
We planned to watch the 4:30pm movie screening at Eiga Sai Film Fest. But like most of the plans in life, it didn’t happen as we like.
For the uninitiated, Eiga Sai film Fest happens every July, in celebration of the Philippine-Japan friendship month. One of the best parts? It’s free!
Because of the weather and short supply of Pasig jeepneys, we reached the venue Shangri-la at 4:40pm. We thought it would be okay to enter the theater while the film’s ongoing, so we looked for Cinema 4. There we were greeted by sweet smiles of two staffs, and by a massive bomb-snipping dog. I thought I could even fit inside the dog’s body.
The staff told us tickets were given one hour before the movie started. The next screening was at 7pm so we decided to just wait. We were late for the 4:30pm movie but we were too early for the 7pm movie. Such irony of life.
When we checked the place where we could get tickets, there were already about 6 people who were in line. And I thought we were the only ones who were too early! We fell in line even though it was only 5pm, because we could sense that the people coming in the place were increasing. Right after we fell in line, many people did the same thing too. I knew it, we could lead.
Some of the present people there were Japanese or half japs. There was even a Pinay actress but I couldn’t remember her name.
Then out of the blue, Mashe and Betty asked me if the film’s really free. I said yea, why. They were doubting. I started to doubt what I knew too.
I said “the official website of Eiga says ‘Admission is free’.”
“What if the admission’s free but the tickets are not?”
We laughed at the silly idea.
Then I said if Eiga Sai wasn’t free, then this long line would be incredible! Imagine, they chose Eiga Sai over the celebrated Twilight!
And if a film wasn’t free, you could buy tickets any time. You don’t have to be in a very long queue. Logic logic!
Okay, we gave up. We decided to just ask one of the staffs there. She said it’s really free!
They were punctual, and I love it. They gave us tickets at exactly 6pm.
Inside the theater, we sat just in front of the reserved seats. But it turned out that we were still too close to the screen. The screen was so big and sometimes I had a hard time focusing my eyes.
The movie
The film we watched was Always Sunset on Third Street 2. Its setting is Tokyo, 1959.
It is about a striving novelist Chagawa, who wants to win the Akutagawa award so he can prove that he can give a decent life to his adopted son.
It was a beautiful movie though I hardly remember some scenes. Maybe because it was too long. Or maybe I was too focused on laughing at the scenes. Well, I could say I enjoyed the “journey” (watching the film). I laughed so much on some of the scenes and lines. Yet I also got teary-eyed on some scenes.
I specially like the scene when Betty was reading the lines in the novel that Chagawa wrote. While she was reading it, some of her memories with Chagawa were shown. It was so sweet when Chagawa put an invisible ring to her finger while promising that someday, he’ll give her a real ring.
“The sunset is so beautiful”, (or something like that), a boy in the film said.
“Hey, you’re too young for that line!”his father told him, and mildly hit the child’s head.
And that was the last scene in the movie that I laughed at.
After the movie (The Reserved Girl)
After the movie, we went to rest room. The bond paper that reads “reserved” was pasted on the dress of a girl. I giggled.
“How the heck did that bond paper go there,” I thought. It looked like it was intentionally pasted on her.
It brought back my memory about first year high school, the time when were so fond of writing “FOR SALE. P1” on papers and pasting them in the back of our classmates.
Many people saw the girl but no one told her about it. I guess they were enjoying the idea that the girl was “reserved”.
Because I didn’t like that to happen to me, and because I had enough giggling, I told the girl about it.
Third
On my way home, I saw a street named “third”. Coincidence? Maybe. But I definitely like the idea that “Always Sunset on Third Street” can happen in the Philippines.
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