LOL

I came home from work tonight and turned on the TV immediately after settling in a monoblock chair. The TV was initially tuned to HBO, showing a hospital scene with Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron. I’d seen that movie before, so I proceeded to my nightly channel-surfing. A couple of blocks down from my favorite movie channel, I stopped at another movie channel whose designation differed from the former’s by only a letter. It’s called PBO.

PBO, or Pinoy Box Office, is a cable TV channel that, as its name suggests, primarily shows Filipino movies. If I’m not mistaken, it served as replacement for Viva Cinema, another movie channel that exclusively showed programs from major production company, Viva, some years back. These days, again if I’m not mistaken, PBO practically plays second fiddle to the better-equipped, ABS-CBN-owned CinemaOne in providing cable subscribers 24 hours of Pinoy movie entertainment.

Now I’m neither a fan nor a detractor of either channel. I’m not particularly fond of watching Filipino movies, what with the quality, or lack thereof, of a huge percentage of them, but I admit to checking out what’s on PBO (CinemaOne’s not on our cable TV provider’s lineup) once in a while just in case I chance upon a rare cinematic gem, even if it’s just a Tagalized version of a critically acclaimed foreign language film. Tonight was one of those once-in-a-whiles.

The movie began with frames showing what were unmistakably the surrounding mountains of one of the access roads to Baguio City, over which the words, Viva Films proudly presents, were superimposed. So this clearly wasn’t going to be a Tagalized version of a decent foreign film. OK, I gave it a try nonetheless; I have a rather soft spot towards movies featuring my favorite place in the world. Then… Herbert Bautista. Jimmy Santos. Story and Screenplay by Jose Javier Reyes. Directed by Leroy Salvador. M&M: The Incredible Twins. Alright. Jimmy played the role of a father and Herbert played that of his wife, who just gave birth to an odd pair of twins. One was big, the other one small. Their names were Marcelo and Marcelino.

Fifteen minutes into the film, I witnessed the accident along Kennon Road that killed their parents then a montage showing the twins growing up to be (surprise, surprise) Jimmy and Herbert. Fifteen minutes into the film, I finally pressed a button on the remote. PWR.