SARI-SARING SINENG PINOY

Huwag Pamarisan: Mister Mo... Lover Boy Ko! (Crown Seven Film Productions) is of the bold genre and certain conventions and codes bear this intention. The evocation itself of a mileu builds up the image of a young woman waiting to be explored and consequently ravaged by the prurient eyes of the camera. We can gleam traces of risk in the realm of style. Apart from its captivating visual sweep of a developing metropolis, it has for its main characters Christine (Elizabeth Oropesa), an ambitious chorus girl who has aspirations of becoming a famous movie star and Fred (George Estregan), a struggling actor trying desperately to make the best of himself, in the worst of times. The film expresses the complex processes by which people are lured into, weakened and trapped by poverty. Speaking in austere cinematic tone and register, Mister Mo finds the means to transform Christine's fate into a transformation in a field of conflicting relations with Manuel (Eddie Garcia), her wealthy paramour. How the film further situates its heroine in a poignant confrontation with Manuel's wife Anna (Paraluman) evokes an imagery that is heartfelt but valiant. This holds true of how the screenplay sets up characters whose lives resonate with the heroine's, like the one intelligently portrayed by Anna Gonzales, Vicky is a contemporary representation of an assertion of female autonomy.

Elizabeth Oropesa's performance in Huwag Pamarisan: Mister Mo... Lover Boy Ko! embodies the contradictions of a human subject mired in poverty and the perversion of her aspiration to transcend it. But this is not as simple as it appears, for her character Christine, reflects on the predicament of her life and the consequences of her adulterous affair with Manuel. Christine's world falls apart, all this tells her that something must be wrong and so does something about it. This something degenerates into a moral world that is threatened by a man who claims to love you, something is, indeed, not right. And something is not right with you if you let your love go on. Oropesa, through a forceful effort driven by physical stamina and emotional range is one the films' graces, the other being Eddie Garcia's inspired performance whose contribution arrests the films' drift into aimlessness because he leavens his persona with character and so reclaims this cinematic project from its plot-centric simplification, always foregrounding the salience of moral choice even in the face of the loss of his wife. All things considered, Mister Mo is almost, but not quite a bold film. Ishmael Bernal, with a degree of compassion for the material carries the seeds of the story to fertile ground tilling a field of fruitful images, motifs, symbols and Ernani Cuenco's wistful music. If what hobbles Philippine cinema is the failure of imagination and initiative, Huwag Pamarisan: Mister Mo... Lover Boy Ko! proves the cynics wrong to some tolerable degree.

Directed By: Ishmael Bernal
Screenplay: Antonio S. Mortel And Diego Cagahastian
Story: Efren R. Abueg Serialized In Liwayway Magazine
Director Of Photography: Sergio Lobo
Music: Ernani Cuenco
Film Editors: Atilano Salvador And Edgardo Vinarao
Produced By: Crown Seven Film Productions
Release Date: February 28, 1975

Beloved (Viva Films, 1985) tackles a complex range of human relations premised on romance, but problematizes it quite rigorously so that love, though central in the lives of the characters, is continually reread and therefore rewritten. Ensuing from the the competing affections between Adora Bernal (Nora Aunor) and Renee Regala (Hilda Koronel) over Dindo Tuason (Christopher de Leon) and his conflict with Ver Alonzo (Dindo Fernando) is a struggle that does not at all resort to conventional melodramatic tactics. The film is filled with emotional rigor through which the affairs of the heart are dealt with, and dealt with intelligently. How Adora and Renee choose to make their lives more difficult by staking their right to love Dindo inspite of the circumscriptions of traditional heterosexist norms engenders a creative tension that enables women to appropriate the power to break the culture of silence and express sexuality in specific terms within specific situations. Adora has to inevitably give up the fight, but only after she has achieved a realization that strikes at the core of practical realities. Beloved cleverly choreographs the elements of cinema and local melodrama with restraint and without the komiks winded tediousness normally associated with the exercise. 

Nora Aunor's highly textured performance suffuses the melodramatic heroine with the spirit in which it could have been strategically envisioned. Aunor's constant displacements climaxes in a cleverly orchestrated maneuver that careens from deception to sacrifice and on to the struggle of prefiguring an ending which may not necessarily be happy, and a happiness which need not be the inexorable ending. Hilda Koronel on the other hand, shows that the strength of women need not come from the repudiation of feminine traits and roles as constructed by patriarchal systems. The acting method employed here is able to twist the logic of cliche and reconstitutes the drama of yearning with passion and grace. Koronel's portrayal is one that can hold a candle to Aunor's substantial work in this film. Dindo Fernando expresses desire in all its discrepant aspects breathes a different rigor into the tradition of acting for the screen. Finally, Christopher de Leon's intelligent handling of his character resonates with the perspicacity and method of the film's dramatic goals. Beloved's achievement rests on its skillful appropriation of the conventions of a commercial feature in its earnest effort to come up with a truly artistic, purposive and serious motion picture.

