The Debut

“The Debut” is an independent film about a subject not touched before by hollywood; the Filipino American experience. The film focuses on the events surrounding one Filipino-American family’s 18th birthday party for their daughter, which is called a “Debut”. The tradition is something like the quinceañera. It’s really hard for me to describe it here. I’ll give you the address for the website (they have a short synopsis of the story there):

http://debutfilm.com

So, i’ll go on with my thoughts. I really thought this was a wonderful movie. Being part Filipino, i really could see the typical personas that I know in the community. From the hard headed patriarch, to the wanna-be gangsters, all facets of the community were portrayed in the film, and accurately too. A lot of it hit close to home (the grandfather reminded me of my grandmother, who acts very much like the grandfather did in the film (nothing you do is good enough)).

There were segments of the film in Tagalog (with subtitles), which was a wonderful bonus (it’s not a language you hear often in the US on TV or movies). There was also a scene which showed a traditional dance which is performed at Debuts, the Singkil (a muslim royal dance).

I really saw myself and people I knew in the film. For me, it was like being at the debut, as a passive spectator, watching the happenings. I thought it was well written, and true to life. The film was part serious and part comedy, which kept it from being heavy.

The film isnt just a Filipino-American film, it really is an American film. I highly reccomend you go see this film if it comes to your town. There seems to be only an American and Canadian tour of the film (it’s going to be shown in Guam also). It has a very limited showing, and we were very fortunate to have it shown in Salinas for the past week. The website has a popup window which shows where the next showings will be.

(a little scatterbrained :D)

Hey, I know some Tagalag. I don’t know how to spell it properly but just sound it out. The filipino kids in my grade school taught me these wonderfully useful phrases.

-putangee na mo
-walla on teetee mo

or something…like i said don’t know how to spell it, pro’lly don’t even know how to say it properly. But I do know what they mean. muuuuuuuuhooooooohaaaaaaahaaaaaaa.

Oh lord :). The right spelling is:

  • Puntang ina mo
  • Walang titi mo

And those are naughty naughty phrases :slight_smile: