NOUVELLE FICTION ] Ricky Torre imagines a page from the diary of Chow Mo-Wan

From the Diary of Chow Mo Wan/By RICKY TORRE

I CAN’T recall the name of that pension house, tucked in that hidden corner we wandered into one evening from our strolling along Remedios. But the address of our room—No. 12—yes, I remember that one, framed as it is now in my head, much like 2046, that other room number in my story over which you were once filled with jealousy, Madame Doinel.

Room No. 12. You didn’t even own that room. Remember when we first set foot in that alcove? We paused at the landing after we walked up those narrow three flights and you were à bout de souffle, more it seemed out of anticipation, as your eyes flashed at me their blue. I remember every detail, to borrow Bogie’s phrase to Ingrid—despite my heart pounding like cannon fire, to paraphrase Ingrid. Despite being beside myself. Inside our room you went mugging before the octagonal bathroom mirror, then you counted with your fingers the number of men you slept with in your dreams. The handkerchief you liked to tie into a loose ribbon around your neck I cannot forget also. And your sleeveless blouse, baring the wide smooth plain of your arms. You turned to me, your delicate hand on the doorway, and I asked the question that was supposed to come from you—“Why do you keep looking at me?”—because you preferred to be the one answering, “Because I am.”

You became Jean and Jean-Paul even before that moment, Christine. They were refracted into the prism of your individuality. You became a composite, which is what are all lovers. “Pas mal, no?” went your typical remark.

We lay in bed close to each other, denting the sheets with its pattern of dots and loops. Pliable like fashion models, for we both looked absurd in our stylish clothes were it not for your naked arms. “My accent,” you once said of that detail. I gave in to the impulse to stroke them, as you went on staring at the panel on your side of the bed that needed a paint job. “Is it that Madame Su still enters your mind?” you asked finally, without warning.

“Ooh la la!” I said startled. “I tell you about her only once and she sticks with you. I was never bothered by your stories about your childish Antoine.”
“Ha ya, maybe because I’m not that special to you.”

I thought of leaning over to see your expression but you turned around to face me with a bold smile that contradicted your doubt.

“We look at each other in the eye and it’s no use,” you said to me, still smiling.

“Écoute, Madame C.D.,” I said in a dull voice, without a hint of exasperation. “We’re both fictional characters, as you know. My creator idolizes your maker. But somehow that has not led us to being wrapped in each other’s arms.”

“Or maybe exploring each other!” you replied in your radiant staccato. “Which is what would have happened even if I really don’t belong to my creator’s movement because he drew me up during that period of formalism that became his pattern after deriding it a lot when he was still a critic. Est-ce que tu me comprends?”

It took a world of a second for me to understand you. I was listening more to your voice.

“Well, you struck out on your own anyhow, Madame. I keep reminding myself of your stories about your wondering around Montparnasse like a lost prostitute, as you put it. That wasn’t even like you, unlike my loitering on Lan Kwai Fong.”

“And now we’re here, Monsieur. Your maker’s dream place, if I’m correct. Mine had never even heard of this city.”

The Paris of Asia at that, a title this city had aspired to on the cusp of revolution. That was two centuries away—from the concrete slab fractured everywhere that it is now.

“This isn’t at all what our makers had planned.”

“We’re both here,” I said, as I cupped my hand on your cheek, “but there’s a plot point missing. That’s why we haven’t gone further. Do I make myself clear?”

“No,” you said softly.

“You like it when I needlessly explain things, don’t you?”

“Oui.”



“YOU’RE WRONG about one thing,” you said in hindsight as we walked down the small steps to the ground floor. “We did wrap ourselves in each other’s arms.”

“Oui,” I said. “Wei?”

“Écoute, Monsieur Chow, we didn’t see each other for cute talk. ‘I wanted to see you, to see if I wanted to see you,’ or something like that. I won’t have any of that.”

“How about, ‘Is it that you like my eyes, my mouth or my shoulders?’”

“Comme ça.”

On that note, I kissed you suddenly. We could have missed a step, but, to my surprise, you reciprocated almost with impatience, before we settled into this languid wavelength, like when you take your time nibbling at your favorite petit four.

“C’est formidable!”—at last, your other trade(re)mark.

Then you gave out that throaty laughter you were never embarrassed of. “Monsieur, don’t ever do that again,” you said, laughing still, amid the ruckus of mahjong tiles at the ground floor, the happy cursing that filled the hall and the nicotine tainting the air. At the foyer there was a young couple nursing their beer. I stepped out of the building to light a cigarette and behold my solitude—for I was back on earth, in vain trying to remember the empress dethroned by you.


"From the Diary of Chow Mo Wan" is the second of our two-part tribute to the 50 years of New Wave cinema.

THE NEW WAVE AT 50 ] Ricky Torre + Dodo Dayao pay homage to film's most stylish movement

Before this year ends, we add our voice to the 50th-anniversary celebration of the French Nouvelle Vague, arguably the most stylish movement in all of cinema history. We won’t be so presumptuous as to say this movement is the greatest because there is still its dynamic precursor, Italian Neorealism. But the French New Wave is as revolutionary to the development of cinema as Griffith and Eisenstein. (Although, to be sure, as writers on Philippine cinema have pointed out, filmmaking in this country was already way ahead in carrying out the New Wave school of filmmaking: the improvised sets, the improvised shooting, the storytelling and dialogue handed out on a per-need basis, and the disregard of continuity and other standards of conventional excellence.)

This year, the distinguished film magazine Sight & Sound has put out a special issue paying tribute to the movement; so, too, has Cahiers du Cinema, the magazine where Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and other New Wave filmmakers got their start as film critics. Instead of coming out with the usual retrospective chronicle, we present here some poetic musings, so to speak, on the movement: Dodo Dayao’s “You Don’t Love Met Yet,” inspired by Danish actress Anna Karina (Godard’s first wife and one of the New Wave’s iconic stars); and Ricky Torre’s “From the Diary of Chow Mo-wan,” an imaginary episode between bourgeoise young wife Christine Doinel, one of Truffaut’s evocative film characters, and the lovelorn writer Chow Mo-wan of In the Mood for Love and 2046, by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, a prominent devotee of the New Wave.

You Don’t Love Me Yet/By DODO DAYAO

ANNA Karina, all she had to do was run through the Louvre to take my breath away, steal my heart. She didn’t have to dance, but when she did, it was too much and my heart sort of broke a little. She broke Godard’s heart, too. That’s what exes do. And sometimes muses.

Anna K’s a fantasy of mine. Not that sort, but that’ll do, too—the woman is digable, I’m not blind. I do prefer Yoko, in principle, for standing by her man, never leaving. I’d rather have a Yoko, all told. I heart the long haul. Jean-Luc, he may have had Jean Seberg in À bout de souffle, Brigitte Bardot in Le mépris, Chantal Goya in Masculin féminin, but Anna K had this perilous radiance none of them had and, with or without knowing the back story, you get this sense of a lot more at stake, which is how it should be with muses. And Anna K was the proper, righteous, consummate muse. Jean-Luc never stood a chance.

True story taken from Garrison Keillor: “Robert Louis Stevenson was passing by the window of a house one night in France when he looked inside and fell instantly in love with a woman he saw eating dinner with a group of her friends. Stevenson stared at her for what seemed like hours, and then opened the window and leapt inside. The guests were shocked, but Stevenson just bowed and introduced himself. The woman was an American named Fanny Osborne. They fell in love and got married a few years later.”

I saw Vivre sa vie some time back. The resident awe for Anna K’s face, parts of it, if not most of it, like some porno of that visage. Everything begins with a face you can’t escape. Even before the first word is spoken. Even before the first transfer of energies. Even before the parts match. The longing to connect. The urge to pursue. The thundering desire for love. The face reduces you to tongue-tied, sniveling, social deficiency. The face makes you palpitate like a caffeine drip. I have a wobbly theory that none of us are ever sucked in by a fat chance, none of us crush for longshots. There’s no empirical evidence—how can there be? But it hasn’t failed me yet so maybe I’m on to something. Love at first sight is not some wayward phenomenon, it’s the standard. I don’t know you. But I want you. All the more for that. Right.

She was the best kept secret borne from fleeting encounters, remarkable for how the imprint got stickier and stickier with each run-in.