Directed By: Leroy Salvador
Screenplay: Orlando R. Nadres
Story: Nerissa G. Cabral Serialized In King Komiks
Director Of Photography: Rody Lacap
Musical Director: Willy Cruz
Film Editor: Ike Jarlego, Jr.
Production Designer: Manny Morfe
Produced By: Viva Films
Release Date: June 27, 1985
Beloved theme song performed by Nora Aunor

Sa 14 Going Steady (Regal Films, Inc., 1984) ibinili ni Jose (Benedict Aquino) ng ballet shoes ang kababatang si Luwalhati (Gretchen Barreto) dahil wala itong pambili ng sapatos na gamit sa pagsasayaw. Idinerehe ni Joey Gosiengfiao ang pelikula halintulad sa isang ballet. Tinalakay ng iskrip ni Jonas Sebastian ang ilan sa mga sitwasyong pinoproblema ng mga kabataan. Nariyan ang suliranin sa pagiging magkaribal sa pag-ibig, problema sa pamilya at kaugnay pang mga usapin. Sa lahat ng ito, nagalugad ang iba't-ibang lalim o kadalasang babawng pananaw, gawi at asal kaugnay ng kabataan bilang sektor. Sang-ayon ito sa limitasyon ng pagsasalarawan ng mga tagalikha ng pelikula, ng manunulat at ng direktor. Madalas sa format ng mga pelikulang pinagbibidahan ng kabataan ang kuwentong panggrupo. Walang iisang protagonista, hati-hati ang maraming tauhan sa daloy ng naratibo na pinag-iisa ang tema. Binigyan ang bawat isa ng kuwento na karugtong kahit paano ng iba pang kuwento ng ibang tauhan. Tunay, binibigyan ng atensiyon ng 14 Going Steady ang mga kabataan natin kahit sa pana-panahon lamang. Dapat ba tayong magpasalamat na may mga bata at mga bagong mukhang ipinakikilala at inaasahang kumiliti sa mata ng mga manonood? Pagsunod lamang ito sa diumano'y tiyak na pagsamba ng lipunan sa mga matitipuno, naggagandahan at walang ubang kabataan. Ganito man ang inaakala at inaasahang pangunahing dahilan sa paglikha ng obrang ito, naglalantad pa rin ang mga ito ng mga kahulugan at pagbasa ukol sa kabataan at pelikulang Pilipino. Kinakitaan ito ng ng mga kontemporaryong larawan kundi man ng pagbabago o di-pagbabago sa halagahan ng ating lipunan. Paano nga ba kumikilos ang kabataan sa masalimuot na pagpapasiyang dapat nilang harapin? Moderno ang lengguwahe ng mga kabataan sa pelikulang ito tulad nina Bobby (Nadia Montenegro) at Nino (Albert Anido) na siyang nagpapahayag ng kanilang reyalidad. Maging ang pagbibihis ni Maita Belleza (Janice de Belen) ay umaagapay sa subkulturang nagtuturing sa moda at mga aksesorya bilang pang-halina kina Joker (Mon Alvir) at Daks (Emil Sandoval), ang mga binatilyong nahuhumaling sa kanya gayundin kay Almario Panganiban (Joe Vincent Aldeguer), ang lalaking kinahuhumalingan nito. 

Pero sa kabila ng panlabas na anyo ng urbanidad at sana'y kasamang pagkaprogresibo sa pananaw ng mundo, ginigiyagis ang kabataan ng malay o lingid na pagnanais na isuot ang sapatos at pakinggan ang mga kinahiratihang gawi at halagahan sa maraming pagkakataon. Nangyayari ito kahit na may pagsisikap silang kumawala sa mga kinasanayang pananaw-mundo. Dahil umiikot sa romansa ang takbo ng pangyayari sa 14 Going Steady, hindi maiiwasangh maging kasama dito ang mga usapin sa relasyon ng babae at lalaki, kung gayon sa mga isyu sa kasarian at kapangyarihan. Alam naman natin sa lipunang Pilipino ang tinatawag na kaayusang patriyarkal o ang pangingibabaw ng ideyolohiyang makalalaki sa mga larangang itinuturing na mahalaga sa isang kultura. Tila walang mapagpalayang pag-uusisa ang pelikula sa mga pagtatakda ng kaayusang ito at kung mayroon man, nababalewala ng paraan ng paglutas sa mga pangkasariang tunggaliang ipinakita sa loob ng naratibo. Sa pagsasagawa nito, tumatagilid ang timbangan kung minsan sa progresibong pagbabago ng kababaihan pero madalas na sumasayad nang husto sa pagiging konserbatibo kung di man tahasang pagiging reaksiyonaryo. Tunay naman mahirap na paksa ang relasyong pantao ngunit alanganin ang posisyong pinli ng pelikula kung mayroon man. At madalas ding nakakatambal ng prehuwisyong ito ang katotohanang bata ang mga tauhan. Di man sadya, isinisisi ang lahat sa kakulangan ng kakayahan ng kabataan, na wala silang sapat na isip at damdamin upang matalinong mapagpasiyahan ang mga dilemang kanilang kinakaharap sa mundo tungo sa pag-unlad bilang tao. Malaki ang kinalaman ng mga hakang ito sa pagbubuo ng buhay at asal ng mga tauhan at sa gayo'y sa pagbubuo din ng makabuluhang kahulugan para sa mga manonood.

Direksiyon: Joey Gosiengfiao
Dulang Pampelikula: Jonas Sebastian
Sinematograpiya: Carlos Jacinto
Musika: Max (Boy) Alcaide
Editing: Rogelio Salvador
Disenyo: Gerry Pascual At Edgar Littaua
Produksiyon: Regal Films, Inc.