Must-Watch: Pamilya Ordinaryo

It’s rare for me to catch the Cinemalaya film festival because of work and the traffic (mainly because of the traffic). This year, I didn’t get to see any entry but luckily, Pamilya Ordinaryo (directed by Eduardo Roy Jr.), 2016 Cinemalaya Best Film, was released commercially. After work, I hurriedly lined up in Megamall. To my surprise, Train to Busan was also showing, so the queues were way longer than expected for a Thursday night *sighs*. I missed the beginning of the film but enjoyed the movie nonetheless. (Actually, I was more worried for my friend who wasn’t used to watching indie movies).

Pamilya Ordinaryo follows (literaly) the lives of a teenage couple, Aries (Ronwaldo Martin) and Jane Ordinaryo (Best Actress, Hasmine Killip), with their less than a month old son, Baby Arjan. The Ordinaryo family is not your ordinary family as they claim the streets as their home, their turf. Aries, 17, the head of the household, provides for his family by snatching cellphones, bags and wallets. Sometimes Jane, 16, and even Baby Arjan, also participate in the modus. The Ordinaryos are caught off guard when Baby Arjan gets kidnapped. Aries and Jane then find themselves in the shoes of their victims, distraught and desperate. How will Aries and Jane find their beloved baby when they are but the decomposers at the bottom of the food chain? 

The lead actors Ronwaldo Martin and Hasmine Killip are revelations. I LOVE THEM! They are as authentic as it can get. I love how they speak (though there are scenes where their dialogue becomes too repetitive). No qualms and no ounce of pretense. Team Arjan had their own language of love. Every intense “p*t*ng ina” (that’s son of a wh**e, or b*tch, depending on who translates 😉 ) they cursed at each other carried with it an equally intense underlying “I care for you” or “I love you.” These actors are ones to watch in the indie scene and their stellar turn in this film will hopefully attract attention from international (and hopefully, even local) award-giving bodies.

[UPDATE: Pamilya Ordinaryo won BNL’s People Choice Award in Venice Days.]

Overall, the film delivers a simple yet powerful narrative. The CCTV shots, for me, gives the audience a sense of helplessness similar to witnessing someone getting held up and killed in the streets. Crime and tragedy inevitably happen and most of the time, we are just mere spectators waiting to give our ignorant and unsolicited comments on the situation. For me, the film could have ended 10 to 15 minutes earlier but I guess the ending is more “morally” sound.

Have you watched Pamilya Ordinaryo? Let me know what you think. Sound off on the comments section below.