Is that you, my Anna K? Will you run through the Louvre with me? Could you be loved?
Bravado is an also-ran as I think about Anna K and my own first sighting and how some of them still burn holes in my eyes still and I listen to Roky Erickson’s “You Don’t Love Me Yet” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Possess Your Heart,” one after the other, which is sort of trite but so is trying to imbibe the courage of its convictions—the cock of its bull as it were—but I don’t care and I do so anyway.

Jean-Luc said once that all a movie needs to sell tickets is a girl and a gun—a theory that somehow applies to everything.

A girl and a gun, yeah. Shooting at the walls of heartache. Bang bang.

The author writes about cinema here. Next, "From the Diary of Chow Mo-Wan" by Ricky Torre.

THE INVITE ] Erik Matti's most personal film has arrived

Saw this on my table the other day and thought it an invite to some big time lifestyle-oriented kasosyalan. But the matte black envelope sealed with a candlewax stamp bearing the initials EM turned out to be from the director Erik Matti, and inside was a four-page letter inviting me to the screening of his first full-length feature in three years (his last was the Bong Revilla-starrer Exodus). It was not lifestyle material but it is shushal: by invitation only for a one-time public screening. And big time: it will be at the CCP.

The film is called The Arrival, and it is the director-writer-cook’s most personal film. So personal that the four-page letter was written in longhand. Or so I thought. I texted a friend to ask if Erik indeed painstakingly wrote each invitation. “Please say yes,” I added. Wouldn’t that have been so chic? And I remember Erik saying while on the road to drop me off at home na sumasakit na kamay niya sa kakasulat ng imbitasyon! Of course I learned last night that 500 people have been invited to the event. It would indeed be chic if he had written each one of the invites longhand personally, but it would also be kind of crazy (although producing your own film in this day and age and not charging your audience for it is already kind of crazy).

“Finally I have made a film that waited for me without the hounding of a playdate," Erik wrote. "A film understanding enough to let me be and not rush me in my erratic and laidback ways. A film that not for once questioned or judged me at anything that I make it tell. A film that has trusted me all the way over and beyond it ever could.

“Finally, I have produced a film that respected its creator despite its weaknesses and flaws, its arrogance and conceit."

In the past three years, he has tried his hand at writing a book (still unpublished), opened and run a successful bar (Mogwai at Cubao X) and created its menu, directed TVCs, and shamelessly performed a lap dance wearing only a pair of skimpy animal-print trunks in a promo short for this year's Cinemalaya. "All these just to satisfy my need to create."

The Arrival looks like a small film with a small-time main character. "A fictional sort of documentary-type narrative feature that tells the coming-of-age story of a 46-year-old loner named Leo."

“Is it possible to follow a person’s uneventful, almost insignificant life and still make it exciting enough to be a movie that an audience would want to experience from start to finish?”

We’ll see. Although we already heard from those who’ve seen it in advance that it’s quite a triumph. Anyway, from the invite alone, we’re already impressed.

WELCOME TO MONDOMANILA ] O kung paano ginawa ni Khavn dela Cruz ang pelikula...

Colorful characters abound in Mondomanila. One of them, the Tour Guide, is played by Pango, "tagapaghanda ng audience."

...halaw sa nobela ni Norman Wilwayco matapos ang mahaba-habang paglalakbay.

You've been wanting to do Mondo for years di ba? How many years?
Yup. Late 2002, early 2003.
2003: One aborted pre-production. one aborted production (one shooting day).
2004: Shortfilm starring Marvin (Agustin).
2006: Made Squatterpunk which is somewhat connected to Mondo.
2008: Finished Bangungot na Bangag, a Mondo psycho-delic relative, also starring Tony de Guzman (the nove;s lead character) played by three actors.

This comes from Norman Wilwayco's Palanca-winning novel which you also published. What attracted you most to the novel?
I see the novel as the postmodern version of Edgar Reyes' Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag.
I've been wanting to do a film about Manila, inspired by Bernal's Manila By Night and Brocka's Manila in the Claws.
And the novel impressed me as a perfect vehicle.

Clockwise from topmost left: Mutya, "unanong best friend ni Tony. Tanggero ng Tropang Praning. Magbabalut. Rockstar;" Rodney Aquino as Iskong Bugaw; Alex Tiglao as Sgt. Pepper; Tony Hunt as Third-World-hating pedophile Whiteboy.

You wrote the script based on the novel? What changes have you made? And did you have to consult Norman about the changes?
A lot of changes. Iwa (Norman) and i wrote the screenplay (that eventually got another Palanca) based on his novel. It features the main arc of the novel, starring the most important characters, set mainly in the slums, happening in a span of a few nights instead of a biopic.

Tell us about the film. A synopsis, if you will. And your treatment.
I have always wanted to explore Manila and its humanity. Not just its people, majority of whom are mired in poverty, but the whole rationale behind the irrational lives these people experience everyday.
There is the kind of human drama that extends beyond tragedy and plants its feet firmly in the territories of madness. In my film Mondomanila, I strived to present the truth as gleaned from the cracks in the celluloid curtain. But the “truth,” it is not "out there," as pundits from the outer realm put it, but in one’s own backyard.
And backyards can shock, specially if one doesn't go out much. I believe that Mondomanila offers one of the most horrifying backyards in the tradition of films made by one of the foremost Filipino directors, the late Lino Brocka. If Brocka's films a decade ago talked about the wounds of Manila, I would like to believe that Mondomanila belongs to new breed of storytelling that makes one feel as if one has actually touched that wound, a close-up view of all that gangrene and pus.
Mondomanila takes place in the slums and is inhabited by the denizens of the underworld (the crippled pimp, the lonely housewife, the neighborhood gay and his macho father, the prostitutes, the smalltime politician, the Yankee pedophile).
Mondomanila, however, is not about a celebration of self-destruction. Far from it. Decadence, after all, is the language of the privileged. Decadence is that which escapes from the clutches of bourgeois order. But what if there is no order at all? In Mondomanila, there are no happy endings and Death awaits in ambush at every corner. However, in my film, Tragedy lies not at the end but is a given situation. It is, I believe, not the usual "story that needs to be told" but is, in all accounts, simply a backyard full of lovable fuckers.

Cinemalaya Best Actor 2009 Timothy Mabalot plays Tony de Guzman, the foulmouthed lead character.

You were thinking about several other actors before finally deciding on Timothy. Bakit siya?
Dati, twentysomething ang gusto kong actor na gumanap kay Tony. Napagdesisyunan ko na gusto ko ng kinse anyos. Isa si timothy sa nag-audition. Hindi ko napanood ang twoearly films niya sa Cinemalaya. Namangha lang ako sa intensity niya. Huling-huli niya ang pagkatao ni Tony na may ticking timebomb sa loob ng dibdib.

Saan at pano mo nahanap si Palito and in what state?
Through (writer) Totel de Jesus. Ginawan niya ng feature for S magazine yata. Wanted to do a docu on him after I found out. Nagkita kami sa McDo malapit sa PAGCOR dahil nagtatambol siya roon.

Clockwise from top left: Palito as Pablong Shoeshine; Stefan Punongbayan as Naty; Ding and Jelai as Kambal P.; Whitney Tyson as Lovely Paybsiks.

And Whitney Tyson?
Sa audition. she fits the role like a chopped foot.

There is singing?
Yup.

Kelan showing?
Next year. Baka summer. Baka first sem.


