8.6 /10 1 Votes
Directed by Mike De Leon Music by Jun Latonio Director Mike De Leon Production company LVN Pictures Cinematography Mike De Leon | 8.6/10 IMDb Produced by Manuel De Leon Edited by Ike Jarlego Jr. Music director Jun Latonio Written by Mike De Leon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Screenplay by Rey Santayana
Mike De Leon Starring Christopher de Leon
Hilda Koronel
Laurice Guillen
Danny Javier
Boboy Garovillo
Briccio Santos
Oya De Leon
Moody Diaz Cast Christopher de Leon, Hilda Koronel, Laurice Guillen, Boboy Garovillo, Moody Diaz Similar Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, In Just the Wink of an Eye, Phil‑American Boy, Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara, Sister Stella L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising is a 1977 Filipino coming-of-age romantic drama film co-written and directed by Mike De Leon, starring Christopher de Leon and Hilda Koronel. Set in Baguio, it follows a musically inclined college student who falls for a married young woman vacationing from Manila. As their friendship starts blossoming into romance, the two slowly uncover startling truths about each other’s pasts.
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The film is produced by LVN Pictures and was released in the Philippines on December 24, 1977, which is an official entry to the 1977 Metro Manila Film Festival. The film won two categories in the 2nd Gawad Urian Awards for Best Music and Best Sound.
The film was digitally remastered by ABS-CBN Film Archives and Central Digital Lab, Inc., and was well-received by retrospective reviews upon its screening.
Kung mangarap ka t magising
Plot
Easygoing Joey, a professional student in Baguio who loves to compose music and jam with his friends, is taking a course his father has chosen for him. Joey, who is always haunted by the memory of his dead girlfriend, meets and gets attracted to Anna, who is then visiting her cousin Cecile, a Faculty of the university. But Joey learns that Anna is married and has a young son. Nevertheless, they become close and later Joey discovers that Anna is not happy with her domineering and too proper husband. Eventually, the couple becomes intimate and then more than friends, but though they are happy, Anna is afraid that soon reality will catch up with them.
Cast
Production
The film was mostly shot in Baguio as well as in Sagada; filming also took place in the University of the Philippines Baguio. It also served as a reunion between Christopher de Leon and Hilda Koronel who both starred in Lino Brocka's 1974 drama film Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (Weighed But Found Wanting). The two would reunite again in Brocka's 1989 film Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita.
According to De Leon, the "Joey's Theme" scene was his favorite part of the film but opined that the scene was "one of the most difficult and nerve-racking," for it was shot in one take.
Release
Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising is produced by LVN Pictures (now acquired by Star Cinema) and was theatrically released in the Philippines on December 24, 1977 as an official entry to the 1977 Metro Manila Film Festival.
Digitally Remastered version
The ABS-CBN Film Archives, in partnership with Central Digital Lab, Inc., released a digitally remastered version of the film which was screened on February 12-16, 2016 at the Power Plant Cinema as part of the "REELive the Classics" line-up. The film is rated R-13 by the MTRCB which means only viewers who are 13 years old and above can be admitted.
Reception
Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising has received mostly positive retrospective reviews. Inquirer.net's Cathy Babao praised the film for its cinematography and the on-screen chemistry between the lead roles of Christopher de Leon and Hilda Koronel to which Babao says: "[T]he chemistry between Christopher and Hilda has always been magical, captured on screen as something memorable and beautiful." Internet magazine outlet Spot.PH gave a positive review, praising Koronel as "a vision," the ensemble of Moody Diaz, Bibeth Orteza, Danny Javier and Boboy Garovillo as a "solid supporting cast," and Baguio as the romantic setting for the film. Furthermore, the review states: "As rom-coms go, [Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising] depicts many consecutive scenes designed, as it were, to step up the kilig." NOOD.ph praised the film as "an honest and straightforward story about two people who cross each other’s paths and are faced with insurmountable odds. Plain and simple."
Nonoy L. Lauzon, writing for Glitter.ph, stated: "[E]xperiencing the film all over again after close to forty years when it first hit theaters nationwide is a veritable trip down memory lane for repeat viewers from its original run. But fresh audiences watching it now would find it as rewarding. Such instance is nothing but a testament to the true legacy of Mike de Leon’s art and craft."