100 Tula Para Kay Stella (Jason Paul Laxamana, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino 2017)

POEM # 143

Diretso, kaliwa o kanan
Ano'ng tatahaking lansangan?
Tanong ng bida sa kawalan
O Fidel Lansangan
Right path na ba yan?

     POEM # 333

Stella Puno ang ngalan

Punung-puno ng paandar

Gustong maging star

Nabingwit ni photocopier man

POEM # 1505
Pelikulang tumatabo sa takilya
Ikinatuwa ni Bela
Nawa'y ibang pelikula
Okay din sana 
Yehey! Isisigaw nila

POEM # 2017

Paalala ni Rio Alma

Tangkilikin at ibunyi ng taas noo

Pista ng Pelikulang Filipino

Opo. Filipino po ang tama

POEM # 1024

Mga tulang sinulat

Alay sa rakista

Ready na akong magtapat

Aray! May iba na siyang sinta!

Photo courtesy of 100 Tula Para Kay Stella FB page

2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (Petersen Vargas, Cinema One Originals 2016 Best Picture)

Kapampangan films are on a roll. Ari won the best indie film at the Metro Manila Film Festival 2015. Mercury Is Mine nabbed the Special Jury Prize at Cinemalaya 2016. 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten was selected as grand winner at the Cinema One Originals 2016.

A major force behind the awakening of the Kapampangan cinema movement is filmmaker/scriptwriter Jason Paul Laxamana. He was creative consultant for the drama film Ari. He directed and scripted the dark comedy Mercury Is Mine. He wrote the screenplay for the film 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten. All three films advocate the perpetuation of the Kapampangan language despite its weaknesses and quirkness.

Laxamana also organizes the CineKabalen: Kapampangan Film Festival, which features works done by local filmmakers in Pampanga. Petersen Vargas is just one of the filmmakers supported, and probably mentored, by Laxamana.

2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten, Vargas’ debut feature-length film, takes a look at a romantic newbie in Pampanga. An intelligent high school boy sees his bland school routine come to life with the arrival of two Filipino-American brothers. The older new kid, Magnus, becomes his classmate. He gets close to the two brothers after Magnus asks him to be his tutor in Mathematics and other subjects.

The boy becomes a regular fixture at Magnus’ house. He meets the boys’ mother. He sleeps over on some days. Everything seems to be going fine until the boy begins to fall in love.

2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten is the latest in the growing list of LGBT films shown in the Philippines.  What makes the film stand out is the boy could have been a girl character and the story will still flow with a few bumps. The boy just happens to fall in love with someone of the same gender.

The film tackles issues besetting residents of Pampanga. Vestiges of colonialism continue to put a vise-like grip on the people. Students are forced to speak in English. The siblings prefer to live with their absentee American father rather than stay with their prostitute mother. The boy is enamored with a white-skin guy.

Pampanga officials try to deodorize the legacy of prostitution by building tourist spots. However, the putrid stench of the past is difficult to ignore. Notable recent films dealing with prostitution in Pampanga are the Cinemalaya film I America and Louie Ignacio’s Area. The latter film deals with the fate of two major places of prostitution. The Fields used to be the place horny American Marines go to. Young, pretty girls serviced legions of American soldiers. On the other hand, the Area is the place where mature and has-been prostitutes linger. These days, a dozen casas still stand to cater to Filipino clients in Area.

The prostitute mother in 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten used to be from the Fields. She is lucky to get monthly allowance from her American lover. Her two sons, awash with money, are bored with school and lack the drive to excel.

A memorable scene shows the prostitute mother chancing upon a former colleague. The latter is smartly dressed and adorned with jewelry. However, the colleague is sporting a black eye. Her Caucasian husband appears and bossily breaks up the short meeting between the ladies. This is like the situation of the Philippines with colonial and neocolonial powers. These powerful countries exploit, abuse, and encroach on our land and resources. Past local officials, though, put up with such abuses. They focus instead on the financial and economic benefits of such relationships with major powers.

2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten has similarities with Vargas’ short film Lisyun Qng Geografia. Both films deal with a gay high school student.  The varied landscapes of Pampanga bear witness to the joys and hurts of these young gays. I love an idea from the short film that suggests we leave a bit of our hearts in places where we loved. Every time we go back to those special places, the pieces of hearts exude warmth from wonderful memories of love. Pampanga, as seen from these notable films, is peppered with places teeming with pieces of hearts.

Mercury Is Mine (Jason Paul Laxamana, #Cinemalaya2016)

There is much to like about the film but an equal amount of bizarre things tarnish the luster of the award-winning Cinemalaya film.

The dark comedy Mercury Is Mine deals succinctly with the colonial mentality of Filipinos. The fortunes of a middle-aged cook Carmen Batac (Pokwang) begin to rise after taking in an American teenager Mercury (Bret Jackson) as temporary help. The American boy attracts hordes of customers smitten with his good looks. Carmen's roadside eatery begins to flourish and becomes a regular stopover for trekkers and fortune hunters going to Mt. Arayat.

The filmmakers suggest that Carmen is like a small-scale miner who struck gold after using mercury. But, mercury can be fatal if handled improperly.

An early film segment shows Mercury's true colors. He is not as pure as his white skin. He is a cold-blooded killer. Running away from patricide, he ends up in the eatery of Carmen.

The famed hospitality of Filipinos is shown through Carmen's decision to let Mercury stay. Carmen shows no hesitation in letting in the white boy. The whiteness of Mercury's skin clouds the minds of those he encounters. Carmen never doubted Mercury even after learning of the murder of his father.

This early in the film, I've lost my empathy for the male lead. Mercury is a killer. On the other hand, Carmen may be a bad girl who preys on the needy but she may still have a pure heart. However, as the film progress on, the dark side of Carmen's character comes to the fore. The two leads are so vicious they deserve one another.

Mercury Is Mine is spot on with its treatment of how Filipinos behave with Caucasians in their midst. However, the lead characters are extreme turn-offs. Imagine an absentee mother letting her daughter get impregnated by an American teenager. I didn't care anymore where the story went after that incident.

Pokwang's delivery of her one-liners brought the house down. Carmen's innocent guess on the origin of Mercury's name is a winner.

Prior to my viewing of Mercury Is Mine, I caught up with the Metro Manila Film Festival New Wave Best Picture Ari at Cinemalaya 2016. It is a Kapampangan film dealing with a famed poet. The film, with ample creative support from Jason Paul Laxamana, highlighted some of the main criticisms against the Kapampangan language. One of these quirks is the interchange of Fs with Ps.

I had a hearty laugh then after hearing Carmen say 'Let's fuck' when what she meant was 'Let's pack.' Local tidbits such as this, along with the delicious dishes, give the film a unique Kapampangan flavor.

The gold hoard of Mercury left me puzzled. Are they real? If it is real, then why didn't Mercury raise hell to recover them?

My guess is that the gold nuggets are fake. The last scene bolsters my hypothesis that the nuggets are fake. The final shot shows Carmen still cooking in her roadside eatery. Nothing has changed. Usually, when a character comes upon a fortune in the latter part of a film, the audience sees the result of this windfall in a succeeding scene showing a new house or a new car. In the case of Carmen, she is still stuck in her eatery.

I like to think that Carmen gave away those gold pieces but it is not within her character. That storyline is about as false as the gold hair wig of Carmen. Yes, there's no use changing her personality. She is, as she said early in the film, 'a bad girl.'
 

Babagwa (Jason Paul Laxamana, Cinemalaya 2013)

A dominant theme of Cinemalaya 2013 films is lies and duplicity. With giveaway titles such as Instant Mommy, Liars, and Quick Change, one can guess that the films dealt with various types of charlatans. The Best Picture winners, Transit and Sana Dati, had their own share of impersonators.

The engrossing film Babagwa unleashes a slicker, slimier breed of impersonators. Greg and Marney are catfishes. The term catfish refers to a person who pretends to be someone else via social media.

Greg (Alex Medina) is a Facebook scammer fleecing unsuspecting lovers. Using the personality of a dashing fashion model, he sweet-talks his victims into sending money to an account managed by Marney. Once the money is deposited, the catfishes break their links with victims. Problem arise when Greg falls in love with his latest victim, a beautiful matron.

                           Kapag ang puso'y nadurog, mahirap na siyang buuin muli

Audiences lapped up the cheesy romantic lines mouthed by the heartbroken woman, Daisy (Alma Concepcion). Greg has his conscience shaken up. He falls head over heels with Daisy. He does the unexpected by baring his true self to Daisy. The blurry camshot image of a remorseful, whiskered Greg has been etched in my mind as a definitive image of a repugnant catfish. Greg left everything behind and ventured towards the abode of Daisy.

Early this year, I chanced upon an episode of the MTV show titled Catfish. The hosts raised a red flag when they discovered that the telephone number used by a Caucasian lover is registered in the name of an Afro-American. Could it be that the latter is using a Caucasian personality to lure a white girlfriend? How come the white boy didn't eyeball the girl even once during the eight years or so of online relationship? Is he hiding something? There is so much suspense when the girl went to the boy's house. There is happy ending, too. The boy is really what the girl fell in love with online. No duplicity at all for the boy.

The ending of Babagwa, though, is anti-climactic. Daisy is too nice and too pretty to be true. There's a gut feeling that she is not what she is online. The little suspense left is anticipating what she is in real life.

I've encountered several viewers raising the question of why Greg was fooled by an impostor. Well, one plausible reason is Greg is really in love. Just like his victims who shelled out money, Greg threw caution to the wind and placed his bet on Daisy. All of them are hoping for the best romantic outcome but not all will have a fairy tale ending.

For those curious about Greg's fate, the English title of the film, The Spider's Lair, gives us a hint. Smacked in the middle of the film's end credits is an image of a shackled, incapacitated Greg. The World Wide Web-based scammer is trapped in a hellish, sinister web of lies. There are available space left for other scammers including Pogi, Tanda, and Sexy. I hope they get caught, too.