Closer to Home

By DEREK ELLEY

An Elibon Film Prods. production. (International sales: Elibon, Elizabeth, N.J.) Produced by Joseph Nobile. Executive producer, Steven T. Nobile. Directed by Joseph Nobile. Screen-play, Joseph Nobile, Ruben Arthur Nicdao.
 

* Due to technical problems at the festival, pic was reviewed on videotape with the filmmaker's consent.

Dean John Michael Bolger Dalisay Madeline Ortaliz Alma Elizabeth Bracco Nick Ralph Buckley Magno Joonee Gamboa Lacaba Ray Ventura Uncle Ralph Edward Lane Tess Angie Castrence Jan Jane Gabbert

(Tagalog and English dialogue)

A cross-cultural drama with a few fresh twists, "Closer to Home" is a technically smooth feature bow by New Jersey-based filmmaker Joseph Nobile that steers clear of most of the normal cliches and shows an unforced, natural feel for its subject. Flawed only by an unsympathetic male lead an a weakly worked-out denouement, pic is a natural candidate for cable and Eurotube play as it nears the end of its long fest run that began at Montreal last fall.

First hour flip-flops between NYC and the Philippines as the two main characters' backgrounds are extensively drawn. After 20 years of wandering Asia in the merchant marines, Dean (John Michael Bolger) asks a Gotham agency to find him a nice Filipina to settle down with; a born drifter, he's scraping by as a cabby in between fighting off his sister, Jan, who wants to sell their late parents' apartment (where Dean has camped) to cousin Nick, who runs a grocery store downstairs.

Dean's photo choice is the teenage Dalisay (Madeline Ortaliz), from a poor provincial family that's already in debt to local moneylenders. She finally persuades her father to let her go Stateside to earn money to pay for her sister's heart operation. What she doesn't expect is that Dean, though caring to a fault, wants to be the sole breadwinner -- and he couldn't hold down a job if it were tied to him.

By the time Dean and Dalisay meet, the audience already knows them pretty well: There's clearly a potential for the arranged marriage to work, but also a major chance that it won't. In true indie tradition, the story is worked out through a collection of small incidents and gradual character building rather than sheer plot. Resolution is the rather too familiar one of alcoholic confession, but helmer Nobile keeps the viewer guessing over final outcome until the fade.

In her first acting stint, Ortaliz (only 16 when shooting began in late '92) is the heart and soul of the movie, a seemingly fragile flower but with an iron stem. It's a pity there's not more chemistry between her and Bolger, who rarely exhibits much charm and seems to be acting in a vacuum. Others in the sizable cast (on both sides of the Pacific) meld easily, with Angie Castrence notable as Dalisay's hard-nosed but warm cousin. Pic's extensive Philippine scenes are commendable for avoiding the usual "exotic" cliches, and the script is even-handed in a relaxed way in its portraits of the two countries.

Camera (color, 16mm), Irek Hartowicz; editors, Janice Keuhnelian, James Kwei; music, Ryan Cayabyab; production design, Stacey Tanner; sound, Nitoy Clemente, Annette Danto; sound design, Louis Bertini; assistant directors, Ricardo Brioso (Philippines), Larry Eudene (New York). Reviewed on videocassette * at Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Czech Republic, July 10, 1996. Running time: 126 MIN.