Grave of The Fireflies

September 21^st 1945: That was the night I died.

Get our your handkerchief with an opening like that.  Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is one of the greatest war films ever made.  And must be the saddest too in the drama genre, even sadder than Schindler's List.  Strangely enough, it’s all animation.

The first flashback after that fateful scene shows two kids witness American air raids over Kobe, Japan.  Mom dies from the bombings, while dad’s fate with the Japanese navy is never known.  An aunt takes them in as orphans but her cruel and resentful ways force them to flee and live in a bomb shelter.   Food is scarce, and they only have fireflies that hover the shelter to lift their spirits.  The lives of fireflies underscore their own – frail and fleeting.

It’s a pity that the film is little-known.  Thanks to Youtube, you can now watch the entire film.  It’s not like any cartoon you’ve seen before.  No one breaks into song.  It feels real. The emotions are so powerful that the film creators could’ve thought that it’d be even more shattering to see on live action.

If you’re watching this film, be sure to click on a silly Youtube clip right after.

Getting schmaltzy about The Azkals

The Philippine National Football Team, or The Azkals, are out of World Cup contention after losing to Kuwait on home soil.  They scored a goal against Kuwait’s 2.  The unanimous cry, though, at least from what I see online, is that the nation “still believes in them; they’ve shown 100% Pinoy heart”.

It’s not schmaltz at all.  Who would’ve thought they’d come this far?  Pinoys only started embracing the beautiful game last year when it’s been a global obsession for many, many World Cups now.  Pinoys are now hooked on football.  And we ought to be good at it.

We’re built for it. Agility does not come with a basketeer’s heft.  Anyone can play it – rich or poor.  Most African superstars and even Beckham picked up the sport while growing up in the poor side of town.  It requires grace.  We naturally get into the groove.  It’s group sport -- 11 exciting players make for a Pinoy brand of fiesta.  Do you get festive or have as much fun when Pacquiao gets bloodied up in Vegas?

The Azkals are a young team.  They barely had as much support, unlike a UAAP team which could not possibly compete against the Kobe Bryants.  There didn't have many football fields for practice. Yet, in spite of all the adversities, they’ve done us proud.  They kept us enthralled and awake even in the midnight hour.  They gave us reason to party.

Been trying to remember what film that had a main sporting character compete against all odds.  Rocky (1976) would have been an easy choice.  My friend James had an unlikely and hilarious suggestion: Ice Castles (1978).  An ice skater competes even after being almost totally blinded by an accident.  Now, that’s schmaltz.  

(Doesn't the music bring you back to boring wedding receptions at Aberdeen Court in Quezon Avenue?)

The most exciting actor of this generation.

No, it’s not Coco Martin.  He’s gotten so conscious since he crossed over from indie to mainstream.  Not Dakota Fanning – she’s Meryl Streep’s understudy.  It’s JGL: Joseph Gordon Levitt.

I’ve liked him since his 3^rd Rock from the Sun days on TV.  He held his own against those crazy aliens.  We don’t see him in a lot of movies.  His filmography may not be as extensive as Gyllenhaal's but JGL never fails to excite each time.  10 Things I Hate About You was his movie, not lead actor Heath Ledger’s.  Donning a 3-piece suit in Inception was enough to steal DiCaprio’s thunder. He’ll be seen next in Christopher Nolan’s new Batman.  I’m sure the skinny JGL’s turn as a beat cop would be meatier than Bane’s, Batman’s massively muscled nemesis.

JGL always strikes me as cool and thoughtful.  Hindi siya mukhang tanga.  And he can dance!  Watch this sequence from 500 Days of Summer – the best dance sequence in a non-musical in this millennium.  Also the best antidote to tonight's gloomy weather.

Amen.

It was with immense grief that I visited the remains of my aunt, Sister Dorothy, yesterday. She was 86.  She was the last remaining sibling of my dad and Uncle Leony who came from a brood of 7.  It didn’t help that my dad broke down when he went close to coffin.  She was after all his fave Acheng Viding (from her original name Fredesvinda, before the Benedictine Order changed it to Dorothy).

Tita Madre was soft-spoken (rare for a Pampangan woman), cheery and kind.  She was not loud, haughty and overbearing, unlike some members of the religious who manage to disenchant more and more Catholics today.  When she left a rather privileged life with my Lola to join a monastic order, she vowed to devote her life to prayer, education and music.  And she continued to do so until Alzheimer’s wore her down.

