Ask…

…and you shall receive. Me and my big mouth. :-)

* * * * *

Anonymous wanted me to write about the wonders of being single or my resolutions for the New Year. I’ve stopped doing the latter decades ago. The former needs more time and thought, so pardon me if I defer it to a later date. But I will talk about being single.

* * * * *

Nelz on the other hand asked several questions that are easier to tackle, so I’ll answer them first.

[1] I’ve been reading about “Enteng Kabisote” winning the best picture, and the bishops lambasted the movie. Care to comment on that?

I haven’t seen Enteng and I have no intention of watching it. I also don’t know what reasons the bishops gave for lambasting the movie.

However, I do know that Mother Lily (Regal, producer of Mano Po 5) and Malou Santos (Star Cinema, producer of Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo) have protested over the best picture winner because—as per filmfest organizers—the film that has the biggest box office returns automatically wins best picture. Duh, right? Mother and Malou further pointed out that they were never informed of the criteria for judging. Had they known that earlier, they would have fielded in a more commercial fare. Hahaha, right… as if one can consider the stretched-out franchise of Mano Po and the reel-and-real pairing of Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo as serious “art films.” But the two power producers have a point: being most watched does not a best picture make.

[2] I also viewed the Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah ze Moveeh website, and I’m curious how it went. I’m coming back to Manila in June for a very short visit, and I’m hoping to snag a DVD copy to bring home with me (and show all the afams about Pinoy kabaklaan he he he).

I’ve been fortunate enough to stumble upon the comic book and gone gaga over it, to the point that I was lending it out to any and everybody I know just to spread the word around. And I’ve also seen the several incarnations of Ze Stage Musical (at CCP and at PETA), and loved the way they were able to take the wit, spunk and spirit of the comic book and graft it into another medium (the western stage musical, aka Broadway and West End) that could handle the giddy subversive tone of the original source.

Now, Ze Moveeh. On the one hand, blessed is he who watches Ze Moveeh without watching Ze Musical or reading Ze Original Komiks este Graphic Novel. In other words, ignorance is bliss. You see, generally the people who’ve fallen head-over-heels with Ze Musical and Ze Graphic Novel are those who can appreciate the subtle, the snappy and the sarcastic; in other words, those folks who find nothing ironic about using the word “ironic” in their everyday conversation.

On the other hand, this is the movies. Or specifically, this is Ze Moveeh, an adaptation of Zaturnnah into a Pinoy movie musical-comedy. So they adapted Ze Graphic Novel while borrowing zeveral zongs from Ze Musical (zyet, nakakahawa pala itong puro “z”!) and adding a few new tunes (thanks to Vince De Jesus, who also penned the songs for the stage). Movies are a pop art form, a mass medium where subtle and ironic aren’t your usual fare.

I have heard people say time and again that the Filipino masa audience is not stupid, and should never be treated as such; they deserve better. I agree. However, I also believe that in matters of taste preferences and sensibilities, the masa clearly is mainstream. Now, if you’re working with a medium that can cater to this vast mainstream audience (like movies or television), you have a choice: you can either play directly into the sensibilities of this bigger mainstream audience, or you can decide to pitch your movie several notches higher (or lower) and therefore cater to a smaller segment of that audience (after all, making it too sloppy will also turn off a mainstream audience).

In the world of mainstream or commercial film production, where big film companies such as Regal or Star Cinema spend millions to mount a movie, there is a need for them to watch the bottomline. After all, they are a business, and movies are their products. As companies, they are expected to make, not lose, money. This I also understand and appreciate. After all, is there anyone who would go into a business to lose money?

To be fair to Joel Lamangan and company, Ze Moveeh was given an “A” rating along with Kasal and Ligalig (the latter a Cesar Montano film, very dark, looks very serious). And I can see why it got a good rating: the storytelling is clear, the pace brisk, the humor not too crass. Certain musical numbers actually have an emotional lift to them, or at the very least the staging is brisk enough so that it doesn’t slow down the movie’s pace. I guess Ze Moveeh is better crafted compared to the other entries.

But there are flaws. The transitions to musical numbers feel awkward at times. Additional characters are unnecessary. The special effects are uneven. The flaws are not major, but they do detract from the movie’s over-all impact.

And the move to a different medium (novel to stage, or novel to screen) always involves some gains as well as losses. The risk involved in casting different actors to play Ada and ZsaZsa is evident here as well as in Ze Musical: there is a dissonance between the characters of Ada and ZsaZsa. In Ze Graphic Novel, I can still “see” Ada in ZsaZsa; the latter is just the former allowed to “burst” out of his self-and-societal-imposed shell. But in the musical as well as in the movie, Ada and ZsaZsa are really two different people. (Eula Valdez succeeds better in the stage musical because her ZsaZsa is able to retain the vulnerability of Tuqx Rutaquio’s Ada.) Of course one can argue that it can be treated that way: Shazam is an example wherein the human “host” is subsumed by the superhero. Still, it is a missed opportunity; one wonders if, in the hands of a more skilled actress, this more difficult task could be pulled off.

