Missing homegrown talents, films & teleseryes

After an absence from the country of over a month, we didn’t quite realize how much we had missed and what this had meant to us.

We quickly decided to update ourselves by watching Dance of the Steel Bars, an indie directed by Cesar Apolinario and Marnie Manicad of life in a prison starring Dingdong Dantes as Mando, a prisoner serving time for a false accusation and Ricky Davao, a warden who hoped to clean up the maximum security prison of its corruption. Immediately, we called Ricky who said they shot for nine days mostly in the Cebu Maximum Security Prison where the famous Cebu Dancing Inmates were discovered on YouTube; that Patrick Bergin from Hollywood (Sleeping with the Enemy, Mountains of the Moon, Robin Hood) gave the project a definite touch of stature; as did foreign components of producer Stu Higton of Portfolio Films based in Dubai; British Edward White (Nine Lives, Beautiful Wave, Mankind-the Story of All of Us) who did the score for Dance of the Steel Bars; and not in the least a choreographer associated with Michael Jackson’s thriller group who taught the new batch of inmates.

Of course Ricky reports that Gabe Mercado as the corrupt prison warden, the transsexual Joey Paras, actors and actresses from theater, fashion personalities like Renee Salud, Marian Rivera in a guest role, Gov. Gwen Garcia of Cebu, plus numerous actors from theater and the prisoners themselves. GMA, Dingdong’s home network, co-produced the film.   

Needless to say, we were very much impressed by the film we watched on Independence Day, a holiday where all theaters featured The Man of Steel in multiple theaters introducing the new Superman, with one theater for Dingdong. Steel against Steel, interesting, we thought; Hollywood against Pinoy Indie. We expect better things to happen to Dance of the Steel Bars internationally. We hurried on to the Superman epic which had Henry Cavill from the planet krypton who had decided to align himself with the earthlings and battle the aliens with superior weapons. Sad to say, it was not our cup of tea. For kids, perhaps.

Saturday on Wansapanataym brought us a charming story for Father’s Day titled Doggy Daddy Doggy which topbills child star JB Agustin, whom we enjoyed immensely previously as the boy who talked to his horse Chalk in the teleserye Little Champ. In Doggy Daddy Doggy, JB prays for something that would keep his dad Jake Roxas home. In rushing home for JB’s birthday, Jake meets an accident while avoiding to run over a dog. Jake’s spirit transfers to the dog, and once again JB finds himself conversing with an animal.

An incisive piece of investigative journalism came on Sunday morning in a special CheChe Lazaro presents Si Ser Chief, si Maya at ang Teleserye, which presented key ABS-CBN people commenting on the development of TV, its influences, effects on everyday life, and the responsibility of the station. People like Ricky Lee who virtually created the writing workshops, directors Jeffrey Jeturian and Rory Quintos, head of the creative team writer Mel del Rosario, sociologist Ricardo Abad, former child stars Janice de Belen and Judy Ann Santos gave their personal takes and analyses on how the experience has impacted their lives.

With principal focus on the amazing performance of the morning soap Be Careful with My Heart with observations from leads Jodi Sta. Maria as Yaya Maya and Richard Yap as Sir Chief, the special covers the period from Juday’s Mara Clara and Janice’s Flor de Luna; to Jericho Rosales, Kristine Hermosa, with Tonton Gutierrez, Jean Garcia and Eula Valdez (Amor Powers) in Pangako Sa ’Yo, the longest running teleserye ever.   

The best part of our homecoming, however, came with the initial airing of The Voice of the Philippines which we had already written a story on previously. The dailies would already have come up with their reports. We shall reserve our observations for sometime later. But initially, we found ourselves applauding the new concept in vocal competitions. This was evident in the excitement of the juror-mentors apl.de.ap, Bamboo, Sarah Geronimo and Lea Salonga who was most clearly the one enjoying herself to the hilt.

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