Cinemalaya Marathon

First film and I was late. I entered the theater a couple of minutes late. The film was already starting and I didn’t have time to look for my friends plus, I’ve wasted a few more minutes looking for a free seat. Luckily, I did find one—between what I think is a couple and a group of peers. Watching Sana Dati alone? How fortunate. MassComm students shouldn’t be really late, lesson learned. Anyway, I tried my best to focus watching the film despite my mood. It didn’t take too long until I appreciated the film.  Eventually I was too focused in the film I became oblivious in time.

Sana Dati was set on Andrea’s wedding day faced with a couple troubles—with her shoes left at home, a troublesome sister and a mysterious guy that appears in her special day. Moreover, her real dilemma wasn’t really about her shoes. She doesn’t even care if her sister, who looked for her shoes at home, won’t come back for a thousand years. In fact, she’ll be very much delighted if it happened. Her problem is that her husband-to-be, Robert, is not the person he truly loves. Truth is, she still in love with Andrew, a videographer he met in a wedding before. The film showed in flashbacks how Andrea and Andrew are so madly in love with each. They even runaway together, leaving their families behind. Sadly, because of some unfortunate events, they didn’t end up together. The real reason why they didn’t end up together wasn’t revealed in the film until sometime later. Meanwhile, the confused Andrea was more bewildered by Dennis the mysterious videographer of her wedding. While filming her interview for the wedding video, she found out that Dennis was actually Andrew’s brother. Surprised, Andrea and Dennis spend time together, reminiscing their memories of Andrew. Through their conversations, it was revealed that Andrew had died because of sickness. The wedding was almost postponed because Andrea was missing but in time, Robert has found her and wedding has finally started. After the wedding ceremonies, Andrea tried to run away with Dennis. Fortunately, Dennis is sane enough to refuse the offer and leave, besides, all he wanted in the first place to meet the girl his brother loves until his last breath. At the end of the film, Andrea visited Andrew’s grave and left everything that will remind her of him. Though she left one thing with her, the shoes Andrew gave to her and the same shoes she wore on her wedding saying she’ll need on her way commuting home. ON her way out of the cemetery, she was surprised to find Robert waiting for her. It turned out; Robert knows everything about her past love with Andrew all along. And since Robert came to drive her home, he took off her shoes before entering Robert’s car. For me, and I guess most the people who have watched the film, this is the best scene of the film.

Sana Dati was a great film, story-wise and technically. I thought the screenplay was written well. The story didn’t have much stereotyping in its characters. Andrea, played by Lovi Poe, wasn’t the typical bubbly female leading character, though a little damsel in distress—another classic—she make her own way out of the trouble. Another character was TJ Trinidad’s character, Robert, an unfortunate politician and Andrea’s fiancée. Far from the typical greedy politician, he portrayed a rather service-oriented person. He explained this during his conversation with Dennis, Paolo Avelino’s character. The plot itself wasn’t the typical boy meets girl, boys gets the girl film and predictable compared to most mainstream films. Like I said, it was well written and I really liked how the film managed to have a positive ending despite the fact that the two main characters didn’t end up together and how it build up Robert even in

the last seconds of the film. Sana Dati also aced technically, especially its cinematography. The feel of the film is like watching a pre-nuptial or a wedding video; it definitely sticks with the theme. The flashbacks, though shown part by part, didn’t make the film confusing. The scenes were neatly edited. The film also provided a good selection of score, though I didn’t really paid much attention to its musical soundtrack until the closing credit where Indak performed by Up Dharma Down is played which is perfect for the film. As whole, I think Sana Dati was far from what I was expecting. And knowing that Jerrold Tarog was a well-known director for horror films—with works such as Shake, Rattle, and Roll and The Healing—Sana Dati was a big surprise. I felt like the seventy-seven pesos and twenty five centavo I paid for this film was not enough. I will even pay much more if I had the chance to watch it again. Actually, I didn’t expect Sana Dati to receive many awards, but nonetheless, I think it deserved every award it received. Like I mentioned earlier, it was a good film, and what makes it different than other finalists, it’s not over the top and overrated. No pressure, it seems like all the filmmakers wanted is to tell a story, and they did. Beautifully, indeed.

Just when I was ready for a film that exploits poverty or features corrupt politicians, Sana Dati surprised me with a film with quality that of a mainstream film. If an independent film can be this good, why can’t our mainstream media be?

The next film we watched was Amor Y Muerte, definitely not my cup of tea. I’m fond of movies that are less passionate and liberate than this one, no offense to the makers of this film. My peers and I thought that this film was filled with ‘intense’ scenes. Although, this is something I expected and readied myself when it comes to watching indie films, I didn’t expect it to be that much. But in fairness with Amor, it is somehow essential to the plot. The film is set on the Spanish Colonial era in the Philippines and focused on Amor, a tagala married to Spanish soldier, Diego and their life as a married couple. The film showed how the people around them, both Spanish and Filipinos, affect their relationship. At one point, Diego became anxious for Amor when the friar-curate started giving rude comment about his wife. This is the reason why he started ‘transforming’ Amor into a true Spanish. While Diego become fond of Amor’s changes, Amor, on the other hand, started getting bored being prim and proper. Then, Diego was called to Intramuros to take part in the battle against Filipino revolts. However, neither Diego nor Amor knew that her father, Felipe, was part of this revolt. Meanwhile, while Diego is away, Amor had an illicit love affair with Apitong, a native. That’s when the story became a mess. One night, Amor found out that their helper, Soledad, is still into paganism despite being a Christian convert. The two of them agreed that each will keep each other’s secret from Diego. However, the friar-curate sensed that Apitong and Amor were having an affair so he encouraged Apitong to read the Church’s teaching. After being taught these teachings, Apitong was converted to Christianity. Realizing their wrong doings, he decided to stay away from Amor. Once Diego was back from the battle, their friar-curate told him about Amor’s affair with Apitong. Amor then was very surprised when she went home and found Diego furious and their house is in chaos because, apparently, he has also found out about Soledad’s paganism and ended up hitting her. Diego has gone mad and wanted to hit Amor. She tried to fight back and ended up killing Diego. Such a tragic story.

At first, it shows that despite many differences, intermarriage between a native and a Spaniard is possible.  However, as the film progresses, it shows how Spaniards dominated Filipinos at that time. The domination is not only within political aspects but also within their very own homes. The film also focused in religion, on how native Filipinos accepted Christianity after it was first brought in the country by the Spaniards. Though most Filipinos were converted into Christianity, some of them still believe in paganism or Catalonan. I personally didn’t like the Amor’s story. At one point, it seems like Amor and Diego are so happily in love, then right in the middle of the film, Amor had an affair with Apitong.

Amor Y Muerte wasn’t quite impressive and didn’t really leave me at awe. The last scene even made me wanted to leave the theater. I thought that scene was very unexpected, like, out of the blue, the film became violent and gruesome. It wasn’t also technically great, though I assume that they used natural light very much since most of the scenes were shot outdoor and during daylight. The great nature surrounding was also featured in the film though the set wasn’t really realistic because it looks like they’re the only ones living in their community. It was too limited far from what I expected to see in an Spanish-colonial community where communities were form like Plaza Complex.

For the last film, we watched Babagwa. A plot-driven film, Babagwa focuses on the life

Facebook scammers, Greg and Marney. The film shows how they deceive their prospects. They started befriending them, eventually making them fall in love to their make-believe account, Bam. Then, they will start asking for money through a bank account and once they got the money, they’ll be out of the lives of their prospects. Greg and Marney, along with the real owner of the bank account will divide the money among themselves, where Greg receives the smallest part. In reality, Bam Fernandez aside, Greg lives a life of mess. Though it wasn’t directly shown in the film, it was heard in the background whenever he’s at home, that his parents argue a lot and it was explained later in the film that they were, in fact, an illegitimate family. Despite his chaotic family, he has a good relationship with his girlfriend though they encounter quarrels when his girlfriend started bugging him to go on a trip to Palawan. One night while checking the Bam Fernandez account, a Daisy Simbulan added Bam on Facebook. Attracted to her, Greg accepted the request and one night, Daisy unexpectedly messaged him and then they exchanged number. From Facebook friends, they became phone pals. Greg eventually falls in love with Daisy and they seem to have a good, flirty relationship. Greg’s flirty days ended when Marney, a gay who acts as his handler and dictates him to do that, do this, ask him to get money from Daisy. Greg told Marney to just spare her from the scam but he didn’t agree and end up asking money from Daisy. When they were dividing the money they got from Daisy, Marney said insulting words about Daisy and, hearing those words; Greg was offended and started arguing with Marney. This argument turned into a rather big fight between the two. Marney got angrier when he realized that the reason why Greg is ating that way was because he is actually in love with Daisy. Greg said he’ll quit being a scammer and Marney blackmailed him that he will tell Daisy the truth. Greg became anxious so instead of Marney reavilng his secret, he confronted Daisy revealing his true identity that he’s not Bam Fernandez but rather, he’s Gregorio, a facebook scammer. Daisy felt betrayed and, at first, got angry at him. A couple of days though, she once again contacted Greg and told him that they should meet. Greg taught of running away and living with her and she agreed. The last scenes were Greg’s trip to Daisy’s house and that’s when we found out that Daisy was also a poser using a photo far from her real look.

The main concept of Babagwa is very real, while it’s not common to everyone; it certainly happens in some Facebook users. I also admired how the script was written. The film, set in Pampanga, was consistent in using Kapampangan as if each and everyone in the cast is native Kapampangan. I also thought that the director, Jason Paul Laxamana, did well in showing different perspectives in story by means of showing scenes where the prospect imagines that the person he talks to is really the person in the display picture of the account. It was a bit confusing at first, I had to explain the concept twice to my friend before she understood it, but as soon as you got it, it was rather creative. And the director used the same tactic to deceive even the audience and until the very end, the same strategy is what kept the audience on hold. I’d like to praise the continuity of the screenplay and since it’s a plot-driven film, the audience became part of the progress of the film. What I enjoy the most is the final part of the film. It was literally breathtaking! The film’s sound was also good, especially when Pusong Bato was played at the end of the film. It was just undoubtedly perfect for the film.

Babagwa told a story about social issues without exploiting the problem. Poverty was of course a main factor in the film but watching it didn’t feel burdened. It was rather entertaining, not that seeing poverty was entertaining but the film didn’t focus on it. Apart from it, I guess what the film pointed out is the social acceptance between different social classes and the film did it in a very entertaining way.