PDI Feature: Dexter Santos and Glenn Mas, exiting artistic directors

I sort of break the news today. I mean, like, officially. This is the first in a three-part quasi-series. The website version of the article through here.

*     *     *     *     *

A changing of the guard at Dulaang UP and Tanghalang Ateneo

Cholo Ledesma and the set of Tanghalang Ateneo's "Rite of Passage" (2014).

It's pure coincidence, but nonetheless a touchstone moment, that Manila's two most eminent university theater companies are changing leadership this year. Dexter Santos and Glenn Sevilla Mas step down as artistic director of Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP) and Tanghalang Ateneo (TA), respectively.

For Santos, it's a case of moving on to other academic and professional pursuits. He had held the position for three years, replacing DUP cofounder Alexander Cortez back in 2015.

Santos himself is a product of UP Diliman's Theater Arts program, whose students apprentice in DUP productions.

"I would volunteer as choreographer, stage manager or assistant director so I could work with different directors and be exposed to their approaches and styles of staging," he said. "I'd even sneak into rehearsals, even if I wasn't part of the production, just to observe how my professors handled their plays."

In 2006, Santos made his DUP directorial debut via "Orosman at Zafira," the hit dance-heavy adaptation of Francisco Baltazar's komedya. This emphasis on movement would mark his later works, the choreography providing some of the most satisfying moments in "Ang Nawalang Kapatid," Floy Quintos' condensation of the Indian epic "Mahabharata"; "#R(heartbroken)J," Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" for a millennial Filipino age; and even more text-centric pieces such as Quintos' "Collection" and "Ang Huling Lagda ni Apolinario Mabini."

Now, Santos is in the thick of directing the Eraserheads jukebox musical "Ang Huling El Bimbo," opening this July at Resorts World Manila.

Banaue Miclat-Janssen succeeds him as DUP artistic director.

More personal

The reasons are more personal for Mas.

"I need to take care of my mother, who's been in the hospital for nearly four months now. I've always been busy with theater stuff--rehearsals, shows, Gawad Buhay! jury duties--that I feel it's time I prioritize being with her."

Mas, who entered professional theater through Teatro Metropolitano under Frank Rivera, before becoming a Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company scholar, traces his theatrical leanings back to his mother.

"She wrote my winning declamation pieces in school," he said. "The highlight of our partnership was when I won silver at the Western Visayas Regonal Meet in 1981."

"Also, I'm turning 50, and want to give playwriting another go while I still have the time and energy."

The last play Mas wrote was "Games People Play," which won a Palanca Award in 2007 and eventually enjoyed several sold-out runs at the Ateneo and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

One of the plays TA staged under Mas was his semi-autobiographical piece "Rite of Passage," a production he considers a high point of his four-year term. "We recreated my provincial upbringing in Catungan, Antique. Throughout the run, there was a nipa hut and people speaking in Kinaray-a accents in the midst of the Ateneo!"

"It was the first play of mine that my mother saw when it was staged at the first-ever Virgin Labfest [in 2005]," Mas added. "This Ateneo staging was the last she saw--for now."

Passionate students

Varied as their backgrounds may be, Santos and Mas agree that chief among the pleasures of being artistic director is working with the students.

"It's witnessing the interaction between professional artists and the students on- and offstage," said Santos. "In DUP, we believe that one of the best ways to learn is through collaboration. So our students perform with Joel Lamangan, or share the backstage with Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino or Ana Abad Santos. They acquire an eye for detail through [designers] Gino Gonzales or Monino Duque."

Mas really enjoyed "the process of coming up with a season, looking for plays and inviting members of the artistic staff, then coming up with a cast, attending rehearsals, and seeing the cast become these confident actors on opening night."

"The good thing about university theater," said Santos, "is that we have the freedom to produce a wide range of repertoire that doesn't succumb to commercial appeal or censorship."

