Digital films to the rescue

Everyone is saying that the local movie industry is dying. Not anymore. It is going to be saved by digital films.

In the past several weeks, I’ve been watching Filipino films done in digital form – and I’m so far happy with what I’ve seen.

One local digital movie I saw the other week was Pinoy Blonde (to be exhibited publicly this July). Produced by Unitel Films and directed by Peque Gallaga, the movie is about two cousins – Jeffrey and Boy2 Quizon (actually uncle and nephew in real life) who get to tangle with the underworld.

The movie has a creative script and witty dialogues performed by some of the biggest stars in local cinema. Yes, it’s an all-star cast and you see the likes of Eddie Garcia, Liza Lorena, Ara Mina, Jaime Fabregas, Mark and Cherie Gil, Iza Calzado and Vandolph playing cameo roles here. But the one who stands out is Ricky Davao, who gives a short, but one of the finest performances in the movies this year.

Graded B by the Cinema Evaluation Board, Pinoy Blonde is for the young and will generally please MTV fans.

Assessing Pusang Gala

Speaking of digital movies and the Cinema Evaluation Board, I got a letter from reader Angel Lopez, who writes about Pusang Gala, another digital film, and the grade it got from the Cinema Evaluation Board. Here’s Angel Lopez’ letter in full:

Dear Butch,

Thanks for the enlightening film reviews that you come up with periodically in your Philippine STAR column. You provide very good and constructive comments. I may not agree with you all the time, but I do respect your insights and opinions in your film reviews.

I just came from watching Pusang Gala, the opening film of this year’s Pink Festival. It is for me the best Filipino film made after a long time. Acting is exceptional, cinematography excellent, story and script and technical aspects are outstanding and the direction, masterful! Truly a major achievement, especially considering that it is an independent film production made on a very limited budget!

But I was disappointed when I was told that it was only given a B rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB). While the movie has its flaws (particularly the part towards the ending, which I believe could be even better with tighter editing), it is certainly much better than the very pretentious Santa-Santita which got an A and which up to now I truly am bewildered and amazed at this film’s good fortune from the CEB! Please note that Santa-Santita has not won any major award from any of the award-giving bodies and this is despite the fact that I think it is one of the few if not the only movie given an A rating by the CEB last year. (Panaghoy sa Suba also got an A last year. – BF) Isn’t that truly amazing?

So if Santa-Santita deserved an A, then certainly Pusang Gala is even more deserving of an A rating. Pusang Gala is in the same league as the other remarkable film recently shown, La Visa Loca (which got an A rating) and definitely much better than movies like Bridal Shower and Bikini Open which got B ratings.

The CEB should encourage brave filmmakers who come up with truly breakthrough and remarkable films. After a long dry spell, we may finally be seeing the dawn of – hopefully – another golden age in Philippine cinema. But if the CEB does not give the proper incentive or encouragement to the truly deserving movies, then this new age of cinematic gems will not see the light of day!

I wasn’t around during the CEB screening of Santa-Santita, which incidentally is also in digital form, during the last quarter of 2004 so I couldn’t give a comment on why or how it got a grade of A. But when I saw it in the commercial run, I didn’t really become a big fan of the film and that’s all I can say.

With regard to the B grade that was given to Pusang Gala, I was there during the CEB screening. If I recall it right, a lot of us were inclined to give it an A in the beginning, but you yourself said that it has flaws especially toward the end – and I agree with you on that because Pusang Gala could have ended somewhere there, but it went on and on and became true to its title, Pusang Gala,

Another reason why it failed to get an A was due to the fact that it had problems with some of the technical elements. It could have been cleaned up some more – technically.

Had it not been for these factors, Pusang Gala could have easily merited an A because – again I agree with you – it’s a major achievement in local cinema.

Ellen Ongkeko’s direction – like you said – is masterful and the performances of Irma Adlawan, Ricky Davao, Reggie Curley, Lauren Novaro and Alchris Galura are exceptional.

Maybe Pusang Gala could have gotten an A- or a B+ at the least, except that there are no such things in the Cinema Evaluation Board. But believe me that’s our wish in the CEB, but we have to follow what is stated in the law. Meanwhile, we should all just be happy that the law provides for a board that gives incentives to worthy films in local movies.