Magnifico is a film from the Philippines which is in competition at Karlovy Vary. Jiro Manio is the name of the actor playing the title role.
Having just seen the Filippino film "Small Voices" a few months ago, I'm guessing their audiences have a taste for tearjerkers. Reading this plot synopsis, makes me think that's precisely what kind of a film this will prove to be. One of the publicity images suggests not, I guess we'll know in time.
Magnifico is a nine-year-old boy who tries to live up to his name, however, deep inside his soul, he is ashamed of it. All the attributes and expectations his father invested in naming his second son – “brilliant, magnificent, admirable, excellent” etc. – acquire absurd dimensions in their humble environment of poverty, sickness and suffering. Magnifico is the bright light in a family in which each member represents a different kind of torment. Magnifico tries to soothe their woes with his child-like good nature, while his father tries resignedly to solve his Rubik’s cube. His older brother, in whom his parents have high hopes, loses his scholarship. His youngest sister Helen is afflicted with cerebral palsy, and the expense of medicines or possibly even a funeral for his seriously ill gran jeopardises the family budget. Magnifico promises Helen, who can’t walk, that he’ll take her to the carnival. He hopes to earn some money to buy a wheelchair from a rich neighbor but, in the end, he has to carry her on his back in order to fulfill his promise. He also begins fondly making a coffin for his gran which, however, awaits a different occupant…
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