Cinemalaya Directors Showcase: Patikul
Posted by Oggs Cruz on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 in Cinemalaya, Film Festivals, News, Poster, Trailers
Joel Lamangan’s Patikul is gifted with a script that bears the magic words “Palanca-Award Winning
Screenplay.” If it’s from Palanca, it must be good, right?
Or not? Find out after the jump.
Patikul has two kids vying for championship in the regional quiz bee. Helping the two kids are their teachers, more specifically, the perpetually smiling principal played by the Marvin Agustin, and his principal’s pet teacher, played by Glaiza de Castro. Unfortunately, Patikul is set in Patikul (duh?) in Sulu and therefore, the kids’ journey to be crowned quiz bee champions is ridden with roadblocks, the most prominent of which is the tension caused by the Abu Sayyaf.
Patikul has its heart in the right place. It is a heart that hungers for an education system that actually works. It is a heart that hopes for peace in Mindanao. It is a heart that hates the prevailing injustice, especially in the most far-flung locations in the Philippines. Unfortunately, heart alone does not make a film, not even if you adorn that heart with token performances from big name stars like Ciara Sotto, Dimples Romana, and Allen Dizon.
If the Cinemalaya films this year are municipalities in the Philippines, Patikul is Patikul. Are we cool?
