Italian for Dinner, French for Dessert Yet Chowing on American in Between

It was a night of naked bodies, giggles, shrieking (not from me), shock (now that’s from me) and three nationalities.

Earlier, I was nursing a bowl of Pasta Alfredo, a deviation from my usual mashed potatoes from KFC whenever we watch movies. Col. Sanders was happy to keep me and my sis company as we were watching some events in the life and even up to the demise of the famed Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent Willem van Gogh unfold before our very eyes in our premiere seats at On Stage, Cinema One, Ayala Center Cebu. Seeing a movie for free is such a rare treat nowadays that we took full advantage and thoroughly enjoyed it along with the rest of the audience.

Though the movie certainly did entertain with the characters’ quips and quirks, tongue-in-cheek humor, good cinematography (and that’s just a conservative assessment..it was actually very good), and the name Van Gogh that drew in viewers and filled almost all of the seats, there were moments that left me wondering if I was the only one in that cavernous hall not getting what we were seeing. Must be the director’s style or could be anything but yes, certain parts of the movie were too vague for me. It would have been interesting to find out how the paintings of a supposed weirdo with epileptic tendencies (I suppose that in this day and age, a young van Gogh could be easily labeled as “indie” or darker yet, “emo”) are now worth millions of dollars when they were badly criticized when he was still alive yet the directed opted not to show that scene.

The Van Gogh biopic is one of the eleven participating films for the French Film Fest 2009 from June 19-21 sponsored by the Embassy of France in Manila, Ayala Cinemas, Arts Council of Cebu Foundation, Inc. and Les Amis de la France.

You can catch the featured movies on these dates:

FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Home (G)
3:15 pm – 5:00 pm The Secret (R13)
5:15 pm – 7:00 pm Jean de la Fontaine (R13)
7:15 pm – 9:50 pm Van Gogh (R13)

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2009
2:30 pm – 4:15 pm Ridicule
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm MA SAISON Préférée (R13)
6:45 pm – 8:45 pm Home (G)
9:00 pm – 10:45 pm The Secret ( R13)

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm MA SAISON Préférée (R13)
4:45 pm – 6:45 pm Jean de la Fontaine (R13)
7:00 pm – 8:45 pm Ridicule

Image taken using a Canon Powershot A480. Copyright by author. Mucho thanks to Naynay Wilma for emailing me the schedule.