Click The City’s movie reviewer Philbert Dy has written his reviews on the Cinemalaya movies for 2012. Overall he thinks the roster of movies this year is pretty strong. He recommended Ang Nawawala, Aparisyon, Kalayaan, Santa Niña and Bwakaw but was very harsh on Aloy Adlawan’s “Ang Katiwala” which stars Dennis Trillo by saying people should avoid it. Ironically enough, he opined that Dennis gave one of his best performances in the Indie flick.

Aloy Adlawan’s Ang Katiwala is the only film in the festival that I actively don’t like. It’s a confused, overwrought and overlong mess that seems intent on talking down to the audience. Carpenter Ruben (Dennis Trillo) gets a job as a caretaker for a property in Quezon City. He soon discovers that the property was once home to President Manuel Quezon. As Ruben spends time in the house, he takes inspiration from the president, and tries to model himself after him. The core of the film seems but simple, but the final product is decidedly not. It’s a mess of misplaced politics, unearned sentiment and loose plot points poorly held together by mismatched treatments. Somehow, this movie makes room for both animated interpretations of Quezon’s life and slow-motion gunfire. To be fair, this might be one of the better performances of Dennis Trillo. But it’s not nearly enough to salvage this mess of a movie.

And that’s it for this year. This year’s lineup was pretty strong overall. There are a few days left in the festival, and I hope you guys take the chance to see some of these films. I would definitely recommend seeing Ang Nawawala, Aparisyon, Kalayaan, Santa Niña and Bwakaw. I still haven’t seen a better version of Requieme!, but I think it’s worth seeing anyway. And the only film I think people should actively avoid is Ang Katiwala. All in all, it was a good year, the quality of the films overshadowing whatever controversy the festival went through. The future seems uncertain for the festival now, but whatever happens next, there’s no denying the sheer quality that was produced this year. (source)

Dennis Trillo’s girlfriend Bianca King was understandably perturbed about the review. She used Twitter to send her message to Philbert Dy.

bianca king ?@bianca_king
Dear philbert dy. It is not right for you as a Filipino film “critic” to tell your countrymen to actively avoid watching a cinemalaya film.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, especially in movies. Kanya-kanyang taste lang yan. But to tell Filipinos to actively avoid a-

-cinemalaya film is downright crass and insulting to the festival that carefully selects films to bring something new & revive the industry.

If anything, this time of the year and December MMFF season is when ALL film “pa-critics” should promote watching ALL Filipino-made films.

Regardless of what your taste level or opinion is, no Filipino has the right to tell others to not patrionize something Filipino-made.

Filipino press, feel free to quote me. I did not graduate with a degree in digital filmmaking for nothing. Mabuhay ang Cinemalaya!

Feel free to give ur opinion about anything. But not tell people to not see it for themselves & come up with their own conclusions about it.

Good for her. Call me bias but I would defend Dennis Trillo and his movies too(Hehe), forget the fact that I haven’t seen his Cinemalaya movie or any of the entries because I live in the US and they don’t show them here. In all fairness to Bianca, she didn’t just defend Ang Katiwala, she’s also defending the spirit of supporting Philippine Cinema especially during Cinemalaya and MMFF seasons.

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