Thursday, June 19, 2008

Pelikulang Tagalog


Unlike my mama, I have never been a fan of Philippine Cinema. I often find local movies cheap and disgusting. Perhaps I too, have been brainwashed by Disney and Universal Studios. Nevertheless, like many Filipino kids who grew up in the eighties, I was also weaned on flicks like Ben Tumbling, Nardong Putik, Sa'yo ang Tondo, akin ang Cavite, etc. I remember most of the titles because I used to play teks when I was around 6 and 7 years old and these movies were the graphical contents of the small, rectangular, carton teks of which I used to own about a ton or two. These old school miniature cards, as I remember, were numbered so whenever someone makes a linear arrangement of the same, they tell the story of the movie. It's really funny--in an odd way--because I have tried doing that a few times and learned that the story in the teks was not the same as that of the movie counterpart. Mostly, the stories in the teks were really short-cuts or distortions of the movie's plot. I didn't care because I thought (and still think) that the art in the teks were really amazing and well, cool. I used to have a Nardong Putik pamato with just a drawing of Nardo's eye which looked really intense and that particular piece never failed me whenever I used it in a game. I swear to God.

The cinema of the Philippines has a history that can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking in 1897, when a theater owner named Pertierra screened imported moving pictures. The first film produced by a Filipino is Jose Nepomuceno's Dalagang Bukid (1919). The first sound film in Tagalog is Ang Aswang (1930), a monster movie inspired by Philippine folklore. The 1950s was the so-called Golden Age of Philippine Cinema, mainly because at this time, the Big Four studios (LVN Pictures, Sampaguita Pictures, Premiere Productions and Lebran International) were at the height of their powers in film making. The Big Four has been churning out an estimated total of 350 films a year. This number made the Philippines second only to Japan in terms of film productions a year, which made it one of the busiest and bustling film communities in Asia. (source: wikipedia) I vividly recall my mama watching all those crazy-ass black and white movies everyday during noon-time when I was still sneaking out of the house to play teks. However, IMHO, and I'm almost sure even my mama would agree with me on this one, Philippine Cinema after the Golden Age has taken the downward plunge. From Chiquito (LOLd at Asyong Aksaya) to Andrew E., Tugak & Pugak to Wally & Jose...from the bomba movies in the 1960's to the super-predictable formulaic romantic comedies we have today, there have been very few saving graces.

The last Filipino movie I saw was senator Lito-lito's Lapu-lapu. Atty. JS, law professor, counsel for the senator from the great province of Pampanga, and supporting actor in the same movie, practically made us watch the flick--under pain of threat of an absent mark in our legal ethics class in law school. That was about four (4) years ago. Needless to say, it sucked. Hard.

These days, TV stars are bigger than movie actors. There's no more FPJ or Rudy Fernandez of these times. Apart from the fact that they are both dead, their class of actors have died along with them. Richard Gutierrez or Piolo Pascual couldn't possibly make it as legitimate action stars. Nobody would believe. Nobody would put their faggoty mugs in kids' teks. There will never be another Megastar. Judy Ann ruined her career very recently because she played puppet for Meralco, and Angel Locsin destroyed hers when she transferred to ABS-CBN. Give it a few years more and nobody would remember them. Just like how nobody remembers the name Amanda Page.

Today, Philippine Cinema is in the ditches. Tomorrow, it should be in the sewers. There are as much stars in Philippine Cinema as there are in East Asia or Pegasus--so I have heard. LOL. Thank God for RA Rivera and the other good indy filmmakers-even though they are only good at comedies and sarcasm. I remember one short film (actually, it's too long) that consisted of only one scene: a pair of hands scrubbing a skull into a sheet of sandpaper until the skull was totally pulverized--that one you can only watch properly if you have Bob Marley's favorite smokes lit up in your hand.

I should quit smoking. Those things can kill you. Not me, but you.