‘Journeyman’ runs until March 25 at Gateway Cinemas, Araneta Center, Cubao, QC. Once-a-day showing
Local movies about people living in poverty tend to be overly dramatic. There’s usually a tragic ending followed by copious tears shed by child actors and actresses playing newly-minted widows. But there’s one film I saw this week that shows our movies can also inspire hope and allow viewers a full release of endorphins by the time end credits roll.
Journeyman, directed by Christian Paulo Lat and Dominic Lat, is an entry in this year’s Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival held at the Gateway Cinemas in Quezon City. The film won the festival’s jury prize. I was rooting for it to win every award it was nominated for. That was how impressed I was.
The title refers to a professional boxer (JC Santos), who earns a living by making his opponent look good during a match. A journeyman is part of a team that grooms a boxer who shows enough promise to win a title. Our journeyman is paid well, but he isn’t happy about his reputation as a loser. He’s good at the sport and he wants to break out and show the world that he has what it takes to be a champ.
But he can’t win just yet because he can’t afford to betray his promoter. Rent is two months overdue, his asthmatic daughter has been confined in the hospital, and the private school she’s enrolled in is demanding tuition. His day job—cleaning fish in a wet market— can’t cover the bills.
Journeyman is not really a movie about boxing. It’s more about coping and trying to make ends meet. The film is set in some of the dreariest locations any moviegoer could ever witness: cramped holes that serve as homes, bustling wet markets, makeshift gyms, and greasy carinderias.
Yet the characters don’t wallow in misery. Each protagonist, both major and minor, is so amiable. They do have something to say about their plight without having to chew the scenery. They have dreams that won’t come true yet they continue to dream. When a crisis occurs, the boxer assures his wife (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) that’s he’ll find a way to fix it. He wants a better life for his daughter, and that means putting her in a private school and giving her a memorable birthday celebration.
Here’s a movie that’s happily devoid of villains. The antagonist isn’t a person. It’s a situation that any of us could find ourselves in— financial instability. Knowing how our journeyman is devoted to his family, every character in the film roots for him. The audience ends up rooting for all of them, especially the elderly woman he works with in the market. She gets to offer him some inspiring advice in one of the film’s many beautifully written and thoughtfully acted scenes. The two are just having their “yosi” break by the river, just chatting about the future. There’s neither speech nor sermon, just thoughtful counsel and encouragement.
There’s the heart-wrenching scene of the boxer and wife attending to their seriously ill child. She breaks down, expressing regret over their expensive wedding and for having recklessly married at all. Both Ms. Curtis-Smith and Santos are their finest here. While other actors might have played it to the hilt by going the “Si Val! Si Val!” route, the two leads avoid histrionics. They made the scene so real and moving. Ms. Curtis-Smith looks so lovely and more like a “Tita of Manila,” yet she‘s believable as the wife. Anyway, the wife she plays may have come from a well-to-do family, just like Marsha in John and Marsha.
JC Santos talks to the press at Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival Awards night. He was Best Actor nominee for ‘Journeyman.’
(Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
JC Santos is authentic in every scene, like when he’s excitedly having a selfie with his boxing idol Gerry Penalosa, he imparts genuine respect for the legend. He also quietly conveys desperation in some moments. I love the fact that screenwriters held back the words and just let the actor quietly act out the emotion in a nuanced performance. They knew Santos could deliver because Santos is one of the finest actors of this generation.
Journeyman is a beautifully crafted movie. It’s gritty and gripping, but its heart overshadows the ugly settings and violent boxing matches. Nevertheless, the bouts are expertly choreographed, shot, and edited, each scene thrilling and realistic. But this is more than a boxing story, it’s a tender family movie, and I’m glad it’s found an audience through the Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival.
Khalil Ramos wins Best Actor for ‘Olson’s Day,’ tied with child actor JP Larroder in ‘Tigkiliwi.’ The Puregold Cinepanalo Film Festival was established by this major supermarket chain as part of its advocacy for the youth. Its initial editions focused on short films by student filmmakers. It later expanded to include full length features.
(Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
I was very disappointed when JC Santos didn’t win Best Actor. It was like life imitating art. So now I have to watch the film of the actor who beat JC Santos for the award. It was actually a tie. The winners were Khalil Ramos for Olsen’s Day, and a little boy named JP Larroder for the film Tigkiliwi. Ramos has long proven himself to be a talented thespian and I’m sure the little one is too. If their films are superior to Journeyman, consider that good news.
At this point, we’ve nearly given up on local movies, even with the overrated ones that had won countless awards or are being streamed on Netflix. But it turns out there are gems to be discovered in film festivals like CinePanalo.
