2 posts tagged “movie review”

I

When you get to manage a party for beauty queens in a cruise ship, probably near the coastlines of Manila in the early 80s, you get the feel of an era long-lost gone. Amidst the exagerrated dance grooves, you will be reminded that fun is such an easy thing to achieve in a time when dictators rule the land.

But when the cruise catches fire in the middle of the bay (or should I say) somewhere in the South China Sea, amazing things happen all at once...First, it was as if no one died. Second, all the beauty queens manage to survive. Third, all of them coincidentally drift ashore to a lone desert island somewhere in the country (God knows where). And fourth, they still look stunningly beautiful!

Jessica Zafra's essay on Joey Gosengfiao's Temptation Island started the hullabaloo in the early 90s on this early 80s sexy-fantasy-comedy film. Though a box-office hit during the time when Marcos was on the verge of establishing a moralistic crusade againsts Bomba films, the movie was relatively disregarded if not ignored by critics of the time.

Understandably enough, Temptation was regarded as a qualified candidtate in a line-up of promising films at the start of the Philippine Cinema's second Golden Age. A roughly plotted story of four (4) beauty contestants who got stuck in an desert island, with a man for each of the three and a maid for one would have simply pulled it off. But as argued in a a Brocka-regime, the film's large element of artifice and exaggerated ironies pulled it out from the list of potential classics and study. As viewed during its time, this sexy, almost like the 90s' pito-pitos, was obviously another Monteverde revenue project that will assure her profit goals for 1980.

Since Zafra's article, many followers expressed their own thoughts right after. Noel Vera tags it as a third-world Pedro Almodovar "only funnier and stranger." Lawyer-Critic Francis Cruz describes it as "a bizarre and absurd sexual romp where genre elements merge into a hodgepodge that is surprisingly effective and hilarious." As the years pass, this cinematic trash has been proving its greatness in its subtle themes, motifs and craft.

With the many reviewes and immediate reactions from new-young viewers, what seems to be lacking is a technical standpoint that will defend the film and director's ingenuity. Though it is understandable that Camp as a genre, is only meant to be enoyed and not studied thouroughly, there is still a need for defense to comprehend its innocent depth and hilarious bliss.

Susan Sontag, in her 1964 essay Notes on "Camp" will be the main resource for this analysis. Sontag's views on has drafted a clearer definition of this 18th century-old genre. Her views on this artform has more complex syntheses, and by analyzing Gosengfiao's greatest work from a campy, yet theoretical perspective, will be more appropriate, as the film has been regarded as the best example of camp in the history of Philipine Cinema.

II

Temptation Island has a mixture of the needed elements of Camp in films. Its clear exhibition of basic Camp elements from sheer theatricalization, outrageous sensiblity, to exaggeration, - integrated with a subtle revolutionary idea has made it to a genre so hard to achieve, that even Joel Lamangan still finds it hard to make one.

Theatricalization:

Gosengfiao viewed acting as a mere tool to exhibit creative aspects of his actors. Even as early as Katorse, the too timid Dina Bonnavie was made to splurge and cry hysterically in the middle of the street, too dusty you see some particles moving from her hair to her face. Who can forget Alma Moreno's hand-on-waist-while-standing-on-an-irrigation-stream with mud all over her upper body asking: "bakit ako mahihiya?" These too campy theatrical movements are evident in almost all the scenes in Temptation. Who would not raise an eyebrow when you see Dina (Bonnavie) throwing sticcomitatic lines to Alfredo (Alfie Anido) during a rough confrontation after the former learned that the latter slept with Suzanne (Jennifer Cortez). Apparently these lines would have been appropriate in a scene delicately prepared for such romantic quarrel. But finding the players in the middle a god-forsaken desert, with no food and water (that most of them just decided to dance instead) makes the theatrical effect more out of placed and out of

context.

