The boyz of summer

Insomnia is a bummer.

You’ve joined me here inside my room in Green Hell, slowly filling up with speakers, dust and a jungle of stereo cables, and I am watching on cable a lost classic, a cult hit, probably one of the best movies you haven’t heard of: Sana’y Mahalin Mo Rin Ako. Yes, it’s the sleeplessness talking; un-sleep can make a man think things up.

Congratulations: I welcome myself to a new low.

The 1996 movie features the other April Boys who are not Regino. It focuses on April Boy Jimmy and the other guy. What’s his name? Ah, April Boy Vingo. I always thought his name was spelled with an “H” — Vhingo. Whrong mhistake.

I’ve joined our dynamic duo three-quarters into the film as they’re recording the title track… Di Ko Kayang Tanggapin… no, no, not that… it’s Sana’y Mahalin Mo Rin Ako. (A prophecy: I will hear the song 268 times before the movie is done… wag na sanang magwakas.) Nida Blanca who plays “Inay” in the movie tells the record producer that the backing track is too loud, drowning out the voices of our heroes. The producer makes the proper adjustment. ’Di man lang pumalag. Phil Spector he is not. Boys keep singing.

Raffy Rodriguez plays “Sidekick.” Either the movie is heavily influenced by Samuel Beckett (“Sidekick” is the Everyman; he is you and he is me) or e.e. cummings (“I” becomes the universal “i”), or — spoken ala Rufa Mae who plays “Hostess” in the movie — wala lang.

The boys are poor and powerless, but they dream big and are determined to make it as pop stars. Dreamers, they are not the only ones. This is a constant in all those movies about bands I got to watch recently (Nowhere Boy, Backbeat, Cemetery Junction, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains) or cinders of the Cinderella story. Jeremy Lin for the win!

Donita Rose is smitten with Jimmy, or Vingo, or whoever. Why? Because the director told her so. This her motivation: to cut out clippings of our rising stars for her Political Science class. She’s probably writing a paper on Mass Hysteria and Pop Stars with Mullets, Baseball Caps and Baggy Pants. But she’s currently going out with a singer from The Pencils, with a name filched from The Eraserheads and with a sound plundered from Wolfgang.

Donita’s boyfriend Chuck is played by Ace Cruz, who — according to www.imdb.com — starred in Last Chance aka Gangstaz and Urban Task Force. He also appeared in a film with Joe Estevez, Martin Sheen’s brother. The brother of the actor who starred in Apocalypse Now opposite the sublime Marlon Brando. Wow!

What’s weird is, among all those luminaries in the movie (Donita, Nida, Vina Morales, Alicia Alonzo, Raven Villanueva, etc.) only Ace Cruz has a photo in the Sana’y Mahalin Mo Rin Ako entry on www.imdb.com. (Tragically, there’s almost zero info on the movie, which almost tempted me to write a synopsis or pose a question in the FAQ.)

Back to the movie. There is a band showdown at Skylark Disco between the April Boys and The Pencils. A key moment in the flick. The audience digs Jimmy and Vingo. The girls and gals (no typo there) go bonkers over our baseball-capped wonder boys, while watching The Pencils like zombies. That The Pencils song sucks big time doesn’t help the band’s cause. Of course, our heroes win the battle and Donita chooses Vingo over an angry Chuck. The obligatory fistfight ensues.

There is a scene in the movie where the April Boys are on the roof with Sidekick and are looking at a kite in flight. Ah, the boys are going to pull out the kite metaphor. That desire to soar, to taste the tongues of clouds, to dream of someone you are not. Wrong! Jimmy looks at things lamely: you can see what kites see when you’re inside an airplane. WTF, Charlie! WTF!

As expected, the April Boys make it big and are now dating Donita and Vina, beauties who chose men with gold hearts and gold records rather than rich, handsome a$$holes. The fishball/ice cream/Luneta montage follows with shots of the boys performing in their Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks clothes, apparel and don’t forget those iconic baseball caps. What? No shots of the love teams frolicking on the beach? 

Methinks maybe the boys themselves have this on Bluray or MKV copy, and put that damn thing on during family reunions.

April Boy 1: “Idol, eto ’yung dramatic scene ninyo ni Donita o!”

April Boy 2: “Oo nga, Idol, galit-galitan pa si Vina, may gusto rin naman pala!”

Those were their days, my friend.

Wait. My interest in the movie is purely anthropological. Who can really sit through this pap (this is spinal pap)? Well, except an insomniac so hazed up that he can’t even press a button on the remote. But I’d rather watch this pap than Glee, which routinely murders songs we have a special connection with (recent victim: Joni Mitchell’s River). I just find it strange that in our country, once pop stars, boxing champs or basketball stars make it really big, a movie is written hastily around them. Scrap together a script. Use their hit song as the title. Recruit pretty actresses and a reliable supporting cast.

The movie ends with the April Boys performing. In a mall. The pinnacle of superstardom. In full Phoenix Suns regalia. Someone cranks up the fog machine. The frame fills up with smoke for a few moments. The song remains the same.

This movie hits it right on the money. Such is life. Mine and yours.

Foggy.