tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43163718240481942692024-03-18T11:04:32.534+08:00Vincen, Without a TMedicine. Theater. Film. Poetry. Fiction. Bits of Life.VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.comBlogger556125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-60435289817642115002024-01-03T12:35:00.001+08:002024-03-06T17:11:28.740+08:00The Year in Film and TV (2023)<p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;">What a crazy, terrific year for chaotic bisexuals! In 'Passages', Franz Rogowski is possessed by the spirit of the protagonist in Mike Bartlett's 'Cock' and cheats on Ben Whishaw (of all people!) with the lady from 'Blue Is the Warmest Colour'. In 'Anatomy of a Fall', Sandra Hüller is almost out-acted by (of all creatures) a dog. In 'Afire', the bisexuals die in a forest fire; in 'Saltburn', the bisexual is on fire. And 'Poor Things' establishes, once and for all, that people are (born) bisexual unless proven otherwise. ('Maestro' also has a bisexual, but I'm not a fan of this movie.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Speaking of "movies," I saw only 167 in 2023, according to </span><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">my Letterboxd</a><span style="text-align: left;">. That includes miniseries and short films. By comparison, I logged 209 entries in </span><a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2022.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">2022</a><span style="text-align: left;">, and 384 </span><a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2021.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">the year before that</a><span style="text-align: left;">. What does this mean? Simple, really--we're really back, and by 'we', I mean the world. I started my thing with USyd in March (I'm supposed to be writing my thesis now, but here we are). I went to India, to Delhi and Jaipur and Agra, and saw cows and monkeys roaming the city streets like they owned them. I went to Hong Kong and walked the alleys of Sheung Wan during typhoon signal T9 (thanks, Sedricke!). I went to the Thai-Myanmar border with scholars from many parts of the world and saw the refugee camps and daily, illegal crossings across the Moei River. I returned to Dumaguete and finally met Sir Mike in person; I returned to Taiwan and ran into a former schoolmate in Jiufen. Oh, and I also went to the theater--lots of times. The best productions I saw were in Sydney: Belvoir's </span><a href="https://belvoir.com.au/productions/scenes-from-the-climate-era/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">'Scenes from the Climate Era'</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and Red Line's </span><a href="https://www.redlineproductions.com.au/a-streetcar-named-desire" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">'A Streetcar Named Desire'</a><span style="text-align: left;">, but I digress.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">In mid-October, as we slowly realized that Israel's out to nuke the whole of Gaza and was just using the 7th as a pretext, I lost my appetite for anything facilely White, American, Caucasian, Jewish, which is why I've yet to watch the second season of 'The Gilded Age' (I'll get to it next week, promise). We truly are living in a fucked-up age, and it continues to amaze me how some people--some dearest and nearest to me--seem so blithely unaware of that fact. I'm not a doomer; I'm a realist (I have a prominent Capricorn placement). COVID has been allowed to rip through society. The Marcos-Duterte empire shows no signs of slowing down. The people of Palestine are being genocided by Israel and the US before our eyes. It's January--and hot as hell in Iloilo, when in past years it had been cool. What a time to be alive.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Anyway, the usual disclaimer: This list considers the stuff I watched in 2023 and the leftovers from 2022. Richard Bolisay, in </span><a href="https://richardbolisay.substack.com/p/my-top-films-of-2023" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">his Substack</a><span style="text-align: left;">, said it best: "The best part of list-making is the limitation..." In other words, get over yourselves and stop acting like you're American critics who need to watch all the awards contenders before making a yearender, and just make that goddamn yearender. Nobody cares. It's just a list. This year, I have a top 14--but really, the only placement I'm a hundred percent sure of is my number one. After that, it's anybody's game.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZi-rWrwkHH3xakCZoCCuZTb2gR7iQSJRHQz6y5AghIMclEDUtRaLGJss2jMadONjxn88JW6J1e9Y3zC3sV3uwTaC4QbJUvoZnE6w2Ajgf_lXLsqubFUCbV_bDgXUGX8cqaDoTZHEBJaYpEq7CGkbrvHmBbi5WUcmpFMrhYJMaq6L4xcZEpFS3ehjZvIou/s960/yearender.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZi-rWrwkHH3xakCZoCCuZTb2gR7iQSJRHQz6y5AghIMclEDUtRaLGJss2jMadONjxn88JW6J1e9Y3zC3sV3uwTaC4QbJUvoZnE6w2Ajgf_lXLsqubFUCbV_bDgXUGX8cqaDoTZHEBJaYpEq7CGkbrvHmBbi5WUcmpFMrhYJMaq6L4xcZEpFS3ehjZvIou/w400-h300/yearender.