| | |  | PHILIPPINES | Home » » The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros | | | | | | | Description: | | For precocious gay 12-years-old Maximo, daily life on the slum streets of Manila is filled with girly clothes, beauty pageants and taking care of his father and brothers. He devotedly plays happy homemaker for this rough but loving band of petty thieves who run a small-time racketeering business. Domestic bliss is soon interrupted when a hunky new cop arrives in town, sparking a close friendship that quickly turns to puppy love. Tensions soar as this crush is seen as a threat to their delicate balance in this captivating coming-of-age tale that shimmers with raw and endearing insight. | | | Features: | |
• THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS tells the story of Maxi (Nathan Lopez) a gay, pre-teen growing up in the slums of Manila, who is deeply loyal to his family of petty thieves. His world revolves around his father and two brothers, who love and protect him in return for Maxi s devotion to completing domestic chores and covering their tracks when they commit crimes. When Maxi meets Victor (JR Val
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Soliman Cruz, JR Valentin, Neil Ryan Sese, Ping Medina, Bodjie Pascua | | Director:
| Auraeus Solito | | Format:
| Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| TLA | | Run Time:
| 100 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| August 28, 2007 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 21 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $1.89+ $4.62 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $1.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $1.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $2.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $3.87+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Good | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Good | | | $5.50+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $5.83+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $7.48+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $7.51+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.52+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.75+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $7.98+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $8.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $8.73+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $8.73+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $8.95+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $8.99+ $4.12 *Shipping | New | | | $9.02+ $3.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.11+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.63+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.75+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $9.95+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $10.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $10.12+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $10.13+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $10.45+ $8.13 *Shipping | New | | | $10.72+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $11.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $11.64+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $12.58+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $12.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $13.12+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $13.66+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $13.66+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $23.74+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $119.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | |
| New | |
| $7.51+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.52+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.98+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $7.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $8.73+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $8.73+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $8.99+ $4.12 *Shipping | New | | | $9.02+ $3.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.11+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.63+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $9.75+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $9.95+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $10.12+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $10.13+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $10.45+ $8.13 *Shipping | New | | | $10.72+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $11.64+ $4.62 *Shipping | New | | | $12.58+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | New | | | $12.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $13.12+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $13.66+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | | | $119.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | New | |
| Used | |
| $1.89+ $4.62 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $1.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $1.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $2.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $3.87+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Good | | | $4.87+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Good | | | $5.50+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | | | $5.83+ $2.98 *Shipping This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $7.48+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $7.75+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $8.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $8.95+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- VeryGood | | | $9.99+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $10.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $11.00+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $13.66+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Mint | | | $23.74+ $4.99 *Shipping | Used
- Good | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 21 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 57 found the following review helpful:
 Quirky coming-of-age movie from the PhillipinesSep 24, 2007
By Hulka
This moving coming of age movie about about a 12 year boy's puppy love for a young cop had this big tough guy bawling like a baby.
Maxi---played by Nathan Lopez---is a sensitive 12-year-old boy whose life has deteriorated into a surrogate existence of his dead mother. Relegated to housekeeping and caring for his criminal father and brothers, Maxi becomes infatuated with a kind and honorable policeman---played by J.R. Valentin. The policeman responds to the boy's infatuation compassionately but behaves responsibly by gently refusing sexual contact. Instead, he befriends Maxi and tries to steer him to a more respectable way of life. But his relationship with Maxi and his family has an unexpected and tragic result.
Did Maxi blossom? Yes, in a big way! Not only did Maxi take his mother's place cooking and cleaning, but he also becomes the heart of his family. It was his big heart that moves his brothers into the future after the tragedy that occurs to the family during the movie.
Turn off the cable TV and watch this quirky, little movie from the Philippines. It's a classic coming-of-age movie that will move and inspire you.
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
WONDERFUL FILM ON SO MANY LEVELSAug 29, 2007
By Exley Cave
THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS is masterful on so many levels. One, it's a coming-of-age story expertly structured. Its dramatic momentum, its turning of the screw, is gripping. Motivations are complicated, outcomes surprising. Two, its rendering of Manila is honest, raw, personal, and illuminating. It captures both the hope and the desperation of life in a third world slum. It shows the beauty co-existing with the sludge. It does so without varnish, and without sentimentality. Three, it explores sexual identity in a fresh way. It's been on the festival circuit for a couple of years, selling out everywhere it plays. I'm thrilled to see it's finally released on dvd.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Outstanding Gay Coming of Age MovieJun 11, 2008
By Muskoka Man
"Muskoka Man"
In reading the prior reviews and descriptions of this movie I was not prepared for what an intense drama it really was. Wow.
