Posts
5 days ago
Showing posts with label movies and music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies and music. Show all posts
25 January, 2011
we must cry: "Two Big White Tears" [Due Grosse Lacrima Bianche]
A song can go many ways, and we remember certain songs if they speak clearly of the condition of the heart that hears it. This song is quite old, but I believe it deserves to be heard once more.
My friend Dennis introduced me to this song not more than a day ago. By the first few bars, I was mesmerized by the song and the voice; and I asked him if he could translate it for me. Here it goes...
Nostre cuore dicevi sempre
Non è una stanza che si affitta
Noi ci lasciamo, la stanza è vuota
La porta aperta resterà
Due grosse lacrime bianche
Come due perle del mare
È tutto quello che a me rimane di te
D'amore, no, non si muore
Per non sentir la tua voce
La testa sotto il cuscino io nasconderò
Come un lampo che apre il cielo
Ho visto chiaro in mezzo al buio
Solo d'amore, no, non si muore
Ridendo, me l'hai detto tu
Due grosse lacrime bianche
Come due perle del mare
È tutto quello che a me rimane di te
Due grosse lacrime bianche
Che non faranno rumore
Perché le ultime sai non pesano mai
Our heart, you always said
Is not a room that we rent out
We left each other, the room is empty
The door will stay open
Two big white tears
Like two pearls from the sea
Is all that you left me
No, you don't die because of love
I don't want to hear your voice
I'll hide my head under my pillow
Like a flash that opens the sky
I saw you clearly in the middle of the dark
No, you don't die only because of love
You taught me how to laugh
Two big white tears
Like two pearls from the sea
Is all for me that's left from you
Two big white tears
That won't make a noise
Because the last ones are never heavy,
you know...
~oh how my heart sings this song now... just for the heck of it. Hehehehehe...
thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
01 January, 2011
Still Can't Get Over It: Bali-Bali ang Baler
since today is a date of multiple ones and repetitions, let's repeat this one:
Does the lack of period cinema pieces reflect the poor cultural state of a nation’s film industry or does it represent an industry’s collective practicality with the lack of interest in mounting these admittedly expensive projects? I am far from really knowing the zeitgeist of filmmakers these days; while there are many that say the Filipino film industry is either dead or dying, on the other hand some dare say that it is being resuscitated by the rise of independent digital cinema. Well, you will have to forgive me for saying that an expensive digital SLR camera does not make a photographer nor can a high end digital motion picture camera make a true filmmaker [I‘m just wired to think that way].
For at a time when I am at my neck’s end with the nth sequel to Enteng Kabisote, or am truly amazed at how the Filipino public laps up badly written fantasies like Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom, or finding Jinggoy Estrada winning film festival best actor as the first biggest joke of 2008, there’s a part of me that is hoping and praying that somehow, next year, a well written period piece executed with such commercial viability can truly reflect the direction this nation’s cinema is taking.
Not long ago, I decided to watch BALER as it was the only movie that seemed to interest me with the roster of films from the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival; also the fact that it was a period film stirred by curiosity. I have this fascination with recreating the 1890s and the novecento period of Philippine history. Credit that to a fine-tuned olde worlde sensibility which I more often than not cling to.
In a nutshell BALER is based on the historical account of The Siege of Baler which began in 1898 and lasted for about three hundred or so days. In the midst of this, is the romance between an India [female native of the islands] woman named Feliza [The film’s press release used the term ‘Filipina’ which was pretty much incorrect for that word was used to call a female of Spanish blood who was born in the islands; also called Insulares.] and a soldier named Celso -of Spanish and Indio descent- played by Jericho Rosales. Right there and then let me point out that there’s such a thing we call color-blind casting [casting actors despite of race or color] which has been applied in the theater for quite some time now when the need arises. But when it comes to the cinema, and since this was a period piece, I was taught that we were governed by certain casting aesthetics to retain the suspension of disbelief. As much as there were fair-skinned Indias at the time, the choice of Anne Curtis as Feliza gave off the impression that she was a Mestiza rather than a daughter from an Indio family. And on the other hand, Jericho Rosales might pass off as one those half-breeds descended from the dregs of the Spanish military ranks that were not influential enough and were sent to the islands in their service to Spain, but there was something I could not put to words about his casting which I can only describe as an odd aftertaste.
On the other hand, the other actors they cast as pure-bred Spaniards, as Mestizo as they were, were an odd bunch of too foreign and not too foreign looking to begin with [Sorry, PJ -he was cast as one of the soldiers]; ergo I somehow understand that to have put Jericho Rosales together with Mark Bautista and Jao Mapa as half-breed Spanish soldiers would justify the casting. Speaking of which, I shall point out the first cultural cliché of the movie: Jericho Rosales plays the role of a soldier with a Spanish father and a Pampango [Capampangan or native of Pampanga province] mother. It has been common knowledge that the Spaniards have an affinity for the Capampangans because of all the Indios, they were always on the side of the Spaniards.
So, in this melting pot of complications, let me add that Feliza is the daughter of a revolutionary leader played by veteran action star Phillip Salvador and acclaimed actress Rio Locsin. She has a brother named Gabriel played by Carlo Aquino, who is more interested in serving the Church rater than picking up a gun to fight for his country. It is for this reason that the romance between Feliza and Celso remain a secret.
Now, let me get to the nitty-gritty of the film. I have learned that if in the first five minutes you have not acquired the interest of your viewing audience, then the film will have a hard time keeping their attention. The first few shots of BALER, [portraying the massacre of Spanish soldiers the year before 1898], as much as it tried to establish the premise of a crumbling colonial power in the midst of quashing a revolution, seemed a bit ubiquitous and rushed. This short-lived prologue would seem to be a foreshadowing of the cinematic pace the director chose for the film which is best defined as “erratic”.
There was nothing special I could remember from the camera work nor was there anything I could say that took me from my seat into that time and place they were creating. Even in the love montages featuring Feliza and Celso [the first of which the audience was treated to seemed like the pace of the jump cut from the Hans Montenegro segment of the Jojo Veloso VHS scandal], I felt as if there was no fluidity in the incorporation of the romance into the historical nature of the film. As a viewer, I felt as though I was bombarded by ubiquitous visions of lovers strolling or running by the beach and end up kissing; only this time, they were in period clothing. But seriously, no India woman would be caught dead wearing a sleeveless camison and a saya like that by the beach in 1890s Philippines, as far as my education takes me. Perhaps the only scene that drew a curious smile on my face was when the lovers used the church’s confessional to pass the message of the time and place where they are to meet. Call me nit picky but if the writers already took so much cinematic license to begin with, why did they not portray their courtship with the secret language of gestures using fans, kerchiefs, and flowers used by lovers during that time to emphasize the authenticity. To the least, I’m sure an Ambeth Ocampo book was not unavailable to them.
Also, what I found lacking in this cinematic experience is this sense of urgency brought about by the changing of flags, the excitement of the birth of a new nation, and the last stand that the Spaniards are about to take inside that church as if it were the Alamo. I mean there are scenes that established thus but they seem to have been missing that intensity to contrast all that love against the impending battle. For when I was on my seat I was going, “So there’s supposed to be this big siege that’s about to take place, why don’t I feel the gravity of it?”
And I don’t know what they wanted to achieve with it, but a cinematic device that got lost to me were these two film clips in black and white that showed two events: the Battle of Manila Bay and Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence. They look like lost parts of a Charlie Chaplin movie, in their choppy crude texture that found its way into the film. Okay, if they had intended for it to be a narrative device to display the coinciding historical events by using that early film reel effect, they would have been better off using that from beginning to end to give it another dimension to period standards. But unfortunately, they make up a one-time-small-time sequence that never amounted to anything.
From the way I see it, there was a lot of opportunity to explore blocking, cinematic shots, and creative camera work. But as one pointed out to me, “The blocking was high school velada. Everybody facing an invisible proscenium.” Later would I concur by saying, “There’s only so much you can do with blocking it like a firing squad.”
When it came to the film’s Production Design, I have but one word: Texture. I think the film tried as much as it could to use the natural scenery it was able to film in. You don’t see that much green anymore just anywhere in this country. But when it came to the constructed sets, even without any design background, one still knows by the look of it what they had were literally sets. It’s like when you watch a Filipino sitcom and you know that the concrete walls are actually made of plywood. Like in one scene showing the church interior, the wall and those stairs look like they came out of an AngTV fantasy set. The church, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the entire design template, looked as if it used up Divisoria’s Styrofoam supply from the outside. I have no idea if that was the actual architectural façade of the church therefore I have to stop criticizing the odd shape of the structure which does not fall into the usual silhouettes of a turn of the century church that often doubles as a stronghold. And was that a statue of Our Lady of Fatima they mounted inside the central niche of the church’s façade?
Also, in one montage, they used a “parol’’ [a star-shaped lantern that has always been associated with the holidays in this country] hanging by the window of a “bahay kubo” to signify that it was Christmas. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. You see, the five pointed star “parol” never existed until about the 1920s. The shape of which was an American import copied off from their flag. Believe it or not, in 1898, there were no Christmas decorations; and if there were, they were only limited to the church in the forms of the crèche and the Niño dormido which came out only on December 25th. And don’t argue that the Americans were already here at that time because even by 1930, the concept of decorating Filipino homes for Christmas had yet to catch on.
When it came to the Costume Design, the biggest question I had was with the uniforms of the Spanish soldiers. If I remember my Philippine costume history correctly, the revolutionaries wore a uniform called the “Rayadillo” which was a pinstriped light blue and white uniform. So, if that was the case, why did the Spanish soldiers then wear the stripes of the “Rayadillo” and the Indio revolutionaries wear the light blue linen uniforms of the Spanish colonial army? I have not been living under a rock, and I have yet to read a paper that says I am wrong about this thing. That’s not something that can be easily overlooked if one is doing a period piece about your own country.
As for the rest of the costumes in this film, they were just that: costumes. They all look like they came straight out of the costume department, crisp and newly ironed. Then there’s the Franciscan robe, the clerical vestments, the altar boy robe… I mean, they have not changed much since the Byzantines and surely with Pope Benedict XVI reviving the use of traditional church vestments in the Roman Catholic Church, they could have at least gotten the silhouette right. But then again, they could argue that these were provincial clerical robes and that would be one excuse to use.
Now, I’m not the best Spanish speaker out there, but listening to the Spanish they used in this film, they would have done better to say the least. There is a nuance to the Spanish they used in the 1890s that is not found in the sprinklings of the Spanish dialogue they tried to inject. Even the character of Baron Geisler who plays a Spanish officer suddenly shifts to speak Tagalog while addressing the character of Joel Torre in accent moderne.
I had this summation about Baler midway through the film: I told myself that the movie’s heart was in the right place yet it seemed to beat the wrong way.
Like the second cliché of the film uttered by Mark Bautista [hated the mustache they made him wear for the movie] as the other half-bred soldier named Lope who was in-love with another India in the movie, “Mahirap umibig sa panahon ng digmaan.” [Love is difficult in a time of war] the film is not without stock characters that defined the generation of revolutionary leaders played by Joel Torre and stage and screen veteran Leo Martinez; the latter whose performance seemed to be the saving grace of this film.
Also, I think the writers did their best to portray both sides of the conflict. I sympathized with the plight of the Revolutionaries attempting to gain recognition with their sovereignty over the islands under the Spanish and American tug of war, the dynamic of having multi-racial soldiers that can be seen as traitors in a colonial army as well as their sentiments of being stationed in the islands, and the impatience of the revolutionary forces against the resolve of the Spaniards to stand their ground all contributed to the multi-faceted plot line. Even with that, it seemed to me like the editing would make an effort here and then suddenly just move on to the next one out of necessity. As I said earlier, I can’t seem to figure out the cinematic pace of this movie.
