‘Bikini Open,’ ‘La Visa Loca’ – nakakaloka!
May 22, 2005 | 12:00am
Sorry to my friends who are film producers, directors, scriptwriters, actresses, actors or die-hard nationalists, but I rarely inflict a Filipino movie on a date because I wouldn’t want her to feel confuzzled (that’s a new American word not yet in the dictionary, combining "confused" and "puzzled") or for her to curse me for life. Sorry, I’m just being brutally frank about what I think has been the general quality of Filipino films.
It is hogwash to claim that Filipinos no longer watch movies, which is why the once-mighty Filipino film industry is dying. It’s just that watching movies in air-conditioned malls is no longer a masa phenomenon, and the middle and upper classes demand better quality and saner stories, not trash!
Do you believe the reason that the SM malls booted out bold flicks from being screened in their theaters last year was because the taipan’s eldest son, Henry "Big Boy" Sy, Jr., became a born-again Christian and is now a member of the Christ Commission Fellowship (CCF)? I believe the reason for SM’s ban of R-18 local films is still Deng Xiaoping-style market economics, that those local sexy flicks of horrible quality with inane stories are no longer popular at the box office. The Filipino audience is fed up with trashy, bold flicks with mindless starlets like the Viva Hot Babes, D’ Bodies and others, baring their bodies but having no stories or redeeming qualities. With eight million overseas Filipino workers exposed to world trends and the onslaught of 24-hour cable TV, the once-trampled-upon and belittled Filipino audience can no longer be fooled into paying hard-earned devalued pesos to watch garbage!
Among local film producers, though, I admire the indescribably crazy but genius Mother Lily Yu Monteverde of Regal Entertainment the most for her irrepressible energy and creativity. I recently watched the premieres of two new Filipino movies by other producers – Bikini Open by Robbie Tan of Seiko Films and La Visa Loca by first-time producer and megastar Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan with Tony Gloria of Unitel Films.
I must confess that I watched Bikini Open primarily because of prurient interest (natural to all young people my age, ahem), but I told my female friend I had to go because of several cell-phone invitations by producer Robbie Tan, who even said that top historian Ambeth Ocampo was attending. Of course, I also told her I was going due to my "intellectual and cultural curiosity."
On La Visa Loca, I readily accepted the invitation to watch its special advance screening at The Podium because of personal admiration for Sharon Cuneta, whom I consider the most intelligent and professional entertainer in Philippine showbiz.
A film by director Jeffrey Jeturian, Bikini Open was interesting and should be watched by moviegoers, although it wasn’t as funny, witty or sexy as his previous 2003 Metro Manila Filmfest entry Bridal Shower. I was amazed that a film with such a naughty-sounding title wasn’t even sexy in terms of flesh revealed or a naughty storyline. Still, the film is better than most Filipino films, despite its weakness of trying hard to be socially relevant. It seemed like a Seiko Films version of Star Cinema’s ill-fated Dekada ’70 or Viva Films’ Filipinas. Why not add more zest and genuine laughter to help moviegoers relax, unwind, and have outrageous fun?
I kept badgering Robbie Tan that I would only go to the movie’s premiere if he could arrange a one-on-one interview with the movie’s lead star Francine Prieto. However, after watching Bikini Open, there was no need to interview her because all throughout the movie, her oft-repeated answer to TV interviews and even during the bikini contest’s question-and-answer portion was "Why? Because I can!" Maybe if I asked her if she would be interested in someday running for president or senator, she would have pouted her luscious lips, given a mischievous wink, and exclaimed with dramatic effect: "Why? Because I can!"
To be honest, the other female leads in this movie are not spectacularly beautiful but are rather overrated in terms of sexiness. It is tragic that in our celebrity-obsessed society, people mistake the act of shedding clothes as sexy. This is not BS, but my female friend looks more beautiful and sexier than all the other contestants in the movie, except for Francine Prieto, who is probably almost my friend’s equal in sexiness (sipsip). I pity the young starlet who played the contestant whose mother loudly complained was only 15 years old, because she looked scrawny and undernourished.
The guys in this film were okay, but not impressive enough when it came to the build of their physiques for a bikini contest nor sizzling in their acting. One male contestant was even a bit flabby.
Diana Zubiri could have played a better role had the script given her a more interesting characterization as the poor woman living in urban squalor and dreaming of success via showbiz glitz.
