London in Beatlemanic Bond-age!

LONDON — The whole city is obviously still euphoric from its box-office hosting of the recent Olympics, the showbiz-y opening of which was directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire (Oscar Best Picture winner) showing lookalike dummies of Queen Elizabeth and James Bond Daniel Craig dropping from parachutes into the Olympic Village.

At souvenir shops, Olympic items at giveaway prices are being eased out by memorabilia about James Bond and the Beatles, rightly so. With the Craig starrer Skyfall, the  franchise is celebrating the golden anniversary of Dr. No, the first James Bond movie starring Sean Connery, the original 007, with Ursula Andress as the first Bond Girl; while the Beatles’ first recorded song Love Me Do is marking the same milestone. The whole city is in a celebratory mood.

The day before, I did a one-on-five interview with the quintet One Direction, currently the No. 1 boy band in the world enlisted as the newest A-list “global brand ambassador” of a Filipino-made clothing line. (More “revelations” on the boys and the “brand” in next Sunday’s [Nov. 4] Conversations with Ricky Lo.)

I have the whole day free and, as I promised my colleague Boy Villasanta, I am meeting with London-based Fil-Brit director-producer Jowee Morel who is behind the first Reel Gate International Film Festival (RGIFF) slated for Nov. 2, 3 and 4 at the Riverside Studios in this city showcasing features, shorts and docus.

A tall order, admits Jowee, who is the director of Leona Calderon topbilling Pilar Pilapil as an OFW in London, which is the opening film of the 12th Gwangju International Film Festival in Gwangju City, South Korea, on Nov. 8.

“It’s sad that when I speak of Philippine Cinema, friends and acquaintances here in London give me that blank look,” confesses Jowee who tucked up a Master of Arts in Cinematography and Post-Production at the University of Greenwich in this city. “So I have made it my mission to do something about it by initially introducing Filipino films to them through this filmfest.” (With Nonoy Lauzon, Boy is helping Jowee promote the event.)

Among the entries are Jeffrey Jeturian’s Bisperas, Emerson Reyes’ MNL 143, Tikoy Aguiluz’s Asiong Salonga, Bing Lao’s Biyaheng Lupa, Jim Libiran’s Tribu and Happy Land, Norriel Jarito’s Rindido (Rage) and Sigfrid Barros-Sanchez’s The Boat Between Two Rivers.

It’s fall. Jowee and I are seated in the shade of a tree at the Leicester Square, right across from the theater where most of the glam-and-glitz movie premieres are held. I tell Jowee to stand in front of one of the theaters, to establish the mood you know, and Jowee smiles, hardly showing any sign of exhaustion after endless days of selling tickets to the filmfest, “almost house-to-house,” short of twisting arms to make people (Filipinos, Brits and other nationals) shell out pounds.

The festive air is palpable. Huge Skyfall billboards are all over the city. It’s the 23rd 007 film, with Craig as the sixth Bond after Sean, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. Beatle songs are being played again and again on the radio. James Bond and the Beatles are all over television. The sights and sounds bring me years back when I saw my first James Bond movie (yes, Dr. No!) at the Odeon Theater at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Recto Avenue in Manila, and sang along with Love Me Do and other Beatle songs (until Let It Be). How nostalgic! The song is right: Those were the days, my friend, we thought would never end…

West End is nearby. Jowee and I take a stroll around it, stopping for souvenir shots at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane where, I tell Jowee, in 1989 I watched Miss Saigon with Lea Salonga originating the iconic role of Kim with Jonathan Pryce making history as the (original and) best-ever The Engineer. We pass by shops selling eye-catching souvenirs (posters of enduring musicals, trinkets, etc.) and snack stands. Along the way, we pose with men pretending to be statues, standing motionless for hours we learn, and we get rewarded with a wink and a slight nod when we drop coins into the cans at their feet.

After Jowee and I part ways, with me saying to him, “Good luck on your filmfest!,” I hop into a Big Bus Tours double-decker that goes around the city, passing by the Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben at the foot of one of the many bridges crisscrossing the city, Westminster Abbey and other landmarks, all for 26 pounds (good within 48 hours).

When I fly home, I tell myself, I will continue to feel Beatlemanic in Bond-age.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)