[Click here (recommended) for desktop mode.]
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
English Title: The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
Year of Release: 2005
Director: Auraeus Solito
Screenwriter: Michiko Yamamoto
Producers: Cinemalaya & UFO Pictures
Cast: Nathan Lopez, Soliman Cruz, J.R. Valentin, Neil Ryan Sese, Ping Medina, Bodjie Pascua, Elmo Redrico, Ivan Camacho, Lucito Lopez
Twelve-year-old Maximo looks after his family of small-time crooks, including his father and two older brothers, as they live in Manila’s slums. Although openly queer, he is unconditionally accepted by his straight family members. Things get complicated when the boy develops a youthful crush on a handsome policeman, who’s been shadowing the activities of Maxie’s household. Despite his young age, Maxie has to choose between following his heart and protecting his family.
Maximo Oliveros was the justly celebrated first definitive proof that a flat-out independent-digital project can aesthetically surpass mainstream-celluloid entries. Beyond that, it has several other advantages stacked in its favor. Aside from delightfully relaxed production values and luminous performances that enable the characters to stay in the mind for long stretches, the movie also celebrates Philippine queer sensibilities without falling into the usual traps of either punishing the non-normative character or over-indulging her or his erotic fantasies. Maxie may not have been possible without the pioneering efforts of a long line of comic predecessors starting with Dolphy. In contrast with them, however, his outward flightiness masks a deep and complex—and, by film’s end, still-evolving—moral reconfiguration of a developing country’s social challenges and responsibilities, particularly toward its most vulnerable citizens.
Back to top
Return to Canon Decampment contents
Go to alphabetized filmmakers list
Á!
ORCID ID 
Ámauteurish! 