Just got back from a screening of “Adrenaline Drive” at the Shang. It’s a misnomer, really. The premise is simple and familiar: what do you do when a yakuza den blows up and leaves you with a suitcase of bloodsoaked money? Why, take the money and run—do you have to ask? So a bumbling errand boy and a timid nurse set on a road trip, trying to escape a gang of yakuza boys and the master himself. But it’s more a romance before it is a gangster/noir, the way “A Simple Plan” was, or a human drama the way “Misteryo sa Tuwa” from the 80s was. Nice moments of deadpan comedy, but we never really got the adrenaline rush we were hoping for. All in all, very fun. The whole theater was in stitches.

"Nabbie's Love" was a different matter. Another romance, set in a small island where everyone knows everybody else, and who you end up with is dictated by the way rice grains communicate to your local shaman. The only thing going for it is its musical numbers, which also functions as some sort of Greek chorus commenting on the happenings on screen. There's the grandpa who sings lewd --well, naughty lyrics about her own grand daughter having nice round uhm, buns. Funny, that. Love wins, even if you have to wait for sixty years.

Also, the movie was a great excuse for me to hang out with the angas guys. Dennis and Jol are a blast, although when they get down to discuss Asian politics and all that blah, I tended to get a little lost. The only point of the conversation that really peaked my interest was the way Hollywood is the only cultural hold America has on Asian countries. Or something like that. I'm really not the person to discuss that with. Sorry, guys. My mind was set on devouring burgers and fries, courtesy of our yankee colonizers. Feh.

So if you have time, do drop by and check out the Eiga Sai Festival at the Shangrila Plaza Mall. This year's theme is "Life, Love and Laughter." Low cost gimik, this. Free admission. I'm looking forward to "Tomorrow" which is a series of loosely related vignettes of people carrying on with their lives after the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. We've all seen Pearl Harbor and the American take on that war, so it's time to see the Japanese side of things.