[This review is part of the Mercury’s 2021 Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) guide. You can check out all our PIFF reviews here.]
If you were a kid during the 1990s, it’s going to be hard for you not to enjoy Death of Nintendo, a coming-of-age tale set in early 1990s Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.
As its title suggests, this movie is heavy on 90s nostalgia, with Reebok Pumps, idolization of the Chicago Bulls, and of course a lot of video games. On top of cultural references, Death of Nintendo also gets the feelings of adolescence right: love triangles that form before you even know what love is; a simultaneous yearning for and fear of growing up; and that uncomfortable realization that your parents are actual human beings.
The film follows preteen Paolo and his motley crew of friends as they shoot hoops, hang out at the local pool, play The Legend of Zelda, and plan schemes to sneak out of the house at night to hang out with girls. The humor and tone often veer from sweetly innocent to irritatingly crude—just like the sensibilities of preteen boys themselves. But the characters are written and acted with such depth that I liked them despite their flaws, and the visuals of sunny Manila are a welcome break from the Portland winter gloom.
