This post about Ploning is a tad late. Since last year, I've been unsuccessfully looking for the movie because I was intrigued about its claim that Ploning might finally be that first Pinoy film nominated for Oscar's. Finally, I saw it, slept over it, saw it again and...I loved it.

It's website says: The official Philippine entry to the best foreign language film category of the 81st Academy Awards although the latest news is that Ploning didn't make it in Oscar's final list of nominated films. Just the same, I saw it to find out what the film is about. My personal verdict: Ploning is not as great a film as Oro, Mata, Plata nor Himala BUT may likely be one of the best new Filipino films and that one film that will definitely make you proud of the Philippines and its inherent beauty.

(Recently, Ploning won an award for its director Dante Nico Garcia from the Asian Festival of 1st Films.)

The film, shot entirely in Cuyo, Palawan tells of a simple lass named Ploning (Judy Ann Santos) whose simplicity have touched the lives of people around her including that of a young boy who at his age have learned the pains of lose and betrayal. (I'm not good at summarizing the movie in a few words and I might end up giving away the movie's secrets so I suggest you just watch it yourself or read its summary in their website).

The sneak preview says: A man searching for his past...a woman waiting for her love...a town eager to move on...and a boy caught in between.

The preview ends: If love is meant forever, can you wait a lifetime?

Ploning's downside is on first half hour of the movie (I'm a firm believer that if the first 10 minutes of the film didn't bore you, then it's a good film!). It was so slow that when I first saw it at home in the Philippines, I, maybe because of tiredness, fell asleep. Or maybe because I was lying down when I watched it that I had difficulty reading the tagalog subtitles (it was dubbed in Cuyonon dialect), and so my eyes gave in.

Last night in Saudi, I saw it again and realized what I missed when first previewed it: the beautiful cinematography of Cuyon's beaches, it's festive atmosphere, the introduction of the film's characters. Still, it was too slow for me. Only after the arrival of Mylene Dizon did the movie picked its momentum and from then on up to the ending, the movie unfolded into a very beautiful story.

Equally memorable about Ploning is its dialogue: sometimes profound, othertimes irreverend. One that I remember well is this: Siguro kung naging matalino ako, hindi ako naging masaya. Hmmm...