Concurred Mas: "We are not profit-driven, so we can do riskier, more experimental work. And it is okay to fail in this setup. It is school, after all."

Moving forward, both are optimistic regarding the future of campus theater. "As long as we have passionate students, we are here to stay," said Santos.

"The future is bright because the future is here," added Mas, "especially when you consider productions such as the recent musical 'Dekada '70,' or 'Chipline' and 'Mga Kuneho' [Virgin Labfest entries written by his former students Dominique La Victoria and Guelan Luarca, respectively], or in the case of DUP, 'Angry Christ' and 'The Kundiman Party.'"

Beginning this season, the multihyphenate Luarca assumes the TA artistic directorship.

"That's every teacher's dream--for your students to be better than you are," said Mas.

PDI Feature: Fred Lo and Rissey Reyes in Hong Kong Disneyland

Did another interview today! I first saw Fred Lo when he was Mark Cohen in 9 Works Theatrical's "Rent" in 2010, and then the next time, I think, was in 2013's "Cinderella" at Resorts World Manila. As for Rissey Reyes, I can't remember when exactly I first saw her, but I remember her from the ADHD shows for Fringe Manila. The online version of the article here.

*     *     *     *     *

Fred Lo and Rissey Reyes: Fast friends find work in HK Disneyland

Disneyland with a dear friend? It's all in a day's work for Fred Lo and Rissey Reyes, who are the latest additions to Hong Kong Disneyland's roster of Filipino performers.

Not that they ever planned on working in the same theme park at the same time. Reyes was already set to leave even before Lo attended a casting call. When she found out the day after New Year's this year that she had booked the job, Lo was one of the first to know.

"He was ecstatic for me. And to our surprise, there was another round of auditions. I felt like a stage mom, pressuring him to do well in his audition and constantly bugging him about the results afterward," says Reyes. "We imagined how cool it would be to take our friendship abroad and have each other in Hong Kong."

'Preserve the magic'

The two first met in 2013, when Lo was alternating with Reyes' boyfriend Victor Robinson III for the male lead in the Sugarfree musical "Sa Wakas." But it was during their stint in "Hi-5 Philippines," based on the Australian children's educational television series, that they really hit it off.

They last appeared onstage together in ADHD Productions' "Si Saldang, si Marvin at ang Halimaw ng Gabi" for Fringe Manila 2018. Since April, Reyes has been in Hong Kong; Lo arrived a month after.

"I was on vacation in Norway when I received the job offer," Lo says. "I actually thought I didn't make it because I hadn't heard anything. Turns out, the guys from Disney just couldn't reach my phone for some reason."

The work now is something of a secret, as they're contractually obliged to "preserve the magic." (Based on their social media posts, Reyes appears to play the Polynesian heroine Moana, while one of Lo's roles is that of the Genie in "Aladdin" for the half-hour musical "Mickey and the Wondrous Book.")

Full-time job

But they both agree: It spells a world of difference to have a full-time job that pays well in the performing arts.

"I was a freelance actress in Manila," Reyes says. "One day I'd get a high-paying gig; the next, I'd settle for anything to keep busy and keep earning. The financial stability of working for a company like Disney is something that's just not available in the Philippines."

"Freelance performers have to work long hours, and even multiple jobs, only to earn a meager amount and have a portion of it go to taxes," Lo adds. "I realized the Manila entertainment industry has very little to offer, and then you still have to factor in traffic in the city."

"Frankly, Filipino artists deserve so much more than what the local scene can currently give them," Reyes says. "Until our profession can be treated like a real profession, with just compensation and protection for workers, there will always be a steady stream of local artists searching for greener pastures abroad."

Tough hurdle

Still, it's not all fun and games working for the world's smallest Disney theme park. Performing in the self-touted happiest place on earth is still work.

"I do plan to go on trips, maybe hike some trails," Lo says, "but so far, all I've done on my days off is sleep and shop."

