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‘Patintero’ is About the Heart of the Underdog

This is an outwardly goofy film that bears a melancholy heart, displaying an understanding of what it is that can make a game feel so important.

Patintero: Ang Alamat ni Meng Patalo takes place in a provincial town where the game Patintero means everything to the young people living there. It is established that practically every conflict in town is resolved through the stakes established at the beginning of every game. And in this town, Meng (Nafa Hilario-Cruz) is known as a patalo, her participation in any given game invariably resulting in a loss. Determined to change things, she puts together a team for an upcoming tournament.

Like the best underdog sports movies, Patintero isn’t really about the sport, or the game as the case might be. It is more about the underdog, and what makes him or her the underdog. The film has something more sophisticated in mind as it studies the home life of its heroine, implying something universal and profound in her quest to find a win in a life where that seems so rare. The heart of this film lies in fond remembrances of the things that made childhood a little easier. This is an outwardly goofy film that bears a melancholy heart, displaying an understanding of what it is that can make a game feel so important.

The film has been recut since it premiered at last year’s QCinema. The game sequences have been fleshed out a bit, with flashy new green screen inserts that get up close with the action. The games were the weak spot of the previous cut, the on screen action never really matching up with the oversized tone of the movie. The film still runs through them a bit too quickly; the games still not really conveying clear narratives. But the added flash just makes these scenes more fun. The film just gets a lot out of the incongruity between the violence depicted and the reality of the game.

What hasn’t changed is the film’s surprising ability to reach for emotional depth. It mainly keeps it all in the background, quietly suggesting in every scene that there is more to this story than kids beating each other up. One might notice the absent parents, the way that many of these children seem to be raised by surrogates. The film then lightly presses on the relationship between Meng and her brother, who seems to be changing as he grows older. The themes take shape, and the film draws real emotion from the sense that this young girl is just looking for something to hold on to. She needs to feel good about something, even if it’s just winning a silly street game.

The film conforms to the perspective of a child. It is the real world made just slightly more magical by a less cynical understanding of how the world works. The whole film feels like a memory, its scenes touched by an enchanting sense of nostalgia. And these kids are great, too. Nafa Hilario-Cruz is terrific in the lead role, the young actress ably conveying the main character’s desperate need to win, and the issues that lie just beneath that. Her co-stars are great as well, each one capturing a very specific kind of kid that one might remember.

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Patintero: Ang Alamat ni Meng Patalo is something that is oddly rare these days. This is a local film that is genuinely made for children. There are other locally made G-rated films, but they’re often just big productions that are trying to grab the biggest market. This film is about kids, and it specifically represents the experience of many children in this country. There is merit to that fact alone. That it does it with heart is a real bonus.

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