When a Mabuhay Guide's Department of Tourism accreditation is up for renewal he/she tends to look for an outlet to bide time which he/she would have otherwise used in honing his/her skill in selling the Philippines to foreign guests.
In my case, I've been doing my usual haunts of Quiapo, Sta. Cruz and Divisoria either alone or with friends. And when you've developed the habit of going "downtown" as my dear departed parents used to say, you're bombarded with either bootleg fashion knock-offs or bootleg DVD copies.
Yeah, I know... I'm ashamed to admit it... but I have acquired the taste for purchasing pirated Indy Films. I'm not proud of it! But it would be difficult for me to revel in fashion knock-offs. Besides, how could I have the heart to turn away an offer of 4 dvds for a hundred pesos? and from a Muslim brother at that?
Besides, I really wanted to find out what impact/relevance Indy films have on Philippine local cinema. I have always believed that the golden age of filmic arts in the country died with the likes of Lino Brocka, Yshmael Bernal, Eddie Romero and Celso Ad Castillo (on his good days).
Having seen some snippets of these films on youtube, I've formed the opinion that these so-called Indies are no more than a glamorized version of soft porn where some unknown newby actor is given the license to disrobe and show the family jewels on camera. Give it a gay love angle, some steamy same-sex scenes, throw in a squalid setting in some slum area and tons of nudity... and voila!... You have an Indy Film.
I should have asked some pointers from friends of mine who are avid cineastes. Jessica Zafra being one of them! She probably would have bonked me on the head with one of her thick paperbacks. Most of the films I have viewed were horrible!!! The pacing was dragging... the story line idiotic... the actors were (pardon the pun) wooden and there was too much squalor in some scenes you'd probably throw up if it were smell-o-vision.
There was one film where the entire cast had managed to disrobe at different points either individually or in pairs... girl to guy... guy to guy... girl to girl... Ask me for the title and I'll tell you. Meantime, no sense in hyping up this libidinous movie 'coz I don't want to create a cult following. There! I spilled the beans!!!
I saw Kubrador and admired Gina Parreno's acting in it. The support cast was pretty good too. No wonder Ms Parreno won as Best Actress for it. This is a rarity though. Some films I saw were so lame I was laughing so hard till tears rolled down my cheeks. I hadn't realized though, that a majority of the films featured Coco Martin in it.
Coco Martin is a young actor who has a lot of promise in his young career. Born in 1985, Rodel Luis Cortez Nacianceno has gone mainstream and now has a string of Telenovelas in his name. But before he got into that stature, Coco Martin tried ekeing out a niche as the prince of Indy films. Yeah, he did bare it all in some of his films but he has such an innocent aura about him you somehow forget that in one film he shows his but with a boil in it.
Why do Indy films only show the gritty side of life? Isn't it enough that we have to live it day in and day out? That's bad for tourism if you ask me... our 7,107 islands have more to offer than just a ton of garbage on screen... I've seen too much gay sex on camera that I'm concerend we're driving the wrong signals as to the type of tourists we attract.
Then tonight I saw the film by Adolfo Borinaga Ali, Jr. It features just two male actors: Paolo Rivero and... who else? Coco Martin! The scene is just in one spot... a vacation house in Taal, Batangas (what a far cry from the usual slums). True, Coco Martin portrays an under-privileged banquero but he looks so well-scrubbed he would not have been believable save for his dialogue and the way he cusses. Paolo Rivero is a gay pediatrician who's cheating on his wife and who's on the throes of leaving her for the company of his paramour boatman ( I would too, if he looked like Coco Martin).
The storyline explores what two men do when they're in love and left alone to explore seething passion for one another...Kinda reminds me of Brokeback Mountain except this one showcases the lush greenery of Tagaytay with a mansion instead of a tent. I picked to rave about this one because it is decidedly different in treatment from the earlier Indies I saw... the men dine on pasta... they have wine for dinner to wash down their palate... they bathe in marble tiled bathrooms... and they mull the meaning of their existing relationship ala Descarte...
The original songs to heighten the mood in some scenes make for great listening. The sex scenes aren't lurid either... Daybreak is a gay-themed movie I wouldn't be ashamed to show in international festivals abroad if only for the breath-taking shots of Tagaytay at dusk and dawn... The cast makes it all the sweeter...
Now, excuse me while I have some Coco... and I don't mean the kind you drink! ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment