Yes, the Pinoy 'Cannes'

Lino Brocka must be applauding in his grave. The trail he had blazed in Cannes has just produced a star in the person of indie director Brillante “Dante” Mendoza who won Best Director (for Kinatay) at the just-concluded 62nd Cannes Film Festival, the most prestigious film event in the world, beating such Goliaths (previous winners) as Ang Lee (Taiwan), Pedro Almodovar (Spain), Jane Campion (New Zealand), Lars von Trier (Denmark) and Quentin Tarantino (USA).

A UST Fine Arts graduate (major in Advertising), Dante, 49, is the first Filipino to win perhaps the most prestigious and most coveted award in the film world. Kinatay (literally meaning “massacre”), a gritty look at the slow “chop-chopping” of a prostitute with blunt kitchen knives, was his second entry at the festival’s Main Competition, following Serbis (about a family who lives in and operates a rundown porno theater) last year. Both films drew mixed reactions — you know, you either love them or hate them.

Brocka paved the way to Cannes for Filipino directors, first by joining the Directors Fortnight in 1978 with Insiang, starring Mona Lisa and Hilda Koronel as mother and daughter involved with the same man (Ruel Vernal), and then two years later in the Main Competition with Jaguar (starring Phillip Salvador), followed by Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim (also with Phillip) in 1984. No other director broke into the Main Competition until Dante came along.

Dante is the latest addition to the roster of Cannes Filmfest Best Directors including, among others, Francois Truffaut, Terence Malick, Werner Herzog, Julian Schnabel, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Robert Bresson, Costa Gavras, Nagisa Oshima, Bertrand Tavernier, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Joel Coen, Robert Altman, Mike Leigh, Wong Kar-Wai, David Lynch, Gus Van Sant and Michael Haneke.

Loosely based on a true story, Kinatay is Dante’s seventh indie, following Masahista, The Teacher, Kaleldo (Summer Heat), Foster Child, Tirador and Serbis.

If it was panned by critics, why did Kinatay run away with the Best Director plum?

Some of the mostly-female nine-member jury headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert defended their verdict.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a filmmaker from Turkey: “It’s the most powerful film in the selection. It’s one of the most original...It created (its own) style for the subject matter.”

Hanif Kureishi, a screenwriter from the United Kingdom: “It’s not a date movie. I wouldn’t suggest that you bring your lover to watch it. It’s not a film I would see again. But good art is something hard.”

And Huppert (who told Dante that she couldn’t take her eyes off the film from start to finish): “We found ourselves being attracted to the same films...movies that deserve to get the world’s attention.”

It’s sad that the Philippine government didn’t give Dante the same reception it has accorded Manny Pacquiao and other Pinoys who have won for the country international honors. Dante’s Cannes triumph is the same as winning a Pulitzer Prize, a singular achievement that boggles the mind, including that of Dante’s.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” admitted Dante. “I still keep on pinching myself.”

Thank heavens that Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos “surprised” Dante with a band that welcomed him upon his arrival at the airport last Tuesday (May 26). Dante is a Mandaluyong resident.

Meanwhile, now that we know him as a prize-winning director, let’s get to know more about Brillante “Dante” Mendoza the man.

What kind of films did you grow up with?

(Laughs) “Tony Ferrer’s Tony Falcon movies. I was a kid then, in the late ’60s. My father was fond of action films and everytime he watched movies in the moviehouse in San Fernando (Pampanga), I would go with him. I think I watched all of Tony Ferrer’s movies with my father.”

What’s one movie that had a great impact on you?

“Ironically, it was a drama, not action — Ishmael Bernal’s Broken Marriage and Relasyon (both starring Christopher de Leon and Vilma Santos). I love the scene in Broken Marriage where Christopher and Vilma are quarreling in bed. Very realistic! Nagduduruan sila; away mag-asawa, you know. Ganda ng eksenang ‘yon. Very memorable sa akin ‘yon.”

From who else did you get your passion for film?

“From directors whom I worked with, like Chito Roño for whose films, one of them Private Show (starring Julio Diaz and Jaclyn Jose), I worked as the production designer. I won a Best Production Design(er) award. I also worked with (directors) Peque Gallaga, Celso Ad. Castillo, (the late) Tata Esteban and William Pascual. They are passionate directors; their works are visually exciting.”

