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Additional thanks to the filmmaker for vouching for us when the ticket person said we weren’t on the list. Even if she didn’t believe him either and he had to repeat it thrice hahaha. Seriously, I’ve never been to a Cinemalaya screening where I wasn’t treated like a gatecrasher—even in the company of the director. Yay, material.

How could I not love Quark Henares’s movie Rakenrol? It feels like episodes from my own life strung together with jokes I laughed at, characters I knew, and music I love. I’m not even sure it’s a movie. Full review to follow.

By the way, why does Rakenrol feel like a valediction? Does Quark intend to grow up? No! What other Filipino director will make movies that remind me of my life? (The social realist mode doesn’t quite capture it.) Did you see Keka? The comedy about the female serial killer? When I saw it for the first time I thought, “Is this movie about me?” Then the character quoted me (“Sabi ni Jessica wala daw serial killer sa Pilipinas”), thus confirming my suspicion and denying it at the same time.

Coming out of the movie I got a text that Amy Winehouse had been found dead in her apartment. Even if we knew of her addictions we were still shocked. A great voice has gone silent. Amy Winehouse, dead at 27. That number again. Like Jimi Hendrix Jim Morrison Janis Joplin Brian Jones Kurt Cobain.