I recall film director Gene Cajayon coming to Guam to present his film The Debut to our local audience almost a decade ago. After watching the film in theaters, I bought the DVD release and it has been sitting on my DVD shelf since I removed it from its box. With summer well underway and leisure time plentiful, I decided to give it a spin.

Although only a quarter Filipino, I’ve been blessed with experiencing much of the Filipino culture. The island I live on is a melting pot of Asians, and the Filipino community here represents nearly half of our current population. Growing up I had the opportunity to make quite a few Filipino friends, and from personal experience I’d say that this film did a fairly good job with capturing many of the aspects of the Filipino lifestyle.

I thought the film itself was done well for such a shoestring budget. I was happy to see a familiar face in Dante Basco playing Ben Mercado alongside a mix of well drawn major characters.

The overall acting in the film was a bit raw from a professional standpoint, however, their charisma was apparent, and that was enough to for their lack of acting experience.

The Debut did have one major flaw which stood out like a sore thumb. Its horrible screenplay. I’m sure that Cajayon’s intentions were good, but it felt as if he was trying to get every single aspect of the Filipino life and all its struggles to fit into one 88 minute flick. There was not much room for reflection or cohesiveness and at moments it felt very rushed and unfinished.

Overall, it was hard not to like this film. The message was manifested clearly in Basco’s performance and all people whether Filipino or not can appreciate and learn from it. When it all comes down to it, we all need to realize that no matter where we are and what we do, its important to embrace our heritage and cultures before it is lost with the sands of time.

Sidenote: Joy Bisco is Hot!