I just enjoyed watching one of Joey Gosiengfiao’s classic camp flick that starred Alma Moreno.  It is the late ’80s movie entitled Secrets of Pura.  To adore this exquisite film, the viewer should not in anyway take the story seriously but rather relish and fancy the entertaining lines and words being uttered by the characters.  I have always been smitten by Filipino camp movies for they are usually made up of characters who sees the world as an aesthetic phenomenon and can transform the menacingly significant into something frivolous.

The three sceens  in the movie that I consider to be of avant-garde quality when in comes to campiness were:

1. Young Alma Moreno making love with her boyfriend/leading man sa ilalim ng puno ng gabi  (under a taro plant) and while fornicating she learned that her mother just died.
2. Prostitute Alma Moreno when asked by a handsome son of a wealthy businessman about her relationship dealings with her male clients, Alma responded, “Basta makate, kakamutin ko.” (As long as it itches, I will scratch it)
3. Successful Alma Moreno when asked by the protagonist wife of her rich businessman benefactor what was her name, she lifted her chin and proudly declares, “Pura… Pura Kikinang.”

Galing galing… Yeba!

Thanks to Mrs. Eugene Billones for the complimentary tickets she gave me for this year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.  Because of her I was able to watch an unprecedented seven Filipino films in two days.  I have never been exposed to this amount of Filipino films in my life.

Five of the films were short indie-films entitled: Musa; Tatang; Hulagpos; Behind Closed Doors; and, Wat Floor Ma’am.  While the other two are full length films entitled Colorum and Dinig Sana Kita.  Take note, all these films were in competition and not just mere “feature film” in the festival.

I usually feel dumb after watching a short film.  Maybe it’s because the short films I watched in the past were all too deep-seated in which the viewer would have to have their own personal interpretation about the film, but not for Behind Closed Doors.  It is my personal favorite among the five short-films I watched.   I liked it because it featured two of Pinoy society’s taboo sex gizmos (the condom and the vibrator) being vital objects in the story.  It is also an impressive movie because of the superb editing efforts.  No scene is wasted because each is fundamental in the total construction of interesting twists in the story. The movie is wittingly and intricately presented.   

Between the two full length films I watched, I prefer Dinig Sana Kita (If I Knew What You Said).  The film is simple, pleasant and apolitical.  It is not necessarily a tearjerker but the whole film is endearing and charming yet very unique.  It is a story about an abandoned-by-parents and deaf-at-birth young man who loves to dance and a troubled-by-parents and soon-to-be-deaf young lady who loves to sing.  Surprisingly, the performances of the actors were effective.  It is a unique movie that was able to cater to the deaf audience.  It is believed to be the first Filipino film to have a deaf actor in the lead role.  Its simplicity in story and presentation made the movie a very good festival film.  The film was so impressively heartwarming the crowd gave a standing ovation and burst in a loud applause at the end of the film.

 Mabuhay ang Cinemalaya! Klap! Klap! Klap!

I barely remember the last time I laughed hard inside a cinema.  It’s been eons of years ago that I freely laughed towards an American-made film.  I know that it is so easy to make me laugh but I started to wonder if the Americans do not have the quirk to tickle me anymore.  However, the inkling has ended after watching Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

The movie is a hilariously fun family movie.  It has engaging characters, tons of gags and sweet little comedies.  The movie even has some adult humor that is still acceptable to the mind of little kids.  Movie critics’ major expostulation about the film seems to be the fact that dinosaurs were extinct during the ice age.  I didn’t know it was supposed to be a scientific documentary.  Hello, it’s a film for kids; it’s supposed to be fun and entertaining!

I particularly loosen my wits off during the scene when Manny, Diego, Crash and Eddie (The Two Possems) get stuck in the green toxic laughing-gas and they realize that their voices changed into high pitched tones and start to crack up and make fun of themselves.  These characters were hilariously laughing at their own laughs in the scene.  I was literally chuckling along with the characters and felt how they felt.  The movie is such a big riot!

It is so fitting because all my immediate family members are present in the movie house – all 21 of my nephews and nieces, all my brothers and sisters, all my brother and sister-in-laws and of course Nengkoy.  Yes, the whole family watched the movie occupying the whole cinema.  I will personally not forget this movie event because it is such a rare occurrence that the whole humongous family that I have would watch a side-splitting film all at the same time.

Hagikgik to the maks!

I was glad to have my blog transferred to WordPress.com.  However, there are few blog posts that did not seem to appear and transfer in this new blog location.  One of which is my 2009 pre-valentine post entitled: Lord Give Me A Lover.  I so enjoy writing and reading this article (which I wrote last February 3, 2009) that is why I am re-posting it here today…

While having lunch with an officemate, 2 of our operations guy came to join us.  The one was greeted by the server with a big smile complimenting what he was wearing, barking that he looks like a celebrity.  When I asked who the celebrity he was talking about, the server blurted the name of George Estregan – a Pinoy actor of circa ’70s known as the King of Bomba Films.

That’s when I suddenly remembered and excitedly told my colleagues that Estregan starred in a ’70s movie entitled Lord Give Me A Lover.  It was so odd that the other operations guy who grew up in the ’70s remembered the film.  We exclaimed in synchronized manner that it was the launching movie of the then sexy star Daria Ramirez!

Like a scar in my brain, I can still remember the gist of the story, i.e., Daria had difficulty finding a boyfriend because her parents were psychiatric cases and her seemingly last hope was a doctor-suitor played by Estregan.  I knew that Estregan played a doctor in the movie (even without saying that he was) because he was always in white jacket with matching stethoscope  wrapped around his neck.  When I was a kid watching the film on afternoon TV movie, I actually got confused if Estregan was also a mental case because the stethoscope never escaped his neck.

The most dramatic (or the most hilarious, if I may say so) scene in the film was when Daria who was about to introduce Estregan to her parents, she found her mom and dad having bouts of insanity atop the roof of their house.  Out of despair she blurted the words… “Lord Give Me A Lover!”

Ang artikulong ito ay para sa mga walang balentayms.