Stills by Buccino De Ocampo & Allan Balberona

THE TWITTER REVIEW ] James Ong on the glamour and Grace of The September Issue

We've been wanting to see this for months since it premiered in Sundance early this year. We've been asking Chona at Metrowalk for months and it's still the same answer: "La pa po ser. One Year gusto niyo?" I don't know who's sponsoring the Philippine premiere of The September Issue but we'd love to be invited. Our friend James Ong was at the Singapore premiere last Wednesday. We asked him to tell us about the documentary in five tweets. He gave us nine. In twitter fashion, read from the bottom, of course.

jamesperezong...fashion.
15 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong...magazines. It's the story of Anna and Grace (who both started work at Vogue on the same day) and how these two women have influenced..
16 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong "I know when to stop pushing her, she doesn't know when to stop pushing me," says Grace. The movie is not about the glamor of fashion...
18 minutes ago from Echofon

Nicolas Ghesquiere gives a preview of his Balenciaga Fall 2007 collection to Anna and her court: Grace Coddington and, slightly hidden by his bangs, Hamish Bowles.

jamesperezong...decadent Galliano story because it was too much ("They just threw away $30k with that"). Grace keeps producing, Anna keeps editing...
21 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong...issue yet of Vogue. Anna is adamant about including a "texture" and a "color block" story. Grace is upset that Anna killed a spread in...
23 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong...but while Wintour holds forth in the meeting, her magazine ally, stylist Grace Coddington, is busy finishing shoots for the "biggest...
25 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong...surpassing their supply. The CEO is asking Wintour because she is the single most important figure in the fashion industry...
27 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong...imploring the US Vogue editor to tell designers that they need to work and deliver faster because the demand for their goods is fast
28 minutes ago from Echofon

jamesperezong In "The September Issue," Anna Wintour smiles. Laughs. Rubs her lovely comforting hand on a department store CEO's arms. The CEO was...
29 minutes ago from echofon

STEAMING HOT ] Chris Martinez, the writer of Kimmy Dora, on what success tastes like

The surprise hit of the year is still pulling surprises at the cinemas. Kimmy Dora, with very little TV spots for its trailers and largely depending on word of mouth for promotion (and the shameless Facebook plugs that became increasingly irritating as the film came closer to opening day. OO NA MANONOOD NA KAMI!), is happily making a killing at the box-office, even convincing a few theaters to have midnight screenings just to accomodate persistent audiences. There are no final figures yet but everyone is talking about it (at least everyone we know in the office and half our Facebook friends). And they should be: it's the funniest film since, well, Joyce Bernal did funny for the movies.

The creator of the twins Kimmy and Dora is Chris Martinez, scriptwriter of 100, the film that won him Cinemalaya Best Director last year, and Jeffrey Jeturian's Bridal Shower and Bikini Open. He also penned the plays Intelstar (a one-woman show about a call center trainor which starred Kimmy Dora's lead actress Eugene Domingo) and the Palanca-winning Last Order Sa Penguin. He just released his new book, another Palanca winning play (2007), Our Lady of Arlegui, about a Muslim woman selling pirated DVDs in Quiapo's Arlegui Street. TheSwankStyle sent Chris a few questions and here he gladly responds.

What/who inspired Kimmy Dora? Are they based on real people?
Eugene Domingo is the only inspiration since the inception of the project. It was really written for her. It's not based on real people but more on my motivation to showcase her enormous talent. What better way to stretch her limits by giving her dual roles. It all started with my pitch: what if you have an evil twin?

There is always a glimmer of drama/heartbreaking truth in your comedy. Is this a conscious resolve?
I try to keep my characters as real as possible. They get hurt. They commit mistakes. They have desires, insecurities, despair, etc. I treat them as human beings. They are never perfect.

Was Kimmy Dora born from brainstorming with other people, or its just your own?
Over dinner at Taste of L.A. same time last year, Eugene, Joyce and I spent a whole evening brainstorming on what is the best launching vehicle for Uge. We came up with three pitch lines. Tig-wa-one sentence lang. Then Joyce called Piolo. Then Piolo arrived. Then we pitched to him. Then he approved Kimmy Dora. Then go na! Ganun lang ka-bilis at ka-simple. Smooth na smooth. I wrote the storyline when I was in Pusan where 100 competed and won. I wrote the sequence treatment in Marrakech where 100 was also competing. The script--sa bahay lang during Christmas time.

How do you write?
Very, very, very slowly! hahaha Sobrang bagal ako. Everytime someone asks me to write, I always tell them upfront -- I am the slowest writer I know!

Is there a certain time of the day?
Before I go to bed and right after I wake up.

Does this require a certain mood? Music?
Nope. Kailangan quiet. Quiet na quiet.

You walk a lot, talk to yourself?
Talk to myself, yes, a lot, a whole lot. So I can hear the rhythm.

The place you're most comfortable writing in? Unless comfort is not an issue and you can write anywhere.
Sa bahay lang. Dining room table. Or kahit saan. Di ako maarte, mabagal lang.

Kimmy and Dora in a scene from Kimmy Dora

What is your dayjob? Do you hate it?
I direct TV commercials. AND I LOVE IT!

How do you start your day?
Kape't yosi lang.

What do you look forward to in an ordinary day?
A good movie. An episode of Project Runway (US, ha?) and/or Top Chef. Good food!

What inspires you?
Hearing the audience's reaction -- laughter, sniffles, applause. It inspires me that I am able to move them.

Your favorite source of inspiration?
I always go back to the classics. For instance, Shakespeare. May kuwento pa ba na hindi niya nagawa? He's done practically everything. Mas contemporary naman, I also get inspired by Woody Allen's films -- lalo na the old ones.

Writer's block. What's the first thing you do?
Watch cable. Eat. FACEBOOK!

Your favorite scent?
Hermes Terre.

Your favorite thing to see?
My cats.

Your favorite sound?
OST.

Your favorite writer.
Woody Allen.

What are you doing this weekend?
A sequence treatment for a Chito Rono film.

What does success taste like?
Chicken! Everything tastes like chicken!

IN MEMORY OF ALEXIS ] And his wishes for Philippine Cinema

Photograph by Nika Bohinc, Italy, November 2007

I wish that the Film Development Council of the Philippines would understand the value of the money they’re given and consider going to Paris and spending P5 million of their P25 million allotment for a showcase given by a young festival an investment, and not just a vacation.

They support filmmakers with finished films to go abroad to festivals for the pride they bring their country—I wish instead they would support their films locally, and help them get seen by a larger Filipino audience.

I cry for the loss of Manuel Conde’s Juan Tamad films.

I cry for a country that can’t convince that one Filipino-American who owns the only known print of Conde’s Genghis Khan in its original language to return (i.e. sell) the film back to his mother country.

I cry for the generations of Filipinos, myself included, that can no longer see Gerry De Leon’s Daigdig ng Mga Api, and instead have scans of movie ads to admire on the internet (with sincere thanks to Simon Santos and James De la Rosa).

I mourn a heritage that has allowed through neglect the prints of Mario O’Hara’s Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos and Peque Gallaga’s Oro, Plata, Mata to turn flush sepia.

I cry for a Union Bank and University of the Philippines that conspire in apathy to let the master negatives of treasures produced by Bancom Audiovision rot in rooms only air-conditioned half the day and in cans untouched for years and years.

I pray for a city government or even enterprising and concerned theater owners to consider setting aside 50 centavos or a peso of a ticket for the preservation of our national audiovisual heritage. There have been flood taxes siphoned from movie tickets for crying out loud—this should be easy!

I wish Cinemalaya, which, thanks to the media and the government’s press mileage behind it, has a great festive excitement, would actually put their efforts in the service of Philippine cinema, and not their own self-involved attempt to start a micro-industry.

I wish filmmakers would stop listening to Robbie Tan.

I wish Cinema One, which takes more risks, gives more money and often produces better films than Cinemalaya, would actually give filmmakers some rights to their work and stop swindling them.

I wish Cinemanila, which has introduced to the country more great films than any other institution, doesn’t stop showing them on 35mm.

I wish Cinemanila would publish their full schedule in advance: it’s difficult to plot what films to watch when you don’t know which ones will show again.

I wish the Goethe- initiated Silent Film Festival, with live scores by Filipino musicians, would continue annually, and that one year they get to show a Chaplin, a Griffith, a Dreyer, and maybe a Vertov or Medvedkin.

I wish Lav Diaz would have larger budgets to maneuver and shoot with. And would work with the ace production designer Cesar Hernando once again.

I wish more people saw Lav Diaz’s films rather than just respecting his stance, and using him as a symbol.

I wish Raymond Red would get to make Makapili and/or return to making fantastic shorts in the experimental mode.

I wish Raymond Red would still get to shoot on celluloid.

I wish John Torres would sacrifice the image quality of his HDV camera for the special intimacy and spontaneity he is able to achieve with his 1ccd camera. Or get a smaller HDV camera.

I wish Mike De Leon would make another movie… please.

I wish Roxlee would get enough money to buy the time necessary to make an animated feature.

I wish everyone would buy a copy of Nicanor Tiongson and Cesar Hernando’s richly illustrated The Cinema of Manuel Conde.

I wish there were more books on Philippine cinema.

I wish a book series was started that published classic screenplays.

I hope Noel Vera gets to write his book on Mario O’Hara.

I wish a close study of the entire oeuvre of Ishmael Bernal were made.

I wish older commentators would understand: Lino Brocka is dead.

I wish younger filmmakers would understand: Lino Brocka compromised when he had to because he had to, and perhaps even, at times, too much. You are living in a different time. The excuse that Brocka made more than 60 films therefore you can afford your own mediocre ones does not hold water.

I wish we had less tourist cinema.

I wish we had less formula cinema—“real-time” anyone?

I wish Cinefilipino had put out Maalaala Mo Kaya with the reels in the proper order.

I wish Cinefilipino would have put our their Brocka titles with just a little bit of care and affection, providing some writing on the film or special features to contextualize them rather than just throw them out their bare to earn.

I wish Nestor Torre would open his eyes…

I wish the Manunuri books on Philippine cinema in the’70s and’80s would go back in print.

I wish the Manunuri actually cared about Philippine cinema today.

I wish more of the Manunuri actually reviewed films instead of just giving out awards.

I wish the Young Critics Circle were actually young.

I wish the Young Critics Circle were actually critics.

I wish Francis ‘Oggs’ Cruz, Richard Bolisay, and Dodo Dayao would get space in the broadsheets, because they’re far more interesting than anyone writing there regularly.

I wish we didn’t have a cinema of the press (more on this soon).

I wish Noel Vera would move back.

I wish Hammy Sotto were still alive.

I wish Hammy Sotto’s manuscripts would get published.

I wish film preservation activist Jo Atienza was still in Manila.

I wish we had a fully supported Film Museum.

I wish we had a Cinematheque.

I wish the UP Film Center had better seats, and more important, showed better films.

I wish more non-filmmakers from the Philippines would get to travel to festivals.

I wish film were taught in high schools.

I wish we had more film lovers and less bureaucrats in important positions in the field of cinema.

I wish Teddy Co would get the recognition that he deserves for his selfless work.

I wish Teddy Co would write more as his ideas deserve to be recorded.

I wish co-ops would co-operate.

I wish Khavn De La Cruz would get to make his musical EDSA XXX.

I wish the Max Santiago feature would get made, and that shorts would finally come to my hands on DVD (Hi Marla!).

I hope Tad Ermitano never stops writing and playing in his cave.

I wish Lourd De Veyra would continue writing on actors and cinema.

I wish Raymond Lee’s UFO success.

I wish Albert Banzon would get more credit.

I wish we had more regional feature films, and more support for regional filmmakers.

I wish everyone would watch When Timawa Meets Delgado.

I wish someone would lower MTRCB rates for screening fees, especially for festivals.

I wish someone, anyone, would make a good, thought-provoking film about the Philippine upper class.

I wish Ketchup Eusebio would get more leading roles.

I wish Elijah Castillo would appear in a lot more films. Soon.

I wish Cesar Hernando would get to make a video transfer of his experimental short Botika, Bituka.

I wish filmmakers had some integrity and told Viva to screw themselves when offered another exploitation film.

I wish more people could see the film Bontoc Eulogy by Marlon Fuentes.

I wish Vic Del Rosario wasn’t presidential adviser on Entertainment, given the shlock they produce, and yes, that includes the films that starred First-Son Mikey Arroyo.

I wish Star Cinema would stop—just stop.

I wish there was a film library that people could go to in order to read books on cinema.

I wish the MMFF were not in the hands of the same people who install public urinals (admittedly useful).

I wish the MMDA didn’t call those circles and boxes Art.

I wish that MMDA Art wasn’t so much better than every MMFF film.

I wish a certain festival in December didn’t consider box office as a criteria for its main prize (which comes with rewards). We don’t give cultural awards to Wowowee, do we? Well, not yet…

I wish I could see how “commercial viability” was computed.

I wish Mother Lily didn’t have a monopoly on the Metro Manila Film Festival.

I wish Mother Lily took better care, or rather took care at all, of the good films she unwittingly produced in the past.

I wish Mother Lily would get to see Raya’s Long Live Philippine Cinema! …or maybe not.

I wish the Hammy Sotto-led Philippine Cinema in the ’90s book, with excellent interviews and a complete filmography of the decade, and which has been completed for several years, would finally get printed.

I wish all the old Mowelfund shorts—including the works of Regiben Romana, the Alcazaren Brothers, Louie Quirino and Donna Sales, Raymond Red and Noel Lim—would come out on DVD.

I wish a book would be written about all the Mowelfund shorts.

I wish a book on Philippine poster art would be released.

I always look forward to the rest of Nick Deocampo’s projected four-to-five volume history on Philippine cinema—at least someone is writing it.

I wish there were a pure film studies course available in the Philippines.

I wish that venues that are censorship (and therefore MTRCB fee) exempt would understand the vital role they play and take more responsibility.

I wish we had a regular film journal. Why don’t we? We have enough critics groups and awarding bodies.

I wish more film teachers were approaching cinema from cinema.

I wish R.A. Rivera would get to make his first feature soon.

I wish Quark Henares refrains from selling out again, because if he doesn’t, he has the potential to be one of the important ones.

I wish more people would get to see In Da Red Korner. It deserves to be reconsidered.

I wish Rogue Magazine would cut down their featuring of foreign films in the gallery section when there is so much to write about locally that doesn’t get covered in other media beyond sloppy journalism.

I wish the government would sponsor DVD releases of the surviving films of Lamberto Avellana, Gerardo De Leon and all other classics that still exist.

I wish FPJ Productions would again screen the footage of Gerry De Leon’s unfinished Juan de la Cruz (the icon, by the way, that was invented by this magazine).

I wish less filmmakers compromised.

I wish more filmmakers admitted when they did.

I wish we focused our attention more on audience education, development and literacy, than on dumbing down films to pander to them.

I wish Philippine cinema all the success in the world. . .

---Alexis Tioseco, Wishful Thinking for Philippine Cinema

From Alexis' Criticine. Shorter version originally published as an addendum to an article in Rogue Magazine, extended final version (above) published in Philippines Free Press week of December 13, 2008.

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INDEPENDENCIA ] Raya Martin's The Parent Trap

Think of it in black and white. Sid Lucero and Alessandra de Rossi play taong gubat in Independencia.

Tetchie Agbayani and Sid Lucero play mother-and-son who escapes war by moving to forest and staying there forever. She grows old. He grows up. Discovers joy of masturbation (Sid, not Tetchie.). Boy meets a girl, gets her pregnant, they have child. Child grows up without friends. Choosing between being caught by conquistadores or staying in forest with boring family, child climbs hill and jumps. To his death? I guess.

Filmed in black and white, with fabulous painted-on backdrops, with a touch of folklore and reminiscent of early silent films. Its the age-old theme of people being trapped. Told by a highly independent young mind. Brilliantly conceived and photographed. Fabulous art direction. Not the kind of movie I'd buy a popcorn to see but provocative and stylish.

And important.

BEFORE WE WATCH KINATAY ] A damn smart suggestion from Alexis Tioseco

"Brillante Mendoza’s victory in Cannes has been received, if not lauded, by the following local institutions: the City of Mandulong (where he resides), the Province of Pampanga (where he is from), University of Santo Tomas (his Alma Mater), the Director’s Guild of the Philippine Islands (of which he is a member), and the President of the Republic (who, with great craft and in a single sentence, turned her praise of Mendoza into praise of herself, and whose recognition comes with a One Million Peso ‘thank you for bringing the country pride’ check). Mendoza has taken an appropriately cool stance to all the fanfare: “there is a lot of attention but in a week or two, everything will be back to normal”. Many in the media, however, have voiced their displeasure, wondering, as our scholar did at the beginning of the article, why Mendoza wouldn’t receive an even warmer welcome, one similar, say, to the type Pacquiao receives?

"While a marching band, a grand dinner, a parade or even a million pesos are all appealing gestures, they are effused more with the pomp of celebration than any authentic attempt at appreciation: a facile way of saying we acknowledge the recognition you have received – a sentiment giving greater premium to outsider recognition than to the work itself. A proposition for the future: perhaps a more generous way to show appreciation for the work of our artists, should we truly believe the work itself important and not just the recognition: show them.

"Just imagine: how many free screenings could be sponsored for a million pesos?"

From "Cannes But Don't Have To" by Alexis Tioseco, Free Press, July 2009.

