Shot on Super-8, the feature debut by visual artist Shireen Seno shows authentic-looking images of a family on the Philippine island of Mindoro in the middle of the last century. The ‘big boy’ from the title is Julio, a boy who is pulled from both ends every day in order to stretch him. His growth has to provide evidence of the effect of a growth serum that his parents sell. In the aftermath of World War II, the family finds a parachute with American goods, such as cans of food. In the former US colony, the discovery leads to an obsession with the American Dream – the dream of a different and better life. Seno shows that the idea of typically close-knit family life in the Philippines is a myth. And the memories she portrays of a Filipino past are not only nostalgic, but also about the violence often hidden just below the surface.