Sontag's description of too dramatic representations of reality in Camp has been cleared extensively enought to delegate appropriate utilization of such in the genre. These playful exhibition of an artform (in this respect - acting) has been clearly manifested in almost every possible opportunities in Temptation. Despite the too obvious inappropriate setting and time for such dramtizations, the characters continually put their best foot forward in confronational, fashionistic, climatic and denoumatic scences. I cannot say that the performances were dry. I think that's the magic of the genre. But the surrealistic undertones mixed with a fantastical mood leaves the viewer laughing with both disbelief and acceptance.

III

Outrageous Sensibilities

Another point to regard on the film's plot is its regard on sexuality, gender and self-discovery. As early as the first few scenes, we see the characters establish their subplot that will eventually contribute to their developments as the story progresses. We see characters viewing themselves as winners in a chosen field...Azineth (Azineth Tobias) as a triumphant crook able to win a beauty contest for the prize money; Dina, a self-neglected-only-daughter who will prove her brothers that -yes - she can buy a car of her own once she wins the contest; Bambi (Bambi Arambulo) as an ex-runner-up from previous pageant aiming to get the throne this time, and; Suzanne a socialite with a maid (Deborah Sun) who's only goal is to win the pageant to prove to everyone that she's the rightful owner of the throne!

In the argument of sensibility, Gosengfiao did not dare dismissed the concept of affection, betrayal, and sex through  a candid twist of transposing this basic instinct to another realm made each intial goal look funny and pathetic. Even in a setting that will force human beings to focus on self-preservation, Gosengfiao geared these basic human emotions and linked it to the latter. Who would have thought that love and sex are also part of self-preservation, and that these emotional coping mechanismns can be good as food in a place of drought and death?  

Indeed, the Campiest part in terms of sensibility lies in a revolutionary tone when Joshua (Jonas Sebastian), the lone gay character, died amidsts straight people who fornicated to compensate the lack of food and water. Maria, despite the want of a partner, simply danced the whole night to compensate her need, and yes, she survived.

This sensible point proves that in a society filled with prejudice will eventually kill, or if not, eradicate, the unwanted - the unloved if not properly filled.

 

IV 

Exaggeration

Camp style has been evident in other forms of the genre. From the too elaborate Tiffany lamps to Visconti's direction of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, one requirement for this post-modern approach is inevitable concept of drama-dramahan.

One thing that is noticable are the unintended exaggerations in Temptation. Most critics would argue that some of the scenes were a bit messy in terms of line-flow and blocking, but I think that's simply the point! Under-blocks like Azineth's jumpy dance groves while sitting down and talking to Alfredo about being

 a crook (a damn good crooook) was unintentionally made unstable and unrealistic. But think again, don't most beauty queens move this way? What about the scene when Alfie rolled over a hill after Dina pushed him away? We see that the hill wasn't so inclined and that the character can simply stand up and sit to resist the fall. But the fall was obviously choreographed, you just can't avoid raising an eyebrow.

What I consider most hilarious, in terms of blocking is Azineth's orgasmic position on the beach. This too exaggerated pose could pass for a White Castle photograph in the 70s, but think again, wasn't the lighting and angles just too perfect enough? This unrealistic positionings were amiably accepted and unquestioned. But then again, you get the POINT, you get THEIR point!

Oscar Wilde wrote: "The more we study about art, the less we care about Nature." I think this only goes to show that Gosengfiao's infatuation with the cinema and art direction was greatly exhibited in this masterpiece. Much as we want to believe that the director intentionally made these ridiculous dances and poses, our subcounsious tells us that this was created with a clean motive. It whispers that everything was done in good faith, without the intention of making it look as bad as it was for higher taste.

In the process we accept Azineth's vanity poses and Bambi's girlish moods. We smile when we see Dina and Alfredo run along the deserted shorlines, shot in landscape and played via slow motion. We laugh when we see Maria (Deborah Sun) requests for more panty hoses for more fish, and relate when Suzanne worries that she might get sunburned.

In this respect, Camp succeeds here.  

V

Subltle Revolution

Now comes the most challeging area in the genre - revolution. When Gosengfiao encased four beauty queens, three men, a homosexual and a maid in an island without help from the outside world, what formula can you think of that may pull off a socio-political idea, thinking that you're making a sexy film?

