08 December 2010

Pinoy confrontation

You could tell how much the quality of Pinoy entertainment today has regressed by just watching confrontation scenes.  The verbal sparring is predictable and borrowed.  The delineation between hero and villain is familiar and obvious.  And they usually end in catfights that couldn’t even compare with what Hollywood had already done ages ago in camp classics like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Valley of the Dolls (1967).

The late National Artist Ishmael Bernal had already set the standard in the 70s.  But the road to inspired cinematic exchanges ended with Cherie Gil’s “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat” in Bituing Walang Ningning (done in 1985; but at least, the line remains quotable).   Everything else that followed is just lame.

Here are two great examples of Bernal confrontations.  The first one, Ikaw ay Akin (1978), has no dialogue at all.   It featured the two biggest actresses of their generation in their first major movie together.    Their fans were expecting fireworks so the great debate on who was the better actress would finally be settled.  Bernal denied them that.  Instead, he showed how silence could best show character (cerebral vs. corporeal).  And the unease that came with sharing one man (Christopher de Leon).


A year later, Bernal did Salawahan which I read somewhere is the best-loved film on cable channel Cinema One, along with Temptation Island.  The movie revolves around five characters (Jay Ilagan, Matt Ranillo III, Sandy Andolong, Rio Locsin and Rita Gomez).  They’re frivolous, egocentric and all have varying perspectives on love, sex, lifestyle, dominance and just about anything decadent.  They’re smart.  And with sassiness comes colorful dialogue.

Marianne: Hi. Good morning.
Sylvia:  Same to you.
Marianne:  Aren’t you going to wish me well?
Sylvia:  I’m going to wish you what you’re going to wish me.
Marianne:  Foreign twang. Girlfriend ako ni Gerry.
Sylvia:  Same to me.
Marianne: Ano’ng gagawin natin ngayon?
Sylvia:  Wala.
Marianne:  Hindi ba tayo magco-confrontation?
Sylvia:  Huwag na.  Nakakatamad e.
Marianne:  Ok, I’ll see you.
Sylvia:  See you.



Oh, the 70s.  Fun times, indeed.

4 comments:

  1. "Sylvia: I’m going to wish you what you’re going to wish me." - parang si Noel ang sumulat

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  2. thinking some more about this post - i think the pinoy love for confrontation scenes - so TV and so OA! - is what prevents pinoy cinema from getting any attention overseas. it's direction at its laziest and trying to take the easiest path to engaging the audience's emotions.

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