Here’s what I noticed: all of the people I know SO FAR who have really liked the movie (they come close to raving about it, though they were still objective enough to point out flaws) have never seen the musical nor read the graphic novel. Which got me thinking that they fully embraced the movie for what it is—warts and all—because they have no basis for comparison.

Which is why in the end I came out of the movie house generally happy for the movie. Why? Because when I watched in Megamall, the audience was lapping up the humor, reacting to the musical numbers (I heard a ZsaZsa Padilla fan[?] copying her singing style during her song number), and generally enjoying the movie. While the more (gay) political tone of Carlo Vergara’s original novel (also present in the musical) is clearly missing from the movie (ironic given the fact that it’s directed by Joel Lamangan), the openness and the matter-of-fact treatment of the gay characters plus the theme of acceptance (as exemplified in Dodong’s character) lifts this movie above the tired comedies of old wherein gay characters are the butt of jokes. And although the movie clearly can still be crafted better, it isn’t every day that a smarter-than-usual Pinoy movie musical can make its way into Philippine cinemas. Yes, you can cry because the glass is half-empty; or you can be happy because the glass is half-full.

Let’s be realistic and take into consideration the audiences. For the graphic novel, the audience is clearly a sharper reading public. The people who pay their way to watch the stage musical are clearly a more exposed (and in general more affluent) crowd. The movie, on the other hand, is obviously pitched at getting the biggest crowd possible (hmmm, did Joel Lamangan know the festival’s best picture criteria?). That Ze Moveeh is not as whip-smart and sassy as its earlier incarnations may not necessarily be a negative thing for ZsaZsa.

“But we must lift the Pinoy moviegoers’ sensibilities!” you might cry out loud. “Lift”? Why “lift”? It connotes that their sensibilities are low. Now that’s a condescending attitude. I think there is a place in this world for simple, light entertainment as well as works that bothers, challenges and pushes the envelope. If entertainment is well made then there is method behind the “mindlessness”; it takes smarts to create well-made pop. And remember: even Hollywood has B-movies, and across the Atlantic there’s annoying Euro-dance music (think Crazy Frog, which was invented by—gasp!—Swedes and popularized by Germans).

More and more I appreciate the need for the Spielbergs and the Pixars of this world. Between the commercialist and populist touch of a Michael Bay or a Chris Columbus and the head-scratching, patience-trying tastes of a Lars Von Trier or a Lav Diaz, there are very few who can straddle successfully between the two worlds of aesthetics. In fact, I think that is also a different kind of genius: the ability to touch and be relevant to a mass audience while refusing to dumb down. The saying is true: try to please everybody and you please nobody. But the one who pleases the most opposite of the spectrum—the uncritical moviegoer and the hypercritical reviewer alike—is the one who is extraordinary.

By June the DVD may already be available. Cross your fingers, raise your hands and shout, “Zaturnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

[3] Your thoughts on Daniel Smith being handed over to the Americans despite his conviction

President Arroyo blinked. Given the vague wording of the Visiting Forces Agreement, both sides could argue that they have the right to insist on where Smith should stay, in a Philippine prison or in US custody.

But I think the more interesting aspect of this case is not where Smith goes. In fact, I think many people don’t really care about Smith. Of the many women familiar with the case whom I’ve talked to, most of them feel that it is not only Smith’s fault; Nicole is partially responsible for what happened to her. They feel that Nicole placed herself in a position where the boundaries are blurred and it’s difficult to tell if it’s rape or if it’s first with consent then she changes her mind. Do you “fault” someone for misjudging her capacities? That’s why most people are ambiguous about the case. In a situation where both parties may have been responsible for what happened, why should blame be placed on just one?

On a separate note, when is rape considered rape? Consider this scenario: the man already has his cock inside her vagina and is pumping away, but a few seconds later she changes her mind and says, “Wait I changed my mind, I don’t want this anymore.” He doesn’t believe her and continues. She repeats her request to stop. At this point he’s bewildered. He tries to continue pumping, while at the same time telling her, “C’mon, we’ve gone this far now!” She now tries to push him away as well, and her cries of “Stop!” get more frantic. He resists her pushes as much as he can until she becomes too violent for him, then he disengages from her and stomps out of the room. That’s when she discovers that he had already ejaculated inside her just before he was finally pushed off her. Questions: Can she cry, “Rape!”? If yes, at what point did it become rape?