When my belief in the shepherds of God and the goodness of man wavers, I’d just have to think of Sister Dorothy.  Life’s too short to recompense meanness with more meanness. Must not forget the kindnesses around us, like Dorothy’s.

[A clip from a small 1963 film entitled "Lilies of the Field", where Sidney Poitier won a Best Actor Oscar.  A most inspiring film about faith, perseverance, tolerance and the kindness of strangers.] 

Eiko is the best thing about Varekai.

You could say that if you’ve seen one Cirque du Soleil flying acrobat, you’ve seen them all.  But it’s not just about variations of the same theme of contorting and hurling in mid-air.  It’s about the total experience, clichéd as it may sound. 

Caught Varekai earlier in its last weekend run in Manila.  Felt proud to be Pinoy!  The  world-famous Québécois big top has finally been pitched in Manila, even if there were vendors of balut and kwek-kwek nearby.   The best things about Varekai was the finale, and the costumes by one of the greatest art directors in history, Eiko Ishioka. 

It’s an explosion of art and color in Lycra!  Nothing was compromised in the execution.  All the performers had whimsical things sticking out of tights, but they were all perfectly mobile.  I especially liked how Ishioka put padding all over the 3 young boys who were twirling ropes with metal cups.  They were tiny yet muscular.  

The work of this true visionary transcends boundaries and conventions.  The woman is wild!  She usually blends the Gothic and Victorian with Asian, usually Japanese.  Her work has invaded all sorts of medium –-

Graphic design:

Advertising:

Stage:

Spider-Man Musical

Album Covers:

Miles Davis' Tutu

MTV:

Film:

The Cell (2000)

In my opinion, the biggest achievement in film costume design belongs to Ishioka and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), for which she won an Oscar.

Yes, mga kapatid, Nora was an Atenista.

Times have really changed.  Last weekend, I wanted to see a Cinemalaya entry – Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa – in Greenbelt.  I was at the ticket booth an hour before the screening, but I couldn’t get a seat.  Pinoy movies are now a hot ticket.  In my youth, we didn’t dare tell our friends that we went to see one.  You’d be easily branded as bakya or low-class if you did.

But I did see a lot of them and they were mostly Nora Aunor movies, because I had no choice.  My yaya Carmen, then the biggest Noranian in the whole of Pampanga, would bring me to the theatre after school without my parents’ consent.  On days without yaya, my dad would take me to Charles Bronson movies.  I enjoyed the eclectic range.  But I enjoyed Nora more.  Bronson, the archetypal urban warrior, had only one brand of acting – staunch, and craggy-faced in good times and bad.

Those days, anyone could not imagine the Philippines without Nora Aunor (and the Marcoses, perhaps).  She changed the course of Philippine movies and the music scene. She outsold foreign artists.  Her best movies were pure art.  Her fans were ready to kill if anyone dared to malign her.  Had they known that students from Ateneo de Manila ostracized her when she enrolled in the university, the biggest class war since Bastille could’ve erupted in the hills of Barangka.  By the way, she didn’t finish a semester because of all the burgis ribbing.

It’s been reported that she’ll be back home soon after being away for many years.  I hope it’s true.  This Noranian would continue to root for her even if she’s garbed in her trademark acid-washed denim jacket and short skirt.  Even if the washed-up rapper John Robinson is in tow.  Even if she acts badly.  After the great director-mentors Brocka and Bernal died, she never had a performance that could equal her turns in Himala and Bona. She deserves my love to this day.  She saved me from Bronson.

Movie Moment: Tiny Dancer

The movie nerd that I was gave away CDs several Christmases ago labeled, 'Movie Moments'.  Each disc contained songs used in scenes from non-musicals (it would've been easy if they were musicals -- each gift could've just been a full Sound of Music download) that I found magical and pivotal.  One song was Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" which figured in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000).

In this scene, main character Russell (Billy Crudup) has just quit the band.  Tension fills their touring bus which includes band member Jason Lee, and groupies Kate Hudson and Anna Paquin. Elton John's song plays and everyone joins in a rousing sing-along.  Despite all the drama and conflict, it's song that still brings them together.  They are home.