Unrealistically yours, officially

So much hype on a film that’s supposed to present “taboo” subjects in local cinema. Ang tanong: define taboo. Baka tabo – tumabo ng konseptong di naman talaga bago sa kultura natin pero dahil konserbatibo (read: takot) ang ating media gatekeepers, wow, hype it up yo! Wasup wasup! Lech.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

UNOFFICIALLY YOURS (2012)

d. Cathy Garcia Molina

p. Star Cinema

c. Angel Locsin, John Lloyd Cruz

Pitch: Boy dentist turns lifestyle journalist trains under a former one night stand fling and of course love is renegotiated.

Catch: Aside from Google, my dear creatives, real-life research is your best friend. Just sayin’. At ang chaka ng poster design. 

So of course my main beef with this film is its authenticity in depicting the world of lifestyle-entertainment journalists. And why is that? Because I belong to that beat, is why! Like haller, you don’t go to coverage events to ambush interview like political beat reporters noh. Most coverage work in this beat are pre-arranged or writers and editors are invited to a press event where we don’t have to outscoop each other. We are spoiled like that.

So to have that kind of trainee-reporter-trained-by-veteran-writer blah is truly not not not authentic. Not to mention accepting a newbie writer without the benefit of, er, previous sample writing works??? That he needed to be trained to be a writer??? Hello naman sa non-suspension of disbelief sheesh. Puwede na kong himatayin sa portion na ito teh. Please lang. Lifeline: show me the popcorn.

But of course that’s just for people like me who want to nitpick. (Chos!) The real deal is, of course, the one night stand/fuck buddy storyline, something oooohhh sooooo controversial in Philippine cinema daw. Anubeh. Di ba kayo nanonood ng mga lumang sine? Di pa nga uso ang cougar term, may cougars na tayong karakter sa pelikula (see ’80s BAGETS especially the subplot of JC Bonnin) or any other film during that decade. In short, please do your homework. Bawal ang tamad.

So the next best thing is to explore instead how fubus or no label relationships are interpreted in this day and age. While the film makes a sexy effort, talagang A for ayfort lang siya teh. For one, the cinematography is so uneven that you tend to think if they want to show an unflattering angle of Angel during sex (read: hindi siya delicious tignan ever, which is so taliwas in real life dahil naglalakad na alindog ang ate mong ito noh), not to mention you wouldn’t believe that Lloydie really had an orgasm in some shots (read: beks pretend na hindi nala-lock ang patotoy this time. Kung totoo man ‘yun). I mean man, ganyan ba mukha ng isang naligayahan sa kama? Porn acting looks more believable than that, man. Geez. Just saying. And it doesn’t help that the camera seems to be more biased towards showing Lloydie as prettier than Angel. Success iyon actually. But not that palatable. O baka sa akin lang iyon bilang iba ang bias ko sa larangang iyan. Chos.

And then there’s the issue of past emotional baggage getting in the way of present love prospects. Mukhang ito lang ang success sa pelikulang ito bilang ito lang ang swak na nadebelop sa brainstorming. Sure, it’s very relatable and that’s a good thing. I just wish it wasn’t treated in a teleserye way. The film also suffered that way, like the first half of the film was so cinematically tight in concepts-visuals-pacing but the rest is melodramatically loose na. You’d actually think that there were two different directors who helmed this pramis. Sobrang nag-iba ang timpla. Labo.

Oh well. And another thing is, I just wish they didn’t fall into the trap of stereotyping women again, na dahil lang nasaktan sa pag-ibig chever ay “loose morals” na ang dating kaya parang pakawalang pukengkeng na lang siya. Hello creatives, read mga magazines naman like Cosmo, Preview, mga ganun, all those women-centric glossies, to see na hey, may mga single women naman na empowered enough to fubu because they prefer it, without so much emotional baggage. May underlying panghuhusga kasing bumabalot sa pelikula kaya parang mas kakaawaan mo ‘yung character ni Lloydie because he’s the stupid dork who seriously wants a relationship with his fubu and yet he’s being dismissed. Hello damsel-in-distress plot device isdatchu? Hm.

