#73 - The Debut

And here we go with another movie that nobody has ever heard of in their entire life. If you have, you came across it by accident, work at a movie store, or are a complete loser. Actually, there is a fourth option, and that's kind of what this movie is really about. If you are of Fillipino origin, you may have heard about this movie. You see, it was written, directed, mostly acted, and pretty much everything else was done by Filipinos. I can't say that I have ever heard of an endeavor like this before at this level of production. Do be sure, it is a low budget movie, but it is a fully realized film and not a backyard weekend production and I give the production team all the credit in the world for doing something that speaks to themselves as a community. They are saying what they want to say, to whom they want to say it to. Name another movie that does that sort of thing for any Asian-American group, much less Filipino's. You can't do it.

Having said all that(I'm sure you know where this is heading), the movie isnt very good. Its cliche after cliche and obvious, overused plot point after obvious overused plot point. Father can't relate to the son. You realize that the father has a similar relationship with his father. The father isn't just a tyrant, he actually cares to make a better life for his his son. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. But before you begin to think that this was a total waste of time, much like a particular made for the BET network movie I have seen, there is something of value that sets this movie apart. Remember that this is from Filipino's, and for Filipino's. All of the obvious plot points are done from that perspective. So when the main character has to choose between celebrating his sister's birthday and hanging out with his white friends, we see something that a Filipino youth could actually relate to. When that main character is embarassed about his family's culture and tries to hide it and reject it, these are things a Filipino youth could actually relate to. And that is what the movie is all about. Same old story, but told from their point of view, and dealing with issues specific to being a Filipino youth growing up in America. Congratulations for all of that. I was still bored watching it, and couldn't recommend it to anyone.

Unrelated side note: Two weeks ago I attended Lollapalooza in downtown Chicago. I had purchased my three day pass months in advance and was eagerly anticipating the first weekend in August. I was not dissapointed. For three straight days I saw good band after good band. Unfortunately, I wasnt able to see everything I would have liked to see, but it was absolutely impossible to see everything and sometimes I had to make some hard choices. So here is my rundown of what I saw at Lollapalooza. I was going to write this sooner, but work got busy, and I got a little lazy with my spare time. The first band I saw on the first day was The Subways. I had heard of them, but wouldn't have been able to identify one of their songs. This was a common theme with a lot of the bands. I'll tell you what, The Subways rock. For taking a chance and just picking a band to watch, I was quite pleased. Its not bad being ten feet from the front barricade wall either. Oh, and have a chick bassist is pretty sweet too. I made my way to the other side of Grant Park where the other stages were, and I saw The Eels. I love The Eels. have a couple of their albums and was looking forward to their set. They didnt play anything like they did on their albums. It was a lot rougher and more rockin than I expected, but it was still good. The have a bit with a security guard that is quite entertaining and the guys had agood time playing in green fatigues, even though it was at least 85 degrees. I wandered around for a while, hearing stuff here and there. Umphrey's McGee was alright, but I was really waiting for later. The Raconteurs came out and were absolutely phenomenal. Jack White is amazing, even while sporting a neck beard. I had not heard any of The Raconteurs songs but am a huge fan of The White Stripes. I was expecting something similar or something that was a show-off for Jack White. Not the case. They have their own sound and White is just another member of the band. At times he steps back and lets the other band members take the stage. It was awesome. And in what may have been the best, most unexpected cover of the entire festival, The Raconteurs broke out with Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Unbelievably good. Standing there as the whole crowd realized what they were playing was great. As soon as their set got done, the Violent Femmes started on the other side of the field. I dont think there's anything I need to say about that. The fact that they were playing, and I was watching pretty much says it all. Great set. Gone Daddy Gone and Add It Up were particularly good. It was bonus having the Dresden Dolls performing backup percussion for the whole set, but more on them later. After the Femmes got done, Ween came out back on the other side of the field for the final set of the night. That meant an hour and a half as oppossed to just the hour that everyone else got, and they used their time wisely. They were fantastic. I only have Pure Guava and after about fifteen minutes I was wondering why in the hell I haven't bought more of their stuff. They mixed in old, middle, and newer stuff and were solid throughout. It was a great ending to an awesome day. I would have liked to have seen Sleater-Kinney, Iron & Wine, and The Editors, but you have to eat sometime, and other times you have to make some choices. But the weekend got even better. I'll get to the second day in my next review.