FROM RICKY TORRE'S DESK ] A smart alternative route for The Balugang Bodyguard

In a previous post on Manila, the double-bill tribute to City After Dark and Jaguar, we wrote:

"9 After Piolo (who plays bodyguard Philip) kills Baron Geisler in an effort to protect his boss Jay Manalo, Jay and entourage take off, leaving Piolo by himself in the murder scene. Piolo runs from Remedios Circle passing by Jones Bridge to Binondo where his boss lives. Ummm, puwede namang nag-jeep na lang siya from Taft, baba siya ng Lawton, tas lakad konti, sakay siya Divisoria, madadaanan naman 'yun."

The eminent writer/editor Ricky Torre responds:
"Kung galing si Piolo sa Remedios Circle at papunta siyang Binondo, pweydi na siyang sumakay ng jeep sa Mabini, yung papuntang Sta. Cruz, kasi diritso na yan hanggang Jones Bridge. Pagnatumbukan na ng jeep yung 19th-century na rotonda doon, pweydi nang pumara si Piolo at kaharap na niya ang Chinese welcome mark papuntang Binondo."

7 QUESTIONS ] Ina Feleo on directing, bribing dad and damn smart advice from Laurice

You just directed your parents, Laurice and Johnny, for your first short film Labing-labing. What was the first thing you required of them?
I don't remember requiring anything from them except for them to be there! Being with them everyday at home, and talking about the craft most of the time, I knew them both as individuals and as actors so it was very clear for me from the beginning that they were perfect for the role and how clearly they understood the material.

What was the worst thing about directing your folks?
Honestly, I dont think I experienced 'the worst' during our shoot. It was so easy to direct them and we were having so much fun. Hindi nila ako talaga pinahirapan. Akala ko patatagalin nila yung shoot sa kakachika or something, pero hindi! Si daddy, usually he has a cutoff (time) when he's working, but with my shoot he didn't. He almost walked out on me though! Kasi natatagalan kami sa pag set-up nung isang eksena sa hallway ng ospital. Mahirap kasi yun ilawan. Eh na-stress si daddy kasi may iba pa akong actors na pinaghintay. It was a big lesson for all of us in the staff. Malaking pasasalamat naman namin na hindi siya umalis. Binilhan ko siya ng malaking burger at fries at pagatapos nun okay na siya. At napaka ganda ng eksenang ginawa niya after the midnight snack.

People loved you in Endo, your first film for Cinemalaya. How'd you think people are going to receive you in Sanglaan?
I dont know yet. I always don't know how people are going to react. Sanglaan is very different from Endo. Iba naman yung character ko sa Sanglaan--mas paloob siguro (ang mga reaksyon). Very shy. Eh sa Endo sobrang hindi shy si Tanya. Sana magustuhan rin ng mga tao ang Ina sa Sanglaan.

Why direct?
I think time comes sometimes when you feel strongly that there's something you need to say, meron kang gustong i-share, o iparamdam. When I wrote Labing-Labing it was as simple as that. Hindi ko naman naisip na matutuloy yung pelikula, but it was so easy for me to write, parang may grasya talaga kung baga. It came at a time when my family was also really going through a tough period in our lives (nung magkasakit si daddy) but a period in our life also when love was so strong in our family. Ang sarap din na pakiramdam talaga nun. Hindi ko pa naman ikino-consider ang sarili ko na director, dahil ang dami ko pang hindi alam at hindi nagagawa. I think that directing is a dangerous profession. Your heart should always be in the right place. Kasi napaka- powerful niyang tool para sa mga manonood. Kaya ako, I'm taking my time and just learning every step of the way.

Do you have an anecdote about your strangest/weirdest experience while filming?
Nasa tondo kasi kami, Pritil, yung location ng pawnshop sa pelikula (Sanglaan). Tapos nagpapahinga ako sa may van, mga alas dose pa lang 'yun ng gabi. Biglang pumasok yung driver ko at sabi sa'kin 'Ma'm ililipat ko lang yung sasakyan kasi may lalaki sa labas na may baril. Parang kanina pa yang may hinihintay e.' True enough when I looked out my window, just a few feet away from the car was this guy nga na may baril talagang hawak at ni hindi man lang niya tinatago! E di linipat namin ang sasakyan. Mga dalawang minuto palang ang nakakalipas, nakarinig na ako ng gunshot.

Who's the better actor: mom or dad?
Pag nanonood ako sa monitor, may mga ginagawa sila na napapaisip na lang talaga ako na 'Shet. magaling nga talaga sila.' Ang layo layo ko pa sa talento nila. And I guess its really hard to tell from this film, kung sino ang mas magaling na actor, kasi they feed off each other talaga. At yung mga tingin nila! Jusko po. Ang mga tingin tumatagos. I guess what I can say is that they have individual strengths. May mga specialty sila kung baga. Si mommy I would say her strength is really subtlety. I love taking close-ups of her because she says so much with her eyes, and her breath. Hindi siya umaagaw ng eksena ever. But it's never flat. Andun ang buong pagkatao niya, pero hindi nagtatawag pansin. Si daddy naman, para sa akin ang malakas niyang puntos naman ay yung vulnerability niya. 'Yung bang kahit kunwari nag-iingay siya o nagpapatawa, pinapalusot pa rin niya yung underlying na takot at helplessness. And when he switches that on, ang lakas-lakas ng tagos sa screen. Pareho sila talagang napaka-heartfelt ng performance dito. Ang sakit sa dibdib.

What's the best advice you got from a director?
I get advice from my mother all the time who's also a director, pero other than her siguro ang susunod na natatandaan kong advice talaga ay galing kay Direk Marilou Diaz-Abaya. I dont remember the exact words (I'm forgetful talaga) but it was how when you write, or when you're directing a scene and you're choosing your shots, laging: "WHO do you LOVE, and what are the sacrifices you make for the one you love?" Sa akin nagstick talaga yun sa utak ko when I was making the film. Lalo na't Labing-Labing is a film about love. Siguro magkaakibat narin to at yung sinabi ni mommy kamakailan lang na, kapag wala kang malakas na mensaheng kailangang sabihin, that would be a good reason for you not to make a film.

Labing-labing premieres together with several other shorts from the Marilou Diaz Abaya workshops this Saturday July 25 at the Cinemalaya at CCP.

VIEW FROM THE 4TH FLOOR ] Notes on the "Cliff's Notes" that is Manila

1 Manila is a double-bill tribute to Bernal's Manila By Night and Brocka's Jaguar. Let's get this out of the way: for a tribute, it renders itself a little unnecessary.

2 Just like KC Concepcion on Piolo Pascual's left arm that evening.

3 Just like the '20s rhinestoned headband KC was wearing.

4 And Tim Yap making an appearance at the post-screening cocktails.

5 Watching from the 4th floor balcony of the CCP Main Theater is like sitting on a rollercoaster about to go down on a slope and stops from a gazillion-feet aboveground. The place was jampacked and I was late. Social death.

6 But the film! The film! Okay, here's what we liked about it: Raya Martin's passive, tongue-in-cheek, chic attack to this whole homage to-do. The slo-mos, the '70s score, the ancient badingspeak. He has Bernal's snobbery and sophistication down pat. A little more sense of humor would do him good.

7 I like that they used the names of the original actors for the names of the characters: Piolo was Wiliam, Osang was mom Charito, the unseen drug dealer is Cherie, the benefactor is Bernarda. Didn't quite work for the Jaguar part. A bodyguard named Philip? Although Amy worked for Alessandra because, well, she looked like a young Amy.

8 Piolo played a baluga in the Jaguar part. Not just a baluga but a dumb baluga. That's a little racist. A dumb baluga with a raised collar. Now that's just wrong.

9 After Piolo kills Baron Geisler in an effort to protect his boss Jay Manalo, Jay and entourage take off, leaving Piolo by himself in the murder scene. Piolo runs from Remedios Circle passing by Jones Bridge to Binondo where his boss lives. Ummm, puwede namang nag-jeep na lang siya from Taft, baba siya ng Lawton, tas lakad konti, sakay siya Divisoria, madadaanan naman 'yun.

10 Did I already mention that for a tribute to the best directors Philippine cinema has ever produced, this one is unnecessary? Yep, just like asking Piolo Pascual to star in this movie. PP is the biggest actor in the land, and certainly one of the best. Just like Brocka and Bernal, the guy deserves better.

