Film Reviews

By Ellery

Writer/Director: Ralph Torrefranca

The Basics

“Fil-Am” is a sixteen-minute autobiographical narrative short film about a California teen in 2003. JP is a 16-year-old Filipino-American who lives in Milpitas, California and finds out his family is moving to Santa Barbara because the company his mom and stepdad run has been bought by a company in Santa Barbara. JP has a hard time with this because he is still finding his place in the grand scheme of things and is going to miss his friends and dad. As the film progresses, the viewer will go on this journey with JP and find out where this new change will take him as a person.

The Good News

I enjoyed the effortless acting in this film that made the viewer feel as though they were a fly on the wall in a real-world situation rather than a narrative film. I also thought that the moments between JP and his mom were quite sweet. 

The Bad News

There was quite a lot of mature language throughout this film, making it unsuitable for younger audiences, and the character development between JP and his stepdad was extremely negative without a seemingly good reason.

The Verdict

Overall, I would give “Fil-Am” a 9/10 and recommend it to anyone who enjoys honest stories about discovering personal identity.