Toto: A film for Pinoys nursing an American Dream

The story of Toto, a dark comedy-drama with Sid Lucero in the titular role and directed by John Paul Su, will surely resonate with Filipinos who continue to nurse a long-cherished American Dream…never mind if they go through the eye of the needle to get that oh-so-precious visa.

“Toto is all about the power of the dream,” said John Paul who studied filmmaking at the New York University (NYU) where his teacher was Carlitos Siguion-Reyna (the first and so far only Filipino to have taught there). “Toto takes its audience on a fun emotional rollercoaster ride that, hopefully, will leave them inspired and moved. After all, there’s a Toto that resides in all of us, isn’t there?

The story, co-written by Donald Martin, Francisco Castelo and Senedy Que, and screenplay also by Martin with John Paul (also the producer) as co-writer, chronicles the journey of Antonio “Toto” Estares, a Waray from the Yolanda-ravaged Tacloban who dreams of going to America not so much for economic reasons as to fulfill the dream of both his parents. His mother has cancer and his father actually made it to Las Vegas to become a stage act and petition his family, only to end up a dishwasher who drank and gambled everything away.

“Toto works in Manila at a hotel called America,” continued John Paul. “In a sense, he is already in America mingling with guests who represent the good, the bad and the ugly of America. After he meets the bad American and gets ripped off, he loses hope. Ironically, it’s a good American who helps him in a most unexpected way.”

According to John Paul, the story was inspired by the experience of the husband of his co-worker.

“That was in the 1990s and we just made the story more contemporary,” added John Paul.

After winning four awards at the New Wave Section of the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF)…Special Jury Award, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress…Toto then won Best Foreign Feature Film at the 19th L.A. Comedy Festival and Best Actor for Sid. It was also an official selection in other international filmfests (Asian American, Hawaii, Newport Beach, Palm Beach and Rome  Independent Filmfest, among them).

Explaining his choice of Sid for the lead role, John Paul recalled having seen Sid in the Lav Diaz film Norte.

“I was impressed,” said John Paul. “I also saw Sid in interviews. He’s very charming and very sincere which were exactly the qualities I was looking for in the role of Toto.”

As an immigrant living in the States for 13 years, John Paul was deeply attracted to Toto’s story in the way it speaks to the tension between integrity and compromise in the journeys of all outsiders.

“I worked my way up,” confessed John Paul, a Fil-Am-Chino (whose family runs a business in Divisoria).

Born and raised in the Philippines, he moved to the US in 2003 and worked with major media organizations around the world including BBC World and Google. He graduated from the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, obtaining an M.A. of Fine Arts in Film & Television. He won the Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) Best Asian-American Student Filmmaker Award for his short film Pagpad (The Refuse) which was acquired by PBS for North American broadcast.

“It was while her husband Carlitos who was teaching at NYU that I met Bibeth (Orteza) who worked with me on the short film,” said John Paul. “When Carlitos made Hari ng Tondo, his comeback as a director, I worked with him. That led to my meeting my current production team.”

Aside from being Toto’s executive producer (with Hun Kiong Su and Helen Yao-Su, and Manet Dayrit, also the editor; supervising producer is Tess Fuentes and line producer is Ruth Racela), Bibeth plays Remedios Estares, Toto’s expletive-spewing Waray mother. “You should listen to my Waray dialogue,” said Bibeth whose son Rafa is also in the cast. The movie has English subtitles.

(Graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board [CEB], Toto is showing nationwide in SM Cinemas starting on Wednesday, Nov. 23.)

What’s up?

•  Here’s the ABS-CBN statement on Goin’ Bulilit: It has been reported in the media that a gag made in a recent episode of Goin’ Bulilit did not sit well with the employees of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). The gag, which has a different meaning to the acronym PAG-ASA, was said in a context of a joke, and should not be deemed as a fact or criticism. It was not our intention to hurt or demean the agency, and we apologize to the employees of PAG-ASA who may have been offended by the joke that we aired. We hold PAG-ASA in high esteem and believe that it does its best to provide timely and relevant weather information to ensure the public safety.
• Spend A Magical Evening with Xian Lim (photo) at Robinsons Malls on the following dates: Dec. 2, Midtown Atrium, Robinsons Place Manila; Dec. 3, Activity Area, Robinsons Galleria; Dec. 11, Main Atrium, Robinsons Galleria Cebu; and Dec. 17, Atrium, Robinsons Magnolia. 

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