Sayang. I really had high hopes for this film but okay I have to commend it for at least trying. I hope next time, they try harder. We audiences would love to see more storylines like these, veer away from the usual kilig rom-coms and actually depict Pinoys as sexually active beings — because we are. Kasi naman, look at how our society is so scared of talking about sex, much more regulating things connected to it (read: pass the RH bill! Now na!) and of course because of conservative Catholicism, we have been so culturally sex-negative for so long. It’s time to change that. And damn well film it!

Next!

IMAGINE ME & YOU

[FROM MY OLD MULTIPLY SITE]

originally posted at leaflens.blogspot.com
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IMAGINE ME & YOU (2005)

d., w. ol parker

c. lena heady, piper perabo

pitch: a recently married woman gets struck by love at first sight with a lesbian florist, and is torn on what to do

catch: wala! maganda siya!

okay, this is not the first queer-oriented film that piper appeared in. i liked her first in COYOTE UGLY kahit hindi queer ang character niya, pero napaka-queer lang ng scenario ng film (e kasi mukhang mga tranny performers yung ibang models doon). i liked her in LOST AND DELIRIOUS even if the whole lesbian storyline of that film is soooo whacked! (as in haller, tragic lesbian love na naman, pweh!). i like her here, too, kas siguro okay ang chemistry nila ni lena hedy, who plays the lesbian florist na na-inlababo-han nung just hetero-married character ni piper.

out of the list of films i really want to watch, gusto ko siya simply because of the title hehe. kanta kasi siya, at isa sa kanta na gusto ko mula sa lumang panahon. or more appropriately, first line siya ng kanta ng the turtles entitled “happy together.” well, it doesn’t really get featured so prominently in the film pero ginamit siyang device in the end kaya nagkitang muli ang would-be lovers na itey, in that star cinema kilig fantasy way.

and that’s how the whole film feels — it feels like a star cinema production! palitan mo lang ng hetero loveteam ang lesbian loveteam dito and you get the whole star cinema film shebang: title na halaw sa isang kanta, two gorgeous-looking lead stars, a good storyline with believable characters, humorous sidekicks used as foils (the girl bida’s new hubby’s promiscuous best man best friend who wanted to bed the lesbian florist), smart wisdom-y things from old characters (piper’s dad supportive of her daughter’s experience of “love at first sight” despite the homo odds), the mega kilig muntik-nang-maghalikan-pero-idelay-para-kilig moments (at madami ito ha, piper has perfected acting this out haha!), the mega-kilig plant and payoff devices used to make the characters find each other (complete with habulan sa ending kasi papunta sa airport/vacation ang hurt one, na hahabulin ng natauhang loved one at hahabulin yung isa chuva), grabe lang kulang na lang ang credits nito e sabihing directed by olivia lamasan produced by charo santos concio hahahaha! sobrah! all the elements are really there!

kaya siguro gusto ko. kasi it’s so mainstream that way (but unlike star, laidback lang ang storytelling at hindi magarbong attention-caller) kaya effective ang kilig moments kasi nakaka-relate ako. finally, a true lesbian kilig film! winner!

hotness si lena heady! yun lang. hehe. i was wondering where i saw her before, and a quick imdb search revealed siya nga pala yung nasa spanish/english film na LLUVIA EN LOS ZAPATOS (the man with rain in his shoes) directed by spanish filmmaker maria ripoll, whom we all met when she went here a couple years ago and we had coffee and cake at the upfi office. tama! at siya rin yung hotness na queen sa testosteron-y cgi film 300. ayuz. i love lena hehe especially that british accent niya ha. happy siya.

happiness ito. for a hetero guy writer-director, super sensitive ang approach sa materyal na ang ganda. parang non-issue masyado ang pag-switch ng hetero lead girl sa pag-fall in love sa lesbian, kasi given lang na hey, it’s love, chever. although masyado lang mabait at madaling natanggap ng husband niya, pero sige kineri na rin ng characterization ng dude, so puwedeng palusutin.

but all in all, okay siya. watch!