I’ve been having a hard time composing my next point but here goes: I used to think that when it came to doing period movies about your country, you’re supposed to have a grasp of the things within your own backyard. I mean, if Ngila Dickson could design costumes for the Last Samurai and she’s not even Japanese, imagine what the Japanese themselves -like Akira Kurosawa has done with Emi Wada for Throne of Blood or Ran for that matter.
Also, I was taught not to insult your audience’s intelligence. The true measure of artistic integrity lies in not settling for whatever is acceptable and getting away with it but in taking a truth and keeping to it [a lesson I admit to have learned the hard way]. In all fairness to BALER, it gave it a good try but somehow midway, they seem to have just settled. By the way of period films, I can’t judge if we actually took a step back from the period pieces of recent vintage but as per BALER, I wasn’t taken from the world I knew to this world they sought to create. And there I was expecting to be somewhere else, but like the Parabasis of a Greek play, I was constantly reminded by all the things I was seeing, that I was watching a movie [It‘s Lapu-Lapu all over again…with shields and spears mounted on walls like in Urdaneta lanais]. If that is the case, then we had better stay away from doing period films lest we hang ourselves.
Does the lack of period cinema pieces reflect the poor cultural state of a nation’s film industry or does it represent an industry’s collective practicality with the lack of interest in mounting these admittedly expensive projects? I am far from really knowing the zeitgeist of filmmakers these days; while there are many that say the Filipino film industry is either dead or dying, on the other hand some dare say that it is being resuscitated by the rise of independent digital cinema. Well, you will have to forgive me for saying that an expensive digital SLR camera does not make a photographer nor can a high end digital motion picture camera make a true filmmaker [I‘m just wired to think that way].
For at a time when I am at my neck’s end with the nth sequel to Enteng Kabisote, or am truly amazed at how the Filipino public laps up badly written fantasies like Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom, or finding Jinggoy Estrada winning film festival best actor as the first biggest joke of 2008, there’s a part of me that is hoping and praying that somehow, next year, a well written period piece executed with such commercial viability can truly reflect the direction this nation’s cinema is taking.
Not long ago, I decided to watch BALER as it was the only movie that seemed to interest me with the roster of films from the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival; also the fact that it was a period film stirred by curiosity. I have this fascination with recreating the 1890s and the novecento period of Philippine history. Credit that to a fine-tuned olde worlde sensibility which I more often than not cling to.
In a nutshell BALER is based on the historical account of The Siege of Baler which began in 1898 and lasted for about three hundred or so days. In the midst of this, is the romance between an India [female native of the islands] woman named Feliza [The film’s press release used the term ‘Filipina’ which was pretty much incorrect for that word was used to call a female of Spanish blood who was born in the islands; also called Insulares.] and a soldier named Celso -of Spanish and Indio descent- played by Jericho Rosales. Right there and then let me point out that there’s such a thing we call color-blind casting [casting actors despite of race or color] which has been applied in the theater for quite some time now when the need arises. But when it comes to the cinema, and since this was a period piece, I was taught that we were governed by certain casting aesthetics to retain the suspension of disbelief. As much as there were fair-skinned Indias at the time, the choice of Anne Curtis as Feliza gave off the impression that she was a Mestiza rather than a daughter from an Indio family. And on the other hand, Jericho Rosales might pass off as one those half-breeds descended from the dregs of the Spanish military ranks that were not influential enough and were sent to the islands in their service to Spain, but there was something I could not put to words about his casting which I can only describe as an odd aftertaste.
On the other hand, the other actors they cast as pure-bred Spaniards, as Mestizo as they were, were an odd bunch of too foreign and not too foreign looking to begin with [Sorry, PJ -he was cast as one of the soldiers]; ergo I somehow understand that to have put Jericho Rosales together with Mark Bautista and Jao Mapa as half-breed Spanish soldiers would justify the casting. Speaking of which, I shall point out the first cultural cliché of the movie: Jericho Rosales plays the role of a soldier with a Spanish father and a Pampango [Capampangan or native of Pampanga province] mother. It has been common knowledge that the Spaniards have an affinity for the Capampangans because of all the Indios, they were always on the side of the Spaniards.
So, in this melting pot of complications, let me add that Feliza is the daughter of a revolutionary leader played by veteran action star Phillip Salvador and acclaimed actress Rio Locsin. She has a brother named Gabriel played by Carlo Aquino, who is more interested in serving the Church rater than picking up a gun to fight for his country. It is for this reason that the romance between Feliza and Celso remain a secret.
Now, let me get to the nitty-gritty of the film. I have learned that if in the first five minutes you have not acquired the interest of your viewing audience, then the film will have a hard time keeping their attention. The first few shots of BALER, [portraying the massacre of Spanish soldiers the year before 1898], as much as it tried to establish the premise of a crumbling colonial power in the midst of quashing a revolution, seemed a bit ubiquitous and rushed. This short-lived prologue would seem to be a foreshadowing of the cinematic pace the director chose for the film which is best defined as “erratic”.
There was nothing special I could remember from the camera work nor was there anything I could say that took me from my seat into that time and place they were creating. Even in the love montages featuring Feliza and Celso [the first of which the audience was treated to seemed like the pace of the jump cut from the Hans Montenegro segment of the Jojo Veloso VHS scandal], I felt as if there was no fluidity in the incorporation of the romance into the historical nature of the film. As a viewer, I felt as though I was bombarded by ubiquitous visions of lovers strolling or running by the beach and end up kissing; only this time, they were in period clothing. But seriously, no India woman would be caught dead wearing a sleeveless camison and a saya like that by the beach in 1890s Philippines, as far as my education takes me. Perhaps the only scene that drew a curious smile on my face was when the lovers used the church’s confessional to pass the message of the time and place where they are to meet. Call me nit picky but if the writers already took so much cinematic license to begin with, why did they not portray their courtship with the secret language of gestures using fans, kerchiefs, and flowers used by lovers during that time to emphasize the authenticity. To the least, I’m sure an Ambeth Ocampo book was not unavailable to them.
Also, what I found lacking in this cinematic experience is this sense of urgency brought about by the changing of flags, the excitement of the birth of a new nation, and the last stand that the Spaniards are about to take inside that church as if it were the Alamo. I mean there are scenes that established thus but they seem to have been missing that intensity to contrast all that love against the impending battle. For when I was on my seat I was going, “So there’s supposed to be this big siege that’s about to take place, why don’t I feel the gravity of it?”
And I don’t know what they wanted to achieve with it, but a cinematic device that got lost to me were these two film clips in black and white that showed two events: the Battle of Manila Bay and Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence. They look like lost parts of a Charlie Chaplin movie, in their choppy crude texture that found its way into the film. Okay, if they had intended for it to be a narrative device to display the coinciding historical events by using that early film reel effect, they would have been better off using that from beginning to end to give it another dimension to period standards. But unfortunately, they make up a one-time-small-time sequence that never amounted to anything.
From the way I see it, there was a lot of opportunity to explore blocking, cinematic shots, and creative camera work. But as one pointed out to me, “The blocking was high school velada. Everybody facing an invisible proscenium.” Later would I concur by saying, “There’s only so much you can do with blocking it like a firing squad.”
When it came to the film’s Production Design, I have but one word: Texture. I think the film tried as much as it could to use the natural scenery it was able to film in. You don’t see that much green anymore just anywhere in this country. But when it came to the constructed sets, even without any design background, one still knows by the look of it what they had were literally sets. It’s like when you watch a Filipino sitcom and you know that the concrete walls are actually made of plywood. Like in one scene showing the church interior, the wall and those stairs look like they came out of an AngTV fantasy set. The church, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the entire design template, looked as if it used up Divisoria’s Styrofoam supply from the outside. I have no idea if that was the actual architectural façade of the church therefore I have to stop criticizing the odd shape of the structure which does not fall into the usual silhouettes of a turn of the century church that often doubles as a stronghold. And was that a statue of Our Lady of Fatima they mounted inside the central niche of the church’s façade?
Also, in one montage, they used a “parol’’ [a star-shaped lantern that has always been associated with the holidays in this country] hanging by the window of a “bahay kubo” to signify that it was Christmas. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. You see, the five pointed star “parol” never existed until about the 1920s. The shape of which was an American import copied off from their flag. Believe it or not, in 1898, there were no Christmas decorations; and if there were, they were only limited to the church in the forms of the crèche and the Niño dormido which came out only on December 25th. And don’t argue that the Americans were already here at that time because even by 1930, the concept of decorating Filipino homes for Christmas had yet to catch on.
When it came to the Costume Design, the biggest question I had was with the uniforms of the Spanish soldiers. If I remember my Philippine costume history correctly, the revolutionaries wore a uniform called the “Rayadillo” which was a pinstriped light blue and white uniform. So, if that was the case, why did the Spanish soldiers then wear the stripes of the “Rayadillo” and the Indio revolutionaries wear the light blue linen uniforms of the Spanish colonial army? I have not been living under a rock, and I have yet to read a paper that says I am wrong about this thing. That’s not something that can be easily overlooked if one is doing a period piece about your own country.
As for the rest of the costumes in this film, they were just that: costumes. They all look like they came straight out of the costume department, crisp and newly ironed. Then there’s the Franciscan robe, the clerical vestments, the altar boy robe… I mean, they have not changed much since the Byzantines and surely with Pope Benedict XVI reviving the use of traditional church vestments in the Roman Catholic Church, they could have at least gotten the silhouette right. But then again, they could argue that these were provincial clerical robes and that would be one excuse to use.
Now, I’m not the best Spanish speaker out there, but listening to the Spanish they used in this film, they would have done better to say the least. There is a nuance to the Spanish they used in the 1890s that is not found in the sprinklings of the Spanish dialogue they tried to inject. Even the character of Baron Geisler who plays a Spanish officer suddenly shifts to speak Tagalog while addressing the character of Joel Torre in accent moderne.
I had this summation about Baler midway through the film: I told myself that the movie’s heart was in the right place yet it seemed to beat the wrong way.
Like the second cliché of the film uttered by Mark Bautista [hated the mustache they made him wear for the movie] as the other half-bred soldier named Lope who was in-love with another India in the movie, “Mahirap umibig sa panahon ng digmaan.” [Love is difficult in a time of war] the film is not without stock characters that defined the generation of revolutionary leaders played by Joel Torre and stage and screen veteran Leo Martinez; the latter whose performance seemed to be the saving grace of this film.
Also, I think the writers did their best to portray both sides of the conflict. I sympathized with the plight of the Revolutionaries attempting to gain recognition with their sovereignty over the islands under the Spanish and American tug of war, the dynamic of having multi-racial soldiers that can be seen as traitors in a colonial army as well as their sentiments of being stationed in the islands, and the impatience of the revolutionary forces against the resolve of the Spaniards to stand their ground all contributed to the multi-faceted plot line. Even with that, it seemed to me like the editing would make an effort here and then suddenly just move on to the next one out of necessity. As I said earlier, I can’t seem to figure out the cinematic pace of this movie.
I’ve been having a hard time composing my next point but here goes: I used to think that when it came to doing period movies about your country, you’re supposed to have a grasp of the things within your own backyard. I mean, if Ngila Dickson could design costumes for the Last Samurai and she’s not even Japanese, imagine what the Japanese themselves -like Akira Kurosawa has done with Emi Wada for Throne of Blood or Ran for that matter.
Also, I was taught not to insult your audience’s intelligence. The true measure of artistic integrity lies in not settling for whatever is acceptable and getting away with it but in taking a truth and keeping to it [a lesson I admit to have learned the hard way]. In all fairness to BALER, it gave it a good try but somehow midway, they seem to have just settled. By the way of period films, I can’t judge if we actually took a step back from the period pieces of recent vintage but as per BALER, I wasn’t taken from the world I knew to this world they sought to create. And there I was expecting to be somewhere else, but like the Parabasis of a Greek play, I was constantly reminded by all the things I was seeing, that I was watching a movie [It‘s Lapu-Lapu all over again…with shields and spears mounted on walls like in Urdaneta lanais]. If that is the case, then we had better stay away from doing period films lest we hang ourselves.
07 May, 2010
the song that goes like this: You and Me Song by the Wannadies
I woke up and this song was playing in my head...Hahahahaha!!! Enjoy thy weekend, folks...
You and Me Song
Always when we fight
I try to make you laugh
Until everything's forgotten
I know you hate that
Ba ba ra ra ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ra ra ba ba ba ba
Always when we fight
I kiss you once or twice
And everything's forgotten
I know you hate that
I love you Sunday sun
The week's not yet begun
And everything is quiet
And it's always
You and me - always - and forever
You and me - always - and forever
Ba ba ba ba ba
It was always
You and me - always
You tell me I'm a real man
And try to look impressed
Not very convincing
But you know I love it
Then we watch TV
Until we fall asleep
Not very exciting
But it's you and me
And we'll always be together
You and me - always - and forever
You and me - always - and forever
Ba ba ba ba ba
It was always
You and me - always - and forever
You and me - always - and forever
Ba ba ba ba ba
It was always
You and me - always - and forever
You and me - always - and forever
Ba ba ba ba ba
Babaroah
thus spake The Barefoot Baklesa
29 April, 2010
This is for September 15: Broken Strings... you know what i mean
This is for september 15
Broken Strings
James Morrison
Let me hold you for the last time
It's the last chance to feel again
But you broke me, now I can't feel anything
When I love you and so untrue
I can't even convince myself
When I'm speaking it's the voice of someone else
Oh, it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
How can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
Oh, what are we doing?
We are turning into dust
Playing house in the ruins of us
Running back through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When it's too late, too late
Oh, it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
How can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
But we're running through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When we both know it's too late, too late
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
So how can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
Oh, you know that I love you a little less than before
Let me hold you for the last time
It's the last chance to feel again
thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
Broken Strings
James Morrison
Let me hold you for the last time
It's the last chance to feel again
But you broke me, now I can't feel anything
When I love you and so untrue
I can't even convince myself
When I'm speaking it's the voice of someone else
Oh, it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
How can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
Oh, what are we doing?
We are turning into dust
Playing house in the ruins of us
Running back through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When it's too late, too late
Oh, it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
How can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
But we're running through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When we both know it's too late, too late
You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real
Oh, the truth hurts and lies worse
So how can I give anymore
When I love you a little less than before?
Oh, you know that I love you a little less than before
Let me hold you for the last time
It's the last chance to feel again
thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
06 October, 2009
God Help the Outcasts...
"I ask for nothing, I can get by
But I know so many less lucky than I
Please help my people, the poor and downtrod
I thought we all were the children of God
God help the outcasts, children of God..."
I've been thinking about this song a lot lately...
I was watching the early evening news when I saw this feature about a teenage boy who came back to school after having experienced the flooding that came with typhoon Ondoy - he had nothing on him but the clothes he had saved to wear that day- his school bag and things were washed away with the flood waters as well as two sets of his school uniforms [the only ones he had]...
My heart just could not take it... there are more stories after the storm; some worth more tears than that already shed.
This song is also a prayer for those who survived the storm... I ask that you play it in the hopes that it sends good energy across the karmic/dharmaic highway...
...thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
27 May, 2009
A Frozen Flower [the barefoot baklesa review]
Is love reduced to nothing more than just really settling for what is there before you as would princes and princesses in a fairy tale? Are we as human beings foolishly conditioned to love what is before us in fear of receiving no other love? Or are we mere slaves to our passions that it clouds our very reason, much to our own demise?
These were but the first few questions left for me to ponder after having seen ‘Ssanghwajeom’ [A Frozen Flower]; a Korean period drama that director Yoo Ha describes as “a love story between men”. No, this isn’t about two Korean cowboys “eating pudding” as the South Park character of Cartmann put it when describing gay movies -I've read from The Man of the Rose that ‘Ssanghwajeom’ [A Frozen Flower] is Korea’s answer to Brokeback Mountain but since I don’t really find the gay cowboy movie remotely entertaining, let’s leave it at that.
‘Ssanghwajeom’ [A Frozen Flower] borrows its title from a song taken from the Goryeo Period of Korean history which poeticized the sexual relationships between men and women. Set during that same era, it tells of a late dynasty Goryeo King [Joo Jin-Moo] who has to contend with the virtual imperial rule of the Yuan Dynasty of China over his kingdom. With his sovereignty under threat for having produced no male heir, the king turns to his chief royal bodyguard, Hong Lim [played by the ever handsome Jo In-sung], to impregnate the Queen [Song Ji-Hyo].
The sexual entanglement ensues to much chaotic result; for the King himself has his own affair with Hong Lim [Jo In-Sung] and would trust no one but him to impregnate the Queen [Song Ji-Hyo], who is nothing more than a trophy wife he has no attachment nor attraction to.
At first, Hong Lim [Jo In-Sung] is hesitant to touch the Queen. She herself, after experiencing years of unaffection and being neglected by the King would soon find herself liberated and enslaved after the veil of sexual intercourse for duty and country is lifted and sex for carnal passion bares its visage, as well as Hong Lim [Jo In-Sung] who has not known any other love but the King’s.
On closer inspection, Hong Lim [Jo In-Sung] may have entered into an affair with the King as a result of his consequences of servitude and loyalty. Becoming the King’s lover and chief bodyguard after being reared by the King himself while still a teenage Prince, and him an adolescent boy-in-training, seems more or less the victim of circumstance here.
Guilt is brushed aside for unbridled passion as the Queen [Song Ji-Hyo] and Hong Lim [Jo In-Sung] continue their secret trysts much to the unraveling of the King’s [Joo Jin-Moo] jealousy. Finding it a bit too much, the film is replete with such explicit sexual scenes between the two that it would not be long until the secret lovers are caught enflagrante delicto by the King himself and a tragic and violent end of Shakespearean proportions comes upon the characters. [Trust me when I say heads will roll, for that will be an understatement when you see one type of ‘head‘ that will roll]
Give or take the complex dynamic of Hong Lim’s [Jo In-Sung] love for both of them, he chooses to turn his head towards the King that perished by his hand meeting his eyes as he took his dying breath with the King’s sword pierced in his heart. The last thing he would see in this world would be the dead frozen eyes of his King.
Was this in any form, his statement of remorse, for having hurt the man who showed him the first kind of love he had ever known? That if he had stood by the King’s love, however one-sided and consequential it was, they would not meet this bloody end? Did he realize, after all this, who he truly loved?
Even I am confused…
But stirring the mist in my crazy head let me just muddle out a few ideas… Hong Lim’s [Jo In-sung] rampage seems to me nothing more than a lover’s quarrel gone wrong. Such a bloody and violent display to show the King that all of it was of the King’s doing and that if he had not pushed him too far, they would not be caught in all this -call it- drama. Then of course, like some of those in pretentious denial about themselves, one could argue that the chief bodyguard is ‘bisexual’ and the King would just have to live with sharing him with the queen.
In the spirit of symbolism expected of Asiatic movies, the filmmakers seem to have chosen a vision or longing of true happiness in a painting made by the King himself. It is of a dream of his about him and his chief bodyguard off on a hunt -the promise of which filled his heart with joy. This very painting was ripped apart by Hong Lim’s sword in his violent rage when he went after the King. And by some cinematic choice, after their tragic deaths, this image of the happy hunt is presented to us: the King and Hong Lim riding on horseback with bows on hand ready to strike. The smile on their faces display no care of the world that had bound them once before -something that strikes me as a last minute predictable attempt at the promise of being reincarnated with the one you love or too much heaven in the head.
I can say this much for the other elements of the film: the production values were quite excellent. The production design was very detailed yet fairly streamlined, the musical score kept at the appropriate pace, and the editing is as expected considering some action scenes. Except for the rather lengthy displays of sex scenes, it was a movie that stimulates the senses without doing it too much.
Well, I can’t really say if I’m impressed with Jo In-Sung’s acting on this one. Much as I love the guy, the performance seemed mechanical and studied. While Joo Jin-Moo as the King displayed such gentle nuances that displayed his hidden sexuality above the royal refinement. And Song Ji-Hyo’s Queen is the acting centerpiece of the film worthy of praise.
As I type the last few sentences of this review, A Frozen Flower seems to be leaving more questions than it can answer. Some people can take the plainly obvious unraveling while some can dig deeper into it. Either way, it is one not to be missed.
thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
07 May, 2009
the barefoot baklesa recommends: Little Ashes
Theater Majors are familiar with the works of Federico Garcia Lorca like El Publico [The Public] and El Malefico de la Mariposa [The Butterfly's Evil Spell] ~if they are not, then they must have enrolled in the wrong theater school~ and no self-respecting student of art could not have at least once encountered and been mesmerized by the works of Salvador Dali... But what most of us do not know, is that these two men, great minds that existed in the grind of the young and volatile modern world, were once entwined in the love that Oscar Wilde once described, "dare not speak its name"
Little Ashes is period drama that explores the little-known passion between these two men; Javier Beltran plays the enigmatic Lorca while the Robert Pattinson of Potter 4 and Twilight fame plays the eccentric Dali. A movie not to be missed, Little Ashes is due for international release on the 8th of May.
thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa
03 April, 2009
Bali-Bali ang BALER [the barefoot baklesa review]
A friend of mine hath asked me to re-post this, and I must comply...
Does the lack of period cinema pieces reflect the poor cultural state of a nation’s film industry or does it represent an industry’s collective practicality with the lack of interest in mounting these admittedly expensive projects? I am far from really knowing the zeitgeist of filmmakers these days; while there are many that say the Filipino film industry is either dead or dying, on the other hand some dare say that it is being resuscitated by the rise of independent digital cinema. Well, you will have to forgive me for saying that an expensive digital SLR camera does not make a photographer nor can a high end digital motion picture camera make a true filmmaker [I‘m just wired to think that way].
For at a time when I am at my neck’s end with the nth sequel to Enteng Kabisote, or am truly amazed at how the Filipino public laps up badly written fantasies like Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom, or finding Jinggoy Estrada winning film festival best actor as the first biggest joke of 2008, there’s a part of me that is hoping and praying that somehow, next year, a well written period piece executed with such commercial viability can truly reflect the direction this nation’s cinema is taking.
Not long ago, I decided to watch BALER as it was the only movie that seemed to interest me with the roster of films from the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival; also the fact that it was a period film stirred by curiosity. I have this fascination with recreating the 1890s and the novecento period of Philippine history. Credit that to a fine-tuned olde worlde sensibility which I more often than not cling to.
In a nutshell BALER is based on the historical account of The Siege of Baler which began in 1898 and lasted for about three hundred or so days. In the midst of this, is the romance between an India [female native of the islands] woman named Feliza [The film’s press release used the term ‘Filipina’ which was pretty much incorrect for that word was used to call a female of Spanish blood who was born in the islands; also called Insulares.] and a soldier named Celso -of Spanish and Indio descent- played by Jericho Rosales. Right there and then let me point out that there’s such a thing we call color-blind casting [casting actors despite of race or color] which has been applied in the theater for quite some time now when the need arises. But when it comes to the cinema, and since this was a period piece, I was taught that we were governed by certain casting aesthetics to retain the suspension of disbelief. As much as there were fair-skinned Indias at the time, the choice of Anne Curtis as Feliza gave off the impression that she was a Mestiza rather than a daughter from an Indio family. And on the other hand, Jericho Rosales might pass off as one those half-breeds descended from the dregs of the Spanish military ranks that were not influential enough and were sent to the islands in their service to Spain, but there was something I could not put to words about his casting which I can only describe as an odd aftertaste.
On the other hand, the other actors they cast as pure-bred Spaniards, as Mestizo as they were, were an odd bunch of too foreign and not too foreign looking to begin with [Sorry, PJ -he was cast as one of the soldiers]; ergo I somehow understand that to have put Jericho Rosales together with Mark Bautista and Jao Mapa as half-breed Spanish soldiers would justify the casting. Speaking of which, I shall point out the first cultural cliché of the movie: Jericho Rosales plays the role of a soldier with a Spanish father and a Pampango [Capampangan or native of Pampanga province] mother. It has been common knowledge that the Spaniards have an affinity for the Capampangans because of all the Indios, they were always on the side of the Spaniards.
So, in this melting pot of complications, let me add that Feliza is the daughter of a revolutionary leader played by veteran action star Phillip Salvador and acclaimed actress Rio Locsin. She has a brother named Gabriel played by Carlo Aquino, who is more interested in serving the Church rater than picking up a gun to fight for his country. It is for this reason that the romance between Feliza and Celso remain a secret.
Now, let me get to the nitty-gritty of the film. I have learned that if in the first five minutes you have not acquired the interest of your viewing audience, then the film will have a hard time keeping their attention. The first few shots of BALER, [portraying the massacre of Spanish soldiers the year before 1898], as much as it tried to establish the premise of a crumbling colonial power in the midst of quashing a revolution, seemed a bit ubiquitous and rushed. This short-lived prologue would seem to be a foreshadowing of the cinematic pace the director chose for the film which is best defined as “erratic”.
There was nothing special I could remember from the camera work nor was there anything I could say that took me from my seat into that time and place they were creating. Even in the love montages featuring Feliza and Celso [the first of which the audience was treated to seemed like the pace of the jump cut from the Hans Montenegro segment of the Jojo Veloso VHS scandal], I felt as if there was no fluidity in the incorporation of the romance into the historical nature of the film. As a viewer, I felt as though I was bombarded by ubiquitous visions of lovers strolling or running by the beach and end up kissing; only this time, they were in period clothing. But seriously, no India woman would be caught dead wearing a sleeveless camison and a saya like that by the beach in 1890s Philippines, as far as my education takes me. Perhaps the only scene that drew a curious smile on my face was when the lovers used the church’s confessional to pass the message of the time and place where they are to meet. Call me nit picky but if the writers already took so much cinematic license to begin with, why did they not portray their courtship with the secret language of gestures using fans, kerchiefs, and flowers used by lovers during that time to emphasize the authenticity. To the least, I’m sure an Ambeth Ocampo book was not unavailable to them.
Also, what I found lacking in this cinematic experience is this sense of urgency brought about by the changing of flags, the excitement of the birth of a new nation, and the last stand that the Spaniards are about to take inside that church as if it were the Alamo. I mean there are scenes that established thus but they seem to have been missing that intensity to contrast all that love against the impending battle. For when I was on my seat I was going, “So there’s supposed to be this big siege that’s about to take place, why don’t I feel the gravity of it?”
And I don’t know what they wanted to achieve with it, but a cinematic device that got lost to me were these two film clips in black and white that showed two events: the Battle of Manila Bay and Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence. They look like lost parts of a Charlie Chaplin movie, in their choppy crude texture that found its way into the film. Okay, if they had intended for it to be a narrative device to display the coinciding historical events by using that early film reel effect, they would have been better off using that from beginning to end to give it another dimension to period standards. But unfortunately, they make up a one-time-small-time sequence that never amounted to anything.
From the way I see it, there was a lot of opportunity to explore blocking, cinematic shots, and creative camera work. But as one pointed out to me, “The blocking was high school velada. Everybody facing an invisible proscenium.” Later would I concur by saying, “There’s only so much you can do with blocking it like a firing squad.”
When it came to the film’s Production Design, I have but one word: Texture. I think the film tried as much as it could to use the natural scenery it was able to film in. You don’t see that much green anymore just anywhere in this country. But when it came to the constructed sets, even without any design background, one still knows by the look of it what they had were literally sets. It’s like when you watch a Filipino sitcom and you know that the concrete walls are actually made of plywood. Like in one scene showing the church interior, the wall and those stairs look like they came out of an AngTV fantasy set. The church, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the entire design template, looked as if it used up Divisoria’s Styrofoam supply from the outside. I have no idea if that was the actual architectural façade of the church therefore I have to stop criticizing the odd shape of the structure which does not fall into the usual silhouettes of a turn of the century church that often doubles as a stronghold. And was that a statue of Our Lady of Fatima they mounted inside the central niche of the church’s façade?
Also, in one montage, they used a “parol’’ [a star-shaped lantern that has always been associated with the holidays in this country] hanging by the window of a “bahay kubo” to signify that it was Christmas. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. You see, the five pointed star “parol” never existed until about the 1920s. The shape of which was an American import copied off from their flag. Believe it or not, in 1898, there were no Christmas decorations; and if there were, they were only limited to the church in the forms of the crèche and the Niño dormido which came out only on December 25th. And don’t argue that the Americans were already here at that time because even by 1930, the concept of decorating Filipino homes for Christmas had yet to catch on.
When it came to the Costume Design, the biggest question I had was with the uniforms of the Spanish soldiers. If I remember my Philippine costume history correctly, the revolutionaries wore a uniform called the “Rayadillo” which was a pinstriped light blue and white uniform. So, if that was the case, why did the Spanish soldiers then wear the stripes of the “Rayadillo” and the Indio revolutionaries wear the light blue linen uniforms of the Spanish colonial army? I have not been living under a rock, and I have yet to read a paper that says I am wrong about this thing. That’s not something that can be easily overlooked if one is doing a period piece about your own country.
As for the rest of the costumes in this film, they were just that: costumes. They all look like they came straight out of the costume department, crisp and newly ironed. Then there’s the Franciscan robe, the clerical vestments, the altar boy robe… I mean, they have not changed much since the Byzantines and surely with Pope Benedict XVI reviving the use of traditional church vestments in the Roman Catholic Church, they could have at least gotten the silhouette right. But then again, they could argue that these were provincial clerical robes and that would be one excuse to use.
Now, I’m not the best Spanish speaker out there, but listening to the Spanish they used in this film, they would have done better to say the least. There is a nuance to the Spanish they used in the 1890s that is not found in the sprinklings of the Spanish dialogue they tried to inject. Even the character of Baron Geisler who plays a Spanish officer suddenly shifts to speak Tagalog while addressing the character of Joel Torre in accent moderne.
I had this summation about Baler midway through the film: I told myself that the movie’s heart was in the right place yet it seemed to beat the wrong way.
Like the second cliché of the film uttered by Mark Bautista [hated the mustache they made him wear for the movie] as the other half-bred soldier named Lope who was in-love with another India in the movie, “Mahirap umibig sa panahon ng digmaan.” [Love is difficult in a time of war] the film is not without stock characters that defined the generation of revolutionary leaders played by Joel Torre and stage and screen veteran Leo Martinez; the latter whose performance seemed to be the saving grace of this film.
Also, I think the writers did their best to portray both sides of the conflict. I sympathized with the plight of the Revolutionaries attempting to gain recognition with their sovereignty over the islands under the Spanish and American tug of war, the dynamic of having multi-racial soldiers that can be seen as traitors in a colonial army as well as their sentiments of being stationed in the islands, and the impatience of the revolutionary forces against the resolve of the Spaniards to stand their ground all contributed to the multi-faceted plot line. Even with that, it seemed to me like the editing would make an effort here and then suddenly just move on to the next one out of necessity. As I said earlier, I can’t seem to figure out the cinematic pace of this movie.
I’ve been having a hard time composing my next point but here goes: I used to think that when it came to doing period movies about your country, you’re supposed to have a grasp of the things within your own backyard. I mean, if Ngila Dickson could design costumes for the Last Samurai and she’s not even Japanese, imagine what the Japanese themselves -like Akira Kurosawa has done with Emi Wada for Throne of Blood or Ran for that matter.
Also, I was taught not to insult your audience’s intelligence. The true measure of artistic integrity lies in not settling for whatever is acceptable and getting away with it but in taking a truth and keeping to it [a lesson I admit to have learned the hard way]. In all fairness to BALER, it gave it a good try but somehow midway, they seem to have just settled. By the way of period films, I can’t judge if we actually took a step back from the period pieces of recent vintage but as per BALER, I wasn’t taken from the world I knew to this world they sought to create. And there I was expecting to be somewhere else, but like the Parabasis of a Greek play, I was constantly reminded by all the things I was seeing, that I was watching a movie [It‘s Lapu-Lapu all over again…with shields and spears mounted on walls like in Urdaneta lanais]. If that is the case, then we had better stay away from doing period films lest we hang ourselves.
Does the lack of period cinema pieces reflect the poor cultural state of a nation’s film industry or does it represent an industry’s collective practicality with the lack of interest in mounting these admittedly expensive projects? I am far from really knowing the zeitgeist of filmmakers these days; while there are many that say the Filipino film industry is either dead or dying, on the other hand some dare say that it is being resuscitated by the rise of independent digital cinema. Well, you will have to forgive me for saying that an expensive digital SLR camera does not make a photographer nor can a high end digital motion picture camera make a true filmmaker [I‘m just wired to think that way].
For at a time when I am at my neck’s end with the nth sequel to Enteng Kabisote, or am truly amazed at how the Filipino public laps up badly written fantasies like Exodus: Tales from the Enchanted Kingdom, or finding Jinggoy Estrada winning film festival best actor as the first biggest joke of 2008, there’s a part of me that is hoping and praying that somehow, next year, a well written period piece executed with such commercial viability can truly reflect the direction this nation’s cinema is taking.
Not long ago, I decided to watch BALER as it was the only movie that seemed to interest me with the roster of films from the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival; also the fact that it was a period film stirred by curiosity. I have this fascination with recreating the 1890s and the novecento period of Philippine history. Credit that to a fine-tuned olde worlde sensibility which I more often than not cling to.
In a nutshell BALER is based on the historical account of The Siege of Baler which began in 1898 and lasted for about three hundred or so days. In the midst of this, is the romance between an India [female native of the islands] woman named Feliza [The film’s press release used the term ‘Filipina’ which was pretty much incorrect for that word was used to call a female of Spanish blood who was born in the islands; also called Insulares.] and a soldier named Celso -of Spanish and Indio descent- played by Jericho Rosales. Right there and then let me point out that there’s such a thing we call color-blind casting [casting actors despite of race or color] which has been applied in the theater for quite some time now when the need arises. But when it comes to the cinema, and since this was a period piece, I was taught that we were governed by certain casting aesthetics to retain the suspension of disbelief. As much as there were fair-skinned Indias at the time, the choice of Anne Curtis as Feliza gave off the impression that she was a Mestiza rather than a daughter from an Indio family. And on the other hand, Jericho Rosales might pass off as one those half-breeds descended from the dregs of the Spanish military ranks that were not influential enough and were sent to the islands in their service to Spain, but there was something I could not put to words about his casting which I can only describe as an odd aftertaste.
On the other hand, the other actors they cast as pure-bred Spaniards, as Mestizo as they were, were an odd bunch of too foreign and not too foreign looking to begin with [Sorry, PJ -he was cast as one of the soldiers]; ergo I somehow understand that to have put Jericho Rosales together with Mark Bautista and Jao Mapa as half-breed Spanish soldiers would justify the casting. Speaking of which, I shall point out the first cultural cliché of the movie: Jericho Rosales plays the role of a soldier with a Spanish father and a Pampango [Capampangan or native of Pampanga province] mother. It has been common knowledge that the Spaniards have an affinity for the Capampangans because of all the Indios, they were always on the side of the Spaniards.
So, in this melting pot of complications, let me add that Feliza is the daughter of a revolutionary leader played by veteran action star Phillip Salvador and acclaimed actress Rio Locsin. She has a brother named Gabriel played by Carlo Aquino, who is more interested in serving the Church rater than picking up a gun to fight for his country. It is for this reason that the romance between Feliza and Celso remain a secret.
Now, let me get to the nitty-gritty of the film. I have learned that if in the first five minutes you have not acquired the interest of your viewing audience, then the film will have a hard time keeping their attention. The first few shots of BALER, [portraying the massacre of Spanish soldiers the year before 1898], as much as it tried to establish the premise of a crumbling colonial power in the midst of quashing a revolution, seemed a bit ubiquitous and rushed. This short-lived prologue would seem to be a foreshadowing of the cinematic pace the director chose for the film which is best defined as “erratic”.
There was nothing special I could remember from the camera work nor was there anything I could say that took me from my seat into that time and place they were creating. Even in the love montages featuring Feliza and Celso [the first of which the audience was treated to seemed like the pace of the jump cut from the Hans Montenegro segment of the Jojo Veloso VHS scandal], I felt as if there was no fluidity in the incorporation of the romance into the historical nature of the film. As a viewer, I felt as though I was bombarded by ubiquitous visions of lovers strolling or running by the beach and end up kissing; only this time, they were in period clothing. But seriously, no India woman would be caught dead wearing a sleeveless camison and a saya like that by the beach in 1890s Philippines, as far as my education takes me. Perhaps the only scene that drew a curious smile on my face was when the lovers used the church’s confessional to pass the message of the time and place where they are to meet. Call me nit picky but if the writers already took so much cinematic license to begin with, why did they not portray their courtship with the secret language of gestures using fans, kerchiefs, and flowers used by lovers during that time to emphasize the authenticity. To the least, I’m sure an Ambeth Ocampo book was not unavailable to them.
Also, what I found lacking in this cinematic experience is this sense of urgency brought about by the changing of flags, the excitement of the birth of a new nation, and the last stand that the Spaniards are about to take inside that church as if it were the Alamo. I mean there are scenes that established thus but they seem to have been missing that intensity to contrast all that love against the impending battle. For when I was on my seat I was going, “So there’s supposed to be this big siege that’s about to take place, why don’t I feel the gravity of it?”
And I don’t know what they wanted to achieve with it, but a cinematic device that got lost to me were these two film clips in black and white that showed two events: the Battle of Manila Bay and Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence. They look like lost parts of a Charlie Chaplin movie, in their choppy crude texture that found its way into the film. Okay, if they had intended for it to be a narrative device to display the coinciding historical events by using that early film reel effect, they would have been better off using that from beginning to end to give it another dimension to period standards. But unfortunately, they make up a one-time-small-time sequence that never amounted to anything.
From the way I see it, there was a lot of opportunity to explore blocking, cinematic shots, and creative camera work. But as one pointed out to me, “The blocking was high school velada. Everybody facing an invisible proscenium.” Later would I concur by saying, “There’s only so much you can do with blocking it like a firing squad.”
When it came to the film’s Production Design, I have but one word: Texture. I think the film tried as much as it could to use the natural scenery it was able to film in. You don’t see that much green anymore just anywhere in this country. But when it came to the constructed sets, even without any design background, one still knows by the look of it what they had were literally sets. It’s like when you watch a Filipino sitcom and you know that the concrete walls are actually made of plywood. Like in one scene showing the church interior, the wall and those stairs look like they came out of an AngTV fantasy set. The church, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the entire design template, looked as if it used up Divisoria’s Styrofoam supply from the outside. I have no idea if that was the actual architectural façade of the church therefore I have to stop criticizing the odd shape of the structure which does not fall into the usual silhouettes of a turn of the century church that often doubles as a stronghold. And was that a statue of Our Lady of Fatima they mounted inside the central niche of the church’s façade?
Also, in one montage, they used a “parol’’ [a star-shaped lantern that has always been associated with the holidays in this country] hanging by the window of a “bahay kubo” to signify that it was Christmas. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. You see, the five pointed star “parol” never existed until about the 1920s. The shape of which was an American import copied off from their flag. Believe it or not, in 1898, there were no Christmas decorations; and if there were, they were only limited to the church in the forms of the crèche and the Niño dormido which came out only on December 25th. And don’t argue that the Americans were already here at that time because even by 1930, the concept of decorating Filipino homes for Christmas had yet to catch on.
When it came to the Costume Design, the biggest question I had was with the uniforms of the Spanish soldiers. If I remember my Philippine costume history correctly, the revolutionaries wore a uniform called the “Rayadillo” which was a pinstriped light blue and white uniform. So, if that was the case, why did the Spanish soldiers then wear the stripes of the “Rayadillo” and the Indio revolutionaries wear the light blue linen uniforms of the Spanish colonial army? I have not been living under a rock, and I have yet to read a paper that says I am wrong about this thing. That’s not something that can be easily overlooked if one is doing a period piece about your own country.
As for the rest of the costumes in this film, they were just that: costumes. They all look like they came straight out of the costume department, crisp and newly ironed. Then there’s the Franciscan robe, the clerical vestments, the altar boy robe… I mean, they have not changed much since the Byzantines and surely with Pope Benedict XVI reviving the use of traditional church vestments in the Roman Catholic Church, they could have at least gotten the silhouette right. But then again, they could argue that these were provincial clerical robes and that would be one excuse to use.
Now, I’m not the best Spanish speaker out there, but listening to the Spanish they used in this film, they would have done better to say the least. There is a nuance to the Spanish they used in the 1890s that is not found in the sprinklings of the Spanish dialogue they tried to inject. Even the character of Baron Geisler who plays a Spanish officer suddenly shifts to speak Tagalog while addressing the character of Joel Torre in accent moderne.
I had this summation about Baler midway through the film: I told myself that the movie’s heart was in the right place yet it seemed to beat the wrong way.
Like the second cliché of the film uttered by Mark Bautista [hated the mustache they made him wear for the movie] as the other half-bred soldier named Lope who was in-love with another India in the movie, “Mahirap umibig sa panahon ng digmaan.” [Love is difficult in a time of war] the film is not without stock characters that defined the generation of revolutionary leaders played by Joel Torre and stage and screen veteran Leo Martinez; the latter whose performance seemed to be the saving grace of this film.
Also, I think the writers did their best to portray both sides of the conflict. I sympathized with the plight of the Revolutionaries attempting to gain recognition with their sovereignty over the islands under the Spanish and American tug of war, the dynamic of having multi-racial soldiers that can be seen as traitors in a colonial army as well as their sentiments of being stationed in the islands, and the impatience of the revolutionary forces against the resolve of the Spaniards to stand their ground all contributed to the multi-faceted plot line. Even with that, it seemed to me like the editing would make an effort here and then suddenly just move on to the next one out of necessity. As I said earlier, I can’t seem to figure out the cinematic pace of this movie.
I’ve been having a hard time composing my next point but here goes: I used to think that when it came to doing period movies about your country, you’re supposed to have a grasp of the things within your own backyard. I mean, if Ngila Dickson could design costumes for the Last Samurai and she’s not even Japanese, imagine what the Japanese themselves -like Akira Kurosawa has done with Emi Wada for Throne of Blood or Ran for that matter.
Also, I was taught not to insult your audience’s intelligence. The true measure of artistic integrity lies in not settling for whatever is acceptable and getting away with it but in taking a truth and keeping to it [a lesson I admit to have learned the hard way]. In all fairness to BALER, it gave it a good try but somehow midway, they seem to have just settled. By the way of period films, I can’t judge if we actually took a step back from the period pieces of recent vintage but as per BALER, I wasn’t taken from the world I knew to this world they sought to create. And there I was expecting to be somewhere else, but like the Parabasis of a Greek play, I was constantly reminded by all the things I was seeing, that I was watching a movie [It‘s Lapu-Lapu all over again…with shields and spears mounted on walls like in Urdaneta lanais]. If that is the case, then we had better stay away from doing period films lest we hang ourselves.
02 April, 2009
In Walks You [the quarter-life crisis anthem]
It's tough when you want to have a copy of a song sooo bad but you just can't find it anywhere. I have loved this song since i first heard it about ten years ago when it was the theme of the long-gone show called Wasteland. At this point in my life, i kind of understand what Tim James is getting at...
I found this video on YouTube; it's not the music video for the song but a tribute video using the song with images from the Japanese animated series Oh My Goddess [or was it Ah, My Goddess?]
This song's for you, Alan.
here are the lyrics to the song:
IN WALKS YOU
Tim James
You're making me feel everything
Another sunny day
And I'm here broke in LA
I pull my hat down over my eyes
Grab my shoes, run out the door
Rushing to the job I hate
And the ticket on my windshield's no surprise
God's truth is out, it's murder here
What life's about is so unclear
I want to break and when it feels I've had all I can take
Chorus:
In walks you
And you make me feel
Like everything's ok
Like everything's gonna go my way
In walks you
And you make me feel
Like everything's alright
Like everything's gonna work out fine.
You're making me feel everything..
I feel trapped in these four walls I'm living in
The bills are piling up at my door
Take a walk outside before my roomate's band starts practicing
Cause a little peace is getting hard to find
In a world where I'm outnumbered
Living in this skin I'm covered in
Is this a blessing or a curse
Cause I don't think it gets much worse
Repeat Chorus
I don't mean to sound so down
But I get a smile whenever you're around
And if this feeling I feel is right
I could use someone tonight
You're making me feel everything..
You're making me feel everything
It's you
It's you
It's you
20 March, 2009
what makes a movie gay [part 2 of 3]
and so, we continue from where we left off, on how I'm over-thinking what makes a gay movie...
Fourth: Gay Icons and Camp
-these films aren't really gay but are more about the impact the stars and the movies had on gay culture. it features accepted gay icons like judy garland, barbara streisand, rock hudson etcetera. or at other instances, these films feature famous lines that every queen/queer will move themselves to quote like "as god as my witness, i will never go hungry again"
All About Eve, The Wizard of Oz, Now Voyager, and the many judy garland and bette davis movies comes to mind...and let's not forget barbara...we must not forget barbara [although i'm not a fan].
"Fasten you seatbelts... it's going to be a bumpy night." from All About Eve
Fifth: The Unspoken
-these movies are best described as movies wherein you are led to believe that there are gay undertones in the story...such stories are of friendships between boys/men that only the two of them can understand...oftentimes, the characters are as i could coin it, 'too pretty to be straight". but there is a deep human emotional quality to these stories. stories that transcend the basest/simplest of the things we seem to neglect/make ordinary in the dynamics of human connections.
a scene from NAPOLA or in other releases "Before The Fall"
NAPOLA (before the fall) -about two teenage boys sent to a Nazi elite high school at the end of the 2nd world war. one a poor German boy from the city and the other, the son of a high ranking Nazi official. a moving story of how the idealism of youth is shattered as the very belief systems they foster crumble before them. moving is the attempt of one to reclaim his friend's soul. note, there's boxing here and has a lot of good looking German teenage boys (if that's your thing)
Sixth: I Can't Stop Dancin' I Can't Stop Singin' [add acting...]
-if you're a show tune queen/queer, if you love the rap-a-tap-tap, and all that jazz -then you are very familiar with this category. far be it for me to generalize that the film musicals are gay, they indeed have a following in the gay community. Whether it be musicals that deal with life in the theatre or the performance arts -whether there be the 'token gay guy' or not; these movies have held a special place in out hearts. they're the reliable pick-me-up when you're down. they can also be plays adapted to film...
