Hada* is a Filipino digital movie, and sad to say, no, I’m not proud.
I learned that it was showing in Robinson’s Galleria, a stone’s throw away from my place, so I decided to watch it today. Before zooming out of my apartment, I checked ClickTheCity.com for the movie sched, and guess what I found out? Only 6 moviehouses in Metro Manila are showing the movie. Hmmm… I gave it an excuse, “maybe because it’s a digital film… maybe because it is an indie movie… because it was made by a new outfit, not like Star Cinema, or Viva Films, or Regal…”
The movie started with only a handful in the audience; and I swear, it was an all-male audience! The Robinson’s Galleria Cinema 7 probably can hold no more than 250 people… maybe only 30 seats were occupied.
Now, how good/bad is the movie?
Let me tell you this: halfway through the movie, I left. Some comments:
- Washed out images — from start till right before I left, most images I saw on screen were washed out. It’s an issue with digital technology, yes, but there are ways to avoid it. You see, with digital technology (both photography and video) when an object is too bright, the CCD of the camera registers a “0″ which means whatever you do in the post-processing, no detail can come out from that pixel, it’s a zero, nada. The director and cinematographers should know this, but apparently they do not.
- Editing was a joke — more than half of the scenes were either unnecessarily long, or outright unnecessary. Imagine sitting through an absurd number of scenes showing macho dancers strutting their flabby bodies on screen — all throughout what seemed like full songs. If the dancers had wow bodies, I could have forgiven that, but it was lamentably not the case. The jumping music and the awful mono dubbing did not help, they distracted me totally, and I was like disappointed to the point of just laughing about it.
- Acting, etcetera — given that most, if not all, actors in the movie were newcomers, I kind of give them this. I totally understand why the lead actor’s lines were mostly monotone, and that the facial expressions can be said as digital (choose zero or one, choose happy or sad, nothing in between). Having said that, let me comment that they should have at least run a workshop prior to shooting. And one more thing, one of the female characters, the aunt of Beejay (the 15-year-old lead actor) wore too much make up, with scintillating colors and all, while playing a provinciana (translated: from the province) character. Add how realistic is provincial Beejay greeting her aunt with a beso-beso (cheek-to-cheek) rather than the traditional mano (kiss in the hand, or forehead-to-hand gesture)?
Now, is there something good in the movie? Actually that’s a very difficult question, my dear. Had I continued watching the movie, maybe I would find one or two. But the hour I sat through was just too much for me to take the next 45 minutes or so of Hada.
My recommendation: two sore thumbs down. Save your money, and maybe watch Devil Wears Prada instead when it opens on Wednesday. Or, Jupit, another gay-themes Filipino digital movie with Ate Gay in the lead. Maybe I’ll watch that one next. Will definitely let you know my thoughts.
Post-script: from an article by showbiz columnist Billy Balbastro:
I got inside info that the parents of the 15-year-old lead actor of Hada, Beejay Morales (real name: Joey Louie Vierneza) want to complain against the director Lau de Jesus and the producer Ernito Baldeo.
Earlier, it was agreed that in all his scene in the movie, there would be no nudity. Not even scenes with mere briefs. At 15, he is still a child.
But in violation of this agreement, a scene in Hada shows Beejay asleep in briefs with “his harapan na talagang pinatigas”. The boy’s mom, Lea Vierneza now wants that scene cut.
I agree with the mom when she recommended to cut that scene — I would even say cut the whole movie. Lol!
(In the picture, Beejay Morales the 15-year-old lead actor of Hada. He is a graduating senior student at the San Pedro Relocation Center National High School.)
* The word hada is originally a sward-speak or gay lingo for fellatio, or blow job. It has since evolved to mean man-to-man action, or even an adventurous search for gay sex.
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