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">1. </span><b style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;">'How To with John Wilson' Season 3 </b><u style="text-align: left;">(HBO; dir. John Wilson)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Decades from now, a new generation of cinephiles and TV-philes will hopefully look back at 2023 and unearth this gem of a show, and be introduced to its singular brilliance. John Wilson is more than a filmmaker; he is scribe, anthropologist, historian, comedian, court jester, investigative journalist, private detective, and psychiatrist rolled into one. All hail the great documenter of humanity's endless capacity for absurdity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">2. </span><span style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><b>'Interview with the Vampire' Season 1</b> (AMC; dirs. </span><i style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;">various</i><span style="text-align: left;"><u>)</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When I think of this show, the word that comes to mind is SCREAM. Imagine Patti LuPone and Nathan Lane having a baby and forcing that baby to do a musical directed by Martin Scorsese after he's had one too many shots of tequila. This is 'Mean Girls'<i> </i>in the golden age of bisexual liberation. As the vampire Lestat, Sam Reid is so mother, father, and GOAT in this. Of the mediocre tenor in the opera he's watching, he wonders, "Are they pulling talent from roadside gas stations?" Like I said, GOAT.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">3. </span><b style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/afire/" target="_blank">'Afire'</a> </b><u style="text-align: left;">(dir. Christian Petzold)</u><span style="text-align: left;">/ </span><u style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/anatomy-of-a-fall/" target="_blank">'Anatomy of a Fall'</a> </b>(dir. Justine Triet)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">I'm chalking this joint placement up to recency bias. Two European films that knock it out of the park with, among other things, their portrayals of writers and their relationships with people. In the first, the writer seems determined to be a pain in the ass to everyone around him. In the second, the world is a pain in the ass to the writer, whose pain-in-the-ass husband's death is being pinned on her by a French court where lines from a novel can apparently pass for evidence. If Sandra Hüller wins the Best Actress Oscar, I'll stop wearing underwear for life.</span></div><div><br /></div>4. <u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/taylor-macs-24-decade-history-of-popular-music/" target="_blank">'Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music'</a></b> (dirs. Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman)</u><div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just an incredible, incredible celebration of queerness, and as a recording of live performance, one of those "I wish I could have been there" pieces of art.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>5. <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'The Other Two' Season 3</b><u> (HBO Max; dirs. Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider & Charlie Gruet)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a show that really gets its audience, knows exactly what they know, and has a firm grasp of the insane times they're living in. Staged dinner at Applebees, anyone? (Molly Shannon deserves all the awards and has gotten none, which is how you know the human race is doomed.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>6. <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'Somebody Somewhere' Season 2</b><u> (HBO; dirs. Robert Cohen, Jay Duplass & Lennon Parham)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It is almost miraculous that, amid the noise, the theatrics, the varying 'largeness' of shows like 'Succession', 'Abbott Elementary', and 'The Last of Us', there exists 'Somebody Somewhere'--a show about welcoming the silences, small and deafening, that life throws at us seemingly at random. Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller, as an odd couple in the American Midwest, drink, laugh, fight, make up, make noise, and make do. I love them so much.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: left;">7. </span><span style="text-align: left;"><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/may-december/" target="_blank">'May December'</a></b><u> (dir. Todd Haynes)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">He's a queer one, <strike>Julie Jordan </strike>Todd Haynes. I mean, getting Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore to do a lisp-off?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="text-align: left;">8. </span><b style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/oppenheimer-2023/" target="_blank">'Oppenheimer'</a></b><u style="text-align: left;"> (dir. Christopher Nolan)</u><span style="text-align: left;">/ </span><span style="text-align: left;"><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/poor-things-2023/" target="_blank">'Poor Things'</a></b><u> (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Two very movie movies that I saw in the cinemas, and which I think <i>should</i> be seen in cinemas and no place else. Both shot by their cinematographers like rent's overdue, both anchored by fearless lead performers--Cillian Murphy and Emma Stone--who deserve to sweep their respective awards races. And, incidentally, both epitomizing Powhatan's immortal line: "These white men are dangerous."