Live Show now a dead show

Live Show is dead.

A Malacañang appeals committee ordered yesterday the permanent ban of the Jose Javier Reyes film Live Show from exhibition in local theaters.

The decision upholds President Arroyo’s earlier order to recall the movie’s permit to exhibit. After viewing the movie, she described it as "a well-made soft-porn film."

"After evaluating the movie in its entirety as well as its alleged merits and demerits, this committee hereby renders a verdict of disapproval," said presidential chief of staff Renato Corona, a member of the committee.

Live Show depicts the lives of young men and women who engage in sex for pay in Metro Manila’s nightclubs. It premiered in the Berlin Film Festival last year and has toured other foreign venues, where it has received praise for its brutal realism.

Corona disclosed the decision to ban "Live Show" was reached in concurrence with two other members of the Palace appeals committee, namely, Press Secretary Noel Cabrera and Sonia Ronda-Saldivar.

"Two members of the committee voted for an outright ban while one member voted for extensive cuts on both scenes and dialogues (which would have virtually destroyed the movie)," Corona said.

"Premises considered, this committee hereby orders the permanent banning of the aforesaid movie and therefore revokes the permit issued by the MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board) for its public exhibition," he said.

In a one-page decision, Corona stated the appeals committee merely upheld the previous ban on the exhibition of "Live Show" which was first ordered by the review committee under then MTRCB chairman Armida Siguion-Reyna.

Corona recalled that after the first ban was imposed, a "second (expanded) review committee" subsequently overruled the decision and voted to give the producer, Regal Films, the permit to exhibit last year.

The movie, however, was not immediately shown in public theaters. It opened only on the second week of March when the MTRCB had a new chairman, Dr. Nic Tiongson.

But on orders of the President, the appeals committee pulled out "Live Show" from theaters for a review. The three-man committee, which normally has five members, reviewed the movie March 26.

"After running for about two weeks, there was a public outcry against the allegedly pornographic film which prompted the President of the Philippines to suspend its permit and to refer the film to this committee for a review or reassessment," Corona said.

The reported public outcry, that came largely from Catholic Church-based groups supported by Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, prompted Mrs. Arroyo to dismiss Tiongson.

Tiongson defended the film as a "powerful expose of the way live sex performers are dehumanized."

After watching "Live Show" herself, the President said it was "soft-porn," echoing the verdict of the new MTRCB Chairman Alejandro Roces, who called it "pornography for pornography’s sake."

In a bid to appease members of the movie industry fighting for the freedom of expression, Mrs. Arroyo cut the amusement tax by 50 percent to 15 percent and vowed to go after video pirates.

She said the tax rebate would no longer give producers an excuse to resort to making quick return-on-investment movies that cater only to the baser instincts. – Marichu Villanueva