The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
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List Price:
$19.99
Bohol Hotels Travel Price: $19.99
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Manufacturer: TLA
Starring: Soliman Cruz; JR Valentin; Neil Ryan Sese; Ping Medina; Bodjie Pascua; Nathan Lopez
Directed By: Auraeus Solito
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: TLA RELEASING
EAN: 0807839002935
Format: Color
Label: TLA
Manufacturer: TLA
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: TLA
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-08-28
Running Time: 100
Studio: TLA
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Editorial Reviews:
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THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS tells the story of Maxi (Nathan Lopez) a gay, pre-teen growing up in the slums of Manila, who is deeply loyal to his family of petty thieves. His world revolves around his father and two brothers, who love and protect him in return for Maxi s devotion to completing domestic chores and covering their tracks when they commit crimes. When Maxi meets Victor (JR Valentin) a well-meaning, handsome policeman, the two become fast friends and Maxi begins to learn that he can have a better life, which soon incurs the ire and disapproval of Maxi s family. The digitally-shot feature made its U.S. debut at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was the official Philippine entry of the 2007 Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language film. The film has also garnered several film festival awards including the Teddy Award at the 2006 Berlinale Film Festival and Best Asian Film at the 2006 Rotterdam Film Festival.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A fascinating film
Comment: Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from this DVD, since lady-boys are not at all my type (much less 12yo lady-boys). But, just as a person, the 12yo lady-boy won my heart.
And that is perhaps the crucial thing about this film. Folks who come prepared to condescend will likely wind up wishing they knew more people like Maxi. Sure, he's an effeminate gay boy, and he's only 12, but... how to put it?....he's a great guy, sincere, affectionate, hard-working, and his dreams are firmly fixed on the stars. To sum it up: he's a believable character, and very sympathetic.
Now you have to get ready for the "Romeo & Juliet" part of the story. Maxi lives with a family of criminals, and he falls madly in love with an honest cop. To say any more would spoil the story, except that I will say this: the story is about love, not about sex. In the end, both Maxi and Victor have been seen in tears. The affection is very real.
Frankly, I don't regard this as a "quirky little film." It is a film about real human feelings. (When I was living in Iran, I had the same experience of a young boy falling in love with me! It happened during a vacation trip, and so it was short, but neither of us ever forgot it.) I don't think I need to repeat myself, but it was all about affection, and never about everyone's favorite subject. The last I heard, a dozen years later, Arman was in medical school --- and I was overjoyed to hear it.
In precisely the same way, Maxi and Victor come to care for one another, and to care ABOUT one another.
And that's really what life is about.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bloom Already!
Comment: Dear Reader,
I find this film hard to believe. So much of the time, till the last 10 minutes, I tried to give it the benefit. My review is based on the inconsistency of the film and how it does not manage to keep the time/day and time, place and events in proper sequence. I guess the producers thought we wouldn't notice suttle differences in what people are wearing, to what people say and do when the camera cuts and pans over to a different angle.
Overall I am disapointed with this film because I went to great lenghts to rent it from our big local movie rental places. Only one place had it in stock under the foreign sections.
The acting was slow and painful, yet the boy was easy to look at and feel compassion for, regardless of quality of film. The love romance between the two main characters is too hyped up by the reviews, it is simply a crush that flew in and didn't seem to make a difference toward the end of the film.
Bloom, bloom little one! We are still waiting!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Overrated, but worth watching
Comment: The main reason to recommend watching this coming-of-age film from the Phillippines is the main character of Maximo Oliveros, an unashamedly femininine 12-year-old boy growing up in the slums and fulfilling "wife" duties (cooking, cleaning) to his family of crooks (widowed dad and two brothers) when he unwisely develops a crush for a hunky policeman amused by his attention. Its the type of character you never see in gay-themed movies and the early family scenes and especially the scenes between the cop and the boy, basically a series of innocent flirtations which begin to take on a potentially dangerous erotic tone, are very well made. However, cinematically, the movie shows its low budget and the director's inexperience with narrative film. The plot degenerates by the third part of the film, falling into crime melodrama, and the last scene, a nod to The Third Man, is inconsistent with character development. Still, the film is well worth a rental, since the quality of TLA DVDs is really not worth the money and Im not sure about repeated viewings of this film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Gay Coming of Age Movie
Comment: In reading the prior reviews and descriptions of this movie I was not prepared for what an intense drama it really was. Wow.
There are not may movies which would dare to depict a 12 year old boy as truly transgendered and accepted as such by his family, friends and neighbors. His two older brothers even refer to him as their "sister." Most other movies of the "gay coming-of-age" variety show boys encountering their gayness for the first time as masculine, or pretending to be masculine, as their parents and peers try to steer them in the traditional straight/masculine direction. Not Maximo. He acts and dresses like a girl and takes care of the men in his family as if he were female. He adores them and they adore him just as he is. When he does get bullied and threatened with rape by older thugs, his brothers come to the rescue (maybe a little too zealously as it turns out).
In the beginning of the movie and for the first 40 minutes or so, we see Maximo at his most carefree and innocent. He plays games (mostly with girls), dresses up, watches movies, and models exotic women's clothes on a pretend runway. He falls in love with a handsome and kind 20 something policeman. All is well with the world. But as the story unravels we learn secrets about Maximo's family, and especially his father, that force Maximo to question his sense of right and wrong, his view of the world as black/white and good/evil. We also learn things about his policeman/pseudo lover. Everything begins to take on shades of gray and Maximo must choose his loyalties and in the process lose his innocence, and I don't mean sexually. Suddenly, his sexuality takes a back seat to other aspects of life which are universal to everybody, men/women, boys/girls, gay/straight or masculine/effeminate namely loyalty toward family vs. loyalty toward a love interest. It also forces Maximo, and the viewer, to question the acceptable boundaries of behavior/misdeeds you can overlook in a parent, brother, friend or lover, in order to continue to maintain a relationship with them, and which ones you can't.
The acting was excellent. I believed everyone in their rolls. The main characters were all well written and 3-dimensional. This movie will stay with you for a long time. It is extraordinary. I highly recommend it as a purchase as opposed to a rental because you will want to watch it more then once and share this unique experience with others.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Comment: While I realize this movie may not be for everyone I can only say I really enjoyed it. Maxi is a 12 year old who emulates his dead Mother by taking care of his family by doing the cleaning, ironing, cooking, etc. He is very effeminate and obviously not interested in girls. However I found nothing sexual about the movie and moreover we are concerned with Maxi and his family's way of life.
Maxi meets a police officer who befriends him and tries to set him on a better path than the one his family is following. There are truly some funny scenes here and also more than one heartbreaking scene that had the tears coming down my face. This film is not only about the Blossoming of the young Maxi but also his family and the impact the police officer has on all of that, and I was as happy with the ending as the rest of the film. A unique coming of age story.
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