Some kind of techie monster

MANILA, Philippines - Erik Matti may be one of the most commercially successful filmmakers in the country today. Not that he’s satisfied with that. With the release of his newest  film Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles he talks technology, going global and how our cinema, and perhaps the government, has lost the will to dream.

“The thrill in movies for me is not just in the telling of the story but also in the making of it,” says filmmaker Matti. “I take my storytelling skills using the elements of film seriously. I always plan out my design of the film visually. I always make specific choices on the kind of camera work, lensing, mood and look that I feel should be apt for the movie I am making. That is the most interesting part for me. Whether it succeeds or not, is part of the challenge.”

His most recent project, the blockbuster Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles is a case in point. First of all, it’s done with extensive use of computer-generated effects or CG, perhaps the first of its kind in local cinema. It’s essentially a horror movie about aswangs that finds its roots both in the director’s hometown of Pulupandan in Negros as well as the Pinoy movies that he grew up with. When pressed, he points to “good ‘ol Pinoy movies, Chiquito movies, FPJ movies, Ramon Zamora-Tange movies…”

“The past few years, we’ve been bombarded with female-driven, gay-skewed humor. Nothing wrong with that but sometimes we wish there were other kinds of movies that are out there in the market. And the more I thought about it while writing the material, the bloodier the beheadings and the innards-eating went.”

He says, “This is really a movie about movies.”

“We wanted to make this aswang movie different from the rest that have been done so that there would be a really strong talk value when we launched it in the market,” says Matti. “We were really looking at a project that could bring in the expertise of the companies that we’ve built the past years. Companies like Postmanila for editing, Mothership for CG and Lightshop for lighting equipment.  That way, Tiktik becomes the launch and a showcase reel of what we can do as a group. 

“I (also) wanted to challenge the industry as well as ourselves to see if we really had the endurance and the discipline to push the craftsmanship of films in the country. Part of the goal was to somehow make Tiktik a game changer for our film industry.  Whether it succeeds in that wish, remains to be seen.

“Technology can make or break a movie. In the third world setting, technology is relatively new in the playing field. (It) is a big help in filmmaking now.  Especially with the limited resources in producing a movie, because of the facilities we own, we can have leverage to fix some of it in post-prevention rather than wasting time on the set. The question always is, are the effects done because it is integral to story? Or is it just there because you’re lazy to do it properly in the live shoot?”

At its heart though, aside from all the technology, Tiktik is a “popcorn movie” i.e. the kind that you go to the cinema with your friends to get a thrill, a scare, and a laugh. Matti agrees. “I don’t think anyone grew up watching Iranian peasant films and loved it,” he says. “I grew up with Alexander Fu Sheng, Alain Delon, Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill, Lee Marvin. Genre films mainly. Spaghetti Westerns, Shaolin, Man-on-a-mission war films.

“I am not into creating a ‘voice’ for my movies although I can see the constant, repetitive themes that I always tackle in my movies. I want to do as many kinds of movies that I can possibly do.” 

And is this the future of local filmmaking?

“I still can’t see where it is going in the next few years,” he says. “But our company Reality Entertainment is attempting to make movies that can go beyond our local audience and start widening the market of our films to include the global arena. Because only then, I think, can we change Philippine cinema.  Because by tapping the bigger market out there, it can allow our local producers to think of movies bigger than what our local market can give us in the box office. And when I say universal movies, I mean movies that are globally competitive in terms of subject, theme and crafting. Not movies that appeal to just a few festivals because of its third world appeal and its quirky novelty.

“The arts in this country have somehow lost the will to dream. We’re content to tell ourselves not to dream big enough because we are just a third world country. This is reflected in the government, which has lost the will to dream too.  The same government that doesn’t see itself equal to all the other countries of the world. And this attitude goes way back into history — the subservience to our invaders/saviors like the Americans, the Japanese and the Spaniards. It’s become ingrained in our culture, this belief that to settle is not so bad after all.

“Well, to me, it’s not so bad to dream big for our movies.”