Nostalgia Series: Pinoy Movies of My Childhood

This year, I turned 26 and felt my age. Most people will say that I’m still young but 26 definitely doesn’t feel like 25. I suddenly feel too old for the romantic, reckless and selfish stuff I did when I was 22, 23 and 24. Now that YOLO is unofficially a word, I am officially over it. After all, when you round of 26, it will be 30.

My metabolism definitely slowed down and my idea of a fun Saturday night is being in my pajamas, catching up on my favorite TV series. Heck, I even started investing and learning how to grow my money bit by bit. And I refer to the new 21 year-olds (bright eyed, eager and self-entitled) as “mga bata ngayon”.

But I think what makes it more obvious to me is that I start to have a sense of nostalgia and that pride that during “my time”, it was all better -- the fashion, the TV shows, the music, the movies.

Now that 2013 is ending, I thought of finally saying goodbye to my youth through the Pinoy movies that made my childhood felt better than anyone else’s.

Captain Barbell (1986) 

Directed by Leroy Salvador

Before we all thought JGL, Jesse Eisenberg or Andrew Garfield were geeky cute, there was Hebert Bautista. And he turns into the hunky Edu Manzano whenever he carries his golden barbell. Captain Barbell was a movie that made me root for the scrawny and introverted underdogs.

Dear Diary: “Dear Killer” (1989)

Directed by Leroy Salvador

Dear Diary was the movie that introduced the concept of murder mysteries and psychos to me. Although recently, I shared the plot to Wincy and I realized how it used Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” as a major inspiration - a heroine investigating another girl’s mysterious disappearance, a meek, strange but attractive guy and a crazy mother. Nonetheless, Dear Diary was quite a memorable movie to me.

Aswang (1992)

Directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes

The best sequence in this movie was when the aswang (played by Alma Moreno) was trying to trick Aiza Seguerra’s character into letting her in the house by morphing into the form of Aiza’s yaya (played by Manilyn Reynes). There were two Manilyn Reynes, one was begging Aiza for help, the other one was angrily yelling at Aiza not come down from the bahay kubo and hold on to the jar of sea salt. Aiza helped the yelling Manilyn instead. When Manilyn asked her how she figured it out, Aiza answered something along the lines of, “Sabi mo kasi diba, ang mga taong mahal ka, hindi parating malambing o mabait sa iyo. Minsan, papagalitan ka nila kasi mahal ka nila.”

And my father conveniently used that to justify our family’s style of tough love, which I carried with me until now. Ask Wincy, ask my friends.

Shake, Rattle and Roll 4 (1992)

Directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes

I always loved the Shake, Rattle and Roll franchise until the 4th one, which was the most memorable to me as a child. It featured two of my favorite Shake, Rattle and Roll episodes: “Witawit” and “Ang Madre”.

“Witawit” was about a unique tree creature who kidnaps the village children as environmental protest against people cutting the trees. I personally thought it was a fantasy drama that teaches kids to take care of mother nature.

While “Ang Madre” starred Aiko Melendez as a nun who was on a medical mission in a poverty stricken area in Manila. By day, she gives children vaccine and blood tests (which she licks by the way). But when darkness befalls the gritty den of informal settlers, she turns into a mananaggal and eats people. This movie was very fun scary and entertaining! The movie’s hero, the young IC Mendoza, defeats the manananggal by squirting them with hot sauce and ketchup he stole from a night club. After all, hot sauce and ketchup contains spices and garlic, which traditionally are used to kill manananggals. Gave me my sense of pragmatism and logic.

Pare Ko (1995)

Directed by Jose Javier Reyes

“Pare Ko” is probably our answer to America’s “Reality Bites” and “Singles”. If there’s one thing this movie taught me, it would be: that syotas come and go but your barkada is forever.

And that girls who live in big mansions and invite you to play scrabble are needy and two-timing bitches. Not to mention, “Pare Ko” made working as a staff in Carl’s Jr. my short-lived aspiration.

Magic Temple (1996)

Directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes

I think “Magic Temple” was the 90’s Pinoy film industry’s attempt to produce something that Steven Spielberg mastered - the fantasy adventure genre. When I first saw this movie, I enjoyed every bit of it. Although recently, Wincy and I watched it again and my adult mind realized executional improvements, especially in the pace of storytelling. But my childhood heart will always celebrate the hardships and victories of Jubal, Sambag and Omar. “Magic Temple” left me an abundant sense of hope, humility and confidence that my adult self can always retreat to.

Labs Kita... Okey Ka Lang? (1998)

Directed by Jerry Lopez Sineneng

The I’m in love with my best friend romcom plot has turned so old, as seen in Star Cinema’s recent “She’s The One”. But “Labs Kita... Okey Ka Lang?” executed this tired cliché in the most iconic possible way. The movie featured the quirkiest love team in the Philippine history of love teams, Marvin and Jolina. It was set in the picturesque Baguio City. And most of all, it had the killer lines of all killer lines, “Oh yes kaibigan mo ako, kaibigan mo lang ako… And I’m so stupid to make the biggest mistake of falling in love with my bestfriend!!!”

Hiling (1998)

Directed by Jose Javier Reyes

“Hiling” is seriously underrated and sadly, forgotten. But “Hiling” is a movie that excels both in craft and heart. Through its tight and witty screenplay, I learned probably one of the most realistic lessons in life -- prudence. That most of the time, we don’t instantly get what we want, but we are always given what we need and deserve.

26 was a year of adjustment for me. It was a slap in the face that there are things I am already too old to do -- like whining, being selfish and skipping moisturizer. But surely, these movies I discovered as a child will still be my treasures as an adult. These movies gave me second-hand wisdom, lessons we can only learn from fiction, because our lives will be limited.

How about you, what are the childhood movies that helped you grow up? Share your list and stories on my comments area!

by Cj de Silva