Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Cinemalaya 2013 Experience Part 2

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.

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.

Krystle Valentino from Purok 7
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.

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.

Renaissance Tuason and Barbara Miguel from Nuwebe
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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