Filipino American movie drawing sellout crowds

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The food-themed foreign film "American Adobo," which features an all-star Filipino cast, is drawing crowds. Outrider Pictures 'American Adobo' R (for strong language, sexuality) 105 minutes Restaurant Row Theatres; opens tomorrow at the Palace Theatre, Hilo

Here are the references: "The Wedding Banquet," "Tortilla Soup" (the movie formerly known as "Eat Drink Man Woman") and "Like Water for Chocolate."

Here's the answer: Absolutely, yes.

"American Adobo," directed by acclaimed Filipino director Laurice Guillen, has been drawing sellout crowds to Wallace Restaurant Row 9 Theaters since it premiered in Hawai'i last Friday.

The film, a cooperative project between ABS-CBN Entertainment (the Philippines' largest film and television company), Unitel Pictures and Kevin J. Foxe (executive producer of the Blair Witch Project), is being touted as the first major motion picture about Filipino Americans.

"The whole Kalihi and Waipahu is here," said Imelda Ellazar, 30, of Kalihi. "Inside the theater, it's all Filipinos."

For Ellazar, who scans the rental racks for films about the Philippines and is a big fan of programs on the Filipino Channel, the chance to see Christopher De Leon, Dina Bonnevie and the rest of the all-star Filipino cast on the big screen in Hawai'i was too good to pass up.

"It would be really nice if we could have more of this," she said.

Written by Vincent Nebrida, "American Adobo" is set in New York and traces the lives of Filipino friends.

Sherry Kho of Kalihi said the movie accurately captured the unique challenges faced by Filipinos in America as they try to find a place in a demanding, success-driven culture.

"It shows the difference between life here and in the Philippines," Kho said. "It's a different world than what we've been brought up with.

"Here, it's busier and you have to depend on yourself more. You have to be a juggler."

Kho, 33, emigrated to Hawai'i from La Union, Philippines, when she was 16. She said simply going to the movie with her 2-year-old son, Ninio, reflects the differences in her native and adopted cultures.

"In the Philippines, you had people to help you," she said. "You would never have to go to the movies with a baby."

Rey Torres, 54, of Kapahulu, said the movie itself was "just OK." More importantly, he said, it demonstrated that Filipino Americans are complex people with diverse personalities, just like anyone else.

"That's something that people don't always see," he said. "They see a bunch of Filipinos together and they think we're all alike. This movie at least puts the culture out there to be more understood."