two cents

The Great Raid (Miramax)

2005-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

long before i had even seen it, i knew it would be difficult for me not to like this film: given that i'm a filipina (who's always been proud of her roots), that i've always been a fan of cesar montano (still an albert-anian though, nyehe), that i'm (ehem) not such a big fan of the japanese, and finally (and most importantly), that i'm a girl - who, just like any other girl in the world, will find it incredibly hard to resist a man in uniform. hee. and like it, i did, possibly because i simply refused to not like it, and well, because as soon as i saw (start counting) benjamin bratt (1), james franco(2), logan marshall-green(3), joseph fiennes(4), and of course, cesar montano(5! phew) all decked out in their military greens, my giggly and gushy (yes, such a word exists) school-girl-with-a-crush (ala kirsten dunst in spiderman) persona just took over. hee.

good-looking soldiers aside, though, the great raid is just an okay-film: great story, great (not to mention gorgeous) actors... unfortunately, it suffers quite a bit in the execution. although before anything else let me say that as a filipina, i'm more than grateful to the producers and writers of this film for depicting the filipino under a new light. my biggest concern before seeing this movie was whether the film would be just another means for the americans to show-off (God knows we've had more than enough of that savior complex) or not, which thankfully, it wasn't. quite interestingly, it’s somewhat the other way around. The Great Raid is an account of a real rescue operation executed by american soldiers of american POWs held by the Japanese in the Philippines (sorry I wasn’t able to phrase that properly) so actually, if you think about it, aside from the location, we shouldn't have that much to do with it. but the film tells us and everybody else that we did, and gives more than enough credit to us for it - providing historical facts for others to understand the story more clearly, but also showing that behind captains, generals and military tactics were people from 2 different races who actually shared a good camaraderie with each other. we were the heroes and the americans were the ones in need this time around, and the film humbly brings this across. but how exactly this is executed is where i have a problem.

the film starts off almost like a documentary, immediately bombarding the viewer with historical fact after historical fact... which for us, can be pretty exciting, but i'd imagine for others would be, well, just boring. it was simply too long and although yes, we get that it's based on a real story and that the film was just cautious in getting its facts straight, no movie should start that way. after this, the movie focuses on the characters and their stories, and doesn't touch much on the facts anymore. i just think that maybe it would have been better if the film found a way to keep the characters' stories running, bringing about the emotion, while incorporating the facts little by little. like you'd realize the historical data along with the stories of these people, instead of separately jotting historical notes in your head first then watching the characters play out their stories after. with such an execution, we experience the characters as fictional; it's as if we established that they're real when the film begins, but forget about it after.

again, i still liked this movie and would highly recommend it to anyone: if not for the movie itself then at least for the story behind it. it's a feel good movie, at least for us filipinos, as we realize that there's more than enough things for us to be proud of, and more than that, that there are actually people other than us who know it.

*additional info: the film actually isn't doing well in the states, earning only around 4 million dollars in its opening week (the film cost around 80 million to make, i think)... praying it'll do better in the following weeks. but to end on a good note, i read from somewhere that the peformance of cesar montano in the film has been received really well, so much that he's planning to go back to the US later this year to discuss movie offers which he's received, as well as the 3-picture contract that he already has with Miramax. pretty cool, huh? :D

*info & pictures from movies.yahoo.com & mb.com.ph

Once On This Island (Actor's Actors Inc.)

2005-08-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

either i missed seeing musicals, having not seen one in a really long time, or this one was just really good. in any case, i enjoyed this local version of a broadway original - so much that i found myself swaying, humming and bobbing my head to the songs even after the show ended.

i won't discuss the story since i'm only reviewing an adaptation, but in so far as the plot goes, i guess it's pretty refreshing to see stories like this that don't end the way you expect them to end, but have you leaving the theatre smiling, nontheless. it's your typical worlds-apart-love-story, but the setting is different, and that makes for more than enough room to create an original broadway musical.

what i'd really love to discuss, though, are the actors - the perectly-cast group of performers who really made the story come alive. when i arrived at the theatre i was a little bit disapointed to see a simple production set composed of nothing but plain woven abaka curtains, but as soon as the play started, i understood why they didn't need to have an elaborate backdrop for the actors to work with - the musical is simply owned by the actors once it begins. kudos first to the versatility of a cast of around a mere dozen actors, more or less, some having to play multiple roles (whether that was intentional or not i don't exactly know) in order for the play to work. as for the actors, the performances of Michael de Mesa (Armand), May Bayot (Mama Euralie), Gala Sanchez (Little Ti Moune), Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (Ezrulie, goddess of love), Jett Pangan (Papa Ge, god of death) are noteworthy - while Bituin Escalante (Asaka, goddess of the earth) was simply more than outstanding, almost stealing the show away from the rest of the cast with her rendition of Mama Will Provide. de Mesa was charmingly funny, Bayot was powerful but not too domineering - perfect as Ti Moune's protective but loving mother, Sanchez - a mere adolescent but performing at a level which was almost at par with the rest of the adults, Lauchengco-Yulo graceful and gentle as much as the role called for her to be. Jett Pangan is someone that i've come to admire all the more after seeing his ability to simply rock in front of a broadway crowd as much as he would in front of sweaty swarm of moshers, regardless of how old he is. And finally, Lord, Bituin Escalante who simply blew me away. Gawd. literally, no words. the tame and quiet crowd stood up from their seats, swaying and howling, once she did her version of mama will provide. wow. i've always admired bituin for her amazing voice, but here, wow. i wanna be like her. seriously.

i've listened to a couple of songs from the original broadway musical and found that the arrangements of the local adaptation were worthy of credit, too. you could definitely feel the "jungle vibe" with the beat of bongos and whatever other instruments they used to help create it. in terms of the execution, the songs TiMoune, Mama Will Provide and Human Heart stood out among the rest. the dramatic exchange between TiMoune & her mother as she tries to convince her to let her move to the city was simply moving. the Human Heart, the song to where our lovers are shown, well, falling in love, performed by Lauchengco-Yulo, was perfectly sweet, and she sang it as you would imagine the goddess of love would, setting the mood for two lovers to start their journey together. and God, Mama Will Provide, need i say more? Bituin is more than amazing. really.

of course this play has its share of disappointments, notably the performance of Jeffrey Hidalgo (Daniel) who was simply overpowered by her lover, TiMoune. well, his character isn't the main focus of the story, anyway, but it would have helped if he sang with more... i dunno.. "umph!". it was just... forgettable. which i really found disappointing because i was one of 'em smokey mountain fans, and even post-geneva cruz, i've found jeffrey hidalgo's performances in certain local movies worthy of praise. oh well. i guess good acting + good singing don't make a good stage performer. or maybe he'll improve with time. we'll see.

so that's it, my 2 cents on "Once On This Island"... highly recommended; unfortunately, the staging i watched was the last one of the series. although i wouldn't be surprised if they staged it again - this run was still so successful, and it was already the second time they had it here.

*pictures & other information from clickthecity.com

preface

2005-08-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

greetings, life is good readers! ;) if you're viewing this site then you've either got too much time to waste, or are as passionate about music, film, television and everything else i'm gonna write about here as much as I am. in any case, i hope you enjoy reading future posts and that you keep checking in often after! :D

so why did i decide to publish a blog like this? well i've noticed that i've posted quite a a few entries like the ones i'm gonna post here in my original blog, so i thought, what the heck? i've got too many extra unused blogs, anyway, so i decided to post all future ones here. i'll indicate in my original blog when i have new stuff up here. haha wala lang.

so, that's it! again, all i'm gonna post here are mere opinions, so don't take any of them seriously! haha.

enjoy! :D