Alexis Tioseco

The reason why film critics should matter? By virtue of their vocation, they get to watch more films than the regular moviegoer or the amateur film buff. Good, bad or harmless films. Films emanating from different eras, different genres, different languages and heritages. For that reason, they are better equipped to place an individual movie within the appropriate context in the film universe. They may be less inclined to praise a particular film that may be popular to regular moviegoers because their critical faculties have been shaped by the many good films that they have seen, and we have never heard of. From their wider exposure, they are able to share with us insights from film traditions and cultures far richer than what can be offered by our Transformers-in-every-cinema multiplexes. Inasmuch as schoolteachers had enlightened us that there was a world out there beyond immediate sensory perception, film critics alert us of a cinema beyond that promoted by the popular media machine. And so long as humans remain responsive to the curiosity reflex that drove much of cultural and technological progress, the critic -- especially the one who introduces us to the extra step -- will matter.

I never had the privilege of meeting Alexis Tioseco, though we had shared print space on UNO and had common friends. But from reading his work, it is easy to glean why he had won the respect, loyalty and love of his friends, colleagues and students. He was passionate about the Philippines and desired a better local cinema, and to that end he was unwilling to kowtow to the film industry and its interpersonal politics. He made his views known directly, and with such bluntness one could not help but listen. The most effective writers and advocates are those who know how to go for the jugular, and he deflated many egos and platitudes with the aim of developing a more sensible and liberating atmosphere where good Philippine cinema could breed. One can try disagree with his criticisms of particular films or decry the obscurity of some of the movies he rooted for, but he exuded much integrity and knowledge of film that you could trust that his views were well worth considering.

Someday, there will be a published anthology of the works of Alexis Tioseco, and you should go buy that. Yet there is already a wealth of material now available on the Internet, beginning with his now-widely circulated piece in Rogue Magazine, The Letter I Would Love To Read To You In Person, a highly accessible and passionately eloquent love letter/mission-vision statement which should be taught in any kind of writing class. Do check out his blog, Concentrated Nonsense, and the erudite website on Southeast Asian cinema, Criticine, which he had helped established. Two of Alexis's previous articles - one on Roxlee and a review of When Timawa Met Delgado. And there have been a host of tributes posted online to Alexis and Nika Bohinc -- among others, see those of Noel Vera, Oggs Cruz, Quark Henares, Philbert Ortiz Dy, Patricia Evangelista, Gabe Klinger and Jonathan Rosenbaum.