Lo admits that although he's worked on a cruise ship for a few months some years back, moving to another country is totally different. "There were moments during my first few days [in Hong Kong] when I really felt alone, living in a hotel room by myself."

For Reyes, being away from her loved ones has been the toughest hurdle. "My mama was the best stage mom growing up, so it's frustrating for her that she can't be physically near me everyday anymore. And it's heartbreaking to be unable to see Victor's work onstage, and also, just being away from our Maltese, Winter."

To help with the homesickness, Reyes, a self-confessed grandmother in a 24-year-old's body, goes grocery shopping to cook mostly Filipino viands.

"The fruits and vegetables are really cheap," she says. "But there's also the language barrier. Some locals know English, but some cab rides or moments at the cashier can get lengthily awkward."

"Thank God for technology," Reyes says. "My loved ones and I have arranged lots of trips to and from Hong Kong and Manila to visit each other." 

Screen Log 17: You Were Never Really Here; Lean on Pete; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Mistress America; While We're Young

"Mistress America."

In "We Need to Talk About Kevin," director Lynne Ramsay gave us Ezra Miller's breakout performance, as well as an Oscar-snubbed tour-de-force from Tilda Swinton. In YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE, Ramsay treats us to a barrage of Joaquin Phoenix wielding a hammer as if he were Thor on a murderous rampage. The story is billed as a "thriller," but what it really is is a slow-burn manhunt more obsessed with stylistic takes than with telling a focused narrative. Phoenix here doesn't surprise, either; in fact, it's just him doing his usual mumbling and grumbling and retreating into his inner shell, that it surprised even him when he won the Cannes Best Actor trophy. There are bravura sequences here--Phoenix killing people floor by floor as seen through surveillance cameras, for instance. But overall the film comes off as one writer-director's vision taken down the far-from-perfect road.

The title of Andrew Haigh's latest film LEAN ON PETE refers to a decrepit race horse that figures prominently in the story. No secret that I'm a fan of Haigh; I think his "Weekend" is the defining LGBTQ film of the decade, and his "45 Years" was no slouch either. "Lean on Pete" will see you entering a story expecting to see blossoming attachment between a boy and his horse (something I thought would remind me of Steven Spielberg's un-magical adaptation of "War Horse"), only to turn your expectations a full 180. It's about a boy and his horse, sure, but that relationship isn't even the main point. It's about a poor American teenager grappling with familial loss, as well as the glaring class divide, and trying to navigate his way through impending adulthood. But it's also about the astounding amount of kindness he encounters along the way. There are so many opportunities for plain badness in the film, but Haigh sidesteps every one of them to give us a story that slowly but surely leaves an imprint in the mind and in the heart. You end up really caring for the protagonist (Charlie Plummer in a genuine breakthrough performance), wishing him all the goodness in the world. He just wants to run, for goodness' sake! Coming of age has never been this gritty and desperate.

Film critic Philbert Dy said JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM is a stupid movie, but I didn't expect it to be that stupid. At least its predecessor had elements of camp; this one is just plain dark. And the nerve of that clone-child to unleash those wild beasts upon the world!

I'm on a Greta Gerwig/Noah Baumbach marathon. I rewatched "Lady Bird," and I'm really convinced it is a perfect movie. Then I rewatched MISTRESS AMERICA, one of the great screenplays of 2015. I do think it sags a bit in certain places, but the best parts of this film are the ones that really amp up the crazy. Like those scenes with the collection of random characters in that already-random trip to suburbia to attack Mamie Claire, only to run into her sort-of-doped-up pediatrician neighbor and her pregnant mothers' literary club. I mean, what's up with pregnant, no-bad-words, covert-chess-genius lawyer Karen, for example! Sometimes watching Baumbach can feel like an über-extended situational comedy, a slice-of-crazy-life that's not allowed to have an ending until the viewer's no longer searching for one.

2014's WHILE WE'RE YOUNG is a rare misfire for Baumbach. Compared to the rest of his oeuvre that I've seen, this one's just heavy-handed, clumsy with its message, though funny in some places and amusing in many. It's like watching Baumbach on sedatives literally putting aphorisms on paper with the Ben Stiller character's name on the left margin.   

If I had an Academy Award ballot, 2018...

So, so late, but I just realized I'm done with this year's Oscars. Well, not exactly: I've been unable to find decent, reasonably sized copies of "BPM" or "The Square" or "Foxtrot," and I don't plan on seeing, say, "War for the Planet of the Apes" on its own (i.e. if I'm watching it, I'm doing a franchise marathon). Anyway, if I were a member of the Academy Awards, these would have been my choices--and I'm hewing as close as possible to the actual list, meaning as long as I'm at least civil towards the inclusion of a certain name, the name stays. Also, no Foreign Language Film category because, again, I feel I haven't seen enough, and among the ones I've seen, I found no particularly compelling winner. As for Animated Feature, the only one I've seen is "Coco."

*     *     *     *     *

"Phantom Thread."

BEST PICTURE

Winner: "The Shape of Water"

Should Have Won: "Lady Bird," "Call Me by Your Name" and "Phantom Thread" are far more superior films, but "Shape" was a fine winner.

Should Have Been Nominated: "The Big Sick" was the notable snub; instead, two stinkers--"Darkest Hour" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"--snuck in, with the latter almost dominating the season.

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"

Should Have Won: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread," maybe--gasp!--Christopher Nolan for "Dunkirk."

Should Have Been Nominated: The slate was a formidable five.

BEST ACTOR

Winner: Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"

Should Have Won: Timothée Chalamet, "CMBYN"--by a mile! 

Should Have Been Nominated: Tom Hanks for "The Post" and Jake Gyllenhaal for "Stronger," instead of Oldman's histrionics and Denzel Washington's stiff, middle-of-the-road turn in the awful "Roman J. Israel, Esq." Heck, I'd even nominate James Franco in "The Disaster Artist" and Robert Pattinson in "Good Time" over those two. 

BEST ACTRESS

Winner: Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards..."

Should Have Won: Meryl Streep, "The Post" (her best since "August: Osage County") or Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird." Actually, anybody but McDormand would have been fine with me; Margot Robbie kept me glued to "I, Tonya," a movie that was just half as brilliant as its lead performance, and Hawkins was simply sublime in "Shape."

Should Have Been Nominated: Annette Bening, "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool" over McDormand.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards..."

Should Have Won: Richard Jenkins, "Shape"

Should Have Been Nominated: Michael Stuhlbarg(!) and Armie Hammer(!), "CMBYN" over Woody Harrelson, "Three Billboards" and Christopher Plummer, "All the Money in the World." Stuhlbarg's omission, in particular, was the season's biggest injustice.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"

Should Have Won: Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"--again, by a mile!

Should Have Been Nominated: I'd keep Lesley Manville's much-deserved nomination for "Phantom Thread"; Janney, Octavia Spencer in "Shape" and Mary J. Blige in "Mudbound" would have to give way for the more deserving Holly Hunter in "The Big Sick," Hong Chau in "Downsizing" and Tiffany Haddish in "Girls Trip."

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Winner: Jordan Peele, "Get Out"

Should Have Won: I once thought Greta Gerwig for "Lady Bird," but a second serving of "Get Out" confirmed Peele deserved this more.

Should Have Been Nominated: Paul Thomas Anderson, "Phantom Thread" (which would then be my choice for the win). I mean, over steaming shit like "Three Billboards"?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Winner: James Ivory, "CMBYN"

Should Have Won: Ivory was really the only choice.

Should Have Been Nominated: "The Death of Stalin" by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows. I'd probably remove--and I shock even myself by saying this--Aaron Sorkin's "Molly's Game," which I didn't like at all.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: Roger Deakins, "Blade Runner 2049"

Should Have Won: Nobody else. Duh. 