-CAMP, made famous by the line, "oh my god, a straight boy!!! an honest to god straight boy!!!" - Vlad,a straight boy battling his demons of fitting-in and teenage angst decides to enroll in a summer camp for musical theatre called camp ovation. and right off the bat, everybody falls in love with him: gay or straight. as he becomes the object of affection of the many -which he enjoyed tremendously, the whole camp is turned over as they move from show to show performing songs like 'i'm still here' (from Company), 'and i am telling you' (dream girls), trukey-lurkey time (promises, promises), and the anthem to many a drag queen's 'ladies who lunch' -add to that a great song composed by ahrens and flaherty(the people behind 'once on this island') entitled 'i sing for you'
-TRICK, the story of a struggling musical theatre writer named gabriel (played by a loveable christian campbell) who meets a go-go by named mark on the new york subway; and their misadventures overnight ass they try to find a place to be 'private' -in full compliment, tori spelling as a fag-hag, a drag queen, a n on the rocks gay couple, and lots of opportunities to be musical...
Seventh: Eye Candy
-the title says it all; shallow but true, there are movies that fill up the screen with many a goodlooking people. and be it beauty or sex appeal they try to sell, we just cant forget them. this varies upon preference...
-She's The Man: a modern deconstruction of Shakespeare's gender-bender play on appearance versus desire called Twelfth Night. I love Channing Tatum in this movie; so let the photos speak for themselves...
this has been rather enjoyable, and we shall continue this next post...
thus spake the barefoot baklesa
Fourth: Gay Icons and Camp
-these films aren't really gay but are more about the impact the stars and the movies had on gay culture. it features accepted gay icons like judy garland, barbara streisand, rock hudson etcetera. or at other instances, these films feature famous lines that every queen/queer will move themselves to quote like "as god as my witness, i will never go hungry again"
All About Eve, The Wizard of Oz, Now Voyager, and the many judy garland and bette davis movies comes to mind...and let's not forget barbara...we must not forget barbara [although i'm not a fan].
"Fasten you seatbelts... it's going to be a bumpy night." from All About Eve
Fifth: The Unspoken
-these movies are best described as movies wherein you are led to believe that there are gay undertones in the story...such stories are of friendships between boys/men that only the two of them can understand...oftentimes, the characters are as i could coin it, 'too pretty to be straight". but there is a deep human emotional quality to these stories. stories that transcend the basest/simplest of the things we seem to neglect/make ordinary in the dynamics of human connections.
a scene from NAPOLA or in other releases "Before The Fall"
NAPOLA (before the fall) -about two teenage boys sent to a Nazi elite high school at the end of the 2nd world war. one a poor German boy from the city and the other, the son of a high ranking Nazi official. a moving story of how the idealism of youth is shattered as the very belief systems they foster crumble before them. moving is the attempt of one to reclaim his friend's soul. note, there's boxing here and has a lot of good looking German teenage boys (if that's your thing)
Sixth: I Can't Stop Dancin' I Can't Stop Singin' [add acting...]
-if you're a show tune queen/queer, if you love the rap-a-tap-tap, and all that jazz -then you are very familiar with this category. far be it for me to generalize that the film musicals are gay, they indeed have a following in the gay community. Whether it be musicals that deal with life in the theatre or the performance arts -whether there be the 'token gay guy' or not; these movies have held a special place in out hearts. they're the reliable pick-me-up when you're down. they can also be plays adapted to film...
-CAMP, made famous by the line, "oh my god, a straight boy!!! an honest to god straight boy!!!" - Vlad,a straight boy battling his demons of fitting-in and teenage angst decides to enroll in a summer camp for musical theatre called camp ovation. and right off the bat, everybody falls in love with him: gay or straight. as he becomes the object of affection of the many -which he enjoyed tremendously, the whole camp is turned over as they move from show to show performing songs like 'i'm still here' (from Company), 'and i am telling you' (dream girls), trukey-lurkey time (promises, promises), and the anthem to many a drag queen's 'ladies who lunch' -add to that a great song composed by ahrens and flaherty(the people behind 'once on this island') entitled 'i sing for you'
-TRICK, the story of a struggling musical theatre writer named gabriel (played by a loveable christian campbell) who meets a go-go by named mark on the new york subway; and their misadventures overnight ass they try to find a place to be 'private' -in full compliment, tori spelling as a fag-hag, a drag queen, a n on the rocks gay couple, and lots of opportunities to be musical...
Seventh: Eye Candy
-the title says it all; shallow but true, there are movies that fill up the screen with many a goodlooking people. and be it beauty or sex appeal they try to sell, we just cant forget them. this varies upon preference...
-She's The Man: a modern deconstruction of Shakespeare's gender-bender play on appearance versus desire called Twelfth Night. I love Channing Tatum in this movie; so let the photos speak for themselves...
this has been rather enjoyable, and we shall continue this next post...
thus spake the barefoot baklesa
19 March, 2009
The History Boys: Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
i just love this song...
The lyrics to "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered" are originally by Lorenz Hart, with music by Richard Rodgers. The song debuted in 1940's theatrical production of Pal Joey
Bewithced, Bothered, and Bewildered
He's a fool and don't I know it
But a fool can have his charms
I'm in love, and don't I show it?
Like a babe in arms
Love's the same old sad sensation
Lately I've not slept a wink
Since this half-pint imitation
Put me on the blink
I'm wild again, beguiled again
A simpering, whimpering child again
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
I'll sing to him, each spring to him
And worship the trousers that cling to him
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep
When love came and told me, I shouldn't sleep
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
Lost my heart, but what of it
He is cold, I agree
He can laugh, but I love it
Although the laugh's on me
I'll sing to him, each spring to him
And long for the day when I'll cling to him
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
After one whole quart of brandy
Like a daisy, I'm awake
With no Bromo-Seltzer handy
I don't even shake
Men are not a new sensation
I've done pretty well I think
But this half-pint imitation
Put me on the blink
I've sinned a lot, I'm mean a lot
But I'm like sweet seventeen a lot
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
I'll sing to him, each spring to him
And worship the trousers that cling to him
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
When he talks, he is seeking
Words to get off his chest
Horizontally speaking, he's at his very best
Vexed again, perplexed again
Thank God, I can be oversexed again
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I
17 March, 2009
what makes a movie gay? [part 1 of 3]
before I post part 3, let us revisit these, shall we...
okay, as much as Eric Cartman from the cartoon series South Park is somewhat right about Brokeback Mountain -it being a western "about two cowboys eatin' pudding" -there's much more to gay cinema than the many second rate indie digitals the many young directors are churning out...
But first what is Gay Cinema? Well, i really can't define that genre singularly. But rather, Gay Cinema as defined by these things i have commonly observed through my collections.
First: That's Soooo Gay
-in short, by the sheer gayness of it, it qualifies. whether it be a love story between two men and/or women, a coming-of-age story,and a coming out story. these films have no pretenses in presenting gay culture and 'the scene' to which the film has framed itself...
for example:
In & Out -comedy, starring kevin kline; about a teacher who is outed by his former and currently famous student after winnning the Oscar for best actor just days before his wedding to a longtime friend and fellow faculty at the high school where he teaches
Latter Days -romance, here a gay LA party boy takes a bet to seduce one of their mormon missionary neighbors (a very hot mormon missionary) who turns out to be gay!!! Famous for this line, "you want revelations engraved in gold and angels trumpeting down from heaven. what if this is it instead; me, telling you 'i love you' right here in the snow." the romance spirals in the midst of a rather beautiful sountrack.
Imagine Me & You -romantic comedy, the premise here is that the bride discovers the soon to be love of her life (their lesbian florist) on the day of their wedding...one of the two lesbian love films i made an effort to collect.
Dorian Blues -teen coming out/of age movie, about a guy named Dorian who realizes that he is gay at the age of 17 and tries to avoid it at first with the help of a loving brother named Nick and not so much from his 'nazi' father and passive mother.
Second: Borderline Gay
-this is where that rather vague concept of 'bisexuality' comes into play [for me, that's vague, okay]. these movies are defined by the temporary experimentation into the gay and lesbian world.
Y tu Mama Tambien -coming of age, two friends go on a road trip with a very attractive lady whom they both sleep with and then at a defining moment near the end of the movie makes them experiment on each other -kinda like her take at getting even after learning that the boys were just in it to boink her...
Kissing Jessica Stein -romantic comedy, about a woman whose failed attempts at heterosexual romance leads her to consider a lesbian relationship...i'm sure the girls at saint scholastica's can relate to this (biro lang!). but seriously, i love the emotional journey the characters in this movie take; and the music, and new york...need i say more?
Third: The Historical Gay
-movies about real people (including historical figures) who are gay and real events related to gay issues. and in some cases people going through unexplained gay issues...
Stephen Fry and Jude Law as Oscar Wilde and his beloved Lord Alfred Douglas
Wilde -period piece, stars Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde and Jude Law as Lord Bossey. this details the hidden gay life of famous victorian writer Oscar Wilde and his lover (Bossey). very victorian in many sensibilities and nuances; and tragic...
i'm going to continue this next blog...
okay, as much as Eric Cartman from the cartoon series South Park is somewhat right about Brokeback Mountain -it being a western "about two cowboys eatin' pudding" -there's much more to gay cinema than the many second rate indie digitals the many young directors are churning out...
But first what is Gay Cinema? Well, i really can't define that genre singularly. But rather, Gay Cinema as defined by these things i have commonly observed through my collections.
First: That's Soooo Gay
-in short, by the sheer gayness of it, it qualifies. whether it be a love story between two men and/or women, a coming-of-age story,and a coming out story. these films have no pretenses in presenting gay culture and 'the scene' to which the film has framed itself...
for example:
In & Out -comedy, starring kevin kline; about a teacher who is outed by his former and currently famous student after winnning the Oscar for best actor just days before his wedding to a longtime friend and fellow faculty at the high school where he teaches
Latter Days -romance, here a gay LA party boy takes a bet to seduce one of their mormon missionary neighbors (a very hot mormon missionary) who turns out to be gay!!! Famous for this line, "you want revelations engraved in gold and angels trumpeting down from heaven. what if this is it instead; me, telling you 'i love you' right here in the snow." the romance spirals in the midst of a rather beautiful sountrack.
Imagine Me & You -romantic comedy, the premise here is that the bride discovers the soon to be love of her life (their lesbian florist) on the day of their wedding...one of the two lesbian love films i made an effort to collect.
Dorian Blues -teen coming out/of age movie, about a guy named Dorian who realizes that he is gay at the age of 17 and tries to avoid it at first with the help of a loving brother named Nick and not so much from his 'nazi' father and passive mother.
Second: Borderline Gay
-this is where that rather vague concept of 'bisexuality' comes into play [for me, that's vague, okay]. these movies are defined by the temporary experimentation into the gay and lesbian world.
Y tu Mama Tambien -coming of age, two friends go on a road trip with a very attractive lady whom they both sleep with and then at a defining moment near the end of the movie makes them experiment on each other -kinda like her take at getting even after learning that the boys were just in it to boink her...
Kissing Jessica Stein -romantic comedy, about a woman whose failed attempts at heterosexual romance leads her to consider a lesbian relationship...i'm sure the girls at saint scholastica's can relate to this (biro lang!). but seriously, i love the emotional journey the characters in this movie take; and the music, and new york...need i say more?
Third: The Historical Gay
-movies about real people (including historical figures) who are gay and real events related to gay issues. and in some cases people going through unexplained gay issues...
Stephen Fry and Jude Law as Oscar Wilde and his beloved Lord Alfred Douglas
Wilde -period piece, stars Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde and Jude Law as Lord Bossey. this details the hidden gay life of famous victorian writer Oscar Wilde and his lover (Bossey). very victorian in many sensibilities and nuances; and tragic...
i'm going to continue this next blog...
