Hugot
The age of digital queer/pink films has arrived. Well it already has and it’s getting stronger and more powerful as we are offered one good pink film after another. After Ang Lalake sa Parola, RoXXXanne, Ang Lihim ni Antonio, Daybreak and many more, comes another indie gay-oriented film.
Enter Hugot. (Uhm wasn’t that an oxymoron?).
Hugot is a three-episode film with a different man, a different story as the unifying theme. We see three different stories of three different men – all happening in one night. Or as the trailer says,”One night will change their lives forever.”
The first episode, “Raymond,” is a story about how a young man deals with the responsibility of raising money to pay for the hospitalization of his younger sibling who fell victim to a hit-and-run. In (kind of) an expected twist, Raymond and a friend find prey in Dorina, a transsexual beauconera (A beauconera = someone who always joins beauty contests. From beau + con = beaucon). The plan got out of hand and led to the eventual death of the old gay man. This episode seeks to answer the age-old question of justice. Does the end justify the means, or is it the other way around?
The second episode, “Anton,” is about a man’s recurring evocative dreams of the rice field clothesline, burning garments, and ashes into his eyes. What do these dreams mean? Will these dreams inspire him to finally finish a poem for an erstwhile lover? How are his dreams related to his angusih and solitude?
The last episode, “Bimbo,” is about how two young activists deal with circumstances around them. After going home from a rally, one of them falls to the ground, due perhaps to hunger and exhaustion. A middle-aged man offers help by bringing them both to his nearby apartment to rest. More expected twists later, the young activists get drunk with the middle-aged man and their conversations meander from politics, activism, gay rights, and well, sex.
Looking at the trailer and reading the synopsis, it all seems very familiar to us and the twists may appear to be quite expected. But are they really? I guess we all will find out on April 23, 2008 as Hugot holds its Grand Premier Showing at the UP Film Center in UP Diliman.
Award-winning actress Ana Capri topbills this indie film which also introduces us to new faces in local cinema: Jerome Ebreo, Christopher Canizares, Cris Castillo, and Alvin Espinosa. This film was produced by Wilbert Ting Tolentino and was written and directed by Jonison Fontanos.
Have we had too much of gay films? I doubt it. We need more and we hope the next ones that are about to come will offer us more than just the usual tragic plots which end up in having at least one of the (gay) characters killed. Will this film start what I call Pink Indie Re-Revolution? Let’s see…
Link:
We hope you enjoyed reading Hugot To get the latest updates and similar blog entries, subscribe to our feeds!
Leave a Comments »
Trackback | RSS 2.0
Hi,
May I ask you if it is easy to find gay movies in the Phillippines? Here in Thailand it is almost impossible, culture ends with Hollywood blockbusters… too bad.
[Reply]
AJ Reply:
March 18th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Tom »
How do you mean find? We have an influx of gay indie films currently. There’s a lot of them and some of them are pretty good, some need more improvement.
AJ’s last blog post..Hugot
[Reply]
i think i know what tom means.
gay movies in the philippines are more available now than they ever were. many commercial videostores carry gay titles as long as they still have it in stock (e.g. if it’s recent) and as long as these are approved by the regulatory board. it’s a different scenario with movie theaters. gay films are often only released in special theaters, most of them digital. unless it’s made by a major studio with wide distribution, which is rare but it happens. but it’s only easy if you know what to look for and where. still a big part of the problem is the scarcity of literature on philippine gay cinema. but i guess that’s where blogging comes to offer (some) relief.
if you’re talking about international gay films and whether or not they’re available in the philippines: the major studio releases usually find their way (especially hollywood products, but not a guarantee), and every once in a while a handful of the foreign/arthouse or obscure titles. but considering how many gay films get made a year, there’s very little available in the legal market. and no, the gay-specific distributors (like strand, tlavideo, etc.) don’t release here. that’s where piracy offers (major) relief. pirated dvd’s are everywhere. it’s still not “easy” to look for a particular title, especially non-popular ones, so usually, people dig at what’s available and buy what they like.
the bakla review’s last blog post..Body Buddies: The Body Circuit Workout
[Reply]
woohoo… there’s another indie film again. wow. humahataw talaga ah. i just wish the producers of these films would also make it available on DVD/VCD. para sa mga collectors.
[Reply]
HAHAHA! pwedeng laiting AJ yong actor? hahaha! Wag na lang! Kelangan siguro nyan to hit the gym! Sori ha? Napapag initan ko lang! Wez ko kasi type ang men in briefs unless… hehehe!!!!
