(Last of three parts)
Below is the concluding portion on how the Manunuri g Pelikulang Pilipino chose the winners in the 34th Gawad Urian.
Best Screenplay
Of all the categories, the fight for the Urian prize was fiercest for Best Screenplay. The top two contenders were Arnel Mardoquio’s Sheika and Remton Siega Zuasola’s Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria.
Both materials are excellently written and brim with social relevance. Damgo tackles the poverty issue and the very warped solution to it (send our young women abroad to marry old foreigners to improve the financial situation of the entire family). Sheika’s story may only be confined in Mindanao, but we have to remember that whatever conflicts they have there eventually affect the archipelago as a whole.
The deliberations to determine the winner in this category took forever. In fact, we had to set aside the discussion here to proceed to other matters because it was stalling us the whole evening.
When we went back to it, the winner could still not be determined. In the end, the Damgo supporters realized (were actually made to realize) that the structure of Sheika is more complicated compared to Damgo and is even richer with details. Mardoquio’s Shieka got the Manunuri nod for Best Screenplay after an exhausting two-part discussion.
Best Direction
Admittedly, Remton’s Damgo has an edge over the rest if only for the fact that his concept is novel. But that is not the only reason he won Best Director. Piecing Damgo together in one long single take is not a walk in the park. And it is innovative.
A filmmaker can always come up with new ideas, but even the best concept can fall flat on its face. It may look good on paper, but would it work when it is already being executed for the big screen? Remton achieves that in Damgo and is rewarded with the Urian Best Direction trophy.
Best Picture
Sheika still blocked Damgo’s path to victory. However, even from the start, we knew that Remton’s masterful experiment was going to bring home the award for Best Picture. It may contain social concerns that ordinarily would bore the viewer, but its new and fresh approach in tackling national problems can be very charming, appealing and continuously keeps the audience interested in it.
Best Actor
I have to stress here that all the nominees in this category were outstanding. It was a tight race among the contenders. In picking the winner, we had to weed out the weakest among an all-strong list of acting finalists.
In the final round, it was a face-off between Coco Martin (Noy) and Sid Lucero (Muli).
Coco’s portrayal of a bogus television crewmember is actually seamless. Truth to tell, Sid’s performance as a former anti-Marcos activist who eventually chooses a more sedentary life as a Baguio inn owner and goes into relationships with the same sex has more rough edges to it. However, he displays more layers to his character that ages through the decades. He won by a mere vote over Coco who — in the past years — sometimes even had double nominations, but would often lose by one point.
He may have only won one Urian (Best Supporting Actor in Jay), but his performances (and the variety of roles he interpreted) — over-all — left a deep impact, especially in indie films. For that, the Manunuri named him Best Actor of the Decade.
Best Actress
Fe Ging-ging Hyde who? That was the public reaction when she was named Best Actress for Sheika. She won the trophy after wresting it away from Rita Avila, who came in second in the final tally.
Rita’s performance in Magdamag is demanding. She and her co-star Edgar Allan Guzman were the only characters in this movie that has a story that covers only one evening of passion. It is a difficult role that Rita sustains till the very end.
The character Hyde plays in Sheika, however, is far more complex: She starts as a school teacher in the Mindanao war zone, moves to Davao to raise two teenage kids, who both are killed by the Death Squad. She becomes deranged (but not in the cinematic way of old) and is molested while in the mental institution. How can anyone else beat that, especially since she essays the part with so much fluidity?
She may not be a known actress, but as far the Manunuri is concerned, Fe Ging-ging Hyde is the year’s Best Actress.