16 March, 2009
The Barefoot Baklesa Reviews: Friendship
I'm re-posting this review...I'm feeling a little sentimental these past few days; and the unusually cold wind that's been blowing during the late afternoon these few days isn't helping either. I decided to watch this film again, it does stir the heart a bit...
Do you remember the time when you were in high school? When, for the most part, as much as you were on the verge of burgeoning maturity, you would easily cast it away for some happy time with your friends? Too often you walk around with this sense of invulnerability that goes with youth; bearing your then unscathed heart and your unbound dreams. This is where the Thai film FRIENDSHIP takes me back to. [It’s been a bit timely to have seen it lately considering it has been ten years since I graduated from high school]
FRIENDSHIP is the story of a teenage boy named Singha and the love he had for a girl named Mituna; the new girl, who transferred at the start of their senior year in high school. Singha, played by Mario Maurer [who shot to instant fame after his debut as a teenager coming to terms with his homosexuality in the film The Love of Siam -click on the link to read my review], was as typical as a teenage boy could be: a bit of a smart-aleck who hangs out with a boisterous set of friends, sexually curious, and often flirtatious with the girls. While Mituna, played by a lovely Thai actress named Apinya Sakuljaroensuk [there’s something about this girl that reminds me of a crush I had back in high school], was a girl that kept to herself and did not say much. It would have been a perfect boy meets girl scenario but instead Singha picks on Mituna due to her chosen silence, and as each act of teasing moves into the next, Singha pushes the envelope further until Mituna can’t take it anymore and could do nothing else but hit Singha in the face which somehow snaps him into a realization that he may have gone too far this time.
I love the way the film portrays that haze of infatuation often acted out as something else before a guy realizes that he actually likes the girl but the damage is done. I don’t know if it’s my love for Mario Maurer or the way his character is written [or maybe a combination of both], that can’t make me hate him and what he did. I mean, the first time we see Singha is when he helps out this lady with a cane at the bus stop who got knocked over by a passing commuter rushing for the bus. He then hands her a marigold which he has in his shirt pocket before he leaves to ride the next bus. He’s not that bad a guy; he just gets it wrong sometimes. Moving on…
It’s not until Singha secretly follows Mituna around that he realizes how mean he has been to her; he follows her to a social welfare facility and learns that her mother is deaf and mute. The apology that follows is a montage of a boy that has fallen in love with the girl who fought back. I’m not that versed with Thai pop culture so I have no idea if the song in the montage, which had this two-decades-ago-cheesy-quality to it, was actually a vintage tune; but it works.
Now, the movie itself is full of those teen situations of underage drinking, getting wasted on weed for the first time, misadventures into haunted houses, the generic out-of-town trip [thank god, no one broke into a song and dance by the beach, or rather the pool on this one like those really horrible Filipino movies], and the dynamics of the relationships with the people they share these with. After all, don’t they say that the friends one makes in school are the friends you have for life? I think the movie does well in establishing these within the plot elements in the sentimentality of it all. [I don’t want to focus too much on the other characters and how they figure in to the storyline in this review because they are best appreciated when seen]
I guess when you’re young and in love, there’s so much energy you can spare. For when things got a little better between them, the boy finds a way to understand her and to be understood. Just like what Singha said about words not being enough, he finds a way to learn how to do sign language. Now, it takes a certain kind of filmmaker to understand the difference between acceptable and revolting sentimentality. The sign language thing would not have worked if some generic Filipino director took a shot at it, I think. There is a pace that the film takes which makes it rather lighthearted and feeling like you were reminiscing on a lazy Sunday afternoon even if there’s a visually established flashback in the plot.
And as the end of senior year fast approaches with teenagers wanting to squeeze in so much before it does, a tragedy comes upon them. Lam, one of their friends, gets stabbed by a former schoolmate who joins up a gang that is hunted down by the police. Lam transferred in the same time as Mituna and was responsible in making Singha realize his true feelings for Mituna.
You know that feeling when things are happening all at once and you don’t seem to have the chance to slow it down and you have no chance but to bear with it? It’s excruciating to watch Singha and Mituna’s lives take the direction that will start to bring them apart. Singha’s father, a police officer, gets assigned to another district and they have to move out; while Mituna’s absentee father decides to sell the house they are living in and tells them to live in the country convinced that it will be better for Mituna’s mother. But both of them have no idea that this was happening to the other.
I don’t know what a “friendship book” is exactly, but the way I understand it from the movie is that it’s some form of scrapbook or memento that your friends pass around to write stuff on. Singha hands Mituna his pages for her to write on. Mituna promises to return it on the day they release the final exam results.
This reminds me of something my friend Sandro told me about last Friday; that we are where we are because God has a perfectly good reason for letting it be so. Watching it unfold before my eyes, I felt as if God was a little too harsh on Singha and Mituna. By mere moments they would miss each other; one turning left, the other tuning right. In the place where they promised to meet, in the places where each thought the other would be, and in the place where a desperate hearts clings to the hope of seeing one’s love, would they learn that they were not to see each other that day.
Singha would spend years carrying this love for Mituna wondering why she did not at least keep her promise. Even during their class reunion, Singha was kind of hoping to at least see her there and be happy for her if she had a family of her own. One day, while doing work with the indigenous communities in the mountains, Singha chances upon Mituna’s mother. Singha learns that Mituna is gravely ill. Okay, remember when I said that God was a bit harsh on Singha and Mituna a paragraph ago? Take that as an understatement.
That fateful day when they had promised to meet each other, something happened to Mituna; something that I commend the writer for not showing and just merely suggesting. I don’t think I have the heart to see that.
When Singha finally gets to see her, he realizes how gravely ill she really is. By this time, the movie hits you with a realization why it chose Friendship as a title. As much as we know there is a story of youthful romantic love, what moves one’s heart is the enduring power a deeper love has in their lives; and that is their Friendship. Don’t get confused on that one. You have to see the movie to really appreciate that amidst all that falling in love they built a great relationship between themselves for simply being genuine. I think some writers lose that kind of dynamic in order to come out with commercially viable romances. I don’t know if I’m communicating this properly, or if I’m speaking in tongues by this point. But maybe I’ll get back to this post sometime later and find my words.
There’s beauty in sadness as one friend of mine articulated. And I have a penchant for watching movies that portray this not just because I’m Asian [not many Filipinos would want to admit they are Asian though] and that is expected of me to understand but also because the barefoot baklesa is such a sap and he’d much rather have a good cry. Hahahaha!!!
Go and watch it if you want to have a good cry.
Do you remember the time when you were in high school? When, for the most part, as much as you were on the verge of burgeoning maturity, you would easily cast it away for some happy time with your friends? Too often you walk around with this sense of invulnerability that goes with youth; bearing your then unscathed heart and your unbound dreams. This is where the Thai film FRIENDSHIP takes me back to. [It’s been a bit timely to have seen it lately considering it has been ten years since I graduated from high school]
FRIENDSHIP is the story of a teenage boy named Singha and the love he had for a girl named Mituna; the new girl, who transferred at the start of their senior year in high school. Singha, played by Mario Maurer [who shot to instant fame after his debut as a teenager coming to terms with his homosexuality in the film The Love of Siam -click on the link to read my review], was as typical as a teenage boy could be: a bit of a smart-aleck who hangs out with a boisterous set of friends, sexually curious, and often flirtatious with the girls. While Mituna, played by a lovely Thai actress named Apinya Sakuljaroensuk [there’s something about this girl that reminds me of a crush I had back in high school], was a girl that kept to herself and did not say much. It would have been a perfect boy meets girl scenario but instead Singha picks on Mituna due to her chosen silence, and as each act of teasing moves into the next, Singha pushes the envelope further until Mituna can’t take it anymore and could do nothing else but hit Singha in the face which somehow snaps him into a realization that he may have gone too far this time.
I love the way the film portrays that haze of infatuation often acted out as something else before a guy realizes that he actually likes the girl but the damage is done. I don’t know if it’s my love for Mario Maurer or the way his character is written [or maybe a combination of both], that can’t make me hate him and what he did. I mean, the first time we see Singha is when he helps out this lady with a cane at the bus stop who got knocked over by a passing commuter rushing for the bus. He then hands her a marigold which he has in his shirt pocket before he leaves to ride the next bus. He’s not that bad a guy; he just gets it wrong sometimes. Moving on…
It’s not until Singha secretly follows Mituna around that he realizes how mean he has been to her; he follows her to a social welfare facility and learns that her mother is deaf and mute. The apology that follows is a montage of a boy that has fallen in love with the girl who fought back. I’m not that versed with Thai pop culture so I have no idea if the song in the montage, which had this two-decades-ago-cheesy-quality to it, was actually a vintage tune; but it works.
Now, the movie itself is full of those teen situations of underage drinking, getting wasted on weed for the first time, misadventures into haunted houses, the generic out-of-town trip [thank god, no one broke into a song and dance by the beach, or rather the pool on this one like those really horrible Filipino movies], and the dynamics of the relationships with the people they share these with. After all, don’t they say that the friends one makes in school are the friends you have for life? I think the movie does well in establishing these within the plot elements in the sentimentality of it all. [I don’t want to focus too much on the other characters and how they figure in to the storyline in this review because they are best appreciated when seen]
I guess when you’re young and in love, there’s so much energy you can spare. For when things got a little better between them, the boy finds a way to understand her and to be understood. Just like what Singha said about words not being enough, he finds a way to learn how to do sign language. Now, it takes a certain kind of filmmaker to understand the difference between acceptable and revolting sentimentality. The sign language thing would not have worked if some generic Filipino director took a shot at it, I think. There is a pace that the film takes which makes it rather lighthearted and feeling like you were reminiscing on a lazy Sunday afternoon even if there’s a visually established flashback in the plot.
And as the end of senior year fast approaches with teenagers wanting to squeeze in so much before it does, a tragedy comes upon them. Lam, one of their friends, gets stabbed by a former schoolmate who joins up a gang that is hunted down by the police. Lam transferred in the same time as Mituna and was responsible in making Singha realize his true feelings for Mituna.
You know that feeling when things are happening all at once and you don’t seem to have the chance to slow it down and you have no chance but to bear with it? It’s excruciating to watch Singha and Mituna’s lives take the direction that will start to bring them apart. Singha’s father, a police officer, gets assigned to another district and they have to move out; while Mituna’s absentee father decides to sell the house they are living in and tells them to live in the country convinced that it will be better for Mituna’s mother. But both of them have no idea that this was happening to the other.
I don’t know what a “friendship book” is exactly, but the way I understand it from the movie is that it’s some form of scrapbook or memento that your friends pass around to write stuff on. Singha hands Mituna his pages for her to write on. Mituna promises to return it on the day they release the final exam results.
This reminds me of something my friend Sandro told me about last Friday; that we are where we are because God has a perfectly good reason for letting it be so. Watching it unfold before my eyes, I felt as if God was a little too harsh on Singha and Mituna. By mere moments they would miss each other; one turning left, the other tuning right. In the place where they promised to meet, in the places where each thought the other would be, and in the place where a desperate hearts clings to the hope of seeing one’s love, would they learn that they were not to see each other that day.
Singha would spend years carrying this love for Mituna wondering why she did not at least keep her promise. Even during their class reunion, Singha was kind of hoping to at least see her there and be happy for her if she had a family of her own. One day, while doing work with the indigenous communities in the mountains, Singha chances upon Mituna’s mother. Singha learns that Mituna is gravely ill. Okay, remember when I said that God was a bit harsh on Singha and Mituna a paragraph ago? Take that as an understatement.
That fateful day when they had promised to meet each other, something happened to Mituna; something that I commend the writer for not showing and just merely suggesting. I don’t think I have the heart to see that.
