Hating Kapatid

Before you guys think it's about disliking someone named "kapatid", the title is Filipino for "Divided Siblings", as near as I can manage to translate it. My Filipino language skills are admittedly not the best, but that's close enough. :)

It's also the first full-length local movie here in the Philippines that I have willingly gone to watch (watched it with PJ, since she's a bit of a local movie buff) and I must say it was a lot more tolerable than I expected.

A note in advance: I'm a little more critical than usual, seeing as this is my first full experience of the local movie industry, and my observations are, just like all entries in this blog, absolutely mine and reflect only my opinions :)

The plot, while a little predictable, was good in that I believe many Filipinos could relate to it. I certainly could (it was about OFW parents and their children growing up without the physical presence of their parents), so I enjoyed the build up. The conflicts were all predictable, but the acting really took the cake, especially from Judy Ann Santos. Now I understand why she's one of the best talents in the local film industry; her acting was actually very commendable. I cannot say the same for the other cast members though, and a reasonably alright movie experience was ruined around the middle when product and brand endorsements came at an avalanche.

It seemed like the movie became a brand vehicle, using the actors' lines and circumstances to peddle whatever products the said actors were currently helping endorse. The fact that it was there wasn't the problem; the sheer cheek to make it so damn obvious was. It reached a point that brand after brand was coming at you. It was like being pelted by a paintball gun with stinkbombs for bullets. Disgusting.

Still, after learning to desensitize myself from the advertising, the movie was really quite enjoyable, and good enough for a boring day at home.

6.5/10

Jay~