Namets! (2008)
Namets! (2008): 4.5/5
Every meal we eat is a journey. There are only a handful of films that take us on such ‘journeys’ (off the top of my head, I can only name ‘Ratatouille’ and that ‘Dumplings’ segment from the Three Extremes) but Namets is a film that manages to take the food adventure on a very personal scale.
Namets! is a film about life, love, and food set in the little city of Bacolod – a land I’ve never set foot in but feel like I’ve immersed myself in after watching this movie. Namets! (Yummy!) is exactly how one would describe this film. It’s a romantic comedy between Jacko (the very namets Christian Vasquez) and Cassie (an equally namets Angel Jacob) set to the visually exciting backdrop of rich Bacolod-ian culture and its small town charm.
It’s a film that succeeds in connecting with its audience on a human level (food as social glue) and certainly finds its way to touching hearts through the stomach (well it did mine anyway). It showcases a loving portrayal of food put on film, and is cute without embarrassingly forcing it. Every scene deliciously blends into the next. Though at times I felt that the emotion between the characters were a little bit forced, the supporting cast’s wackiness added another endearing quality to the fim (while watching this movie I kept thinking Boss Dolpo would do a Mr. Creosote in Monty Python and the Meaning of Life)
Dolpo-licious
Sure it’s a movie about food, but it’s also about people. The people that came together to form a community, eating together, living together. A geneally sweet and tender movie, Namets stands up to repeated viewings followed by trips to the kitchen or your favorite restaurant.
Salamat gid for a non-angsty Cinemalaya movie!
