CINEMALAYA's 2019 edition will come to an end on Sunday, the 12th of August. This year's crop of independent films reveal homogeneity as well as diversity in themes analyzed, techniques approached --- but more so, products sent on display.
As part of the the Selection Committee of this festival (an honor that I have treasured for the past so many years), one very noteworthy learning affirms that "the screenplay is NOT the film."
More often than not, outstanding screenplays demand attention on the printed page but emerge as completely different animals once they are brought to life and projected on the big screen.
Some sparkle, delightfully surprise and warrant awe to the filmmaker whose creative gifts have brought magic to what was once mere words.
Others disappoint, become tragic letdowns as I try to find reasons why the projects undeniably failed. They looked so promising as text but end up as just that ... unfulfilled promises.
But regardless of the seeming pattern of the annual ritual of reading more than a hundred screenplays followed by interviewing the filmmakers to find out their vision or even their capacity to direct and produce films, the excitement is still in tasting the pudding.
This year's CINEMALAYA is no exception for despite the opinions of many regarding the proportion of good to barely watchable entries, there are (and will always be) gems that herald the birth of the new Filipino filmmakers. There will be new talents who will shock the audiences who mutter, "Where have they been hiding all this time?"
I shall focus on two films which I believe are the very reasons why CINEMALAYA has become a significant annual event in the cinematic evolution of our country.
Two prevalent themes emerge from the ten feature films in competition in CINEMALAYA 2019: the dilemma and aspirations of lost youth ("EDWARD","JOHN DENVER TRENDING", "F---BOIS", "CHILDREN OF THE RIVER", "ANI") and the empowerment/exploitation of women ("BELLE DOULEUR", 'PANDANGGO SA HUKAY", 'ISKA", "MALAMAYA"). Then there is the search for truth ("TABON").
From these, two films emerge as the unanimous choices--- both popular and critical --- as the best of the crop.
Even from a screenplay level, "JOHN DENVER TRENDING" caught the eye of the Selection Committee for its timeliness, rawness, honesty ... but more so (as much as I hate to use this much-abused word) relevance to the social atmosphere of the time.
Definitely derivative of recent events where a single video uploaded in the world wide web with malicious intent creates havoc to the lives not only of the victim but of his loved ones and the community, JOHN DENVER is an unforgiving film. It is difficult to watch because of its uncompromising honesty. And its ending is disturbing. And that in itself is an understatement.
The rustic quietness of small town provincial life in Antique,robed with the dialect of locals and the use of non-actors (except for the magnificent Meryll Soriano, my choice as the festival's Best Actress )create a texture and flavor that is disturbingly quiet and yet painfully chaotic.
When a young boy is ganged upon by his schoolmates, accused of stealing an iPad and captured on video beating up his accuser, his small world is turned upside down. In a scandal and news hungry universe of the web, a helpless provincial boy and his Tiger Mother are rendered helpless against the deluge of unfounded public opinion and lies, lies and more lies. Suddenly John Denver is no longer a small town boy with small town problems: he is an internet sensation, the personification of a delinquent demon.
There is no question that there are two treasure finds of the year in JOHN DENVER TRENDING. These are the filmmaker Arden Rod Condez and the title character Jansen Magpusao. It is showcasing the work of Condez that defines CINEMALAYA in discovering fresh talents with definite and definitive voices, emerging from the woodwork to announce to the world that there is a new Filipino filmmaker with something to say in a manner that he has chosen to say it. There is this fresh actor, oozing with talent and sincerity --- and who is capable of captivating the audiences beyond being simply pa-cute or pandering to fans.
It seems that it is the newbies in acting who have stolen the thunder in this year's CINEMALAYA.
Aside from Jansen Magpusao, there is Louise Abuel and Elijah Canlas in EDWARD as well as Cocoy de Santos and Royce Cabrera as the controversial F---BOIS. There is even a rediscovery of Ella Cruz (who is better known for her twerking at the snap of a finger) as an actress in Thop Nazareno's movie.
If there is anything that buoyed the theme of loneliness, self-searching and coming-of-age, it is Louise Abuel's painfully beautiful and sincere portrayal of the title role. Like JOHN DENVER, Abuel's face is the film itself, a map of confusion, pain and sadness, dealing with odds far greater than his young mind can handle.
Isolated in a charity ward of a hospital tending to his ailing father (again wonderfully portrayed by Dido de la Paz) and creating a childishly insane bond with a fellow caretaker of a patient portrayed by Elijah Canlas, EDWARD is a glimpse into the loneliest days in the life of a dysfunctional young man trying to find love and meaning and simply growing up.
Over and above this, we put him in the context of charity wards in overcrowded hospitals --- where the living and the dying are lumped together, reminding all of us of the bleak side of mortality. EDWARD, like JOHN DENVER, is painful to watch ... but you cannot take your eyes off the journey of this young man knowing that his is a life in desperate need of promise.
We have never taken Ella Cruz seriously in all the juvenile roles she has portrayed in ... well, all the juvenile movies she has worked on. But as the damaged light of hope and love in Nazareno's EDWARD, she has proven that there is more to her than her pelvic gyrations done as dance moves she was required to do.
As I have said in a shoutout, CINEMALAYA 2019 has two names --- these are EDWARD and JOHN DENVER. If only for these two films, it was worth braving the rains and traffic to go to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and immerse one's self in the crowds celebrating the inexplicable joy of making and loving movies.
