5 Good Reasons Why Saving Sally is Proof that there is Hope for Philippine Cinema

Yeah, not that I don’t care about the other movies that have been included for this year’s lineup for the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 (MMFF 2016) but Saving Sally by Avid Leongoren just stands out for this guy. I think this would be the seed that will change the Holiday season movies here in the Philippines.

I haven’t met the director but I did look at his past work and man I’m actually happy with his body of work. It’s… GEEKY. Here’s the “synopsis”

Marty is an aspiring comic-book artist who is secretly in love with his best friend, Sally, the gadget inventor. Like every love story, there are complications: Sally has monsters for parents and a literal dick for a boyfriend, while Marty has the innate ability to do nothing about everything despite his vivid fantasies of defending the love of his life from the big bad world.

GEEKY

So ayun nga, I already used the term when it should be here, but oh well. Saving Sally has elements that make for classic romance movies, the geeky underdog and the geeky girl. That’s why 500 Days of Summer was such a huge hit when it came out (and still is until now) its because Joseph Gordon Levitt’s adorkable in the film and so was Zooey Deschanel. Our topic for this post does the same thing only with animation and monsters and heroes instead of The Smiths and the power of music. The film’s protagonist definitely looks geeky, almost at a Peter Parker way. So yes, plus points for that.

Rhian Ramos

Ms. Ramos has seen her own battles both online and offline, her most recent was an untoward incident that gave her the creeps. But starring in Saving Sally might just be the biggest battle of her career yet. Still she’s seems pretty inside and out. The trailers alone emphasizes her acting skills but also her onscreen charms. You’d be a fool not to watch one of this generation’s upcoming heavy hitters in a movie where she plays (sadly but I kinda understand) the titular Sally; who’s a free-spirited inventor trapped in a bad situation.

Underdog

You know Saving Sally has been doing the rounds for a number of years already but never did get the theatrical run it rightfully deserves; two weeks ago they submitted their bid to join MMFF and last week, the movie has become an official entry to the December-movie-killing event (I mean that in a good way). Its already an underdog event in its own way. And then there’s the actual story with the POV with an aspiring geek/ comic book artist falling hard for the girl that’s way out of his league.

And like a true underdog, you’ll see how many times Saving Sally tried to get some sort of traction before the project finally landed the big time. The sheer number of videos and promotionals will attest to how hard they wanted to get the film to moviegoers.

Animation has its Charms

Credits: http://www.fieldtripstotherealworld.com

One of the biggest hopes I have riding on Saving Sally is one that involves animation. Imagine if Saving Sally wins best picture, this would seriously make the animation industry here in the Philippines gain more following. Remember how hype RPG: Metanoia was when it was teased and eventually released, but it did not get that BIG WIN some years back? Well what if this was the opportunity to reach that gold belt from up top? Its highly stylized, its visually appealing and come on, its a LOL moment when we see TJ Trinidad’s character become an anthropomorphic penis and do all sorts of douche-y things to Sally. Fantastic locales and effects will definitely get this movie places.

Malay natin, this would open HUGE doors for animated MMFF entries in the years to come.

Real World Problems in Unreal World Setup

I like comic books and animes because they use real world problems as a grounding tool. In “Saving Sally” it looks like that’s the case too in the form of Domestic Violence aka Abusive Parents. No lets not dig deep into that as there are other places to work on that particular issue. But we’re not denying that it is a problem not just in the Philippines but around the world as well. Now we have to give the production team and the creative team for the film some huge props to address this issue. That’s what we mean by adding this in. We haven’t seen the film *wink wink nudge nudge* but we’re optimistic that by the movie will end on a happier note, an ending that should address the issue of domestic violence.

I applaud the movie for bravely dealing with this too, a lot of local movies tend to sugarcoat this and even “handwavium” the entire thing in their general plot. Hopefully this wouldn’t be the case for the film.

So there you go, these are the 5 really good reasons why Saving Sally is a shining beacon of hope for Philippine Cinema and that it’s inclusion in this years Metro Manila Film Fest would open the floodgates for superior quality films, avant-garde directors and writers and talents and a whole lot more.

I cannot wait to watch this movie. High expectations right here.

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