Foster to Cannes
It’s official: Foster, a film by Brillante Mendoza (Masahista/The Masseur), will be screened at the Directors’ Fortnight during the Cannes Film Festival. Foster was written by Ralston Jover (Kubrador/The Bet Collector) and produced by Robbie Tan for Seiko Films (Bridal Shower. Seiko also produced those wonderful movies from the ’80s and ’90s including Huwag Mong Buhayin Ang Bangkay/Don’t Reanimate the Corpse and Patikim Ng Pinya/Taste the Pineapple, and I mention these in an admiring rather than snarky manner.) Foster follows a professional foster mother played by Cherry Pie Picache on the day that she has to hand over her ward, Tisoy, to his American adoptive parents. Mendoza, whose film Masahista won at Locarno a couple of years ago, takes an almost documentary approach to the emotionally-charged subject matter, and gets fine performances out of Picache, Jiro Manio as her natural child, and the rest of the cast. There’s some impressive camera work in a congested neighborhood; my compliments to the crowd wranglers (This is the Feelypeens: Everyone wants to be in the shot).
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