Tanging yaman

Once in while, a very long while, a film comes that really hits home. The last time i felt like this for a Filipino movie was with Brocka's "Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag".

My sister told me about this film and she says that I would like this film. We like mostly American films. Like our favorites are The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, Midnight Cowboy, Young Frankenstein, In Cold Blood, Groundhog Day, The Good Earth, you know, well-crafted, quality movies. So she gave me the CD to watch. I was doing some take-home work that night and thought I'd watch just the beginning of it, so i could tell my sister i watched it. Half-hearted, I put the CD on the PC and started watching, while i worked, expecting some typical corny soap opera drama, etc. and seeing the names of some of the actors, during the opening credits, I said to myself, this is definitely going to suck.

I ate my words that very night. It took me almost 4 hours to finish the movie, because from the very beginning of the film, where Carol Banawa starts singing a church song, i just had to keep rewinding and re-watching almost every scene up to the end, reading the credits and seeing the name of Laurice Guillen. She has told a good story very very well, the screenwriter was very good too, everything about the movie is excellent. Simply, one of the best Filipino movies of all time.

I find the story very simple but classic. From the very beginning, it shows the sceneries of a provincial town. In a colonial church, the matriarch of the family (Gloria Romero) sits and prays with her rosary, while one of her grand daughters sing in the choir and her other grand daughter sits beside her. This beginning of the story reminded me of my grandmother in the province when she was still alive. The theme of this movie is how a family should stay together even in hard times. this film is about a clan broken up in different directions and the only element that connects them all is the matriarch of the family who becomes ill. Her sickness: Altsheimer, memory loss. The clan summons up in the ancestral house and there, they have to decide whether they should brake up as a family or not. A very inspiring film, I was amazed by the acting of Gloria Romero, Edu Manzano and Jericho Rosales. Shaina Magdayao played her role as a young innocent child very well. It is amazing how Miss Gloria Romero can still play an excellent role despite her age. I recommend this to people who love to watch heartwarming and family-oriented movies.

I really liked the first half of this film. It was full of emotion and the acting was so good. Unfortunately the plot on the second half fell flat and a bit of a mess. The plot suddenly shifted from Gloria Romero being the center of it to the almost tragedy that happened to Jericho Rosales's character. Overall the film is good and could've been a masterpiece if the last act was decent. This film has almost the same tone and plot as Seven Sundays featuring Ronaldo Valdez+.

I was a little bit disappointed but I hope I will like it more if I will watch it a couple more times. I think I should've lower my expectations before watching this movie.

It's one of those movies that will stick in your heart... the cast is amazing ... good story .. laurice guillens masterpiece... id say....very realistically done... it talks about the family dynamics which is very timely ... kudos to the cast.😋

One of the best Filipino films I've seen in a long while. This is a movie with Depth!!! It is different and stands out from the rest of the Filipino movies that focus on fighting, sex, and other nonsense, etc. This is a very good family movie. The story line of this movie has depth since the use of its parallel analogies were well set up. The acting was also very well done by everyone in the movie. The depth of this movie is gradually felt and seen as the movie progresses. I really liked the moral of this movie because it reminds us what is real wealth and most important in life. We need more quality movies like this in Filipino cinema. Good job on this movie.