Rhian Ramos & Julia Barretto Have Surprise Entries In The Metro-Manila Filmfest. Will These Films Give Their Careers The Much Needed Boost They Need?

BOTH JULIA BARRETTO and Rhian Ramos suffered setbacks in their burgeoning careers then because of some missteps they made. People didn’t like it when Julia filed a case in court disregarding her father Dennis Padilla’s real family name. Rhian fell in love with the wrong guys and it took a toll on her career.

Now, by the grace of God, both of them are given the opportunity (and the rare break) to have their own entries in the coming Metro Manila Filmfest where they not only play the leads but the title roles no less. Julia is in “Vince, Kath & James” directed by Ted Boborol while Rhian is in “Saving Sally” directed by Avid Liongoren.

Both of them carry their respective movie in their own shoulders, so to speak, since they don’t have big name leading men with them but newcomers. Julia is paired in this youthful love story with Joshua Garcia from PBB and Ronnie Alonte of Hashtags. Rhian is paired with a total unknown, Enzo Marcos, in a romantic comedy that is a combination of animation and live action.

Will these be the projects that will finally give the much needed boost to their languishing careers? What do you think? Julia’s edge over Rhian is that her movie is backed up by ABS-CBN whose formidable machinery will no doubt give full blast promotions to boost public interest in her movie that has no well known stars.

Rhian and Julia’s projects will be up against the movies of Nora Aunor, Paolo Ballesteros, Eugene Domingo and these are not exactly formidable opponents at the box office. We all know what happened to Nora’s “Thy Womb” when it was entered in a past Metro-Manila filmfest after winning awards in Venice. And we all know winning an award abroad is no guarantee that people will flock to that movie, as shown by “Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis” “Ma Rosa” and “Babaeng Humayo” early this year, so Paolo’s award in Tokyo for “Die Beautiful” won’t be enough of a surefire attraction for local moviegoers.

As for Eugene Domingo, “Babae sa Septic Tank 2” is her comeback on the big screen after she lost her enthusiasm for making movies when her last film, “Barber’s Tales”, which also gave her a best actress award in Tokyo, got a lukewarm reception at the box office. Her last Metro filmfest entries were also “mahina sa takilya”, “Instant Mommy” and “Kimmy Dora 3”. So as a whole, we can say the MMFF 2016 will be an even playing field for all the films and all the entries, even for those with no big stars at all like “Oro” with Joem Bascon, Irma Adlawan and Mercedes Cabral; “Seklusyon” with Dominic Roque, Ronnie Alonte, etc; and “Sunday Beauty Queen”, which is a documentary with no familiar stars at all. Let’s just wish good luck to all the entries!