Target: Market!Market!

It's the only Ayala Mall I have been to that doesn't behave like an Ayala.
Why do I feel like I am in the middle of Starmall
with a dash of Robinson's Sta. Lucia remoteness?

The ground floor feels like I am lining for an MRT ride, jampacked,
with multitudes of people walking without a pattern, and there's
a distinct aroma of isopropyl alcohol hovering in the air.

The escalators to the cinema floor seem endless. This isn't good news for me.
With only 10 minutes remaining for every gap between successive movies,
it's the most hectic film festival screening for a smoker, who has to go all
the way down the MRT station-like ground floor for the much needed cigarette break.

The dimsum counter on the cinema lobby is too small, there are no tables.
I had a hard time eating my siomai while standing up. This was the quickest
way to grab a bite with the little time left to be able to smoke, go to the
restroom, and have a stomach filler.

I would rather not comment on the mall crowd. I have no right
to do so. This is not a politically correct thing to blabber about.

Inside the cinema, it feels wintry. Why is it too cold?
Maybe, no one has ever heard of thermostat control here.
If you watch 3 consecutive films, this is torture.
I thought I would lose my ear for the first frostbite ever
experienced in a tropical country.

Last year's Cinemanila was more bearable, because it was
in Gateway Cubao. Although its first two floors are indeed
pathways for an MRT ride, as you go higher, there's a sense
of a true mall made for peace, and quiet, and a decent in-between meal.

But try that hotdog at the theater lobby near cinema 5, heavenly.
Although it's the most inconvenient hotdog to eat, it isn't handheld-friendly.
But it's not your usual Smokey's or palengke dog.

Next week, they will show the French film, Coco Chanel,
with Audrey Tautou. There's nothing haute couture - friendly
about this mall. Passers by might think there's a channel
devoted to virgin coconut oil? Now that's too mean for me to say.

All I am saying is, the rare times we've got access to foreign films,
it's the wrong place, at the wrong screening times.

It's not funny to have a very short 10-minute break, raring for
a cigarette, a fast pee break, and a quick bite in a mall like this.

There's no time left to escape from this mad mall, knowing Serendra and
Mary Grace cheese roll is just a few steps away. Arrgh!
That is, if you've got enough time left and long fast strides
to reach the ground floor.

Oh, and unlike the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Cinemalaya,
the screenings don't start on time, specially when they are waiting
for the film maker or a camera supplier, who might speak a word
or two before the movie starts, to say, "thanks for watching, enjoy the film."
I have to yet to hear one saying, "right movie, wrong place,
and hope you've got jackets to protect you from the artificial cold."

Worse, the vampire movie I saw was all snow and there was never a
spring, summer, nor fall, but exclusively winter! It made the film a 4-D experience,
literally, with the feel component in theatrical temperature surround.

Whatever it takes, for the love of film, fine.
I'll force myself to bear this un-Ayala Ayala Mall.