginning and middle parts but takes a surreal David Lynch-esque turn upon the end of the movie and paves the way to a surprisingly effective ending.

Irma Adlawan definitely shines in this one. Her experience in the stage definitely reflected on her performance. Her delivery of her English dialogue brought a hint of sophistication to the budgeted production. I can say that it is one of the better deliveries of English dialogue I've seen in recent movies. It's amazzing that most of the time, even the Caucasian actors in Philippine movies dont deliver their English lines very well either. Well, they get crappy lines in the first place, anyway.

The production values are understandably below par. The ad agency looks more like a P3,500 a month condo unit furnished with an iMac and some chairs. Shoot permits in Ortigas and Makati are pretty expensive. However, as the movie went by, it just got better and better, soon you focus more on the story. Yes, you get distracted now and then by some of the cheap fantasy effects (like the one with the rosebushes representing the boyfriends Steve and Dom), but soon you get engrossed with how the story will end up, you forget about it.

Mga Pusang Gala is a rare gem in a box full of rocks, a rough gem at that, but rare. I have a double standard for Filipino Movies so here's my rating...

Rocketboy's rating **** (4 out of 5)