Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Admirable film.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I really like how the story reflects a portion of Philippine society and culture.Even though Sol is homophobic, the issue of homosexuality isn't taken as really big deal which is good because it somehow implies that sexuality isn't really a big deal when you're trying to be human.The slow pace of the story aligns with the way Rene perceives time, since he is an old man waiting for his death, time couldn't have gone slower.The cinematography isn't more about capturing beauty but more about trying to keep the eyes of the viewers on the screen. But in one particular scene where Rene kissed Sol out of curiosity, there was much camera movement which added suspense that maybe Sol would wake up.The sound was also great. It really captured the silence of the provincial areas in the Philippines.Overall the movie is great! It's a must watch for a Filipino and I rate it 8/10 because of its social relevance and accuracy of cinematic techniques in portraying this Filipino story.

Bwakaw (2012) is a movie from the Philippines, written and directed by Jun Lana. Rene, played by Eddie Garcia, is a misanthropic older gay man. Rene lives in a semi-rural area, not too far from a larger city. He has no real friends, because he repulses people who try to engage him in friendship. Eddie's great love in life is his little dog, Bwakaw, played by Princess.There are two threads to the plot--a serious illness suffered by Bwakaw, and a developing friendship between Rene and a younger man. The movie is worth watching to see how these plot lines develop.We saw the film at the Little Theatre as part of Image Out--The Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on the small screen.

This has got to be one of the most endearing, charming and poignant films of 2012. It's not your typical commercial Filipino movie which is often high on melodrama and low on subtlety. The first 10-15 minutes start a little slow, but then the story picks up and it quickly becomes utterly engaging and lovely up to the very end. This could have a very syrupy sentimental film but it's not. In this alternately funny and moving drama set in postcard-like rural Philippines, Eddie Garcia gives a towering performance, probably the best of his career, in a searing character study of an old man in his twilight years who has secluded himself from the world but eventually learns to live again due to his friendship with a stray dog. I was lucky to catch a screening at the Palm Springs International FIlm Festival with a packed audience in attendance. Believe me, not an eye was left dry when the film was concluded. Truly a fantastic film.

I have known about this movie when it was one of the featured films in the recent Cinemalaya Film Fest. However aside from the terrible title, the synopsis describing a film an elderly gay man with his dog was so bleak, it did not interest me at all. Maybe because it won Eddie Garcia a Best Actor award, it was given a commercial run which was good, but I still did not have a plan to watch it. Well, that is until this morning when I found out that this film will be our country's entry to the Oscars Foreign Language Film category for this year. Honestly, that was the only reason why I felt I should give it a chance after all.Unfortunately, this film turned out to be as bleak and as dry as its synopsis suggested. It was indeed about an elderly gay man named Rene (Eddie Garcia) and his dog Bwakaw (played by an "aspin"/"askal" named Princess). The drama played for an hour and a half or maybe more, as slow, as straightforward and as predictable as that. There were of course some people in his neighborhood he interacted with, like his nosy next-door neighbor Nitang (Beverly Salviejo), the gays at the beauty salon (Soxie Topacio and Joey Paras), his co-workers in the Post Office (Luz Valdez and Allan Paule), the priest who was always seen fanning himself (Gardo Versoza) and the tricycle driver the old curmudgeon decided to befriend (Rez Cortez). The elegant Ms. Armida Siguion-Reyna stood out in her featured role as Alicia, the girlfriend Rene kept hanging for 15 years, only not to marry. I see the name of Bibeth Orteza in the cast list, but I honestly do not remember seeing her in the film.OK, there were some scenes that made me laugh. There was even a scene that made me tear up. There was a scene that I felt certain was bound to happen, it did, but I wish it did not. However, the main fault of this film is that there were no big surprises at all. There were no hidden symbolism or deeper meanings. It did not challenge me think at all. I felt I have seen this same story of growing old lonely told many times before in many a made-for-TV drama show. "Bwakaw" is not really that bad, but is this it? Is this really the BEST we have to show the world this year to compete for the Oscars?