IN GOOD COMPANY

[FROM MY OLD MULTIPLY SITE]

originally posted at leaflens.blogspot.com

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IN GOOD COMPANY
c. dennis quaid, topher grace, scarlett johansson

some months back, nonoy our cinema programmer sa film institute showed this for like one or two weeks, na medyo na-off ako kasi well, it’s just another hollywood flick as i saw it. the current hot dude of the moment in another usual city-set story about the battle of the ages. pang-dvd, to my taste.

so tama nga. sa cinemax ko yata ito naabutan last weekend at doon ko na lang pinanood over dinner. at tama, pang-dvd lore nga siya pero hindi pala siya typical hollywood story din. of course nandoon ang mga rise and fall of characters chenes, pero gusto ko yung nangyaring character development nung 26 year old executive hotshot. he had a fall from grace thingie pero humanized, di tulad ng usual corporate world-set stories wherein mga saksakan sa likod chenes ang nangyayari.

actually, the whole treatment sa film is human, quite tender but not sappy. cautious lang, and quite realistic in a way. for instance, i like the story arc of scarlett as the new nyu creative writing major (yun pa lang inggit na ko! hehe) na hindi apologetic getting it on with this guy and at the same time athletic siya pero she chose cw as a course at sinuportahan siya ng magulang dahil nyu yun at kahit mahal, go pa rin sila. that was really nice, pero hindi siya heavyhanded sa treatment. tapos yung anggulo na nangyayari i’m sure sa mga 50something executives na napapalitan o threatened ng young executives nga. ang daming ganito kasi, at ako mismo witness–if not subject–ng ganitong klase ng age conflict before, that’s why i understand where it’s coming from from both sides of the corporate fence.

tapos ang ending, the old exec gets his justice chenes pero tender pa rin ang approach, tapos yung young exec ay naiwan sa pagmumuni-muni kung ano ang gagawin niya sa buhay niya, a very realistic characteristic of people that age who are in that state. interesting. siguro kasi relate lang din ako sa kanya kasi it was also at that age that i left the corporate calling and headed to…tadaah, creative writing. hindi nga lang nyu hehe. although sarap sana kung ganun ano. well, maybe later, who knows.

maganda siya, well written, directed, and acted, except for that topher guy na kahit saan siya lumabas e dala pa rin niya yung mannerisms niya sa THAT 70S SHOW. i hate when he does that, parang yung sa SPIDERMAN 3 siya. men, leave the acting quirks at home. or adapt naman sana to the story at hand. labo niya eh. nakakairita lang minsan kasi. sarap putulin dila.

GRAY MATTERS

[FROM MY OLD MULTIPLY SITE]

NOTE: STARTING A SERIES OF CROSS-POLLINATING CONTENT, TO KEEP THINGS IN ONE SIMPLE SITE (from leaflens june2007)
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i swear, i looooooooooooooooove this film! ang ganda pala nito!

hesitant ako nung una kasi akala ko, maliit lang ang lesbian storyline but no, dominant pala siya, and it’s gay-positive at that! and magaganda ang mga lesbiyana hehehe, with heather graham in the lead and that model girlfriend ni big sa SEX AND THE CITY, sinu nga yun? bridget moynahan ata. tapos who can go wrong with that actress who plays helena in THE L WORD? i heart helena. she’s pretty. tapos okay pa ang supporting cast, with a funny shrink sissy spacek, and that funny comedian molly shannon. kewl. di ko lang bet yung guy who played heather’s bro pero keri na rin. and a cameo by the gloria gaynor singing “i will survive”??? sankapa!!!

man, i love this film. it beats those other lesbian-themed films with mainstream distribution na oo nga’t may pretty lesbians and lesbian storylines pero shonga naman yung script at storya! hello, three words: LOST AND DELIRIOUS. hay, minus ten thousand points si piper perabo dun i swear.

basta cute siya. watch it. saka galing din ni alan cumming dito. he plays gordy the scottish taxi driver. he has the best line, nung kinu-console niya ang kaka-out pa lang sa sarili at sa mundo (at the same time) na 30-year old character ni heather, aka grey:

“All you need is some fresh air, space and perspective.”

bet! i’m taking your advise. i’m doing that now hehe. chos.

see ati, hindi lang ako ang late bloomer na lesbiyana at hindi lang ka-tropa ko ang mga late bloomer sa sex and sexuality chenes hehehehehe. marami kami. swear. buti nga ako early 20s no hehe. e itong sa film, 30 na siya ati! hehehe.

saka isa pa, si gordy rin nagsabi:

“Easy is so bloody boring!”

word.