Jaclyn Jose made waves two months ago after becoming the first Filipina to win the Best Actress award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Their movie “Ma’ Rosa” directed by Brillante Mendoza also gained praises from the international press. Variety magazine praised her for the “naturalistic grace” of her film performance, playing the matriarch of a family struggling to survive amid squalor.
We’re a proud one nation for “Ma’Rosa”…. but that was two months ago… Sigh!
Despite giving our country our very first Best Actress award from 69th Cannes Film Festival, “Ma’Rosa” is not getting as much attention given by the Pinoy moviegoers to the commercial films like “Imagine You & Me” showing alongside with this artsy movie.
The reception from the moviegoers is sadly, bland. This award-winning movie only got a poor box office performance.
Unfortunately, good local films do not necessarily make good money. We can’t blame the commercial film outfits to produce formulaic movies over and over again since it’s the market’s demand. Most of the time, our local movie industry produce films far from the quality of those made during the golden years of Philippine cinema. So the Filipino moviegoers nowadays want trash? I don’t know.
Even though it’s not that big in the Box Office, its director is still cool and very proud of those who chose their movie. On Facebook, Brillante said, “#marosa is not blockbuster but it had quality audience! Maraming Salamat po sa mga sumuporta! #proudpinoy #mabuhayangpelikulangpilipino #indifilms #forartsake #givingback”
