I haven’t been exactly a fan of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entries. It’s like a flood of sequels with the same story lines, or some just don’t pique my interest at all. But a movie entry’s promotional Web site caught my attention a few months back, and I have to admit I had some (big) expectations from it. I watched it yesterday - and it didn’t disappoint.
I’m talking about RPG Metanoia, the very first 3-D animation film in the Philippines. My officemates and I decided to watch this during the holiday break despite what the trailers showed us. We weren’t impressed with the dubbing, but were curious about the story.
Thanks to Robinsons Galleria’s continuous screening we were able to complete the movie, albeit reversed. (Haha! Blame it on this slow-poke girl)
The movie opens with a glimpse of the source of evil that’s slowly taking over the players of Metanoia - both in their real-life selves and avatar counterparts. It immediately gives you action - lots of it - and I was already actually catching my breath the first few minutes into the film. Then it pulls you back to earth and introduces the characters - Nico, Bryan, Bobby, Marky and May - your typical group of friends who hang out in computer shops, in this case BombShelter. It’s summer, and they’ve nothing better to do.
Plus, plus points on the characters. These kids couldn’t get any more street. Actually, kulang na lang mag-mura sila (but we do get a bit of that somewhere in the film haha). You’d know, from the choice of words to the batukan and asaran, that the writer was once a child who spent his afternoons on the street and went home late to be scolded by his mother. He knows his street slang, his street slapstick, his childhood romance.
Props for seamlessly including the Pinoy culture: the good ol’ desktop PC (whoa! hindi sya naka-Mac!); street games (piko, tumbang-preso, agawan-base, touch-ball); the absence of a cellphone; being a child of an OFW father … You can relate to it, gamer or non-gamer, kid or adult.
I think the story carried the film more than the graphics, and I’m SO happy about that. It’s one thing to brag that this is the first 3-D animation film in the Philippines, but it’s another to have a good story to go with it. I think adults would learn from it just as kids would. Nico’s words (“Kung iisang bagay lang ang alam mong gawin ng tama, eh ‘di gagalingan mo na ‘di ba?”) would sound too vague to the mind of an eight-year-old, but it did hit a homerun to the 20-somethings in the movie house.
The movie won the “Most Gender-Sensitive” award, and I clearly see the reason why. May, the only girl in the group, is everything what a street-smart girl should be. She kicks major ass, but her personality earns respect from her (boy) friends. She’s a cookie underneath the toughie, but it’s not told in a hard-sell way.
RPG Metanoia is definitely a level-up for Philippine cinema. It’s a step away from the rich-poor love story formula, the drama, the non-sensical slapstick. It took five years to make and you’d see the hard work pays off as you watch it. The graphics, story, soundtrack, scoring - everything just works together.
Ratings and awards aside, RPG Metanoia wins it for me.
CREDITS: Ambient Media, Star Cinema, Thaumatrope Animation (PRODUCERS); Louie Suarez (DIRECTOR); Louie Suarez, Jade Castro, Tey Clamor (WRITERS); Zaijian Jaranilla, Mika Dela Cruz, Aga Mulach, Eugene Domingo, Vhong Navarro, Jairus Aquino, Aaron Junatas, Basty Alcances (CHARACTERS)
Official Web site: www.therpgmovie.com
*My friends and I got a kick out of figuring out the street/city where Nico lives. Can you guess where it is, too? :D