The meatiest role in Bikini Open was that of Cherry Pie Picache as the tireless and aggressive TV journalist. Although the character’s name Susan Ferrer-Logarta uncannily rhymes with that of popular vice presidential bet Loren Legarda-Leviste, Cherry Pie herself admitted that her role is actually "a composite of Korina Sanchez, Kris Aquino and Karen Davila." It was a parody of the all-powerful TV media’s overzealous, opportunistic craze to grab ratings leadership at the expense of ethics, good taste, decency, and, maybe, even to the detriment of truth. No wonder in the US the TV is called the "idiot box."
I hope Bikini Open will be a rude wake-up call for our mass media to adopt ethical standards. The film shows how the TV camera intrudes by callously showing corpses or people dying in accidents, when TV in developed societies usually show only body bags out of respect for the dignity of human beings – whether commoners, criminals or VIPs. Here, the TV camera shamelessly invades the privacy of the bikini contestants, going into their homes unannounced, interviewing their startled relatives, showing their bleak poverty, moralizing, editorializing, and often prying into their personal secrets for the sake of high ratings.
Described by its producer, director and scriptwriter as a mockumentary, Bikini Open attempts to be profane and satirical from start to finish. This film is a microcosm of our socio-economically inequitable and often problematic but ironically never boring Philippine society. Many of the characters and their lives in Bikini Open are economically, morally, and emotionally confuzzled.
Thanks to Sharon Cuneta for giving the Philippines La Visa Loca, this rare gem of a humorous movie that I thought would be just another run-of-the-mill attempt at satire that would take an agonizing two hours. The director/scriptwriter Mark Meily is a genius, and it’s a shame I didn’t bother to watch his previous movies, Crying Ladies, which friends say had an ethnic Chinese lead named Wilson played by Eric Quizon, and Santa-Santita. The Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) of the Film Development Council graded this movie with an A, which it deserves.
La Visa Loca is an outrageously funny, meaningful, well-made, and witty satire on the Filipino’s all-consuming dream of getting a visa to the States and to live the American dream. Through the wacky and unfortunate life of limo driver and nursing-aide graduate Jess Huson, superbly played by actor Robin Padilla, his carnival mermaid ex-girlfriend Mara, played by Rufa Mae Quinto, his aging, diabetic, near-deaf signboard-maker Dad Mang Sancho, played well by Johnny Delgado, and his tourist client Nigel Adams of the famed TV show Planet Strange, moviegoers are transported into the strange universe of Filipino mass pop culture: Folk Catholicism during Holy Week, bulletproof shamans claiming the power of anting-anting amulets, Santo Niño-possessed faith healers who cure the poor, mystics, strip bars with gyrating half-naked dancers but whose waiters wouldn’t serve pork barbecue during Lent, and the Kristo penitents who crucify themselves on the cross yearly for fervent prayers.
To help his family financially and achieve his dream of going to America, Jess Huson makes the ultimate and surprising sacrifice in this film. The twist in the ending involves a life-changing choice by the character, which subtly but convincingly expresses the filmmaker’s idealistic view of the future of Philippine society. La Visa Loca eloquently shows that life in our islands may both be tragi-comic and funny, yet not hopeless.
The female friend I invited to watch with me appreciated its humor, wit and satire. Nathalie Liu enjoyed the film as much as I did, and she said, "I was very impressed with the movie yesterday. I had such a great time! It’s probably one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. The writer/director and the producers surely deserve all the support they can get. Their work speaks volumes regarding the Filipinos’ underrated creativity due to the domination of senseless local films in the past. Hope it does great at the box office in order to encourage producers to come up with films that uplift the standard and level of intelligence of the masses. I personally believe good humor goes hand in hand with intelligence. So far, most of the humor I see on local TV degrades the masses’ way of thinking. It’s very sad."
Attempts by talented, concerned filmmakers to salvage what’s left of the dying Philippine film industry should be an inspiration for the country’s struggling economy that life in this archipelago isn’t all dark humor and despair. I hope the Mother Lilys, Robbie Tans, Sharon Cunetas and Tony Glorias can band together to work for the true renaissance of Filipino movies, not only for our domestic market, but also for possible dollar-earning exports worldwide.
I hope our filmmakers also use the potent power of Philippine cinema to produce more tour-de-force satires, more fearless films, which poke fun at, lambaste, severely criticize, and crucify the haughty, corrupt, hypocritical and inane leaders of our society as an added public service.
We should stop the centuries-old national malaise of being fatalistic, of being pessimistic victims of cruel fate. We should not be like those pathetic contestants of Bikini Open or the peripatetic USA visa dreamer Jess Huson of La Visa Loca – seeking only escape but not achieving true salvation for themselves or the whole of society.
Why not be masters of our own destiny? Instead of being helpless and dreaming only of lining up at foreign embassies to escape this naturally-rich country with poor people, lush jungles, beautiful seas and lots of lousy, selfish, beastly politicians, let’s use films, the mass media, humor, religion, TV, pop culture, optimism rooted in humble realism, and a sense of civic duty to help educate, edify, reform, inspire, and challenge all people to unite in creating a better national future.
Thanks for the deluge of frank reactions to our Alfonso Yuchengco column. We promise to write a column airing the side of the Pacific Plan complainants. All kinds of comments are welcome at wilson_lee_flores@yahoo.com, wilson_lee_flores@hotmail.com, wilsonleeflores777@gmail.com or PO Box 14277, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
It is hogwash to claim that Filipinos no longer watch movies, which is why the once-mighty Filipino film industry is dying. It’s just that watching movies in air-conditioned malls is no longer a masa phenomenon, and the middle and upper classes demand better quality and saner stories, not trash!
Do you believe the reason that the SM malls booted out bold flicks from being screened in their theaters last year was because the taipan’s eldest son, Henry "Big Boy" Sy, Jr., became a born-again Christian and is now a member of the Christ Commission Fellowship (CCF)? I believe the reason for SM’s ban of R-18 local films is still Deng Xiaoping-style market economics, that those local sexy flicks of horrible quality with inane stories are no longer popular at the box office. The Filipino audience is fed up with trashy, bold flicks with mindless starlets like the Viva Hot Babes, D’ Bodies and others, baring their bodies but having no stories or redeeming qualities. With eight million overseas Filipino workers exposed to world trends and the onslaught of 24-hour cable TV, the once-trampled-upon and belittled Filipino audience can no longer be fooled into paying hard-earned devalued pesos to watch garbage!
Among local film producers, though, I admire the indescribably crazy but genius Mother Lily Yu Monteverde of Regal Entertainment the most for her irrepressible energy and creativity. I recently watched the premieres of two new Filipino movies by other producers – Bikini Open by Robbie Tan of Seiko Films and La Visa Loca by first-time producer and megastar Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan with Tony Gloria of Unitel Films.
I must confess that I watched Bikini Open primarily because of prurient interest (natural to all young people my age, ahem), but I told my female friend I had to go because of several cell-phone invitations by producer Robbie Tan, who even said that top historian Ambeth Ocampo was attending. Of course, I also told her I was going due to my "intellectual and cultural curiosity."
On La Visa Loca, I readily accepted the invitation to watch its special advance screening at The Podium because of personal admiration for Sharon Cuneta, whom I consider the most intelligent and professional entertainer in Philippine showbiz.
I kept badgering Robbie Tan that I would only go to the movie’s premiere if he could arrange a one-on-one interview with the movie’s lead star Francine Prieto. However, after watching Bikini Open, there was no need to interview her because all throughout the movie, her oft-repeated answer to TV interviews and even during the bikini contest’s question-and-answer portion was "Why? Because I can!" Maybe if I asked her if she would be interested in someday running for president or senator, she would have pouted her luscious lips, given a mischievous wink, and exclaimed with dramatic effect: "Why? Because I can!"
To be honest, the other female leads in this movie are not spectacularly beautiful but are rather overrated in terms of sexiness. It is tragic that in our celebrity-obsessed society, people mistake the act of shedding clothes as sexy. This is not BS, but my female friend looks more beautiful and sexier than all the other contestants in the movie, except for Francine Prieto, who is probably almost my friend’s equal in sexiness (sipsip). I pity the young starlet who played the contestant whose mother loudly complained was only 15 years old, because she looked scrawny and undernourished.
The guys in this film were okay, but not impressive enough when it came to the build of their physiques for a bikini contest nor sizzling in their acting. One male contestant was even a bit flabby.
Diana Zubiri could have played a better role had the script given her a more interesting characterization as the poor woman living in urban squalor and dreaming of success via showbiz glitz.