UNANG KILATIS ] The early verdict on Milo Sogueco's Sanglaan

We told the director Milo Sogueco a couple of months back, in La Union--we were drinking vodka, he was having wine, we were facing the dark ocean--'You have to make sure it's a good film. Otherwise, how do we face you after the premiere? How will we drink?' Because that happens quite often at the Cinemalaya screenings, people know everyone and you're bound to bump into the director whose film you just saw and abhorred. What will you tell him? How do you shake his hand?

But enough about the blabber: the good news is that Sanglaan, according to the two Swanky friends who saw it, is good. We here at TheSwankStyle have yet to see it, though. A filmmaker, after the Manila screening last night, told me he saw the film in its raw stage and he liked it--and while he is kind he is not easy to please.

Eric, a scriptwriter and one-time film reviewer, after Sanglaan's first screening this afternoon texted: "Sanglaan is handsomely shot and well acted." Obviously, he has certain issues about its overall appeal but he says "It's not bad at all. And it looks and feels quite effortless." We'll save Eric's misgivings for after we see the film at the Tuesday gala. Because y'all have to see it first, and see all the films as well. What else will you do this week, hello?

Here's the synopsis: "Sanglaan looks at seemingly simple relationships and uncomplicated events happening in a very mundane institution. A religious and single-minded businesswoman with a losing proposition, afraid of old age. A timid, vulnerable girl hopelessly in love with a high school crush. A security guard whose wife has a fragile heart. A charming and mysterious seaman just passing through. And a loan shark who won’t take “no” for an answer. These are some of the characters that populate the milieu of Sanglaan, a light, funny, poignant and very Pinoy story about hope and redemption."

And here's the trailer.

Milo Sogueco directs from a screenplay he collaborated on with Audie Gonzales, Jerome Lorico and Gay Ace Domingo. Director of Photography is Alma dela Peña.

THE APARTMENT HUNT ] Joel Ruiz orders an investigation

We all have secrets. But what forces us to reveal our true identities is a mystery in itself. Joel Ruiz attempts to shed light on the matter of unraveling closeted skeletons thru his first full-length film Baby Angelo, one of the eight movies in competition last year at the Cinemalaya at CCP. When an aborted fetus is found in the dumpster of a rundown apartment complex, an investigation on the lives of the tenants ensue. The story is inspired by a true event that happened in the office building of Arkeo Films, the production company that Ruiz co-owns. This is his second time to compete in the yearly independent filmmakers’ festival; his debut effort Mansyon won Best Short Film in 2005.

Who are your influences in cinema?
Robert Altman for seeing connections between people and his ability to show us the entire lives of characters with just a few shots and lines of dialogue. Mike de Leon because he's fearless and is the right kind of strange. John Sayles, Ang Lee and Jim Jarmusch, because they're offbeat. My friends in Arkeo because I listen to everything they say.

What has making films taught you that watching their films did not prepare you for?
The chaotic, migraine-causing machine that is low-budget, independent filmmaking in this country. Everything has to be done in a hurry, with very little time for preparation, and no money to pay for it. It really pushes you to the limits of your resourcefulness, your adapting skills, your mind.

Ruiz with his star Katherine Luna

Of the stories you've cooked up in your head, why Baby Angelo as first full-length feature?
The story of Baby Angelo developed first, mainly because Cinemalaya had its deadlines. Also because Baby Angelo was born out of an actual event, a dead baby was found in our building.

Your film is made up of character studies of the residents of an apartment building. Can we find you in any one of them?
You'll find degrees of me in all of my characters, from the crazy old man to the lazy drunk slob. But mostly in the lead character of Bong—played excellently by Jojit Lorenzo—a man who never really grew up and who tries his best under his circumstances.

Tell us about a real life neighbor with whom you have been unusually struck by.
I blocked them all out from memory.



What's the biggest misconception about independent filmmaking in the Philippines?
That it's only for the artsy-fartsy types and that it doesn't speak to the people. Many of the indies challenge the way you think movies are, and Pinoy audiences are ready. No one's watching local movies anymore! Sure, many of the films are difficult, but you'll find they're way more original and real than what the movie factories are regurgitating over and over. Another misconception is that somehow independent films aren't "real" movies. It annoys me no end that in mainstream filmmkaking, we are treated as if we're a fluke or as a lesser form of cinema. Some award-giving bodies even have separate categories for "digital" films. We make real movies. And like it or not, there's an upheaval in local cinema coming and it will start with the independents.

A friend who's seen the rough cut said Baby Angelo is weird.
I like that it's weird. Who cares about normal? When you watch the movie, on the onset it feels like a familiar type of film but it takes a left turn and becomes something else. It's definitely not for everyone but I hope that people who dig it won't soon forget it. I like my movies just a little off-center, enough to throw you off, all the better to make you think and feel.

What's the next story in your mind?
We're in the development process of my next full-length film called Akyat-Baba, Paikot-Ikot and I've found a foreign co-producer for it. It's an old-fashioned love story. Except it's not that old-fashioned. And again, it's a little weird. Just a little.

Baby Angelo is the featured film for the month of June at Indie Sine. All-day screenings from June 3-9. Special screenings at 1 PM everyday for the whole month.

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE ] Memorable smoking scenes on celluloid

"The scene where Faye Dunaway hires Jack Nicholson," Tesa Celdran tells me, recounting her favorite smoking scene in cinema. "She lights one from a gold case when she already has one going, and stutters." The Dunaway scene is from Chinatown, the Tesa scene takes place at the footbridge at Silverlens. Tesa is wearing some fluid green dress and a major amount of bangles on her right arm. She is holding a glass of wine, but no cigarette. "I already quit," she says. Tesa isn't smoking but you almost see glamorous whirls of smoke from the invisible stick you imagine she holds in her hand.

I was thinking of quitting myself, that's why I thought of asking around for people's favorite smoking scenes, the ones that make you light up. To spark nostalgia, I guess. Smoking in cinema is perhaps the exception to that argument the anti-censorship people always bring up when The Establishment bans a scene from this or that. "Not because the bida massacred innocent people in this film or that, the audiences will be inspired to do the same." Hazardous to your health but when photographed well becomes too glamorous not to watch. Also depends on who is holding the cigarette. The words in between puffs. The context to which it is being held. But I blabber.

Anyway, let's talk about the scenes. Besides it's kind of chic now (to talk about it, not to smoke), what with the Coco Chanel movie coming up, and posters with her smoking have already been banned in some places. For Carlo Tadiar, it's Jessica Lange in Frances. "It wasn't so much a scene as a gesture. She would repeatedly pick the tobacco flakes that stuck to her tongue from her unflitered cigarette. It was simultaneously dirty, sensuous, self-gratifying, and somehow elegant all at the same time." For Lourd de Veyra, it is all of Jean Paul Belmondo in Breathless. For Mario Cornejo, it's Chris Walken and Dennis Hopper in True Romance. It starts when Hopper asks for a cigarette. It is THE SCENE of True Romance. "If it's just ANY scene (that makes me light up)," Lizza Guerrero-Nakpil tells me, "any scene with Daniel Craig, Zachary Quinto, Jason Statam, and my newest find, Rupert Penry-Jones!" If that's how she looks at the question, then that's Brando in A Streetcar Named Desirefor me. But back to topic.

Devi Madrid spells out a scene from The Lover: "Si girl asks for money from lover, and si lover gives her a backhanded smack (si girl falls on her back sa bed)...tapos, si guy (who is in khaki three piece sharp suit, slicked back hair, okay?) fishes out his wallet, throws wad of bills towards girl. then...si guy (haba, malapit na sa smoke section), sits on chiar na nakadekuwatro, fishes out a ciggy, flicks his metal lighter sharply, lights up, inhales deep...and EXHALES!"

A lot more scenes come up from different people: Audrey Hepburn burning a woman's hair from her long cigarette stick in the party scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's, the weight of an abusive history in each drag of Jennifer Jason Leigh's cigarette in Dolores Claiborne. Uma in Pulp Fiction. Russel Crowe in L.A. Confidential. For the movie critic Noel Vera, its Gloria Romero in Dalagang Ilocana (1954): "arguably has the tastiest tobacco-puffing scene in all of Philippine cinema (a rich patron, smacking his lips, declares that the cigars rolled by Gloria Romero are so well packed the smoke clears his lungs)."

