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| Marie Jamora from Ang Nawawala with Jeff Stelton and Gino Santos from The Animals |
The
two films that are featured in this entry were the sixth and seventh films that
I saw for this year’s Cinemalaya at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
This happened on the last two days of regular screenings which was only my
third and fourth day to attend the festival. What made these two films notable
is that they were a breath of fresh air from the other films that I saw
(counting those from last year’s edition) that focused and romanticized poverty
too much. Instead, these two films focused on the upper classes and their
lives, and also catered to the youth/yuppie demographic as well. My impression
was that if one wanted to be considered cool during this year’s Cinemalaya,
then seeing these films was a must.
The Animals
Gino
Santos has been a familiar face ever since I saw his entry, Every Other Time
which was and entry during last year’s short feature category. After that, I’ve
seen him on a couple of film events I’ve been to like the French and Italian
Film Festivals. But I never expected him to be included in this year’s New
Breed Category which came out as a total surprise for me. In fact, his
inclusion this year was the result of the controversial disqualification of another
entry which was MNL:143 and Gino’s film came into the picture as a replacement
for that entry. Being just a fresh graduate and among the youngest filmmaker in
Cinemalaya’s history, this was truly a baptism of fire for him. Also appearing
to make things more complicated for Gino was the film’s lead star Albie Casiño who
figured in a controversy some months ago. All of these could’ve shifted the focus
away from the film itself as local showbiz tends to sensationalize the gossips
and issues surrounding a film and its stars.
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| Albie Casiño from The Animals |
Thankfully,
the people who watched the movie during the Gala Screening didn’t pay any attention
to these distractions as they came in droves and enjoyed the film, to an extent.
The Animals, written by Jeff Stelton, focuses on a trio of young high school
students, the overachieving Jake (Albie Casiño), his girlfriend with possession
acquisition issues Trina, and her younger brother, the aloof and brooding Alex
(Patrick Sugui). In the film, the two lovebirds along with their circle of
friends are looking forward not just to their prospective colleges, but also to
what is poised to be the party of the year. Alex, on the other hand, sinks deeper
into the dark, unspoken alleys as he strives for acceptance and validation. As
the title suggests, the kids (and one adult) eventually do behave like animals
and things go from bad to worse with dire consequences.
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| Dawn Balagot from The Animals |
It’s
not an easy film to watch especially now that I consider myself belonging to
the older generation compared to the kids depicted in the film. I feel that
many adults would feel over protective of their kids after watching the film,
but I do hope that some of the young ones who were there would also start
behaving responsibly as well. I already told Gino that I already felt old when
I saw his short film last year and this year brought out the same feeling from
me. This made me realize that I no longer belong to the youth demographic.
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| Patrick Sugui from The Animals |
Ang Nawawala
Finally,
I’ve come to the last film that I was able to see in this year’s Cinemalaya
during its regular run. And it’s the film that most of my Cinemalaya “classmates”
told me that I must see. I failed to see the Gala Screening due to horrible
weather but I managed to catch the evening screening which was almost like a
Gala since some of the stars were there. The film’s director Marie Jamora was
very visible throughout the festival so it wasn’t hard to get a hold of her. In
fact, she became one of the most popular personalities in this year’s
Cinemalaya.
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| Dominic Roco from Ang Nawawala |
Ang
Nawawala tells the story of a young man named Gibson who doesn’t speak owing to
the traumatic death of his twin brother a decade before. Incidentally, he gets to speak with
his twin Jamie, whom he sees whenever he’s had his pot session. His family also shares his
trauma but exhibits it in different ways. Gibson then reconnects with friends
and a new chance in love presents itself. The question then arises if this will
be the chance for Gibson to finally summon the courage to speak and if it will
also be the chance for the family to move on from their traumatic past.
Somehow, I knew that Jamie would eventually say goodbye to Gibson and never to
appear to him again but it still moved me almost to tears when that moment in the film did happen.
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| Felix Roco from Ang Nawawala |
The
music is indeed one of the film’s strengths with a handful of bands featured in
the movie that make a viewer want to check their gigs out. One thing about
the music that didn’t convince me was when Gibson and the rest of the gang
started drumming to Eraserheads’ Minsan.
I felt that they were too young to have that kind of attachment towards that
piece of music since Gibson was supposed to be in his twenties. For me, this scene was forced and the song too romanticized as well since I was not convinced that all of them actually had that strong connection to the song. I can imagine Marie Jamora having that connection, but I couldn't imagine it with Gibson and the rest of his gang.
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| Annicka Dolonius from Ang Nawawala |
Awards Night
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| Eddie Garcia from Bwakaw |
The
Awards Night came and I was not as excited as last year since I failed to see all of
the films. Therefore, I couldn’t really agree with the winners unlike last year when I can confidently say that some of the outcome didn’t leave me totally satisfied. One
thing that left me almost frustrated was the sudden downpour of rain while I
was already nearby the CCP. I got there soaking wet but with a good amount of
time for me to dry myself up. Who knew that this would be the harbinger of
worse things to come?
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| Ama Quiambao from Diablo |
The
Awards Ceremony was not without any incident. Considerably less glamorous
compared to last year’s presentation, this year was nonetheless a lot more
memorable. And the person responsible for this was National Artist for
Literature Bienvenido Lumbera (a juror this year), who in a moment of confusion stood up to tell
that there had been a mistake in the Best Supporting Actress Award in the
Directors Showcase Category. The award was given to Iza Calzado, Janice de
Belen, Agot Isidro and Judy Ann Santos but Lumbera had to stand up and correct
things by saying that it was Anita Linda who actually won. The problem was Anita Linda’s
film belonged to the New Breed Category, so it was obvious that he mixed things up. It was an embarrassing moment for him, also for Anita Linda who had to walk down the steps towards the stage and to Iza
Calzado who was totally confused at the side of the stage. Another juror, Ricky Lee had to
tell the audience that the jury actually decided to give both Best Supporting Actress
and Best Actress Awards in the Directors Showcase Category to the four women who starred in Mga Mumunting Lihim. Thankfully,
Iza Calzado’s acceptance speech showed grace and poise that salvaged the
proceedings. And when it came for Anita Linda to accept her award at the right
time, she referred humorously to the confusion that has happened earlier. The list of winners are listed in this entry.
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| Joross Gamboa from Intoy Syokoy |
After
the proceedings, people thought that everyone could just celebrate, enjoy the
cocktails and just laugh about the kinks that happened earlier. But that was
when things got worse since the power started to fluctuate prompting some
shouts of “Diablo!” (a nod to the big winner that night) when the lights went
out occasionally. Soon enough, the power was completely gone and only the emergency lights
and the ushers’ flashlights were working. Celebrations were cut short and the
mood turned from celebratory to cautious as we saw how it was outside the CCP with the wind and rain rampaging. Many of us had to stay inside a darkened CCP
wondering if the bad weather would somehow abate. It’s remarkable that I was
still able to go home that evening. I heard that some CCP employees had to stay
there for the night. I may not be able to see all the films this year, but all
the awards ceremony confusion, horrible weather and power blackouts truly made for a very
memorable closing to the Cinemalaya 2012. Yes, it was Full Force of mishaps indeed in the
end.
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| Raymond Red from Kamera Obskura |
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