Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: The Mole Agent-One of the Best Documentary Film This Year

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

The Mole Agent-One of the Best Documentary Film This Year

I finished watching this film on Netflix a few months ago. It made me cry and I can fully identify with the story and sentiment in this film being an octogenarian myself. I highly recommend this 2021 Oscar nominated documentary to all and specially to Senior Citizens and their relatives.

Here's a short write-up from Wikipedia.

The Mole Agent (Spanish: El agente topo is a 2020 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Maite Alberdi. It was screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. At the 93rd Academy Awards, It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was selected as the Chilean entry for Best International Feature Film, making the shortlist of fifteen films.

A private investigator (Rómulo) hires an elderly man (Sergio) to go undercover in a nursing home in Chile. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2020. In August 2020, Gravitas Ventures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and set it for a 1 September 2020, release. The film will be broadcast on PBS on 25 January 2021, as part of their POV program. It was released in the Netherlands on 10 December 2020, by Cinema Delicatessen.

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The critical consensus reads "Warm and funny, The Mole Agent offers audiences a poignant reminder that it's never too late to forge new connections and embark on new adventures." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave the film a positive review commenting: "The film’s people are moving, and the payoff is compassionate, humane and worth heeding.". Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com rated the movie three stars out of four writing: "The documentary succeeds with its tenderness, while vividly reminding us how easily society can forget its elders.".

Awards and nominations

The Mole Agent has received several awards and nominations, the documentary was the Chilean entry for the Goya Award for Best Iberoamerican Film, achieving the nomination being the eighteenth Chilean nomination in that category since its creation and the second for Alberdi after La once was nominated in 2015. At the 93rd Academy Awards, the film made the shortlist for two categories, for Best International Feature Film becoming the third Chilean entry to make the shortlist after No and A Fantastic Woman made the shortlist and received a nomination with the latter winning, though The Mole Agent did not received a nomination for this category, it achieved one for Best Documentary Feature, the other category where it was shortlisted.

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
Academy Awards	25 April 2021	Best Documentary Feature	The Mole Agent	Pending
Goya Awards	6 March 2021	Best Iberoamerican Film		Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards	22 April 2021	Best Documentary Feature		Pending
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards	February 8, 2021	Best International/Foreign Language Film		Nominated
National Board of Review	January 26, 2021	Top 5 Foreign Language Films		Won
Cinema Eye Honors	9 March 2021	Audience Choice Prize	Maite Alberdi	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score	Vincent van Warmerdam	Nominated
		the Unforgettables	Sergio Chamy	Won

Meanwhile: I just finished watching another movie, Philomena. I enjoyed this movie very much and I also recommend it. Here's the trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjt8DWo9F8

Philomena is a 2013 drama film directed by Stephen Frears, based on the 2009 book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist Martin Sixsmith. Starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, it tells the true story of Philomena Lee's 50-year search for her adopted son and Sixsmith's efforts to help her find him.

The film gained critical praise and received several international film awards. Coogan and Jeff Pope won Best Screenplay at the 70th Venice International Film Festival while the film was also awarded the People's Choice Award Runner-Up prize at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

The film was nominated for four Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress (for Dench), and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

Fact: My Teacher-the Octopus won the Oscar for best documentary this year. I have also seen this documentary and I really enjoyed it very much.

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Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.

The Rambutan Tree and Fruits

The Lanzone Tree and Fruits

The Jack Fruit Tree

The Durian Fruit Tree