Maybe the art director Ricky Villabona needed a drag when he sent this response, about one of the most famous smoking scenes in modern cinema: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. But then Ricky doesn't smoke. "But this is a case of the chicken or the egg for me. Do I remember the smoking or do I remember her flashing her pussy? I remember both. Why are both images etched in my mind? One cannot do without the other. The scene wanted to say that Catherine was a bad bad girl, but just lighting up during an interrogation was not enough to say that she was a bad bad girl. So, uncross the legs and show the bush! Then again, couldn't she just have flashed her pussy and done away with the cig? No. That would have been crass and too "direct," if you know what I mean. Having her smoke while flashing it made it cool. Smoking was as important as the exposure of her pussy. She had to look cool about it. I'm actually rambling trying to explain something the director probably did not belabor in his mind. He was most probably ruled by his gut and told her to smoke and expose her pussy because it just looked and felt perfect."

Us Gen-Xers, we only had one idea of perfect: "See, Lainy, this is all we need: a couple smokes, a cup of coffee, good conversation. You, me and five bucks." Ethan Hawke, Reality Bites. And back when we were still falling in love with dirty, angsty young things, we only have one answer.

Leiny (Winona Ryder): "You got it."

Disclaimer: This post does not intend to promote smoking.

NO CANNES DO? ] The verdict on PJ's first job as producer

On the eve of Lino Brocka's 10th death anniversary, a tribute that reimagines his film Jaguar for the contemporary times premiered at the 29th Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Adolfo Alix Jr., it is part of a twinbill called Manila, the other half being Raya Martin's reworking of Ishmael Bernal's City After Dark. So after the glamour of the red carpet, what did the reviews say? Did the homage really live up to the late director's international film circuit reputation? Read the reviews here and here.

CANNES THIS BE LOVE? ] Senedy Que reports from the French Riviera

Alessandra de Rossi and Piolo Pascual pay homage to Brocka's Jaguar in the twinbill Manila.

CANNES, FRANCE -- The scheduled screening was not until 8:15pm but as early as 6:30, the Philippine delegation representing Manila has gathered near the Grand Theatre Lumiere to prepare for the “marches rouges." Directors Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Raya Martin, together with producer Arleen Cuevas and producer-actor Piolo Pascual were positioned on a corner to wait for their turn as crowds gathered by the entrance to witness celebrities like Michelle Yeoh, David Kross (of The Reader) and director Ang Lee make their way to the gala screening of Pedro Almodovar’s Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces) which was due to premiere the same night.

A few minutes later, Alix and co. were instructed to walk to the center of the red carpet. Behind Adolf, Raya, Arleen, and Piolo are the film’s production designer Digo Ricio, assistant director Armi Cacanindin, and Independencia actor Sid Lucero, together with Film Development Council of the Philippines’ Digna Santiago and Manet Dayrit. Cameras flashed as our fellow countrymen walked up the stairs. At the entrance door, they were warmly welcomed by the executive directors of the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Cocktails were served in a special room overlooking the setting sun at the French Riviera, while we watched the live feed announcing the arrival of Almodovar with his star, Penelope Cruz.

Inside the theatre at Salle Bunuel, the audience applauded the entrance of the creative team behind Manila. After a brief introduction, the special screening promptly started at 8.15pm. The film was met with loud applause as the closing credits flashed on the screen.































Senedy Que is the writer and director of Dose which will be shown at the Galleria IndieSine from July 1 to 7.
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THE BAGETS ISSUE ] Here's to the old times (and 25 years of growing up)

Cover design Neil Agonoy

"Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?” sabi ni George Orwell nu'ng 1949 sa librong 1984. “A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain.” Obviously, hindi na-imagine ni Orwell na ipapalabas ng Viva Films ang Bagets ng taong ‘yun.

In this, the second issue of TheSwankStyle, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of 1984. Those days before another Marcos-for-President campaign went full throttle, isang taon pa bago mag Edsa Revolution at mayanig ang mundo. Anong ginagawa mo no’n? Ako, sumayaw sa field demo ng “Always Something There To Remind Me” nakasuot ng canary yellow shorts, nandaya sa school spelling bee (at nanalo!), at nanood ng pelikula. Ng maraming pelikula. Sakay ng Kawasaking motor, dinala kami ng tatay ko sa Maristel Theater sa Valenzuela para manood ng Bagets. “Say something!” inis na sabi ni Rosemarie Gil sa anak niyang si Raymond Lauchenco, na forever deadma sa kanya. Sagot ni Raymond: “Something.” Hindi na pa-tweetums si Sharon Cuneta sa Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin? “Kung saan, kelan at papano ang labanan, magpasabi ka lang, hindi kita uurungan,” hamon niya kay Chanda Romero. Nag-liplock at nag-brush moustaches sina Ronaldo Valdez at Mark Gil sa Apoy sa Iyong Kandungan. Ominous ang car accident sequence sa Sinner or Saint sa buhay--at pagkamatay--ni Claudia Zobel. May carinderia sila Tito, Vic and Joey sa Goodah! Hindi pa pinaghihinalaang bading ang mga thirtysomething na lalaking walang asawa nang gampanan ni Jay Ilagan ang geeky bachelor sa Soltero. Hindi makagat-kagat ni Eddie Garcia and mala-labanos sa puting si Lyka Ugarte dahil nakabantay si Gloria Diaz sa May Lamok sa Loob ng Kulambo. Laging naka-wet kamison ang mga softdrink beauties--Pepsi Paloma at Sarsi Emanuelle at Coca Nicolas--sa Naked Island. Pa’no naman kasi, naligaw si Al Tantay searching for the meaning of life.


“Hindi mo na ‘ko ikakahiya ngayon,” sabi ni Gina Pareno kay Raul Leuterio (Tommy Abuel) sa Working Girls, “I’m a Makati girl now. I can speak English already. Ansafaflu, ansafafla!” “Sabeeeel! This must be love!” pahayag naman ni Carmi Martin. Matapos mag-brief lang sa swimming pool ni Baby Delgado sa Bagets, walang pagod namang nag-layer si Aga Muhlach complete with MJ gloves sa Campus Beat. “Ayoko ng masikip,” sabi ni Maricel Soriano sa Kaya Kong Abutin ang Langit, “Ayoko ng mainit. Ayoko ng putik,” habang naka-finger comb with gel ang kanyang hair from the sides to the back. “Pinapangako ko inay,” sabi ni Sharon Cuneta habang naka-daster at nakatingin sa langit, “Bukas luluhod ang mga tala.”

That year alone, we made 142 movies. 53 action. 35 na drama. 25 na bold. Anim na youth-oriented. 22 comedies. At isang horror. Pili ka lang kung anong gusto mo. “Kung hindi tayo ang kikilos, sino ang kikilos? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan?” sabi ni Vilma Santos sa Sister Stella L. Hindi ako natulog sa image ni Julie Vegang possessed sa taas ng aparador sa Lovingly Yours. Nakakatakot din in a different way si Ace Vergel sa Basag Na Pula. Larawan si Lenny Thantoth at PJ Abellana ng misunderstood youth sa klasikong coming-of-age film, The Punks. “Hindi mo kami maiintindihan, Ma. Punks kami.” "I'm standing on the shadow of time," sabi ni Raymond Lauchenco sa Hotshots. Ang hebigat nila Cookie at Albert, Maricel at Yam sa Teenage Marriage. Tinupad ni Vivian Velez ang pantasya ng sangkabaklaan nang maligaw siya sa isang island with ten robust young men all vying for her attention sa Sampung Ahas ni Eba. Nanggagaya lang ng designer patterns noon si Gretchen Barretto sa 14 Going Steady. How kawawa naman the kids in Mga Batang Yagit. Hindi pa natatapos ang taon, may sequel na ang Bagets. “So this is how it feels to be in love, I feel like I’m floating in the skies above,” kanta ni Ramon Christopher kay Claudette Khan, anak ni Odette. “Do you feel the same way, too, when you hold my hand? You don’t have to say a word, I understand.” Quiet lang si Ate Guy sa ‘Merika. May special wedding footages sa The Best of Sharon and Gabby. Nag-boxing match si Maricel at Snooky sa Anak ni Biday vs. Anak ni Waray. Lumabas tuloy hindi talaga marunong mag-Waray si Nida Blanca.