Amidsts the many flaws and imperfection, we feel the subtle undertones of a socio-political struggle in Temptation. Among the stem-pillared huts and screaming temperatures, we are presented with Marx's social triangle. Each main character represented a social class that interacts between and among the other classes. This political perspective presented an unintentional microcosm prevalent in the universal society. However, a natural twist managed turn this traingle upside down towards the middle of the film to its end.

We see the triangle with the two Marxist classes: The Bourgeoisie (Suzanne, Joshua and Dina) and The Proletariat (Azineth, Maria, Bambi Ricardo and Umberto).

 

The members of the upper classes are stylish, manipulative and idle. Despite the natural demands of the island, they continue to live out their class, even added artificial expectations from the others. Dina, on one hand, managed to conform with the members of the other class. Her character eventually shifted from a bourgeoisie perspective to a laborer after realizing the need for manual labor to survive. Suzanne, on the other hand, consistently lived her class. Tagging along her maid, Maria, anywhere she goes, scolding her for each petty mistake and making her tell lies for her own motives.

The characters in the lower class were also members of the same class even before they came to the island. Umberto, a waiter is the most useful character for the others. His survival skills were extremely utilized. Ricardo, a male-prostitute, made use of his strategic surviving skills - though some of his thoughts were a bit off and hilarious. Azineth the crook, gave the other girls the nerve to use common sense and style to survive each scorching-starve-filled day.

As the plot progresses, we notice the shift of focus from the upper class to the lower class. Joshua the socialite died and eventually got eaten by the group. Suzanne eventually gave up her bitchy tactics to manipulate others and eventually gave in to help the others to find food. Moreso, Maria's payoff scene where she went on top her lying and helpless Senorita demanding respect and equality is the final compensatory climax for this revoulutionary idea.

In the interim, the lower class eventually became the leaders in the island. This revolutionary concept gave way to

the film, in consideration of a post-modern genre, will have to take time to ripe and conform to the development of taste. Viewing it from the 21st century perspective, will allow the young new viewers to see new dimensions in the film that has been disregarded in the 80s. Further, as Camp is relatively hard to achieve, Gosengfiao, was able to create a timeless example of a film that can represent such.

 

 

 

The third and (ideally) the last installment of Walt Disney's High School Musical came to the Philippines late this week in a relatively extreme anticipation from the age group that screamed "we're all in this together!" practicallly three years ago. When the wait for the final cap of the trilogy (I took the liberty of calling this a trilogy as it was comparable to the hit that was LOTR during its time, however, for a much different age bracket) even 'be and I can't wait to see the launch in theaters.

 

 

Was it worth the wait? I have to say yes!

I remember buying a pirated version of the first installment in MCS after seeing a bunch of DeVeDe salesladies watching the film's finale which was done on a basketball court. I was actually scouting for a new addition to my Criterion list but, the then-over-rated Kenny Ortega choreography caught my attention. Excited to see this contemporary Musical from Disney, I bought a copy and went home immediately for a Sunday afternoon treat.

But as I munch my Nachos in front of the screen and had my second serving of monay for a then 200 lbs tummy, I gulped my Sprite-full mug wishing to have chosen to be skinned alive than to bear this overly sincere and achingly severe rendition of high school production numbers caught on tape! Talk about an MTV musical!

I'm not againsts this new venture. An MTV-like musical is what this generation needs to give them a new choice in the so-limited genres that we have now. I love theater and I adore the movies; but it's the musicals that I am most passionate about. It's just that when I saw Zach Efron achingly sang his "Start of Something New" with an uneven expression of self-adoration venturing towards a narcistic attack of teenage masochism that's too early, yet too timely for someone with his looks and age. And then we have Vanessa Hudgens, who was relatively cute in the first three parts of the movie, but when it came to her rendition of "When There Was Me And You," I know that that was the end of the long tradition of recitative (sung-through) musical theater, or movie at that!

