The Witness is a 2012 thriller film from GMA Films and Skylar Pictures (Indonesia) under the direction of Muhammad Yusuf and the screenplay of Beby Hasibuan which stars Gwen Zamora, Pierre Gruno, Agung Saga, Kimberly Ryder, Marcelino Lefrandt, Febby Febiola. The Witness is slated for a March 21, 2012 Philippine release.
The Witness
Plot / Synopsis
Angel (Gwen Zamora), a hotel general manager who recently moved from Manila to Jakarta is haunted by strange dreams of a young man who committed suicide by firing a gun to his mouth. Unfortunately, her family gets massacred by a mysterious man with her being the sole survivor of the incident. What mystery is behind her recurring dreams and the mysterious man responsible for the murder of her family?
Watch The Witness Official trailer here:
The Witness Official Trailer Impression
The Witness Film Trailer Review
The Witness piques my curiosity and interest a bit because of its mystery aspect, not to mention that this is Gwen Zamora's first lead role in a film. Filipinos are familiar with her as Cinderella in GMA Network's fantasy television series Grazilda, or Faye in the last two Enteng Kaisote film series ("Si Agimat at si Enteng" and "Enteng ng Ina Mo"), and a regular cast of GMA Network's long running gag show, Bubble Gang. With the titles previously mention, The Witness is going to be Gwen Zamora's first lead dramatic role.
The film adopted the International English as its main language to probably cater to Philippines, Indonesia and the US movie audience. I am not really against this, but hopefully this use of a foreign tongue doesn't hinder with the film's presentation and the story itself. I have a couple of ideas on how this film would unfold being a big fan of the thriller and horror genre in movies, but I'll give it the benefit of doubt and see what the collaboration thriller has in store for its audience. To what strange twist the film would had in the end will only be known when it gets released this March 2012 for the Philippines and April 2012 for Indonesia.
Update: The local (Philippine) television trailer for The Witness has now been extended letting us see that the actors are actually using their native language (Indonesian and Filipino) versus what the first international trailer of the film showcased. This means that the emotions and general performance of the characters in the film would (possibly) feel natural. I just can't picture a Filipina who seem to have lived most of her life in the Philippines and later just transferring to Jakarta where all these disturbing visions happened, then she would expressed her fears in English? I use English as a means in conveying my opinions on various movie trailers and most of my blogs, but I believe when I am scared shit of somehing, you don't see me talking to myself or my friends in English, Aba! may misteryosong tao na pwedeng pumatay sa akin, tapos mag-i-Engles pa ako?. To bridge the gap between film audiences from different countries, the film used English subtitles. My only complain is, why hasn't GMA Films PR people marketed this film online. I think it is now a rule of thumb to infiltrate on social networks and heavily market their product. As of March 07, I haven't seen any trailers on Youtube featuring the Philippine trailer (with subtitles) for The Witness. This makes me a bit dubious as how serious GMA Films are with their films.
Update: The local (Philippine) television trailer for The Witness has now been extended letting us see that the actors are actually using their native language (Indonesian and Filipino) versus what the first international trailer of the film showcased. This means that the emotions and general performance of the characters in the film would (possibly) feel natural. I just can't picture a Filipina who seem to have lived most of her life in the Philippines and later just transferring to Jakarta where all these disturbing visions happened, then she would expressed her fears in English? I use English as a means in conveying my opinions on various movie trailers and most of my blogs, but I believe when I am scared shit of somehing, you don't see me talking to myself or my friends in English, Aba! may misteryosong tao na pwedeng pumatay sa akin, tapos mag-i-Engles pa ako?. To bridge the gap between film audiences from different countries, the film used English subtitles. My only complain is, why hasn't GMA Films PR people marketed this film online. I think it is now a rule of thumb to infiltrate on social networks and heavily market their product. As of March 07, I haven't seen any trailers on Youtube featuring the Philippine trailer (with subtitles) for The Witness. This makes me a bit dubious as how serious GMA Films are with their films.
What about you guys? What do you think about premise of the film? What do you think about collaboration movies like this by companies from different countries? Share your thoughts on The Witness 2012 trailer on the comments section below: