Kadlit Kolum: Koleksiyon ng mga Kolum

Filipino Cinema: Death, Resurrection, and Another Death

Constancy has long been the normal defense mechanism to secure reliable results, especially in questionable circumstances.

Sadly, constancy isn't Philippine cinema's strong suit.

The quality of Philippine movies suffered a steady decline in the present age, which is terrible compared to the Golden Age of Philippine Cinema, where cinematic gods like Lino Brocka, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, and Joel Lamangan, amongst others, once reigned supreme.

Make no mistake: I am not glorifying the olden days of Juan's flicks. Truth be told, the said era is riddled with "bomba" and slasher films with shitty dialogue, special effects, and weird titles like "Batuta ni Dracula" or "Diligan ng Suka ang Uhaw na Lumpia" .

But we also need to note that legends like "Manila sa Kuko ng Liwanag" and "Himala" were born around the same time. However, the Golden Age of Filipino Cinema is long gone, waiting for another unlikely resurrection.

Ah, there was once a time when I believed that there might be a chance to relive the era of sensible, high quality movies in our country. That maybe, we can finally compete with international movies. Some filmmakers once tried to douse the viewers with films like Saving Sally, Seklusyon and others during the Metro Manila Film Festival of 2016. This was a time when I still possessed a thin shred of optimism for the industry. Hell, the thought of a resurrection of the Pinoy's movie life might not have been a foolish idea after all!

Alas, Pinoy viewers received the new films with lukewarm reception. I cannot blame them; they were so used to typical MMFF entries with the same set of actors and actresses, and the same plots and goddamned formulas.

These MMFF entries have been considered the kings and queens of cinema for many, many years. After just a year, the old MMFF was back with the same deplorable worship clichès and formulaic movies that continue to generate millions for the big dudes, while also continuing to deteriorate any IQ we have left as Filipino moviegoers.

I find it quite peculiar that our high-quality films received critical acclaim in the international movie community while they were ridiculed at home for being "too intellectual," whatever that actually means.

Can a movie be entertaining and intellectually appealing at the same time? Yes.

Can the big dudes take risk for this kind of gamble? I don't know.

The big dudes' main argument is by creating "lighthearted" and "kilig" movies, they are able to connect to audiences more.

I have no idea what their definition is of "lighthearted;" it's probably shallow and likely a pathetic attempt to make people giddy and shit.

It is sad to note that they also shaped the Filipino definition of horror: cheap jump scares, cringe-worthy teenage actors and your typical fuck-me-I-saw-that-in-a-Shake Rattle and Roll-film-two-decades ago clichés.

Another cherry over the cake is the overused love song or any other popular song arranged for a 'diva's' vocal range. Touché.

While it is true that the main purpose of a movie is to entertain, we also need to recall that the film is an art: it artistically tells a story and it is more than just its "kilig" factor or its great capacity to generate millions of pesos in profit.

Mainstream Filipino cinema continues to inject viewers with forgettable movies when in fact, we can create movies which can enlighten and entertain us at the same time.

Or have I become too pessimistic?

Visionary directors like Jerrold Tarog still exist. His films Heneral Luna and Bliss impressed me profoundly. Filipinos just need more movies like these two to completely reform contemporary Filipino cinema. Otherwise, we have to endure rehashed romantic plots, cheap horror flicks, and poor adaptations of horrible Pinoy Wattpad novels.

If Satan exists and I'm destined for hell, he could torture me eternally by making me watch a movie saga featuring an old TV host wielding a sword or some teenage actor who recently exited Big Brother's house.

|| The said column is for the segment "INTO THE PENGUIN'S SPECTACLE" of Carlou Espedillon-one of the columnists of Katipunan ng Alternatibong Dibuho, Liriko, at Titik.