There are not may movies which would dare to depict a 12 year old boy as truly transgendered and accepted as such by his family, friends and neighbors. His two older brothers even refer to him as their "sister." Most other movies of the "gay coming-of-age" variety show boys encountering their gayness for the first time as masculine, or pretending to be masculine, as their parents and peers try to steer them in the traditional straight/masculine direction. Not Maximo. He acts and dresses like a girl and takes care of the men in his family as if he were female. He adores them and they adore him just as he is. When he does get bullied and threatened with rape by older thugs, his brothers come to the rescue (maybe a little too zealously as it turns out).
In the beginning of the movie and for the first 40 minutes or so, we see Maximo at his most carefree and innocent. He plays games (mostly with girls), dresses up, watches movies, and models exotic women's clothes on a pretend runway. He falls in love with a handsome and kind 20 something policeman. All is well with the world. But as the story unravels we learn secrets about Maximo's family, and especially his father, that force Maximo to question his sense of right and wrong, his view of the world as black/white and good/evil. We also learn things about his policeman/pseudo lover. Everything begins to take on shades of gray and Maximo must choose his loyalties and in the process lose his innocence, and I don't mean sexually. Suddenly, his sexuality takes a back seat to other aspects of life which are universal to everybody, men/women, boys/girls, gay/straight or masculine/effeminate namely loyalty toward family vs. loyalty toward a love interest. It also forces Maximo, and the viewer, to question the acceptable boundaries of behavior/misdeeds you can overlook in a parent, brother, friend or lover, in order to continue to maintain a relationship with them, and which ones you can't.
The acting was excellent. I believed everyone in their rolls. The main characters were all well written and 3-dimensional. This movie will stay with you for a long time. It is extraordinary. I highly recommend it as a purchase as opposed to a rental because you will want to watch it more then once and share this unique experience with others.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Nice StoryJan 05, 2008
By Rolando A. Perez
"RAP"
This is not your ordinary gay movie. Caution should be given to those who want to get this movie, as it is about a very young child (12) finding friendship and love in the most unlikely places.
The story line is about the growing up of a very feminine boy. It is set in the Philippines, primarily in the slums of Manila. The movie, is not only a good lesson on an impoverished culture, but on the unity of a family, how they fully accept what he is, even is made up of rough, straight brothers and father.
Maxi, Nathan Lopez, belongs to small neighborly group of boys who are extremely feminine, acting very much like girls. He is a school dropout as other boys pick on him for what he is. He is well liked, both by his family, and other neighbors. He assumes the role of a dead mother in his home, takes care of his father and bothers, he does the cooking, cleaning, and mending around their impoverished home. In turns, they protect him. It is interesting how these rough guys accept him as a girl and encourages him. People can learn from this movie by how a family can function well with a gay member.
Maxi meets a young new cop who moves into the local precinct. Victor, JR. Valentin, befriends this sweet boy, and Maxi develops his first crush. Maxi's closed family starts crumbling down when a series of crimes are committed by members of his family. Victor gets beaten up by them. A new police chief arrives, takes Victor under his wing. Maxi's father gets murdered by this police chief because of some old wounds with this family. This is watched by Maxi and Victor.
Maxi's sexual fantasies of Victor never materialized because of Victor's knowledge of right and wrong (as a cop), and Maxi being a minor. One of Maxi's brother gets absolved from a murder because his father pays the price. And finally Maxi goes back to school. There is scene toward the end in where Victor is crying (while he exchanges whistles with Maxi) showing that he really loves this boy (as a friend.)
The final scene shows Victor watching Maxi going to school (there is no exchange between the two.)
This is a good social and cultural movie. The gay issue may be offensive to some because of the age. Some countries are more accepting of sexual issues involving minors than perhaps ours. There was another Dutch movie involving minors, I did not like that one, the age was too young for me. When picking up gay movies, I have been successful and enjoy most of them. When I started watching this one I did not care much but the story grows on you. Again, caution is warranted, or you could be extremely disappointed.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
FabulousMar 30, 2008
By John E. Poulin
While I realize this movie may not be for everyone I can only say I really enjoyed it. Maxi is a 12 year old who emulates his dead Mother by taking care of his family by doing the cleaning, ironing, cooking, etc. He is very effeminate and obviously not interested in girls. However I found nothing sexual about the movie and moreover we are concerned with Maxi and his family's way of life.
Maxi meets a police officer who befriends him and tries to set him on a better path than the one his family is following. There are truly some funny scenes here and also more than one heartbreaking scene that had the tears coming down my face. This film is not only about the Blossoming of the young Maxi but also his family and the impact the police officer has on all of that, and I was as happy with the ending as the rest of the film. A unique coming of age story.
See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
