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THE
ASIAN VALUES DVD REVIEW
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Last year there
was a small yet significant spurt of worthwhile Filipino films.
The mini-renaissance began in earnest with Tikoy Aguiluz's Tatsulok
(Triangle) during the early part of 1998; it came into full bloom
with the Good Harvest Festival, which featured at least four exciting
new films.
There was Jeffrey
Jeturian with Sana Pag-Ibig Na (Enter Love) and there was Lav Diaz
with his flawed (but brilliant) Kriminal ng Barrio Concepcion (Criminal
Of Barrio Concepcion). Then there was Mario O'Hara with not one
but two new films - the possibly great Babae sa Bubungang Lata (Woman
On A Tin Roof) and the insanely imaginative, possibly even greater
Sisa.
Then nothing.
Not a peep, though there were bigger, more ambitious (and sadly,
less imaginative) productions. The Filipino film industry, after
displaying so much promise, slumbered for most of the first half
of this year.
Pila Balde
(Fetch A Pail Of Water), a soft-core sex film about people in a
low-cost housing development and neighboring squatter area, finally
(if belatedly) fulfills that earlier promise. It's another collaboration
between Jeturian and the quietly formidable Armando Lao - who, judging
from his two latest scripts (this film, and Sana Pag-Ibig Na) and
the excellent Takaw Tukso (Temptation) way back in 1986, has to
be one of the best (and most underrated) screenwriters still active
in the Philippines.
Pila Balde
has a look - the slums are a marvel of a location, full of tight
alleyways and plywood shanties, a huge maze where any number of
rodents can lose themselves and hide. The loose narrative is complemented
by Jeturian's equally loose camera - it peeks into corners, sidles
along besides the characters, and peers over their shoulders to
overhear what they're saying. Jeturian doesn't send the camera into
acrobatics - he'd do Lao's script a disservice if he did that -
it's just that there's care and intelligence in the film's visuals,
if you care to take a closer look.
The large cast
is impressively handled - Jeturian shows a flair for ensemble acting.
Ana Capri and Marcus Madrigal in particular are a physically handsome
lead couple - she's a laundry girl and he's a water-bucket boy -
but there's also a thoughtfulness and vulnerability to them that
you don't see with actors in soft-core sex films. They work well
together, too - when they're in bed together their chemistry is
so natural it doesn't jar you that Madrigal is actually several
years younger than Capri.
It helps that
Lao has given them real characters to play, and that they're acting
in a superbly realized context - that of a community of upper-lower
to lower-middle class families, living in close proximity to a community
of slum dwellers.
Lao throws
in a few sharp social observations - a tenant teaching at a nearby
university notes that the squatters provide a source of cheap and
ready labor - but has him do so in character, without unnecessarily
heavy pontificating. Lao's script is a not-quite-as-dark version
of Lino Brocka's squatter films (Jaguar, Insiang); you tend to miss
Brocka's intensity. But Lao is also wittier, with an effortless
sense of humor - which is something Brocka, despite his greatness,
sorely lacked.
The ending,
a squatter fire, is more spectacle than resolution - but what kind
of resolution can you have that won't seem too neat, or too obviously
structured? The sex scenes tend to stick out, which bothered some
who've seen the film - but these are minor complaints. Pila Balde
is a movie of modest virtues and modest pleasures, possessed of
keen intelligence and a recognizable soul; it's superior fare to
the brainless, soulless, standardized sludge that pours out of Hollywood
(and into our shopping mall theaters) nowadays.
Note: Cinemaya Magazine,
Issue #45, Autumn 1999. The article also appears in Noel Vera's
Critic After Dark: A Review Of Philippine Cinema (BigO Books).
Click here to order.
+ + + + +
Click here for other Asian Values DVD Reviews:
Flower Of Manila
Sinful Confession
The Most Beautiful Creature On The Face Of The Earth
Sexy Playgirls
Toro (Live Show)
Sexy Career Girls
Woman Of Mud
That's Adultery
Prosti
Adultery, Chinese Style
Tatlo
Women Of Desire
Naked Under The Moon
Hex
Virgin People
Love Swindler
Tatarin
Girl With The Long Hair
Scorpio Nights
Sex For Sale
Tatsulok
36 Secrets Of Courtship
Biyaheng Langit
Sexy Girls Of Denmark
Laman
Golden Lotus: Love And Desire
Tuhog (Larger Than Life)
Dreams Of Eroticism
Legends Of Lust
Amorous Woman Of Tang Dynasty
Hong Kong Hong Kong
Kiss Of Death
Crazy Sex
Forbidden Tales Of Two Cities
The Call Girls
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