Rosanna Roces Grandchild
Renita Lukins
In 1939, archeological excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) was hired by land owner Edith Petty (Carrie Mulligan) to conduct on the burial mounds found on her Sutton Hoo estate in Suffolk county. Soon, Brown uncovered what proved to be the hull of an ancient ship used probably by Anglo-Saxon royalty. Senior archeologist Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) learned of the discovery and took over the dig, bringing his own men in, including younger archeologists, Stuart Piggott (Ben Chaplin) and his wife Peggy (Lily James).
This was a quiet period movie reminiscent of the Merchant-Ivory films which I missed a lot. The cinematography of Mike Eley was breathtaking as he took shots of the dig from all angles, using the sun effectively to create drama. The production design was meticulously true to the period, as well as the costumes and hairstyles, the locations and the vehicles. Gentleman as he was, Basil Brown was actually doing his dig wearing a tie and vest. Britain was about to be drawn into World War 2 at that time, so there were also war planes involved.
As Brown, Ralph Fiennes was looking much older than his 58 years here, but this actor can really imbue his acting with a lot of quiet passion. Carrie Mulligan, fresh from her acclaimed performance in "Promising Young Woman" which may earn her an Oscar nomination, balanced her portrayal of aristocrat Pretty with spunk and conviction despite her delicate sickly constitution. British character actor Ken Stott was appropriately snooty and bossy as Phillips, serving the role of the mild antagonist in this generally genteel narrative.
The story about the discovery of the Sutton Hoo archeological site with its intact ship burial with Anglo-Saxon artifacts was fascinating to learn about. It was interesting to see how archeologists like Brown and Phillips worked, and how they jockeyed for position to gain credit for discoveries. It was only unfortunate that the filmmakers felt the need to pad the story with a fictional love triangle between the Pigotts and Mrs. Pretty's cousin, Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn), which was such an unnecessary detour from the central drama. 7/10.
Former sexy star Ara Mina's father was a famous director of classic bold Filipino films, a genre that had since dwindled in popularity with the rise of amateur scandal porn on the internet. Before he passed away, he told Ara that he was bequeathing to her a major percentage of his wealth in order for her to achieve his dream to make the ultimate modern skin flick masterpiece and launch a new Filipino sex goddess in the process.
So Ara gathered up three other fellow sexy stars, Maui Taylor, Rosanna Roces and Alma Moreno, who made the screen sizzle during their respective decades. These ladies were supposed to help her with the practical aspect of her plan to achieve her father's deathbed wish -- to train a potential new sexy star all the kinky tricks of the trade they had learned and perfected during their heyday as film sirens.
Writer-director Darryl Yap went the sex comedy route again this time, following the footsteps of his first project with Viva Films "#Jowable" (2019), which became a sleeper box office hit and later, made it to Netflix. With a title as brazenly naughty as "Pornstar," Yap went all out to mine the local soft-porn genre for every aspect that he could make fun of. The viral online promotion of this film actually followed the same success formula it tackled in its story.
Yap's major casting coup of gathering sexy queens of the past, Alma, Osang, Maui and Ara, was big news. Later, there would be a lot of buzz created online on social media with some provocative photographs to whet audience interest. Earlier this January, the titillating trailer came out and immediately caught fire, quickly racking up 6M views in its first 2 days of release. The initial MTRCB rating of X certainly helped raise prurient audience expectations.
Upon watching the final film though, that trailer already revealed too much of its story and its best gags, even that singular boldest money shot. From the trailer alone, you can already see that the quality of the production design was rather low-brow pastiche. Ara's ranch was probably supposed to be the local Playboy Mansion with several decor as visual double-entredres, but the ambiance was more kitschy than glamorous.
It was also apparent from the trailer that the "acting" of the actresses were over-the-top comic spoofs of themselves more than anything else -- Alma and her lousy English and political career, Rosanna and her weight gain and her sharp tongue, Maui and her diva attitude. While funny for a while, they became corny as the shticks kept recurring. Oddly, nothing much was brought up about Ara, nor did she do anything too wild or raunchy compared to the others.
The young aspiring actresses, Rose Van Ginkel and Ana Jalandoni, were treated as brainless bikini bimbos as they obeyed their mentors' crazy instructions to the letter. The main young star being built up, Twinkle (AJ Raval), did not look like she really wanted to be there at all, with that nervous, uncomfortable look constantly on her face. The arc of her story was rushed and undeveloped, with too many blanks left unfilled.
To bring the millennials up to speed, the four sexy movie queens of the past were each introduced with cards listing their distinguished filmography, along with a short history of the local sexy film industry. Several typical bold film tropes, like the wet t-shirt, the white camisole, the horseback riding, the licking of ice, the lusty moaning, were all there. The version shown on Vivamax is rated R-16. Curious what those supposed X-rated scenes were cut out, since they never really go near hardcore porn territory, as suggested in the title.
However, the funniest moments of the film were actually those seemingly ad-libbed banter among the four main stars, more than the scripted jokes. Rosanna Roces ribbing Alma Moreno about her real-life partners were true off-the-cuff LOL moments. 2/10
"Yellow Rose" is a rare American film that starred breakthrough Fil-Am actress Eva Noblezada and Filipino international star Lea Salonga. We have heard about it since 2019 when it premiered in a Los Angeles film festival to favorable reviews. Fil-Am writer-director Diane Paragas had been working to bring this story about a familiar experience among the Fil-American community to the big screen for 15 years. Finally, it will premiere in the Philippines, streaming online on KTX and various other local online platforms.
Rose (Eva Noblezada) was the 17 year-old daughter of Priscilla Garcia (Princess Punzalan), an employee in a motel in the suburbs of Austin, Texas. One night, when Rose went to watch a show in Austin with her friend Elliot (Liam Booth), Priscilla was arrested by immigration officers for being an illegal alien. Left to fend for herself, Rose went to meet and stay with a number of kind people who tried to help her get by -- her Auntie Gail (Lea Salonga), bar owner Jolene (Lilli Villari) and country singer Dale Watson (as himself).
Coming fresh from her Tony-nominated performances in Broadway shows like "Miss Saigon" (as Kim) in 2017 and "Hadestown" (as Eurydice) in 2019, this was Eva Noblezada's first film project. She played Rose as a typical teenager, sometimes rebellious, sometimes bratty. She argued against her mom's strict rules, but she was still in touch with her Filipino roots. Noblezada was very natural and comfortable as she went through Rose's ordeal, especially when she wrote and sang country ditties, like her pleading solo "Square Peg."
It had been such a long time since either Princess Punzalan and Lea Salonga had been in a movie, so it was great to see them back in action, even in supporting roles. Punzalan's Priscilla was a regular Filipina mother, very protective of her child, bearing her difficult predicament on her own. Salonga's appearance as Auntie Gail was even shorter, but she did not miss the chance to sing a snippet of a Filipino classic song, which I hoped would have been a full-fledged duet between Salonga and Noblezada.
All the American characters, Dale, Jolene, Elliot and even Elliot's immigration lawyer cousin Aleta Peacock (Susan Myburgh), were all very supportive of Rose, which seemed idealistic, but quite refreshing to watch. There was even an unexpected moment of kindness from a young immigration police officer. Noblezada's songs with Dale Watson all sounded very radio-friendly, like "Circumstance," "Quietly into the Night" and the finale number "I Ain't Goin' Down," which conveyed Rose's course of action.
The film is only about 90 minutes, but there were times when the pacing slowed down and the story felt repetitive. There were two very similar scenes with Rose leaving a benefactor's house in an impulsive huff, both of which did not feel like the right thing that should've happened. However, Noblezada's sincere performance, the well-performed catchy country songs, and the different approach to the oft-tackled undocumented alien story, still managed to make things engaging despite these little lags in story-telling. 7/10.
On February 13, 2017, two young women were caught on CCTV cameras as the primary suspects in the death of one Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The victim was the eldest son of the late North Korean president Kim Jong-Il, and estranged elder half-brother to current president Kim Jong-un.
The two girls apparently went up to Kim and proceeded to smear an unknown substance on his face, before running off. Kim was dead within an hour. The mysterious substance turned out to be laced with a deadly neurotoxin. If the girls were proved to be guilty of this murder, they faced the death penalty by hanging.
Honestly, I never even knew an assassination like this even happened in 2017. At the start, I thought I was watching a work of fiction, but these events all turned out to be true-to-life. One girl Siti looked like a Filipina, but turned out she was a spa masseuse from Indonesia. The other girl Doan was an actress from Vietnam. Both girls came to Kuala Lumpur seeking greener pastures, only to be involved in this harrowing experience.
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