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| Eugene Domingo from Instant Mommy |
Since
I was able to survive watching four films in one day, I decided to do it once
again the day after since I felt that I was on a roll. With Instant Mommy having its Gala Screening
at 12:45 PM somehow forced to go to
the Cultural Center of the Philippines
early and also maximize my stay there. I would only find out later how tiring
this edition of Cinemalaya would be.
Instant Mommy
Having
it at 12:45 PM and on a Monday meant
that Instant Mommy’s Gala Screening
would be a relatively low key affair even if Eugene Domingo was present. In
fact, the film itself didn’t get as much hype compared to Babae sa Septic Tank
two years ago even if both films starred indie darling Eugene Domingo. That’s
what Vilma Santos debuting at the Cinemalaya could do to the festival. But
watching the Leo Abaya helmed film itself made me realize why the feedback had
been lackluster. Eugene Domingo portrays Bechay, a wardrobe assistant at an
advertising firm, who tries to salvage a long distance relationship with her
Japanese boyfriend (Yuki Matsuzaki) by pretending that she’s still pregnant.
Her miscarriage causes a rift in her relationship and she finds herself concocting
an elaborate ruse in order to cling to it. As expected, this scheme unravels in
spectacular fashion and is eventually revealed to be just a dream sequence
which I think is a big cop out. It didn’t also help that by this time, I was already
tired of seeing independent films with characters working in similar fields
which is ripe for showing some inside jokes once again. In fact, one of the
jokes in Instant Mommy was exactly
the same like the one shown in Ekstra. I think that they banked on the surprise pop out to be one of the most talked about scenes this year, but that somehow fizzled.
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| Rico J. Puno from Instant Mommy |
Purok 7
After
the minor letdown of the previous film, I was very pleased that things picked up with
Purok 7. Directed by Carlo Obispo,
this film is a coming of age story about Diana (Kyrstle Valentino), a feisty
young girl who tries to make ends meet for her and her brother Julian (Miggs
Cuaderno) after they’ve been abandoned by their father (Arnold Reyes) who has
gone on to live with another woman while their mother who works overseas has
failed to keep in touch. With such bleak circumstances surrounding their parents,
the two children live their daily lives with such optimism that one can’t help
but wish them happiness forever. A cute puppy love subplot involving Jeremy
(Julian Trono) worked for me, but having the children’s mother sentenced to
death for being a drug mule did not. I think that this took away from the rural
picture by having an international angle in the story. But this film also
became one of the favorites by Cinemalaya goers even though they didn’t have
superstars in the cast. But the performances by Krystle, Julian and Miggs
definitely made them young actors to watch out for in the future.
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| Krystle Valentino from Purok 7 |
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| Julian Trono from Purok 7 |
Debosyon
One
of the things that made Debosyon
unique was that I had to read the subtitles all throughout the film since all
the dialogue was in Bikolano. This film by Alvin Yapan tells the story of Mando
(Paulo Avelino), a devotee of Our Lady of Peñafrancia who meets in the middle
of a mysterious forest the equally mysterious Salome (Mara Lopez). Mando gets
extremely drawn to Salome and they fall in love despite her unclear origins. At
first, I was thrown off by the reveal of the true nature of Salome. But once I
realized the setting and how mythology and folklore co-exist with Catholic
fanaticism in far flung rural areas, it all made sense to me. All I can say is
that I am glad that I’ve seen Tanghalang Pilipino’s Ibalong and also to a degree E-Dance Theater’s Daragang Magayon that were staged earlier
this year. If not for these shows, I wouldn’t get the overall picture that Debosyon tried to communicate. This
film also featured a soundtrack by Teresa Barrozo that featured the ABS-CBN
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gerard Salonga. But the quality of the
sound that I heard inside the main theater didn’t give justice to music and
much of the clarity was lost amid the muddle. And it was also this time when
watching many films in one day started taking its toll on me. I had to fight
hard not to nod off while watching the film and it didn’t help that the first
half, despite having gorgeous visuals went a bit too slow for me.
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| Mara Lopez from Debosyon |
Nuwebe
Nuwebe was a film that I’ve had high
hopes for, fuelled mostly by a very serious and timely topic that I feel
strongly about. So, I was very disappointed that the execution failed to live
up to the promise of its premise. Directed by Joseph Israel Laban, Nuwebe tackles the story of Krista
(Barbara Miguel), who by the tender age of nine got pregnant by her abusive and
drunk father (Jake Cuenca). It was hard to fathom that a nine year old girl,
who has a pig slaughterer for a father and a laundrywoman for a mother (Nadine
Samonte) and lives in the middle of nowhere in a remote province while still
believing in gnomes, or in other words, a quintessential country lass, speaks
in such a cosmopolitan way as if she has lived in a posh village at the city all
her life. I already had some red flags raised by the start of the film when she
said during her opening monologue that telling her story would be like a climbing
a steep staircase and all the metaphor stuff that no nine year old would speak
of. And it came to the point when I actually cringed and shook my head when it
was time for Krista’s very colloquial monologue which she delivered with such
conviction. This film could’ve also been a great launching vehicle for Nadine
Samonte, who played a conflicted mother who remained unsure and torn about her
family’s predicament. But the script, with its unbelievable use of the language
dragged the film down which was quite a shame.
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| Renaissance Tuason and Barbara Miguel from Nuwebe |
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| Nadine Samonte from Nuwebe |
Around
this time, I decided that I didn’t have the stamina and endurance to continue
watching four films in one day for the rest of the Cinemalaya. It was very
exhausting and it was difficult to write afterwards hence this much delayed
post. So for the remainder of the festival, I took things easy and did not tire
myself too much since it was still too early in the festival for me to burn out.
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