The meatiest role in Bikini Open was that of Cherry Pie Picache as the tireless and aggressive TV journalist. Although the character’s name Susan Ferrer-Logarta uncannily rhymes with that of popular vice presidential bet Loren Legarda-Leviste, Cherry Pie herself admitted that her role is actually "a composite of Korina Sanchez, Kris Aquino and Karen Davila." It was a parody of the all-powerful TV media’s overzealous, opportunistic craze to grab ratings leadership at the expense of ethics, good taste, decency, and, maybe, even to the detriment of truth. No wonder in the US the TV is called the "idiot box."
I hope Bikini Open will be a rude wake-up call for our mass media to adopt ethical standards. The film shows how the TV camera intrudes by callously showing corpses or people dying in accidents, when TV in developed societies usually show only body bags out of respect for the dignity of human beings – whether commoners, criminals or VIPs. Here, the TV camera shamelessly invades the privacy of the bikini contestants, going into their homes unannounced, interviewing their startled relatives, showing their bleak poverty, moralizing, editorializing, and often prying into their personal secrets for the sake of high ratings.
Described by its producer, director and scriptwriter as a mockumentary, Bikini Open attempts to be profane and satirical from start to finish. This film is a microcosm of our socio-economically inequitable and often problematic but ironically never boring Philippine society. Many of the characters and their lives in Bikini Open are economically, morally, and emotionally confuzzled.
La Visa Loca is an outrageously funny, meaningful, well-made, and witty satire on the Filipino’s all-consuming dream of getting a visa to the States and to live the American dream. Through the wacky and unfortunate life of limo driver and nursing-aide graduate Jess Huson, superbly played by actor Robin Padilla, his carnival mermaid ex-girlfriend Mara, played by Rufa Mae Quinto, his aging, diabetic, near-deaf signboard-maker Dad Mang Sancho, played well by Johnny Delgado, and his tourist client Nigel Adams of the famed TV show Planet Strange, moviegoers are transported into the strange universe of Filipino mass pop culture: Folk Catholicism during Holy Week, bulletproof shamans claiming the power of anting-anting amulets, Santo Niño-possessed faith healers who cure the poor, mystics, strip bars with gyrating half-naked dancers but whose waiters wouldn’t serve pork barbecue during Lent, and the Kristo penitents who crucify themselves on the cross yearly for fervent prayers.
To help his family financially and achieve his dream of going to America, Jess Huson makes the ultimate and surprising sacrifice in this film. The twist in the ending involves a life-changing choice by the character, which subtly but convincingly expresses the filmmaker’s idealistic view of the future of Philippine society. La Visa Loca eloquently shows that life in our islands may both be tragi-comic and funny, yet not hopeless.
The female friend I invited to watch with me appreciated its humor, wit and satire. Nathalie Liu enjoyed the film as much as I did, and she said, "I was very impressed with the movie yesterday. I had such a great time! It’s probably one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. The writer/director and the producers surely deserve all the support they can get. Their work speaks volumes regarding the Filipinos’ underrated creativity due to the domination of senseless local films in the past. Hope it does great at the box office in order to encourage producers to come up with films that uplift the standard and level of intelligence of the masses. I personally believe good humor goes hand in hand with intelligence. So far, most of the humor I see on local TV degrades the masses’ way of thinking. It’s very sad."
Attempts by talented, concerned filmmakers to salvage what’s left of the dying Philippine film industry should be an inspiration for the country’s struggling economy that life in this archipelago isn’t all dark humor and despair. I hope the Mother Lilys, Robbie Tans, Sharon Cunetas and Tony Glorias can band together to work for the true renaissance of Filipino movies, not only for our domestic market, but also for possible dollar-earning exports worldwide.
I hope our filmmakers also use the potent power of Philippine cinema to produce more tour-de-force satires, more fearless films, which poke fun at, lambaste, severely criticize, and crucify the haughty, corrupt, hypocritical and inane leaders of our society as an added public service.
We should stop the centuries-old national malaise of being fatalistic, of being pessimistic victims of cruel fate. We should not be like those pathetic contestants of Bikini Open or the peripatetic USA visa dreamer Jess Huson of La Visa Loca – seeking only escape but not achieving true salvation for themselves or the whole of society.
Why not be masters of our own destiny? Instead of being helpless and dreaming only of lining up at foreign embassies to escape this naturally-rich country with poor people, lush jungles, beautiful seas and lots of lousy, selfish, beastly politicians, let’s use films, the mass media, humor, religion, TV, pop culture, optimism rooted in humble realism, and a sense of civic duty to help educate, edify, reform, inspire, and challenge all people to unite in creating a better national future.
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