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I sort of understand what he's saying, but not to that extent.
The movie does not exactly have an original script. The director himself told me that after rewrite after rewrite, the movie took on the plot of the average teenage movie. But the fact that this is a teenage movie amongst filipino american makes this movie original and made me enjoy the film so much.
The acting isn't exactly the best either, in fact some of the characters are so laughable, but they do have a place in the movie. The characters range from the extreme activist to the FOB to the thug filipino.
The movie is extremely hilarious, though, if you are knowledgable about filipino culture. I'm sure you've heard or seen most of these jokes before, but to see them on the big screen is a totally different thing. Nothing original, but at the same time different (it's hard to get that point across until you see the movie.)
Even if you don't feel the movie, it is still a worthy cause. The director, Gene Cajayon, had gone through lots of bullshit and red tape from Hollywood to keep this film from being shown. That's why it's only being shown at one or two cities at a time. He's "four-walling" the movie (renting out a theatre at his own expense to show the movie in a certain city). After his run in that city ends, he takes the earnings to rent out a theatre in another city. And by word of mouth, this movie is slowing getting it's popularity. The Flipside & American Adobo are following in the success of the Debut's four-walling and are attempting it themselves.
Now I've seen American Adobo and the Flipside also and all three movies are totally different and a comparison is really unfair to all three movies. Adobo is really just a filipino (tagalog) movie in New York with a style like "the Big Chill" and an older target audience, maybe those in their 30's. It's also a very serious movie at times (and that's when it dragged on). The Flipside is a very "independent" film. It's got an art-house movie style. The direction reminded me of Clerks & the black n white film just says "Clerks" all over it. It is also very over the top and very funny, but at other times it overdramatized stereotypes and almost every character in the Flipside seemed like some kind of stereotype . "The Debut" is your typical Hollywood movie aimed at a teenage/college aged crowd. It's got a dance routine, cheesy love story, a moral at the end, etc. It's very formulaic but just being the first filipino-american film of it's kind makes it original in it's own sense.
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