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="text-align: left;">9. </span><span style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><b>'Succession' Season 4</b> (HBO; dirs. </span><i style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;">various</i><span style="text-align: left;"><u>)</u>/ <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'Abbott Elementary' Season 2</b><u> (ABC; dirs. </u></span><i style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;">various</i><span style="text-align: left;"><u>)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Both of these shows could be ranked higher, of course, but I wanted to highlight the others first. I was there in 2018 when very few people hereabouts were talking about 'Succession', and I was there when Jeremy Strong finally bellowed, "I'm the eldest boy!" This final season really went all in on the King Lear-ness of it all, to phenomenal results. Meanwhile, no other show has embodied 'joy' quite like 'Abbott'. I suspect we'd be a calmer, better world if only more people watched it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">10. </span><u style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/20-days-in-mariupol/" target="_blank">'20 Days in Mariupol'</a></b> (dir. Mstyslav Chernov)</u><span style="text-align: left;">/ </span><b style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/all-that-breathes/" target="_blank">'All That Breathes'</a></b><u style="text-align: left;"> (dir. Shaunak Sen)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Two vastly different documentaries about the wreckage--human and animal--left behind by empire's endless capacity for evil. The latter should have won last year's Oscar for Documentary Feature; the former should be winning this year's.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div></span><span style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="text-align: left;">The rest of my 5-star titles, in alphabetical order:</span></div><div><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/brand-x-2022/" target="_blank">'Brand X'</a></b> (dir. Keith Deligero)</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perfect short film. Absurd Bisaya humor on point. Must watch with the biggest crowd imaginable.</div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><u><span style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/fleishman-is-in-trouble/" target="_blank">'Fleishman Is in Trouble'</a></b> (FX on Hulu; dirs. </span><i style="text-align: left;">various</i><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></u><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A triumph of writing and structure, its seamless, intelligent use of narration worth studying for other filmmakers, and finding the consummate vessel in the amazing Lizzy Caplan (a.k.a. Janis Ian!).</div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/joyland-2022/" target="_blank">'Joyland'</a></b> (dir. Saim Sadiq)</u></span><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A film that revels in the beauty of storytelling--narratively, visually, textually, dramatically--and so thoroughly earns our joy in watching it.</div></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/no-one-will-save-you/" target="_blank">'No One Will Save You'</a></b> (dir. Brian Duffield)</u></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duffield is now two for two in my book, as someone who adored <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/spontaneous/" target="_blank">'Spontaneous'</a>. And I've been saying this since <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/unbelievable-2019/" target="_blank">'Unbelievable'</a>: Kaitlyn Fcking Dever is a Fcking Actress!</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/past-lives/" target="_blank">'Past Lives'</a></b> (dir. Celine Song)</u></span><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A Sondheim song come to life.</div></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/retrograde-2022-1/" target="_blank">'Retrograde'</a></b> (dir. Matthew Heineman)</u></span><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A documentary that perfectly captures America's habit of betraying its "friends."</div></span></div><div><u style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></u></div><div><u style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/rye-lane/" target="_blank">'Rye Lane'</a></b> (dir. Raine Allen-Miller)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Fun, funny, trippy: a film that dares to and more than succeeds in evoking the rush and high of falling in love. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse/" target="_blank">'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'</a></b> (dirs. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson)</u></span><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The highest praise I can give this film is to call it a 2.5-hour acid trip, as if it were repulsed by the mere idea of letting the viewer's senses settle even just for a fraction of a moment.</div></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'What We Do in the Shadows' Season 5 Episode 5</b> (FX; dir. Yana Gorskaya)</u><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Formally titled 'Local News', but better known as 'The Abduction of the Journalist Joanna Roscoe'--the comedic peak and lone highlight of an otherwise mid season.