[Reply]
reyna elena »
Ginusto ko ring laitin, pero out of respect for the director and his team na mukhang nagpagod naman para sa pelikulang ito, i will reserve the panlalait after I’ve seen the movie.
Uhm, mukhang mababa yung production value at parang based on the trailer, hindi marunong yung ibang actors umarte. At uhm, medyo kulang sa hitsurie ang mga minkie… ay panonoorin ko muna…
AJ’s last blog post..Hugot
[Reply]
how i wish i was in the philippines to watch these films… so inggit.
marcus’s last blog post..Iohan: Sabay sa Ikot ng Mundo…
[Reply]
marcus »
uwi ka na lang from time to time. lol.
AJ’s last blog post..Hugot
[Reply]
wow another pink film.. dami kong hindi nakita ahh.
chase/chubz’s last blog post..chase/chubz?
[Reply]
AJ Reply:
March 21st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
chase/chubz »
at mukhang mas dadami pa yan!
AJ’s last blog post..Kanamara Matsuri: Japan?s Penis Festival
[Reply]
another movie to watch! sana may makasama me manood sa UP. any idea when d regular screening in robinsons will be? tnx and cheers!
josh’s last blog post..hOly wEEk hiatus
[Reply]
josh »
Wala pang schedule ng regular screening eh. I’ll keep you posted pag meron na.
[Reply]
Hugot, showing on June 18 to 24 at Robinson’s Galleria Indie Sine
The three-part movie Hugot stars sexy-actress and award-winner Ana Capri. She acts opposite newcomers Jerome Ebreo, Christopher Canizares, Cris Castillo, and Alvin Espinosa.
Written and directed by Jonison Fontanos, Hugot will have its first public run on June 18 to 24 at the Robinson’s Galleria Indie Sine Cinema 8 owing to its successful premiere in UP Film Institute last April 23, 2008.
Ana Capri, who sports short hair in this digital film, has been named Best Actress twice in the Cinemanila International Film Festival. Her first award was for Pila-Balde (1999); the second, for Ala Verde, Ala Pobre (2005). She also received the Best Actress award during the 2007 Golden Screen Awards, also for Ala Verde, Ala Pobre, a film by Briccio Santos.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VxMKBnatzQ
HUGOT Movie Review
“Hugot is commendable for its witty dialogues, its attempt to appropriate postmodern treatments of fragmentation and metafiction, and its close simulation of urban social reality…
It can be viewed beyond the sex element and the title’s phallic overtone, for the blogger’s voice-over at the onset of the story rings truth: “Lahat ng kuwento, may paghuhugutan.”
Whether one becomes a victim or one becomes an exploiter of power, one has a story to tell, drawn from the richness of experience, no matter how dehumanizing the experience may be…”
Cesario B Minor, blogger
http://littlegapanese.blogspot.com/2008/04/drawing-social-realist-experience-in.html
[Reply]
Hugot, showing on June 18 to 24 at Robinson’s Galleria Indie Sine
The three-part movie Hugot stars sexy-actress and award-winner Ana Capri. She acts opposite newcomers Jerome Ebreo, Christopher Canizares, Cris Castillo, and Alvin Espinosa.
Written and directed by Jonison Fontanos, Hugot will have its first public run on June 18 to 24 at the Robinson’s Galleria Indie Sine Cinema 8 owing to its successful premiere in UP Film Institute last April 23, 2008.
Ana Capri, who sports short hair in this digital film, has been named Best Actress twice in the Cinemanila International Film Festival. Her first award was for Pila-Balde (1999); the second, for Ala Verde, Ala Pobre (2005). She also received the Best Actress award during the 2007 Golden Screen Awards, also for Ala Verde, Ala Pobre, a film by Briccio Santos.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VxMKBnatzQ
HUGOT Movie Review
“Hugot is commendable for its witty dialogues, its attempt to appropriate postmodern treatments of fragmentation and metafiction, and its close simulation of urban social reality…
It can be viewed beyond the sex element and the title’s phallic overtone, for the blogger’s voice-over at the onset of the story rings truth: “Lahat ng kuwento, may paghuhugutan.”
Whether one becomes a victim or one becomes an exploiter of power, one has a story to tell, drawn from the richness of experience, no matter how dehumanizing the experience may be…”
Cesario B Minor, blogger
http://littlegapanese.blogspot.com/2008/04/drawing-social-realist-experience-in.html
[Reply]