Congratulations, Thops and Arden. You have made two significant films to make this a most exciting and fruitful year. With Magpusao and Abuel, we realize that we have discovered two actors --- not mere stars --- but actors who can give life and gravitas to more Filipino films to come.
I should have known better. I have a habit of watching movies alone. There are some movie shows that you must not and cannot see all by your sweet self. You do not want to be cringing and screaming by your sweet self in a suspense or horror film like A Quiet Place. Nor do you burst out into uncontrollable laughter in comedic highlights, right?
But nobody prepared me for Rocketman, a retelling of the life of singer and pop icon Elton John through the thread of his most memorable songs. Yes, friends already told me that the film was good --- better than that Freddy Mercury bioflick --- but then I always felt they were biased. Belonging to the High School Class of 1972, our youthful memories are all stuffed with the songs of Elton John together with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Carole King, Carly Simon and, uh, Jim Morrison and Carlos Santana.
Yet all these givens in my life should have been a telltale sign of how I was going to react to his film, seated alone on D-16 Cinema 4, inside a movie house where less than 30% of the seats were occupied. OK, right. The kids of nowadays may have never heard of Elton John or his music. Generations have their own preferences and benchmarks and maybe the lyrics of Bernie Taupin and the melodies of Elton did not come across to them as relevant to their tastes and mindsets. But still.
What I did not know was that this was a musical.
No, it is not your usual cut-and-paste jukebox musical featuring all the famous songs of a group threaded together to make a story. Not Rocketman that used the songs of an artist to narrate the highlights and lowest points of his life, to illustrate his relationship with family, friends and colleagues ... and to blueprint that arc of his rise and fall and resurrection.
And because these songs are the songs of my youth --- the memories of my high school and college days --- I was this pathetic piece of sponge absorbing everything and by the time Your Song was played to illustrate how this classic was reimagined in its creation, I found tears uncontrollably streaming down my face under the comfortable darkness of a cinema.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uij9eiwwG0
This was not merely a movie for me but an experience. It was a unique experience of understanding a man in his music without the sanitation and safety nets found in the Freddy Mercury biography. Here was a barenaked look at a life of an artist, a composer and his relationship with his lyricist --- and the price he had to pay for his fame as well as the pain he had to go through to be able to create his art.
My friends who saw the film earlier were right. This was not only about our generation --- but a beautifully crafted depiction of the making of an idol and his musical creations.
When the movie ended and the lights went on, I realized that fifteen minutes into the film I was not seeing a Welsh actor named Taron Egerton but Elton John. The man was not lipsyncing original recordings ... but doing his own singing. It was even shocking for me to find out that that familiar face I could not categorically identify was Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton's mother.
OK, enough said. This afternoon, alone in the cinema, I must have watched what could be my best film for the year. And I wish that this film directed by Dexter Fletcher receives not only the accolades but also the audience that it so deserves.
Excuse me, but I am putting on my headset and listening to Your Song for the umpteenth time.
In one of his more recent interviews, Eddie Garcia said that when you die, then it is the end.
You will disappear then you will eventually be forgotten.
I dare say that he was wrong.
That was the Eddie Garcia we all knew and gave the highest respect. Through the span of seven decades of film work, his feet never left the ground although his love for the art and craft enabled him to soar in uncharted bounds of the heavens.
Unlike other "stars" who gave such brilliance for the limited moment they are allowed to float in that imaginary infinity. If there was one thing that Eddie Garcia proved, then it was his longevity in his career because of his professionalism and ability to adapt, embrace and reinvent himself with the roles he portrayed through the passage of generations.
From Siete Infantes de Lara which ushered in his career as an actor to ML and Rainbow Sunset, Garcia showed no fear, did not cower to the demands of image that actors of lesser talent are obsessed with in the choices of roles or how they presented themselves to the public. What made Garcia resilient through the ages was the fact that he was an actor, an artist and not merely a celebrity whose concern is public perception rather than personal fulfillment.
I only had one chance to work with Eddie Garcia: that was a project called I Want to Be Happy where he appeared with Gloria Romero, Marissa Delgado, Cherry Pie Picache among others. And what I remember the most about the Man was that he would be on the set ahead of everybody else, prepared for the day's shoot and would show utmost respect for literally everybody on the set.
This was the measure of greatness. It was his humility, his accessibility and openness to people he worked with making everyone feel that he was one of them.
Joel Lamangan and I were discussing about the events that transpired leading to the accident that eventually took Garcia away from us.
Joel said that Eddie was like that: he was 90 years old but never used his age as an excuse or a license or a form of entitlement for him to fulfill his work. He will insist on doing what was demanded by the role because it was part and parcel of what was expected from him as an actor. He wore that jacket under the sweltering heat of the June midday sun: he complied with the instructions for him to run carrying a gun --- never complaining nor asking to be treated any differently.
He would always say that yes, he was old ... but he was not an invalid
And you do not find people like that any more in the business. You do not find such commitment and dedication to work as that found in the actors of previous generations. These are the living treasures of Filipino cinema: Anita Linda, Gloria Romero, Gloria Sevilla. They are the last of the immortals in a business of dispensable.
We will miss Eddie Garcia. He is now with Fernando Poe Jr and Dolphy ...the great icons of Filipino cinema who shaped the industry as we understand it today.
We will miss the man. We will miss this Ultimate Gentleman. We will miss this Great Artist.
Tomorrow, the 24th of June 2019, his ashes will be laid to its final rest.
But, Sir ... Tito Eddie, you are wrong.
You will never be forgotten. Kings are etched in the annals of history. They are remembered to give dignity and pride to those they leave behind.
Paalam po.