When Singha finally gets to see her, he realizes how gravely ill she really is. By this time, the movie hits you with a realization why it chose Friendship as a title. As much as we know there is a story of youthful romantic love, what moves one’s heart is the enduring power a deeper love has in their lives; and that is their Friendship. Don’t get confused on that one. You have to see the movie to really appreciate that amidst all that falling in love they built a great relationship between themselves for simply being genuine. I think some writers lose that kind of dynamic in order to come out with commercially viable romances. I don’t know if I’m communicating this properly, or if I’m speaking in tongues by this point. But maybe I’ll get back to this post sometime later and find my words.
There’s beauty in sadness as one friend of mine articulated. And I have a penchant for watching movies that portray this not just because I’m Asian [not many Filipinos would want to admit they are Asian though] and that is expected of me to understand but also because the barefoot baklesa is such a sap and he’d much rather have a good cry. Hahahaha!!!
Go and watch it if you want to have a good cry.
11 March, 2009
cute guys need to get their hearts broken every once in a while...
A few years ago, If I remember correctly, it was on the ride going to the old Malate district after a gala event at the Cultural Center of the Philippines when I uttered these words:
"Cute guys need to get their hearts broken every once in a while..."
And somebody at the back of the car went, "Ouch!"
As much as I wanted to hit him at the time, it was just physically impossible and it would not be proper to do so to someone you have known only two days. I shant name names, but he was one of those 69 Bachelors from Cosmopolitan Magazine that year who had a 'published age' and a 'real age'. Bluntly, this has nothing to do with the video above except for the title.
Moving on... Here's the latest installment to the Mario Maurer Drool Mode. The boy with the angelic face but a devilish reputation appears in the music video for this Thai band called Potato [the name baffles me as well...]. The song is entitled Share and here's the Barefoot Baklesa sharing it with you...
No english subtitles yet though, but isn't it nice to see Mario Maurer's heart get broken? That's a bit twisted, I know... [insert evil laugh here]
...thus spake the barefoot baklesa
06 March, 2009
movies from my adolescent youth
I was doing my usual rounds at the pirated DVD stalls at Quiapo [for those of you unfamiliar with the place, here’s Tami Ballesteros' take on the place, and here’s a post I did on it just last Valentine's -just click on them] last Wednesday after I came to hear the late afternoon mass. Having been a patron of the underground economy for many years, I have noticed how trends changed when it came to the titles released by the bootleg lords responsible for the enjoyment of cheap DVD copies.
In 2004, when I first ventured into that neighborhood that sold the bootleg DVDs across the Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, there was such a variety in the titles that were available other than the usual Hollywood and commercial releases. There was a stall that had old movies and foreign language films, while another had Operas and Musicals, and another had concerts and rare performances on sale. For Quiapo adventurers like me, the rare titles have become less and less through the years and have given way to the more commercial ones. I would be lucky enough to get a few really good ones if I actually spent an afternoon looking at the other less ventured stalls. Just to point it out, there’s been a surge of gay movie titles released lately, and some of them are ones that went out of circulation a few years back. Hooray for the gays…
In the past months, I have noticed how the titles they were coming out with were movies from the late 70s, the 80s, and the early 90s. There’s the old “Dune” movie with Kyle McLachlan, The Last American Virgin, Porky’s, The Last Starfighter, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Neverending Story Trilogy, Labyrinth, Mannequin, Revenge of the Nerds, I could go on forever…
As I was going through the titles of the DVDs stacked on the floor, I saw two movies that held a place in my heart when I was an adolescent: Disney’s “Iron Will” and that Brad Renfro movie called “The Cure”. I have been looking for a copy of these films for the longest time; the last copy of The Cure I beheld was on VHS. I loved “The Cure” because it was the first movie about friendship I saw that really hit home. And the day after that, I learned that Brad Renfro passed away just days after Heath Ledger but has obviously been overshadowed by the latter’s death. I reckon Brad Renfro deserves another tribute blog soon. Oh well…
I saw “Iron Will” with my childhood best friend, Schneider, it was the first movie we watched on our own -a bit of a growing up moment there. I even remember buying two large packs of that Mr. Chips snacks with our sarsaparilla drink. The movie even had a tagline “It isn’t a question of age or skill, but of iron will.” Funny thing though, when I was about to watch it, my DVD player won’t read the disc!!! Insert image of the Barefoot Baklesa screaming his lungs out going, “Whaaaaaargggghhhhh!!!”
Well, this is not the first time that happened -it goes with the territory. And it’s Friday again, Quapo calls. After the mass, all I have to do is cross the street.
18 February, 2009
the song in my head: Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into The Dark"
-this song really digs into my soul...
"I Will Follow You Into The Dark"
Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
'cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark
16 February, 2009
the song in my head: Light Up the Sky by Yellowcard
There's something about this song that energizes me when I hear it. I guess it's that promise of the impossible... lighting up the sky...
10 February, 2009
Lovin' Latter Days [the barefoot baklesa review]
Lovin’ Latter Days [The Barefoot Baklesa Review]
“Do you ever read the Sunday comics? The comic page? When I was a little kid I used to put my face right up to them, you know, and I was just amazed because it was just this mass of dots. I think that life is like that, sometimes. But I would like to think that from God’s perspective, life, everything, and even this, makes sense. It’s not just dots. Instead, were all connected. And it’s beautiful, and it’s funny, and it’s good. From this close, we can’t expect it to make sense right now.”
-Aaron, Latter Days
A little more than two weeks ago, while my friend Sandro [check out his blog Jesus Jokes] was parking his car in front of Owee’s house which was located across a Mormon church, I noticed that there were guys playing basketball at the court located within the Mormon compound. And I went like, “Oh, Mormons playing basketball. I wonder if anyone’s cute?” To which he responds, “Oh come on, Niki. You don’t like Mormons, you’re just saying that because of that movie with that guy playing a Mormon.” Giving out a laugh, I opened the car door with my eyes having one last look at the guys across the street before proceeding to Owee‘s birthday party. Looking back on that, the barefoot baklesa thinks it best to share this movie for those who have not seen it yet.
Latter Days holds a special place in my heart; I call it my lucky movie. Back in the day when I used to frequent the pirated DVD stalls at Makati Cinema Square around four years ago, I asked my usual supplier if she has a copy of Latter Days, and she was nice enough to go up the upper floors to a friend’s stall to find one for me. As luck would have it, they only have one copy left. Back then, the pirated copies were as good as the originals with all the menus and features intact; and I treated that copy like it was the holy grail of my gay cinema collection. After acquiring that copy, less than an hour later, I received a call from Peque Gallaga about an interview for a production design job for a television fantasy series later that afternoon. Needless to say, I got the job… Lucky me! [fast forward to a few months later at the virgin megastore in new york, in the quest to have an original copy, the store had to have a copy shipped from somewhere so the barefoot baklesa could have the original DVD....thanks, ate carol!]
I think the introduction has gone on long enough, let’s get to the movie review. Latter Days is the brainchild of C. Jay Cox, writer of the comedy hit Sweet Home Alabama [which also happens to have a gay character played by the loveable Ethan Embry]. Latter Days is the story of Aaron [Steve Sandvoss], a handsome Mormon missionary who just began his ministry of going door to door to talk to people about his church; and Christian [Wes Ramsey], the definition of a West Hollywood party boy who moves from one sexual conquest to another without the heart for commitment. These two could not be any more different, and you know what they say about opposites; they do attract.
Of the four Mormon missionaries that moved next door, one of them turns out to be sexually conflicted. And when Christian [the writer had to name him that, huh] takes a bet with his friends that he can seduce the tightly wound Mormon neighbor, the seduction goes a bit awry. Christian does find out that Aaron is attracted to him but it got a bit complicated. And you’re going to love these lines [personally I thought these made it a gay movie]:
Aaron: I’m saying I know how retarded you think I am, okay! You’ve found me out, alright -my worst secret- Now, I’m humiliated so your work is done here.
Christian: Wait, I don’t think you’re a dork. But if you know how ridiculous you look, why would you-
Aaron: Don’t you believe in anything?
Christian: Yeah…
Aaron: Then tell me! Tell me one thing in your life, beyond the shadow of a doubt that you really believe.
Christian: I believe that Ann Margret has never been given her due as an actress.
Aaron: Duh! For Tommy alone…I mean, did you see it when she was -But is that something you can build a life on!?! Look at yourself. You’re so pretty and colorful on the outside but on the inside, you’re nothing but fluff. You’re like a walking-talking marshmallow peep.
Christian: That’s not fair!
Aaron: It doesn’t matter when it’s true! I can’t believe what I was just about to do when there is nothing, Christian, nothing about you that is not skin deep.
Sidebar…
I admit, I have been staring at the computer screen for an hour now -not knowing how to proceed with this- while the movie is playing on my DVD player. It’s not that I’m distracted but more like if I put it to words, Latter Days is the kind of gay romance drama that you have to experience for yourself. It’s one of those movies that I have seen without the swirling mist in my head conjuring the sentinels of movie critiquing to shoot down the mediocrities that come across the screen [wow, this sentence is soooo me].
…and we’re back.
From then on, Christian begins this quest to prove that he is not as shallow as Aaron thinks he is. It’s like the tables turned on him for a bit when he volunteers for this thing called Project Angel Food; that delivers meals to people living with HIV complications. There’s that twilight zone freakish bit when Keith, the guy he delivers food to says, “Snow… It’s all just snow.” after he accidentally grabs Christian’s arm. The writer’s intention here was to point out that there’s still -call it- magic or miracles that happen in our lives that lead us to where we are.
Way before I went gaga over that kiss in The Love of Siam, I was raving about the kiss between Aaron and Christian in this movie. There’s that vulnerability that I saw in Aaron’s character that I feel in love with [Now that I think about it, I feel as if the Steve Sandvoss is giving me that “I feel so betrayed by you” look for replacing him with Mario Maurer… Steve Sandvoss just defines the Abercrombie and Fitch type… drool… Hahahaha!!!]. But that kiss would cost them dearly as they are caught and Aaron had to be sent away in shame to be tried and excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints for the ‘grievous and shameful sin of homosexuality’. Yeah, that still happens at this day and age.
So, in true spur of the moment fashion, Christian runs after Aaron and finds him at an airport somewhere, outside, where it was snowing. I remember this movie for these lines which I have quoted over and over when we have had conversations about religion and being gay and finding a balance to it:
“You want revelations engraved in gold and angels trumpeting down from heaven. What if this is it instead, me telling you ‘I love you’ right here in the snow. I think that’s pretty miraculous.”
I mean, come on, who wouldn’t fall for a guy after he says that, right? Well, unfortunately the movie does not end there. At the risk of me narrating the film scene by scene, let me just say it gets a bit more messy. Someone gets left behind, there’s a brief but disastrous affair with a sharp object, and we’re treated to what happens to people inside those “Christian Change Ministries”… But trust me, the roller coaster ride is worth it.
The supporting cast boasts of performances from the likes of screen legend Jacqueline Bisset, Mary Kay Place [Sweet Home Alabama], and Joseph Gordon-Levitt [Third Rock from the Sun, Mysterious Skin] as well as Erik Palladino and Rob McElhenney [It‘s Always Sunny in Philadelphia]. There are no pretentious camera shots here, nothing too epic to make an effort of, but I think the movie was held together by the acting next to a really great story about love.
Latter Days also came into my life when I was clinging on to a love I know was not mine to hold on to for long. Yes, I did have a heart once… it was one of those movies that I cried to many times over. Later would I find out that that particular love of mine would enter the service of God and I found that a bit -say- ironic now. But what I’m getting at here is that which was engraved in the silver pocket watch Aaron was carrying around and it reads: “And the greatest of all these is Love 1 Corinthians 13-13”
So, Valentines is just around the corner, and if you just plan to stay in and watch a good movie, try this one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
