MANILA, Philippines - As an entertainment reporter, reviewing RVQ Productions’ “Nobody, Nobody but Juan,” one of the 7 official entries to the 35th Metro Manila Film Festival Philippines, is quite a mind-boggling idea.

For one who has been hostage to the industry’s feudal web, it isn’t easy saying things, good and bad, to Dolphy’s comic effort and the whole production’s intents to offer fun and laughter as panacea to life’s burdens without necessarily objectifying the subject at hand.

Obviously, the movie is taken in the context of just being a movie—a diversion, the commonplace idea of what the cultural product is all about.

So what else do we expect from director Enrico Quizon, also known as actor Eric Quizon, who despite himself isn’t regarded yet as a social realist, a satirist or even a modernist, or to a larger extent, a post-modernist who can play firmly on some experiments.

Quizon, at the helm, is the hipster, tongue-in-cheek, eclectic and glossed over creator of the sitcom.

Filmmaking, meanwhile, as an art and commerce, has to follow a certain formula based on a solid ground of norms or going against standards, dependently or independently, which could withstand anything, anytime especially if taken as a whole or the truthful, contextual interrelatedness of the parts.

Even the formulaic inclination so-called in the major film producing territory has to subscribe to logic and aesthetics in any form and style.

His co-writer, Bibeth Orteza, might be familiar with her trends and framework, socio-political and otherwise, to build her storyline’s ideas and comedic concepts on, but she has to contend with her artistic investment, apart from her producer and filmmaker, in the creative process.

What comes fore is the moral accounting of Filipino foibles without being preachy and didactic but some things to ponder and laugh about.

In this context, the film is a playground to analyze, if one is to take into account the seriousness of the tale, the Filipino character in diaspora—the meaninglessness of human compassion particularly to the elderly and aged in foster homes in favor of business; the assimilation of the American twang while the native tongue takes the backseat; the right to access of entertainment fare back home to ward off homesickness, at least; the workhorses in Filipinos abroad in the name of dollar earnings, etc.

The story has many interesting subplots, which speak of colorful historical backgrounds like the pre-war vaudeville in Manila. But because the focus of the setting and backdrop is to salute the emergence of a variety show on modern television that entices expats like “Wowowee,” the dominant tone of the movie is to present its pivotal role in foretelling the dramatic interlude of the recollection of past lives and the reconstruction of the relationships of the main protagonists however ephemeral.

As in any other movie, which should end happily ever after, the family that meets and mends up no matter how late in life, stays together.

Dolphy, as Juan de la Cruz, wittingly or unwittingly, is in his usual element in the many years he has been eliciting guffaws among generations of moviegoers.

He is still John Puruntong, in any other name, who symbolizes the Filipino everyman, committed to truth and compassion amid the stream of inconsistencies and abruptness.

Most of the ensemble is dependable considering its somewhat uniform fiber in whatever genre each one is in especially comedy.

Unfortunately, each one isn’t exploited to the core when everyone is tailor-made to the role.

Heart Evangelista as the young theater dancer Aida and Jeffrey Quizon as her boyfriend and the junior Dolphy might be dramatic personas, they, too share their expertise to harness the development of characters.

Ditto with Filipino couple Mario (Eric Quizon) and Alana (G Tongi) who runs a home of the aged institution in the US and Juan’s workaholic son John (Joe Aldeguer) also provide important contributions to the manifold conflicts.

Pokwang isn’t playing a character. She’s herself. Eddie Garcia is down-to-earth as the grown up Tu-ribio, Juan’s stage second fiddle, best pal and love rival in their youth (Vandolph Quizon), although his makeup is a complete abrupt reversal of his former self.

Young actors Eugene Domingo, Andoy Ranay and Ricci Chan as caregivers are very relaxed in their roles, however bitin their exposure.