The Red Shoes showing on March 10

Yesterday night, some members of media, including us bloggers, and people from the academe were invited to preview the upcoming film by Raul Jorolan entitled "The Red Shoes." (See Synopsis at the bottom of this post)

I really like the movie. In fact, I think everyone should see it! It’s a not-so-cheesy and commercial love story (unlike the love-story movies being shown in the recent past). On the contrary, this film is packed with literary metaphors, symbolism and historical references, you'd enjoy giving meaning yourself. It’s an unconventional film with a twist which I am sure you’ll appreciate. The director has a very keen eye for detail and timing, and the cinematographer's really good. Kudos and Congratulation!


I was able to chat with the Director after the screening, and he was really happy with the reviews the film was getting, especially from the younger generation. He says that we inspire him through conversation about arts, movies, politics, and anything and everything else. It keeps him young and motivated to do more, and excel.


The Red Shoes Trailer
“The story unfolds through three decades as we tell Lucas’ story,” Jorolan says. “Young, resolute and in love, there is nothing that will stop him from pursuing his goals – not even committing an act amidst the chaos and confusion of the 1986 People Power revolution -- all in the name of love.” We could see how they've wonderfully tied everything together.

The movie also stars Liza Lorena, Tessie Tomas, Iwa Moto, Tetchie Agbayani, Monica Llamas and Tirso Cruz III. It will be shown in local theaters on March 10, 2010.

THE RED SHOES SYNOPSIS

In 1986, in the evening of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines, ten-year old Lucas Munozca catches sight of the First Lady’s 3000 pairs of shoes at the Presidential Palace and decides to steal a pair.

In 2006, Lucas, now a professional wedding videographer, is seemingly stuck with one kind of footwear: white sneakers. He, too, is stuck with his past; unable to move on from losing the love of his life, the “well-heeled” Bettina, who, when they were still a couple, always wore flats being taller than Lucas.

Lucas’ mother, Chat, is similarly stuck on her past. Doing manicures and pedicures for a living, Chat gets to take expensive shoes off the feet of affluent women. After all these years, she still grieves the loss of her husband, Lucas’ father, Domingo. A construction worker who loved to walk barefoot, Domingo perished along with an untold number of workers during the collapse of an upper floor of the Manila Film Center in 1981, a pet project of the then First Lady Imelda Marcos. Chat has almost given up trying to contact the spirit of Domingo until she meets a talented spiritist, Madame Vange, who happens to be, of all things, an Imelda impersonator.

When Lucas accepts a high-profile wedding video assignment, he discovers that one of the principal sponsors is Madame Imelda Marcos herself. He is then forced to confront the consequences of stealing the shoes of the former First Lady and to reveal the real reasons why he did it: for poetic justice and for love.

As a boy, Lucas had originally wanted to steal two pairs of shoes--one for his mother Chat to be a token replacement of the shoes she never got for her birthday from her husband Domingo because he died constructing Imelda’s film palace; and another pair of shoes for his childhood sweetheart Bettina whose family had suffered from the Marcos regime. But young Lucas lost his nerves and only managed to steal one pair. And so, he had given the right shoe to his mother; and the left shoe to his beloved.

Twenty years have separated the shoes and, now, Lucas retraces his journey and discovers that the Imelda shoes is his way back to healing and redemption.

Check out Movie Review: The Red Shoes by PinoyGossipBoy