Ligaya & the Movies
Tagalog | English
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Jayson
When we lived in the Philippines, Mama liked to go to the movies.
There were times from 1986 to 1990 that she'd take me and Jen to the theater. As always, we would just take the jeep. In the beginning, there was no SM Cinemas; we would have to go to Manila. I even remember a Gotesco there. One time, I remember falling asleep on the jeep. When I woke up, Mama was carrying me—we had already gotten off.
Back then, Mama, Jen, and I were often together because we still had braces on our teeth. Almost every month, there was an appointment, so afterwards we would sometimes watch a movie. In those days, “standing room only” was still a thing, so we would sit on the balcony steps. We would even eat Jollibee. Yes, in the movie theater, we would eat Jollibee!
Of course we watched movies with Papa or the five of us together or with Tita Rosie and kids, or with Delia and Rose, and whoever else. But these are the movies I went to watch with only Jen and Mama:
Top: Return to Oz (1985); The Emerald Forest (1985); Teen Wolf (1985); Legend (1985)
Bottom: Matatalim Na Pangil Sa Gubat (1986); The Karate Kid Part II (1986); Kamagong (1987); Last Two Minutes (1989)
Rosie
I remember we would watch movies at SM; all of us would go, including Rose and Delia. We would come early to line up so we could get in first. Those were such happy days. There were so many of us—you were all just kids.
Susan
I have a lot of memories of going to the movies with Tita. Then, afterwards, food court, of course. I can’t remember the movies, but lining up early and always eating afterwards. She would lead a whole pack of us.
Richard
I remember when we watched a movie in the Philippines, some kid pickpocketed Tita, but she caught the kid. She scolded him, and then she treated that kid to go see a movie.
Jayson
When we watched movies in the Philippines, the size of the popcorn was so small. That's why if it was the first show and only the trailers had come on, all the popcorn would be gone. Depends on control, but once you start eating, there's no stopping. You really just keep on going.
Earlier this year (2024), Mama still bought microwave popcorn from Costco. She still ate some. When I popped some, she would smell it and would want to eat some, so she'd pop her own bag.
Jovert
When we moved to Canada, Mama didn't watch very many movies in theaters. I don't think she set foot in a theater in the last 20 years; one of the few times she did was in the summer of 1995 when she and Jen took me to watch Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) at Coquitlam Centre. It was the last movie I watched with her in a movie theater.
The last movie Mama and I watched together was Shake Rattle & Roll Extreme on June 25, 2024. She had been laying in bed all day. It was early in the evening, around 8 pm, so I played the movie to get her to stay up a bit.
Mama didn't like drama or romance movies—she found them boring. She enjoyed action, suspense, and horror movies. One of the recent ones she enjoyed was Train to Busan (2016). I got her and Papa to watch it during the initial COVID lockdown in 2020, and it motivated her to watch a slew of other Korean action movies and thrillers.
When Tita Tessie visisted her last August/September 2023, we watched Train to Busan again.
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