Should Have Been Nominated: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, "CMBYN" over Bruno Delbonnel, "Darkest Hour." I mean, if you saw, like literally saw, "CMBYN," it should have been a no-brainer. 

BEST EDITING

Winner: Lee Smith, "Dunkirk"

Should Have Won: Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos, "Baby Driver"

Should Have Been Nominated: Joe Walker, "Blade Runner 2049." And the "Three Billboards" nomination can go flush itself down the toilet.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Winner: "Shape," which was a deserving winner

Should Have Been Nominated: Again, "CMBYN"--over the predictable "Darkest Hour."

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: Alexandre Desplat, "Shape"

Should Have Won: As much as I'd like to say Jonny Greenwood, "Phantom Thread," Desplat thoroughly earned this. Also, I haven't seen any "Star Wars" movie.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Winner: "Remember Me" from "Coco"

Should Have Won: "Mystery of Love" from "CMBYN" 

Screen Log 16: The Insult; Happy End; Manhattan; Sid & Aya (Not a Love Story); Radio Days

"Manhattan."

THE INSULT, the Lebanese nominee in this year's Oscars for Foreign Language Film, is occasionally engaging, occasionally tedious, occasionally heavy-handed courtroom drama made for bored housewives in the late afternoon lull. The issues, the backstories, and especially the "insult" that starts off the entire narrative debacle, are all compelling. But the film has a tendency to be as hammy as the lawyer who can't help wetting himself in court, parading around like a peacock on uppers. The result is a film that pulls you in while the story takes place outside the courtroom, but has you wishing you were somewhere else once it plunges you back in there, with those judges and counselors and spectators all so primly directed. I liked this movie, but it could have used a little more discipline.

No use mincing words now: Michael Haneke's HAPPY END bored me to near-death. I was happy enough to emerge with my senses intact from this thinly composed drivel. The usual suspects were excellent, and by usual suspects, I just really mean Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Huppert breaking her son's middle finger mid-conversation just to end said conversation? Badass! And Trintignant's was really the only story within this humongous story that I actually wanted to follow; the rest of the film was kind of blah. I suspect a huge reason for that was that Haneke had to make the beginning of every scene a sort of guessing game, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it game, a you-have-to-stare-long-enough-at-the-screen-or-else-just-go-home game. It wasn't at all fun, mind you.

I love "Annie Hall," but I believe MANHATTAN is Woody Allen's greatest work. Those two, plus "Hannah and Her Sisters," "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Radio Days," which I also talk about below, constitute his five best works. I'm not here to talk about his sins; I think he is a sick man, and I don't mean "sick" as in "ill," but "sick" as in "burn-in-hell disgusting." But I also think he's made some of the 20th century's finest films, and those who think there's no separating the artist from his art are fully entitled to their opinions. Anyway, back to "Manhattan." I find it hard to believe it wasn't nominated for Best Picture back in its day, but then again, knowing the Academy and its proclivity for unpleasant--sometimes, as in this case, downright foul--surprises, I shouldn't be surprised. There is a little bit of a stumble towards the end, where you feel the conflicts sort of drift toward caricature, but that's all easily forgotten. This is just sublime filmmaking and storytelling.

Irene Villamor is on a roll. After "Meet Me in St. Gallen," she now gives us SID & AYA (NOT A LOVE STORY), starring Anne Curtis in fine form and an even finer Dingdong Dantes. How to describe this film other than "mumblecore on rock-and-roll drugs"? The last third of the movie I find hard to love, because it differs in tone and consistency from everything that precedes it. In fact, it's a surprisingly excellent film until Dantes punches his boss and the story moves to Japan. Then you just feel it become a lesser, altogether different movie.

RADIO DAYS is one of the best pieces ever made about the concept of nostalgia. There's just something new to discover with every viewing; that's how rich this seemingly superficial film is.