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Amos Lassen wrote on 02/22/2011:

“The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros”
In the Slums
Amos Lassen
Soon to be seen at the Arkansas LGBT Film Festival is “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros”, a new film from the Philippines. Deep in drama and with plenty of laughs, it is a beautiful film. It is frank and honest and will probably change the way you look at poverty, at gay people, at the nature of families and love and at the love
of parent and child, sibling and sibling.
Is Maximo Oliveros gay? He dresses like a girl and has a crush on a good looking policeman. As we get deeper into the film, we question whether he is gay or just troubled.
When Maxi’s mother dies due to an unknown illness, he takes over seeing to his two brothers ad his father—all of the petty thieves. Everything seems to be working just fine until a young cop appears. Maxi becomes enamored of him and must choose between his feelings for the cop and his family. As can be expected, things get both ugly and violent.
Director Aureus Solito and screenplay writer Michiko Yamamoto give us a beautiful coming of age story. Nathan Lopez as Maximo Oliveros is a wonderful young actor and the treatment of him is unique and interesting. Whether or not he is gay is not an issue in the movie. There are elements of camp but in fair amounts and everything in the movie works because it is so well done. The filmmakers know when to pull back ad never let anything get too sensitive or emotional. Melodrama is avoided.
What the film shows us is that an effeminate boy can exist in the slums and have a peaceful existence. Even with the tremendous influence of the Roman Catholic church, the general mood of the Philippines lies somewhere between tolerance, amusement and acceptance.
The homoeroticism of the film is handled with great sensitivity. There is more a sense of hero worship between Maxi and the cop than sexuality. The people exhibit true caring rather than homophobia and there is a sense of ambiguity in the sexuality of the film and in JR Valentin’s portrayal of the cop. There are scenes between the two that are highly charged and one especially that could be interpreted as pedophilia were it not so beautifully handled. The ending satisfies in every way.
Are puppy love, unrequited love, familial obligations and economic pressures necessarily gay? I don’t think they are.
The streets of Manila are intriguing as photographed here as are the tensions among the principal characters. Here is a marginal family that exhibits loving and tender feelings.
Again I must cite Nathan Lopez for his performance. He has created a memorable character that will break your heart. His sensitivity, warmth and humor are astounding.
The subtlety of the film does not have the usual histrionics found in most films like this. It is the rawness and harshness of the film that stays with you.

Gay Movie Watcher wrote on 01/26/2008:

I was very pleasantly surprised with this film. I'm usually not into the whole teen-trans-whatever thing....but "Maxi's" gender issues are really the side story in this movie, and portrayed honestly as just a part of who he is, and not the focus of his character or the film. The movie flowed really well, and there were no dull or slow parts. As a matter of fact, when I knew it was coming to an end.....I wanted to see more. Definitely worth either a rent or a buy.

CharlesB wrote on 12/14/2007:

When I first read the synopsis of this movie I thought, "yuck." A nelly little boy falls in love? No thanks. But my partner and I rented the movie on a whim (his) and we were both captivated by the actor playing Maximo and the very well written script. When, half way through the movie, I realized that I cared about all of these people, I became complete sold on "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros." Original, charming, suspenseful, and completely good.

JayCBird wrote on 08/18/2007:

I first saw this past year's official entry for the Foreign Language Oscar, "The Blossoming of Maximos Oliveros" at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2006. At the time, I said it "started off REALLY rough! It has ZERO production values! I was regretting picking this, at first. However, the performance by Nathan Lopez as a 12 year old gay boy who falls in love with a policeman was charming! And the policeman (J.R. Valentin) was sort of hot! It had a really mature screenplay that didn't stoop to cheap sentiment. So, I sort of liked it..." I must admit that the film actually screens better on video than the big screen. It is a small and intimate story, but performed with a naive, if nearly amateur heavy handedness that tread the line of pathos when projected in a theater as large as the main room at the Kabuki (now Sundance Cinema) in San Francisco.

However, watching it again, albeit on a 96" projection screen, I found it's innocence and sincerity quite touching. As far as 'teen gay coming of age stories' are concerned, "The Blossoming..." is far from trite. The conflicts and raw performances add a touch of realism that most stateside productions avoid in fear of offending an audience with the sexuality of a pre-teen, which is the heart of "The Blossoming...".

The video transfer is 1.78:1, which is a slightly odd aspect ratio that is best screened in the 'native' resolution and not in 1.85:1, as that nearly cuts off the subtitles at the bottom. Other than that, the transfer is as clean as the apparent low-budget production values of the film stock or DV resolution (it is so hard to tell anymore!) allow. The sound is 2.0 Stereo in Dolby, which reflects the original soundtrack. There are no alternative language soundtracks and the only available subtitles are in English. The lack of an English soundtrack doesn't bother ME in the least, as it preserves Nathan Lopez's performance.

The extras are slim. There is a Photo Gallery, which is a compilation of production and publicity shots, though nothing behind the scenes. There are also a trio of trailers of other TLA Releases.

The street date is August 28th and the SRP is $19.99, which suggests that it will probably retail at $14.99, which is a nice little bargain for a nice little film.