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5 Filipino Films To Enjoy With Your Family On New Year’s Day!

5 Filipino Films To Enjoy With Your Family On New Year’s Day!

New Year is a reminder that 365 days have passed and a new beginning is coming. Another chance to spend your days with your family, friends, partners, or maybe your soon-to-be soulmates. A season of giving, sharing, forgiving, and maybe… moving on. This is what this holiday season ought to teach us. A time to think back on our behavior for the past 12 months.

Did we say the thank you we should have said? The sorry’s we owe to one another and the I love yous we should express? If not, then this is the right time to do it. Start your new year with a brand new set of goals and chances, that this holiday season is giving you.

Especially in this cold season, it’s better to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee or chocolate. Have a heart-to-heart talk with one another and maybe cuddle with the most precious people you have in your life. 

While we are on that topic, watching films is one of our ways to spend the holiday season. Movies that could make our hearts flutter appreciate the love we get from our loved ones, and teach us the very importance of having one. 

So, here are the five Filipino films to enjoy with your family on New Year’s day

Tanging Yaman

What’s a family without some drama from the siblings right? And New Year is a perfect time to bring an end to that drama. Just like how these three siblings reunite for their mother’s birthday. 

Tanging Yaman follows the story of three estranged siblings, Danny (Johnny Delgado), Art (Edu Manzano), and Grace (Dina Bonnevie). These siblings have been separated both emotionally and physically. After living apart from their respective family for years, the siblings revisit their ancestral homes to deal with a property dispute. 

With their mother, Loleng (Gloria Romero), entering the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease, the reunion of Danny, Art, and Grace will rekindle unsolved misunderstandings, conflicts, and resentments.

Siblings hierarchy and favoritism are not new to Filipino families. Of course, conflicts and arguments between siblings might be normal. Who hasn’t fought with their siblings if they have one, right? But siblings have different principles, beliefs, and personalities. Casting an argument aside and leaving it unsolved for years or decades, might not be a good idea for the most part. 

Tanging Yaman might be a classic film, especially for Gen Z. But with actors like Johnny Delgado and Edu Manzano and the perfect portrayal of sibling rivalry, for sure, you might get a lesson or two while watching this beautifully crafted film.

Seven Sundays

New Year brings forth reunions between families and friends. And reunion could bring two things; happiness and reconciliation or reviving resentments and conflicts. When the news about your father having cancer reaches your ears, what would you do first? Cast the old arguments and reunite with your annoying siblings? Bury the resentments and complaints you have been hiding for years? Or rekindle the conflicts and start another argument?

Seven Sundays reflect a typical Filipino family with a severe sibling hierarchy and hidden resentments for each other. The Bonifacio siblings, Allan (Aga Muhlach), Bryan (Dingdong Dantes), Cha (Christine Reyes), and Dex (Enrique Gil) reunite after discovering that their father is dying of cancer. And not only that, the Bonifacio patriarch only has seven days to spend with his family. 

What makes this film even more beautiful, is it tackles most of the issues a Filipino family could face. Sibling hierarchy, married couple problems, neglected youngest, second oldest taking responsibility, and favoritism for the most part. And we should not forget how their father, played by the talented Ronaldo Valdez, had to lie in order to spend those seven Sundays with his distant children. 

Seven Sundays would not only teach us how to keep our family tight and close. But it would also show us the wonderful world of forgiving and asking for forgiveness. The things we need to give up and fight in order to keep that family warm and understanding. 

Magnifico

If you are up to crying your eyes and heart out on the first day of the new year, then this film might be the best for you. Ever wonder what would you do if you discover that one of your family members has a chance of dying but you don’t have any penny left? 

Magnifico tells a story about a young boy who decided to make a coffin for his terminally ill grandmother. And while making it, he was also raising funds for his youngest sister’s wheelchair, wanting to experience the fun of an amusement park or perya.

As the second oldest in a poor and unfortunate family, Magnifico (Jiro Manio) is deprived of so many things a child of his age should be having. But as the understanding and extraordinary child with a big heart, he is, those things seem like nothing to him. 

This 2003 drama film tackles the unfortunate reality of a poor and lacking family. What a child could sacrifice for the family he adores so much. And what an innocent 9-year-old boy could do to the people around him while doing the thing he thought would be helpful. 

Magnifico would surely make you cry a bucket, so ready a pack of tissues and a glass of water to keep you hydrated for a whole two hours and three minutes. And for sure, it would give you a little shock, serving you a plot twist you would never have expected. 

Anak

A Mother’s love could beat even a thousand enemies. And a mother would do anything and everything for the sake of her beloved children. This is what this fourth film would surely leave you with after watching it for almost two hours. 

In pursuit of providing her children a better life, Josie (Vilma Santos) decided to work overseas, enduring the idea of being away from her precious children. But after deciding to come home, a broken and downbeat family welcomed her. Carla (Claudine Baretto), Michael (Baron Geisler), and Daday (Sheila Mae Alvero) grew distant from their mother without knowing what happened to Josie while working overseas.

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What more could a mother give in order to be an ‘ideal’ mother to her children? Does she have to spend all her day tending to her family’s needs to be one? Does she need to sacrifice everything, even her own life to be called a so-called perfect mother?

“Bakit pag ang lalake ang nagbigay ng damit, pagkain sasabihin ng mga tao “Aba mabuti siyang ama” pero pag ang babae, kasama na pati puso’t kaluluwa hindi pa rin sapat.”

Josie might not be the ideal mother to her children. But she is considered to be one of the modern heroes we have. Working overseas might not be as glorious as it sounds, but the sacrifice an OFW mother could make is as honorable as protecting our country too. 

Anak is a good film for us children to appreciate our mothers more. Especially in this special occasion of giving and sharing. Anak is a good film to watch this New Year with our mothers and of course, family. 

Unforgettable

Being special does not mean being highly exceptional. Being special could also mean loving our loved ones unconditionally without waiting for something in return. Unconditional love in return is when you fully love and accept someone despite their flaws and differences. And this last film would surely teach you a thing or two about unconditional love. A kind of love we would need especially in this brand new year. 

Unforgettable follows a story about a young woman with an unidentified mental disability who lives in Baguio with her grandmother (Gina Pareno). But despite having it, Jasmine (Sarah Geronimo), lives just like everybody else, working and earning from her own hard work. 

But one day, Jasmine has to be away from her sick grandmother and needs to stay with her older sister, Dahlia (Ara Mina) in Manila. Dahlia is the kind of sister who would not tolerate Jasmine’s tantrums regardless of her condition. After meeting a dog named Happy who resembles her grandmother’s dog before, Jasmine took on a journey to go back to Baguio. 

The main protagonist’s journey and struggles along the way would teach us that being different should not be a hindrance in any way possible. And that, we should learn to understand everyone in order to accept them for who they are. 

And this film also showed that everyone deserves unconditional love. Even our four-legged best friend deserves to be loved, cared for, and accepted despite where they come from. 

Spending a special occasion such as New Year with our families might be the best gift we could ever receive for the whole year. A season of giving, sharing, forgiving, reconciliation, and reuniting. Indeed, New Year brings forth such miracles in our lives once a year. So spend it wonderfully with the people you love. 

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