“Lolo and the Kid” is one of those films that we have all seen umpteen times, but still have an impact. One way to tell is that the film topped the Filipino (and Peruvian!) Netflix charts after just a few days last summer. It was in the Netflix top ten in 38 other countries. Its success in its home country is of course due to the popular stars that appear in the film, including Joel Torre as Lolo (“Grandpa”), Iza Calzado, Joem Bascon, Markki Stroem, Juan Karlos and many others, as well as the wonderful child actor Euwenn Mikaell. And last but not least, it is due to the very simple but heartwarming story that we could all write in a sleepless night – only we don’t.
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It was written, however, by Benedict Mique, who has worked in all sorts of roles in the Philippine film business since the turn of the millennium, but has made a name for himself in recent years primarily as an author and director. He was head writer for the successful television series “On The Wings of Love” (145 episodes), as well as the fantasy children’s series “Wansapanatym” and the drama anthology “Maalaala Mo Kaya”. In 2018, he made his film directorial debut “ML”, in which the legendary actor Eddie Garcia played the lead role at the age of 89, one year before his death.
Lolo is an aging street hustler and former alcoholic who travels through Manila with a boy of about ten, whom he claims is his grandson and whom he simply calls Kid. Their scam consists of camping in front of the houses of rich people, who then invite them in and provide them with food and drinks. During the conversation, the offer to “adopt” Kid comes up, which actually means: to buy him from the old man. Lolo is then compensated with a handsome sum.
But of course the man and the child have no such intentions at all, and so Kid usually escapes from his new home a short time later to spend the money with his “Grandpa” at fairgrounds or singing karaoke, or they get rid of stolen items to the always stressed-out fence Mr. Taba. This trick works surprisingly often over the course of the film, and the scam works well until Kid, who can neither read nor write, begins to long to go to school like other children. It seems as if Lolo and the Kid have to pull off one more, perhaps final, coup.
The technical credits such as camera, editing, lighting and music are all in top order, routine, without frills, but appropriate for a film like this. The movie’s strengths and weaknesses lie in its simplicity: it is a story that, as they said in Good Old Hollywood, could fit on a postage stamp and that really appeals to everyone. On the other hand, the fourth repetition of the brilliant number is a bit tiring, even in a film that is only 97 minutes long. The fact that the whole thing doesn’t slip into insignificance is due to the likeable acting of the two rascals and the interesting and colorful locations that Mique and his team have found in Manila and the surrounding area. And to the clever narrative move of only explaining in flashbacks how the two protagonists found each other in the first place.
At the end – which we shouldn’t spoil, of course – feelings and emotions are laid on pretty thick, as you would expect. That’s what films of this kind have and need. If that doesn’t warm your heart, there’s really no helping you.