So you really started with Chito, huh.

“Ang galing ni Chito mag-kuwento, ang galing ng visuals niya! One of his recent films that really struck me was La Vida Rosa (with Rosanna Roces and Diether Ocampo).”

I notice that your films are very lyrical, very poetic. You tell your story more in visuals than in dialogues.

“When I edit my films, I turn the sound to ‘mute.’ I want to see na kaya mag-kuwento ng aking visuals. Remember, film is a visual medium. The sound and music should only help enhance the story-telling. If you notice, there’s not so much musical background in my films.”

Any other directors that you look up to?

“Mike de Leon. I love two of his films, Itim and Kisapmata. Some people say that Kinatay reminds them of Kisapmata. You remember Vic Silayan in Kisapmata as the controlling father of Charo Santos? Natatakot siya even when he’s not doing anything; he can sow fear even with just his eyes. Ganyan daw sa Kinatay. Matatakot ka even if nothing fearful is shown on the screen; you just feel it. And, of course, there was Lino Brocka. I worked with him not as a production designer but as an extra in one of his films. I don’t remember which one. We were visiting the set as observers and Lino needed extras to play reporters. I was one of them.”

You said you also worked with Peque Gallaga (who started as a production designer)?

“Yes, as a production designer...in Virgin Forest. And then, Takaw, Private Show, Salamangkero, Great American Dream, etc. I worked as a production designer in the movies until the early ’90s then I switched to doing commercials for an advertising agency, also as an art director.”

And then, of course, in 2005 you ventured into directing indies.

“I was making good money in commercials. But then, I really wanted to direct movies.”

By producing your own films, I understand. What did you have to sacrifice for that dream?

“Well, mostly financial. In the beginning, I was spending my own money. It was only later that I got co-financing from foreign partners.”

Your background is production design, not acting. So how do you motivate your actors? Is it true that you are not “script-oriented”?

“Of course, I work with a scriptwriter; in Kinatay, my scriptwriter was (Armando) Bing (Lao) who has been working with me in several projects. Bing is my mentor; he’s responsible for what and where I am now. My actors usually don’t know what the story is or what the ending would be. I don’t let them read the whole script. I just give them copies of the portions na nandoon ang characters nila. My stars in Kinatay didn’t know what the ending was until they saw the final copy. Coco (Martin) and Mercedes (Cabral who was also in the cast of the South Korean entry, Thirst, by Park Chan-wook who won a Special Jury Prize along with Britain’s Andrea Arnold for Fish Tank) saw the movie only in Cannes. Coco plays the chop-chopped cop and Mercedes, his wife.”

Why are your films, especially Kinatay, very violent?

“I am not a violent person; I’m just very passionate. Kinatay is not really that violent. People think it’s violent maybe only because I lead them into thinking that it is. There’s not so much blood; the violence is more felt than seen. Remember the shower scene (with Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins) in (Alfred Hitchcock’s) Psycho? You don’t see Anthony’s knife touching Janet’s body; you see only Janet’s facial reaction. The editing is brilliant, so you feel the violence of the scene even if there isn’t that much ‘visual’ violence on screen. In Kinatay, the audience becomes captive witnesses to the crime. I intended it to be that way.”

With Kinatay, either you like it or you hate it. No grey area.

“I welcome that kind of reaction. Extremes. Walang in-between. That kind of reaction generates discussion and I like it. It means that people are interested and involved enough in your film to say what they feel, whether negative or positive. Both are valid reactions. You know what people like in your film and what they don’t like.”

Weren’t you intimidated by the A-lister directors in competition — you know, the Goliaths of international cinema?

“Of course, I was! Hehehehehe! Ang liit-liit ko compared to them; isa lang akong yagit. Ako lang ang walang pangalan, so it was intimidating. I saw all of them but it was only Quentin (Tarantino) na talagang naka-usap ko face-to-face.”

After your victory in Cannes, how can you top yourself? You are being compared to Brian de Palma.

“It’s scary! Honestly, I don’t know yet what I will do next.”

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