Naka China-chop si Ate Vi sa Alyas Baby Tsina. Nakapangingilabot si Gloria Romero sa Condemned. Kung Harot si Anna Marie Guttierez early in the year, Charot naman si Roderick Paulate. The beginning of the end of the Gabby-Sharon sizzle ang Sa Hirap at Ginhawa. Puwedeng pang On The Lot ang pitch ni Abbo dela Cruz para sa Misteryo sa Tuwa: Anong gagawin mo pag nasa gubat ka’t may nag-crash na eroplanong punong-puno ng pera? Assuming hindi sa'yo nag-crash 'yung eroplano. Pero walang nanood. Is it the title kaya? At nagtapos ang taon with a Regal shocker: the first of a franchise that haunts us hanggang ngayon: Shake, Rattle and Roll. The original, sabi nga ni Ate Luds, is always the best. Biruin mo, a deranged William Martinez getting off on watching Janice de Belen getting it off with a possessed refrigerator? Why not naman? There was something for everyone noong 1984.

I recently saw Bagets again sa relatively big screen ng Mogwai. And to see it again, at 35, hindi ko na inexpect that I will still like it. Pero tumawa pa rin ako, na-charm, goosebumps ng konti. Ang saya-saya ng pelikulang 'to. Siguro sila Maryo J, Bernal, Zialcita, Brocka, Gallaga etc. they made so many good things then dahil naisip nila that we won't be doing quite as good in the decades that will follow. So that in the '90s and the 2000s, wala na tayong gagawin kundi mag-revive at mag-tribute at mag-retrospective. They gave us the most fun, well-made films so that we can just keep looking back. Obviously, pag dating sa prediction-prediction, mas magaling sila kay Orwell.

Photograph from the personal collection of Cesar Hernando.
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"YOU WANNA TAKE A DIP?" ] The ultimate Bagets refresher quiz Part I

1 What was the song playing in the swimming pool scene?
2 Celia Rodriguez, Adi’s mom, and Baby Delgado were long lost friends in the movie---pa’no sila nagkakilala?
3 Quote ni Celia Rodriguez (please read with proper Celia diction): “Hindi kaya I’m to blame for what’s happening to Adi kasi I read yesterday. (beat) In a book by Sylvia Mackinson, Parenting in the 21st Century, Macro Hill Company. Quote: Cheeldren of broken mah-rriages will fully misbeheyv as a way of showing their resentment and rebellion towards their parents.” Ano ang trabaho ni Celia?
4 What was the name of Adi’s real dad?
5 And what, according to Celia, was he busy with?
6 How many years have Tonton spent as fourth year senior?
7 What was Gilbert holding when they got off the car in front of Raymond’s Baguio mansion?
8 Saang scene una pinatugtog ang Just Got Lucky?
9 What cartoon character was in Aga’s cut-off hanging tee in the beach excursion scene?
10 What did William find out about Herbert when he went underwater?
11 Sino tumuli kay Gilbert?
12 Evelyn Vargas (clinic assistant): “Wala na daw pong chicken sandwich, doktora, hotdog na lang. Ano pong gusto niyo, regular o jumbo?” Ano’ng sagot ng doctor while looking at Herbert’s ari?
13 Habang tinutuli si Gilbert, bumibili si William at Raymond ng buko kay Bembol Roco. Sabay sa pag-tapyas ng buko, sumigaw si Herbert from the clinic. What did William say?
14 Ano ang brand ng softdrinks sa pad ni Adi where the guys poured ketchup on Herbert’s nangangamatis na ari?
15 What was the real name of the school the movie was shot?
16 What brand of those footlong ballpens were the guys toying with in class?
17 What was the name of the gay teacher-in-charge?
18 Who was the bold actress who played the Spanish teacher?
19 What did Baby Delgado prepare for Adi for their merienda by the pool?
20 And what did Baby ask Aga when she noticed he was looking at the pool (after she caught him looking at her crotch)?
21 Who played the sex education teacher?
22 Who played William’s “ander da saya” dad?
23 What was the name of Liza Lorena’s boyfriend in the movie?
24 Early in the film, Tita Nena mispronounced Topee’s (JC) name. What did she say?
25 Who played the school principal?


1 "Baby, I Lied." Siguro kasi si Baby Delgado. 2 Sorority sisters. It was mentioned twice in the film. 3 Writer 4 Rusty 5 Mushrooms and his cheap Australian model. 6 Apat 7 Rubic's cube 8 The guys skateboarding in John Hay, Baguio. 9 Smurf. 10 Supot pa siya. 11 Si Dexter Doria. 12 "Vienna sausage." 13 "Pare, ayos, nabuksan na rin ang payong." 14 Fanta 15 Jose Abad Santos Memorial High School. 16 Scribbler. 17 Raul Dimaano 18 Irma Alegre 19 Pancakes. 20 "You wanna take a dip?" 21 Zorayda Sanchez 22 Rodolfo "Boy" Garcia 23 Rocky 24 Tappie 25 Flora Gasser.

YELLOW WRISTBANDS, ORANGE CHUCKS ] Butch Garcia on creating the Bagets world

Collage by JR Agra

I have done other films with Maryo J. De los Reyes before Bagets. I was kind of part of his team. We worked on the concept of Bagets together with the writer Jake Tordesillas and the producer William Leary. We never knew of course that what we were working on was going to be phenomenal. All we wanted to do was to make a really good youth film.

The look of Bagets was not influenced by any local or foreign film before it, nor was it influenced by what was going on in the fashion scene here or abroad. I was inspired by a Beatles poster done by the famous graphic artist Peter Max. He was very popular in the ‘60s, and I wanted that type of coloring. I wanted lots and lots of colors, different color pants for a different color shirt layered on another colored shirt. The kids will love it, I thought.



Apart from the Beatles poster, I spent time walking around the university belt, downtown Manila, and watched the kids, what they were wearing, what they were doing with their clothes. I took note of the little nuances: the open shirts, the sneakers, the way they tied their scarves. I adapted all of these but rehashed them by splashing it with lots of color. It was the early ‘80s, and people seemed to have tired from the color explosion of the past decade. So when I was looking around the department stores, from SM and Plaza Fair, all they had were beige and brown. Beige and brown! And the rest was just drab maroon.

So together with my brothers who were part of my production team, we bought a lot of shirts and dyed them. We bought those roundneck Crispa shirts—they were the ones that were really nice--bought our own stencils and printed away. We put pockets where there were none. We spray-painted fabrics. We made our own trinkets and accessories, put safety pins together, etc. We had a budget of P150,000 for the production design and costume. That was a lot of money during that time but clearly not enough for what I wanted to do. I wanted almost every scene to be big. Maglilipat lang ng bahay si Liza Lorena, people had to be playing with fireworks in the background. Mag-eexcursion lang sa beach kailangan may jeep driving through the shore.

The money was certainly not enough to dress up five boys, their girlfriends, their classmates and their mothers. We couldn’t just have people wear their own clothes because the look we were going for, in the clothes and in the sets, were mostly non-existent during that time. We were creating our own world, and we were dressing up its characters the way no one else was dressing up in real life. We had to resort to rehashing old clothes, or going to the department stores. We wanted the look to be different but not alienating to the young audience. I told Maryo that the look has to be reachable and affordable so that the kids will accept it.

Our guinea pigs, of course, were the five boys. They all somehow had similar outfits but you could see that some were a little bit nerdier than the others. At the start of the filming, I had already warned them: ‘Boys, paglalaruan ko kayo, paglalaruan natin ang mga damit niyo.’ Can you imagine any other young gym buff then wearing what JC was wearing: all those colorful shorts and yellow wristbands made of terry cloth? Making Aga Muhlach wear orange shoes was a big fight. And then there was that bowtie in the dance sequence. After awhile, they had began to accept that idea that we were doing something new. They would volunteer their own clothes but we would still rehash them, make them wear a different color undershirt, and then roll the sleeves with the undershirt peeking. That was a signature Bagets look.

They were wearing all these colourful outfits in a very colourful world. Because that was how I thought the kids saw their world, parang ‘70s, like some wonderful acid trip.

Bagets is really my claim to fame. Nobody here can claim that they made a film that changed the way people dressed up. I was nominated in the award-giving bodies the following year, but I never won. I don't even remember anymore who won, or for which movie. But, apparently, everybody seems to remember Bagets.As told to Jerome Gomez

Butch Garcia is the production designer for Bagets. His last film was the underrated Star Cinema project First Day High which tried to recreate a colorful youth world in the mold of Bagets.
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