Product Description

THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS tells the story of Maxi (Nathan Lopez) a gay, pre-teen growing up in the slums of Manila, who is deeply loyal to his family of petty thieves. His world revolves around his father and two brothers, who love and protect him in return for Maxi s devotion to completing domestic chores and covering their tracks when they commit crimes. When Maxi meets Victor (JR Valentin) a well-meaning, handsome policeman, the two become fast friends and Maxi begins to learn that he can have a better life, which soon incurs the ire and disapproval of Maxi s family. The digitally-shot feature made its U.S. debut at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was the official Philippine entry of the 2007 Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language film. The film has also garnered several film festival awards including the Teddy Award at the 2006 Berlinale Film Festival and Best Asian Film at the 2006 Rotterdam Film Festival.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38281 in DVD
• Brand: DUB
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Features

• THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS tells the story of Maxi (Nathan Lopez) a gay, pre-teen growing up in the slums of Manila, who is deeply loyal to his family of petty thieves. His world revolves around his father and two brothers, who love and protect him in return for Maxi s devotion to completing domestic chores and covering their tracks when they commit crimes. When Maxi meets Victor (JR Val

Review
the film is alarming, endearing, and utterly unflappable. --Dennis Lim, Village Voice

Review
"One of those all-too-rare films that handles preadolescent queerness with intelligence and unflinching honesty!" --Ernest Hardy, LA Weekly

Review
"Has charmed film festival audiences from Sundance to Jerusalem with its refreshingly blasé handling of homosexuality, its amiable actors and its delicacy of milieu." --Nathan Lee, The New York Times

Customer Reviews

Quirky coming-of-age movie from the Phillipines
This moving coming of age movie about about a 12 year boy's puppy love for a young cop had this big tough guy bawling like a baby.

Maxi---played by Nathan Lopez---is a sensitive 12-year-old boy whose life has deteriorated into a surrogate existence of his dead mother. Relegated to housekeeping and caring for his criminal father and brothers, Maxi becomes infatuated with a kind and honorable policeman---played by J.R. Valentin. The policeman responds to the boy's infatuation compassionately but behaves responsibly by gently refusing sexual contact. Instead, he befriends Maxi and tries to steer him to a more respectable way of life. But his relationship with Maxi and his family has an unexpected and tragic result.

Did Maxi blossom? Yes, in a big way! Not only did Maxi take his mother's place cooking and cleaning, but he also becomes the heart of his family. It was his big heart that moves his brothers into the future after the tragedy that occurs to the family during the movie.

Turn off the cable TV and watch this quirky, little movie from the Philippines. It's a classic coming-of-age movie that will move and inspire you.

In the Slums
"The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros"

In the Slums

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

Soon to be seen at the Arkansas LGBT Film Festival is "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros", a new film from the Philippines. Deep in drama and with plenty of laughs, it is a beautiful film. It is frank and honest and will probably change the way you look at poverty, at gay people, at the nature of families and love and at the love
of parent and child, sibling and sibling.
Is Maximo Oliveros gay? He dresses like a girl and has a crush on a good looking policeman. As we get deeper into the film, we question whether he is gay or just troubled.
When Maxi's mother dies due to an unknown illness, he takes over seeing to his two brothers ad his father--all of the petty thieves. Everything seems to be working just fine until a young cop appears. Maxi becomes enamored of him and must choose between his feelings for the cop and his family. As can be expected, things get both ugly and violent.
Director Aureus Solito and screenplay writer Michiko Yamamoto give us a beautiful coming of age story. Nathan Lopez as Maximo Oliveros is a wonderful young actor and the treatment of him is unique and interesting. Whether or not he is gay is not an issue in the movie. There are elements of camp but in fair amounts and everything in the movie works because it is so well done. The filmmakers know when to pull back ad never let anything get too sensitive or emotional. Melodrama is avoided.
What the film shows us is that an effeminate boy can exist in the slums and have a peaceful existence. Even with the tremendous influence of the Roman Catholic church, the general mood of the Philippines lies somewhere between tolerance, amusement and acceptance.
The homoeroticism of the film is handled with great sensitivity. There is more a sense of hero worship between Maxi and the cop than sexuality. The people exhibit true caring rather than homophobia and there is a sense of ambiguity in the sexuality of the film and in JR Valentin's portrayal of the cop. There are scenes between the two that are highly charged and one especially that could be interpreted as pedophilia were it not so beautifully handled. The ending satisfies in every way.
Are puppy love, unrequited love, familial obligations and economic pressures necessarily gay? I don't think they are.
The streets of Manila are intriguing as photographed here as are the tensions among the principal characters. Here is a marginal family that exhibits loving and tender feelings.
Again I must cite Nathan Lopez for his performance. He has created a memorable character that will break your heart. His sensitivity, warmth and humor are astounding.
The subtlety of the film does not have the usual histrionics found in most films like this. It is the rawness and harshness of the film that stays with you.

WONDERFUL FILM ON SO MANY LEVELS
THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS is masterful on so many levels. One, it's a coming-of-age story expertly structured. Its dramatic momentum, its turning of the screw, is gripping. Motivations are complicated, outcomes surprising. Two, its rendering of Manila is honest, raw, personal, and illuminating. It captures both the hope and the desperation of life in a third world slum. It shows the beauty co-existing with the sludge. It does so without varnish, and without sentimentality. Three, it explores sexual identity in a fresh way. It's been on the festival circuit for a couple of years, selling out everywhere it plays. I'm thrilled to see it's finally released on dvd.