ALBEIT my initial reaction to the first installment was that it was a trash, lots of those that were in immediate enviroment three years ago found it extremely entertaining. Friends started calling; telling me they have seen the best original musical of the decade! Dozens of pinoy TV shows air their own teenage production numbers of the movie's highlights. Stages, a Philippine -based production outfit, even produced its own stage version of the film that ran in Manila for practically four months!

Oh no! It's not only the Pinoy who got caught in this hullabaloo. Many other countries got the HSM fever early on. Since the movie's initial release Disney Theater Productions initialized HSM on Stage! which is still currently on Tour along with HSM2 on Stage!

 

So I said, "Fine! Fine!" you like it, but I still don't. Probably it's because of my upbringing and utmost respect to theatrical tradition that is why I decided to scrap the idea of bearing the next big sequel. 'Be watched the second installment. He said it was not as great as the first, which gave me the impression that it was worse than trash. But despite all of this, the same hullabaloo came right on the bucket the second time to prove once again I was wrong.

They decided to make a film for the final BANG!

It was late August when I saw the stand up ad in MOA. I was with 'be and we developed an initial excitement for it. 'Be for being a follower of the series, and me for finding a musical film to look forward to this year. Besides, Efron showcased a bit of an improvement as Link in the 2007 film version of Hairspray.

 

And so it wasn't  a pain-in-the-ass of a film after all. The movie version was a version indeed. Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez reprised their high school escapades one last time before deciding which way to go to college.

Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) came back to prove that she's a pure-blooded decendant of All About Eve's Margo Channing when she hired an exchange British-student as her personal assistant (Jemma McKenzie-Brown) who will eventually prove to be like Eve Harrington in the end! But in this day and age when villains are unconventionally packaged as lovable despite their appearances and views, Tisdale effectively manuvered her fans althroughout the film in making them love her til the end.

 

Ryan Evans (Lucas Gabeel, who have triggered an numerous online discussions about his sexuality due probably to his character portrayal of being a paternal twin to a certified gay icon that is Sharpay Evans) proved once and for all that he's not gay! His continuous links with Kelsi Nielsen (Oleysa Rulin) and their extreme fondness in the arts effectively justifies their connection and forever dismantles any teenage paranoia that the latter is a fag!

 

The songs (as written by David Lawrence, Robbie Nevil, Shankar Mahadevan and Matthew Gerard) were not as campy as the music of the first two films. They have somehow managed to develop a sense of musicality in respect to recitation and dialogue and connected this development to the maturity of both the characters and their target age bracket. Who would have thought that the initially too painful to bear 'Start of Something New" and "Breaking Free" can be well compensated by an almost Sixeen-Going-on-Seventeen-inspired number in "Can I Have this Dance?" On the other hand, Sharpay and Ryan's "I Want it All" may not be as fantabulous as Gene Kelly's "Broadway Melody" nor Jeromme Robbin's "Mambo Sequence," but can be comparably aligned with the onstage version of Laura Bell Bundey's "What You Want."

The design and cinematography was still as campy as the first two films but it was forgivable. Despite the too-clean shower rooms and the dust-free flower garden on the East High rooftop I found it utterly dispensable since it was a musical.

The only thing that I was not very much comfortable with is that the movie theme came a bit too late. Sharpay, Gabby, Troy and the rest of the gang got too busy dancing and singing, that the morale only managed to get into scene after all were tired from the many projects from both Coach Bolton (Bart Johnson) and Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed), did the story find its way to its very sense of being. Being teenage film, and a Disney project at that, my expectations grew further as to look forward to what the movie has to say this time. I think that the story failed in this aspect.

Nonetheless, it was a delight seeing the once too young cast of an MTV-like musical that was High School Musical. They have indeed grown up to do this film to my delight and hopefully to the delight of the other too-conservative advocates of musical theater. Disney's timely release of this much awaited project for the young is indeed as timely as the pizza delivery knock on your door just after you finished your chores! It was indeed now or never!