TAGALOG/FILIPINO MOVIE: LITSONERO (DVD)

Starring: Paolo Contis, Karylle, Maricel Laxa, Michael De Mesa, Gerard Pizzaras, Joanne Quintas, Isabella De Leon, Jake Vargas, Jun Urbano, etc

Synopsis: Fidel (Paolo Contis) is a fresh culin5ry arts graduate from a Swiss School, working as under-chef in a casino restaurant in Macau.  Fidel is compelled by his mother, Inay Viring (Maricel Laxa), to come back to their hometown in time for the first death anniversary of his father.

Soon after he arrives, he is challenged by an uncle, Tiyo Pinoy (Michael De Mesa), reproaching him for forgetting his roots, that he has become practically a foreigner, and that – no matter how hard he tried – he cannot cook a good lechon.  Fidel accepts the wager.

Fidel starts apprenticing with the town’s lechon mater, Mang Carding (Jun Urbano) and falls in love with Carding’s granddaughter, Carmel (Karylle).  As the story moves forward, Fidel is constantly confronted by his family’s overdependence on him, even if the eldest in the family is his Kuya Roger (Gerard Pizzaras), an ill-tempered tricycle driver.

Meanwhile, Fidel’s teen sister gets pregnant by her high school boyfriend, and before long has a bad miscarriage.  At around the same time, Tiyo Pinoy stabs the lover of his wife Cora (Joanne Quintas).  All this domestic turmoil happens while Fidel is struggling through his training as a litsonero with Mang Carding.

Things come to a head when Fidel gets into a heated discussion with his Tiyo Pinoy (who insists on calling his chef job “trabaho ng binabae”).  Suddenly the bet turns dead-serious.  Originally the stakes were paltry.  Now the stakes spiral notches higher: if Fidel loses – if his lechon doesn’t turn out good – he is compelled to work as servant in Tiyo Pinoy’s bakery for a full year, and if Pinoy loses he has to take his wayward wife back into his life.

Will Fidel win the bet between him and his uncle?  Will Carmel gives him a chance despite of everything?

Directed by: Lore Reyes