Why I stopped watching Pinoy Movies or Teleseryes

I know that there may be some of you who are probably here to bash on this article just because you saw the title. You already have a prejudice and you just want to comment something rude. Before you do though, here are a few disclaimers.

1. This is my own opinion – I know a lot of people share this sentiment as well but I won’t try to convince you to have the same opinion as mine. At best hopefully it opens your eyes why other Filipinos like us stopped paying attention to these films.

2. If you’re a fan of Filipino movies or tele-serye, I have nothing against you. As a matter of fact I am rooting for you. I hope that the entertainment industry progress a lot more and give you the quality movie and television series that you really deserve.

3. I’m not blaming the industry or the actors in our film, I’m simply stating a point that perhaps there’s a better way than to use the same old formula. I am aware that there are independent films now and that there are actually movies out there that can be considered good. Hopefully we continue towards that trend.

With these things said, below are my reasons why I stopped watching Filipino movies

1. The acting hasn’t really improved in the past decade – Haven’t you noticed that the trend now when it comes to international movies is that the actors act like they are just living their everyday lives. You can’t even tell if they’re acting or that’s just really their personality (example: Robert Downey Jr. as the narcissistic Ironman). Filipino movies are still very theatrical when it comes to acting. Almost everything is an exaggeration. In fact if you close your eyes while watching one of the popular telseryes and just listen to their voice acting, you’ll think you’re watching a Filipino dubbed Japanese anime. To put it simply – Inaartehan ka lang nila, and you know it.

2. Musical scoring needs a lot of work – okay there are probably a few Filipino movies that have good musical scoring (Although I have never seen one that really struck me). Do you remember that film though with John Lloyd and Bea where they use chasing cars as the theme song for their bed scene? Seriously? Chasing cars? I used to like this song. After watching that film though I wasn’t able to listen to it again without feeling weird about it.

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3. The comedy is crazy slapstick – I know a lot of Filipinos still enjoy this type of comedy, but I can safely say that there are more of us know who prefer witty types of shows. Filipinos have watched Friends, the Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother. Why do most film makers still assume that we can only enjoy slapstick comedy making the main character as dumb as possible?

4. Grinding the same plot for money – For some reason film makers here are always trying to follow a certain formula. For the past decade it has been about love triangles. I think we’ve had enough of that so please give us something more unique next time. Seeing one of these is painful enough.

5. Drama, drama, and more drama – it’s all about the shouting, the crying, and the shouting while crying scenes. This is what will make you a best actor or actress here. Can’t we have at least a few movie where nobody cries? Kaylangan ba dapat lagi nalang maantig ang puso ng mga Pilipino?

6. The one liners that are still about drama – If you search for quotes from Filipino films, most of them are still about drama. We don’t have a lot of one liners like “Life is like a box of chocolate, you’ll never know what you’re gonna get.” Instead we have "Ano bang mas madaling kalaban, yung p*tang mahirap o yung p*tang mayaman?" – And this line is supposed to be witty??? Granted we do have a lot of love quotes – magaling tayo dyan eh. However, if it’s not about love, it’s about drama. Recently, we have a lot of these flying around.

7. The Romeo and Juliet plot – We have used this one over and over again. It’s always about a couple who are madly in love with each other but they can’t be together because of their families or their status in life. Poverty is almost always used as an excuse for them not to be compatible.

8. The all-star cast formula – Sometimes we have movies that are truly star-studded. While you may think this is a good thing that is not necessarily true. As a matter of fact these movies rely too much on these stars to get the number of audience that they want. Often times though the plot is not cohesive and the movie is just nothing more but a commercial force that have tons of advertisements in it.

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9. Same actors – Just like in politics we do have dynasties here as well when it comes to the film industry. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but are these really the best that we have? Or is it just about connections? In other countries you always have to audition for the part, here it seems you just have to know someone. So my point is I don’t think we’re seeing the best yet, and our film industry can be better if we give more opportunities to other people outside these dynasties.

10. The moral lesson syndrome – Why is that when a film is promoted here, the actors always say “maganda po itong palabas na ito, may mapupulot po na aral”? Is it necessary for all movies to have a moral lesson? I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have one, but is that what makes a movie truly enjoyable? Furthermore isn’t it true that all movies have a moral lesson after all if you really think about it? Take paranormal activity for example, the moral lesson of that movie is to get out of the house and leave instead of trying to video tape the ghost or the devil! Seriously, just because your movie has a moral lesson doesn’t mean it’s worth watching!

Finally, I just want to say in closing I’m not the first person to write about this, nor will I be the last. There are a lot of writers who have expressed the same sentiments that I have here. You can simply search on Google about “Why I stopped watching Filipino movies” and you will find these people. They are real Filipinos as well. This is not about discrimination or prejudice towards a certain culture. It is simply about a belief that we Filipinos deserve something better when it comes to the movies or TV series that we watch.

Photo movie night by: Ginny under license cc2