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Jason Paul Laxamana’s Hold Me Close (2024) is a strange, baffling film. It’s as uncommitted as dull, trying to be unpredictable while landing flat. There’s no energy or rhythm, just a bland reiteration of some hokey intuition twisted into a comment on fate and tragedy. Even as the actors insert conviction, the script hopscotches from one contrived intimacy to another family trauma in the most unconvincing manner. There’s no reason for anyone to give this a shot. It’s the lamest romantic tragedy that is conceivable, relying on twists that make no sense or have any plausible build-up.

Hold Me Close (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Originally Filipino, Woody (Carlo Aquino) is always on the move, never quite settling anywhere for too long. He avoids and skirts pain, fleeing for newer shores where he thinks he might not have to deal with his demons. He has travelled the world,...

Netflix has purchased the Asia Pacific distribution rights to the film “Crosspoint” at the recent Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan, South Korea. The co-production between the Philippines and Japan stars prominent actors from both countries and tells a compelling story that spans their nations.

“Crosspoint” features Carlo Aquino, a renowned Filipino actor, and Emmy nominee Hira Takehiro of Japan. It follows Manuel Hidalgo, a former famous Filipino actor struggling in his career who relocates to Japan. He works performing illegally in Filipino pubs to earn money. His path crosses with Shigeru, a bankrupt Japanese construction manager in his 50s. Their difficult circumstances lead them to team up to hunt a serial killer for the reward, setting up a tense drama exploring moral complex themes.

Fire and Ice Media brokered the deal between Netflix and the film’s producers. Liza Diño-Seguerra of Fire and Ice said acquiring the rights for...

Philippines-based Fire and Ice Media has sold Asia Pacific rights for Donie Ordiales’ “Crosspoint” to Netflix. The film will stream after its Oct. 16 theatrical release in the Philippines.

The deal was struck at the recently-concluded Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), adjacent to the Busan International Film Festival.

The film stars award-winning Philippines actor Carlo Aquino (“Whispers in the Wind”) and Japan’s Hira Takehiro, Emmy nominated for his performance in “Shogun.” It follows Manuel Hidalgo (Aquino), once a famous Filipino actor, who moves to Japan after a career slump to survive by performing illegally in Filipino pubs. He meets Shigeru (Hira), a construction manager in his 50s who recently went bankrupt due to unpaid debts. Both men are desperate to change their lives. One day, they see a news report about a serial killer on the run—someone Manuel recognizes. Seeing a chance to solve their problems, they track down...

Starring real life couple Charlie Dizon and Carlo Aquino, “Third World Romance” is a film that actually focuses more on the first two words of the title, in a rather refreshing approach that moves quite away from the done-to-death romantic comedy recipe and has recently found its way to Netflix.

The initial scenes of Britney and Alvin meeting in the midst of a crowd lining up for pandemic relief and the latter chasing the van essentially to swindle as much food as possible to bring to the table she shares with her debt-ridden mother, both introduces the two main protagonists and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Alvin takes a liking to Britney, and is set on helping her get on her feet, soon even finding her a job in the supermarket where he works as a bagger. Unfortunately for them, his boss is a conniving miser...

“I can’t see what you see,” says Carlo (Gio Gahol), the co-worker who is trying to help young animator Eric (Carlo Aquino) to deal with the crisis precipitated by his uncle’s death. Amongst the things he seems to be unable to see is that Eric has no mouth. He does know that Eric doesn’t speak, but communicates through gestures, signing or the use of a writing board. This is something which he takes for granted and easily accommodates, but he has no idea how it came about.

Nobody does. Eric’s mother, Rosalinda (Dolly De Leon), who calls him and talks whilst he responds using video, knows that something went wrong with her once happy child when he was young, but no more than that. He has never been able to explain. In trying to explain it to himself, he has come to believe that he was visited by an alien which.

The Filipino romantic film I Love Lizzy has been directed by Rc Delos Reyes. The film includes talented actors like Carlo Aquino and Barbie Imperial. The story revolves around the fluttery romance between Jeffery (Jeff) and Lizzy after they meet each other while Jeff is on vacation in Legazpi. When Jeff falls in love with his tour guide, he pours out his childhood traumas and insecurities. However, under an unfortunate circumstance, the couple is seen to be separated. Will Jeff and Lizzy ever get back together? What will eventually happen to them? Let’s find out!

Spoiler Alert

How Did Jeff And Lizzy Connect?

Jeff has come on a tour to Legazpi, where he meets his tour guide, Lizzy. She was the daughter of the man who owned the motel he was staying in. The two are seen connecting instantly as Jeff joins Lizzy’s party with her friends at night.

Winner of Best Film in the full-length feature category, as much as of the Netpac Award and Best Supporting Actress Award for Dolly de Leon at the Cinemalaya 2023, “Missing” is also the official Filipino entry for the 2024 Oscars, and an animation that manages to truly stand out due to a number of reasons.

Eric is a young man working as an animator in the Philippines. His life is fairly normal, with him retaining a cramped apartment, a friend which seems to also be something more for him, and a mother who loves him, in the face of Rosalinda. However, Eric is also not only mute, but actually has no mouth at all. When one day, his mother asks him to check on his uncle, Eric finds him dead for days, and his shock leads him again into the nightmare of his childhood years, involving an alien who repeatedly abducts him.

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Carlo Aquino and Dolly de Leon.

Carl Joseph Papa's Oscar submission The Missing (original title: Iti Mapukpukaw)  centers on a mouthless young man whose life is rocked when a familiar alien returns to his life. In telling this deeply personal story using animation, Papa examines the long-term effects of childhood trauma on people and how far kindness could go in helping them in reclaiming their voice. The Missing is the Philippines' official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, becoming the country's first animated feature film to represent the country (out of 33 submissions). Out of the eight countries that submitted for the category's first competitive year in 1956, only the Philippines is yet to be nominated.

In this in-depth discussion, writer-director Carl Joseph Papa and actor Gio Gahol tackle the taboo topic of childhood sexual abuse in the country, pulling off the...

Netflix’s film Third World Romance revolves around the love of two lovers who overcome tough financial crises together and fight to stick by each other. Directed by Dwein Baltazar, the Filipino film is a light-hearted romance comedy. The film has an able cast consisting of Charley Dizon, Carlo Aquino, and others. How the couple supports each other and how organically they fall in love with each other have been portrayed beautifully in the film. After watching the film, we are left feeling that this is the kind of love that we all dream of! Will the sudden distance between Britney and Alvin make their hearts grow fonder? Let’s find out!

Spoilers Ahead

How Does Alvin Support Britney?

Alvin is the only support that Britney has in a world full of woes! Alvin is seen to be her guiding star from the very first day that they meet. Set during the pandemic,...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

  Meet Me in St. Gallen is a story of kindred souls meeting at three different points in their lives. A problematic self-acclaimed rockstar Jesse (Carlo Aquino) overhears a burnt-out graphic artist Celeste (Bella Padilla) finally standing up against her exploitative boss. With Jesse's parents constantly berating him for his life choices, he quickly empathizes on her situation and decides to follow her to a coffee shop. In hindsight, the initial meet-cute that transpires may not be so serendipitous after all as the film kicks off by romanticizing stalking behavior (a problem shared with Kita Kita) but nevertheless, the ensuing flirtations and ramblings over coffee (and later booze) prove to be charming. Celeste even points out that their names are lifted from a 2012 romcom...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...