</div></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><u><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/women-talking/" target="_blank">'Women Talking'</a></b> (dir. Sarah Polley)</u></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A coup de cinemá in the way it deploys language as primary vessel for imagination, in the way it deploys imagination to conjure radical alternatives, in the way it turns gender polemics into cinematic language. Rooney Mara is best in show here--she with the mystical face of one who's just gotten off The Mayflower.</div></div><div><br />PLUS--24 four-star titles I wholly recommend:<br /><br /><u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/12-weeks-2022/" target="_blank">'12 Weeks'</a></u> (dir. Anna Isabelle Matutina); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/11103/" target="_blank">'11,103'</a></u> (dirs. Mike Alcazaren & Jeannette Ifurung); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/argentina-1985/" target="_blank">'Argentina, 1985'</a></u> (dir. Santiago Mitre); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/babylon-2022/" target="_blank">'Babylon'</a></u> (dir. Damien Chazelle); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/beyond-utopia/" target="_blank">'Beyond Utopia'</a></u> (dir. Madeleine Gavin); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bold-eagle/" target="_blank">'Bold Eagle'</a></u> (dir. Whammy Alcazaren); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bottoms/" target="_blank">'Bottoms'</a></u> (dir. Emma Seligman); <u>'Cunk on Earth' Season 1</u> (BBC Two/ Netflix; dir. Christian Watt); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/dead-ringers-2023/" target="_blank">'Dead Ringers'</a></u> (Prime Video; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u>'The Horror of Dolores Roach' Season 1</u> (Prime Video; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/joy-ride-2023/" target="_blank">'Joy Ride'</a></u> (dir. Adele Lim); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/when-the-waves-are-gone/" target="_blank">'Kapag Wala nang mga Alon'</a></u> (dir. Lav Diaz); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/kokomo-city/" target="_blank">'Kokomo City'</a></u> (dir. D. Smith); <u>'The Last of Us' Season 1</u> (HBO; dirs. <i>various</i>), although episode 3--'Long, Long Time'--was a 7-star, heartbreaker of an episode; <u>'Lucky Hank' Season 1</u> (AMC; dirs. <i>various</i>), although episode 5--the dinner party--was topnotch: Suzanne Cryer's out-of-nowhere scream upon finding out she's getting published in <i>The Atlantic</i> was too real; <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-dreams-that-are-written-in-the-sand/" target="_blank">'Mga Handum nga Nasulat sa Baras'</a></u> (dirs. Richard Jeroui Salvadico & Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/nimona-2023/" target="_blank">'Nimona'</a></u> (dirs. Nick Bruno & Troy Quane); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/market-day/" target="_blank">'Palengke Day'</a></u> (dir. Mervine Aquino); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/passages-2023/" target="_blank">'Passages'</a></u> (dir. Ira Sachs); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/rmn/" target="_blank">'R.M.N.'</a></u> (dir. Cristian Mungiu); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/still-a-michael-j-fox-movie/" target="_blank">'Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie'</a></u> (dir. Davis Guggenheim); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/talk-to-me-2022/" target="_blank">'Talk to Me'</a></u> (dirs. Danny & Michael Philippou); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-wonderful-story-of-henry-sugar/" target="_blank">'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar'</a></u> (dir. Wes Anderson); <u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/you-hurt-my-feelings-2023/" target="_blank">'You Hurt My Feelings'</a></u> (dir. Nicole Holofcener)</div><div><br />* * * * *<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">What follows is a list of my 30 favorite screen performances of the year, in many ways the MVPs of their respective films or TV shows. I have opted to exclude performances I have already mentioned earlier--for example, Kaitlyn Dever in 'No One Will Save You'. So make of this what you will, but also go check them out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div>1. Murray Bartlett ('The Last of Us' Season 1)</div><div>2. Rose Byrne ('Platonic' Season 1)<br /></div><div>3. Hong Chau (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-whale-2022/" target="_blank">'The Whale'</a>; <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/showing-up-2022/" target="_blank">'Showing Up'</a>)</div><div>4. Daisy May Cooper ('Rain Dogs' Season 1) </div><div>5. Kieran Culkin ('Succession' Season 4)<br />6. Jennifer Ehle ('Dead Ringers')<br />7. Claudia Enriquez ('12 Weeks')<br /></div><div>8. Milo Machado Graner ('Anatomy of a Fall')<br />9. Lily Gladstone (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/killers-of-the-flower-moon/" target="_blank">'Killers of the Flower Moon'</a>)<br />10. Ryan Gosling (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/barbie/" target="_blank">'Barbie'</a>)<br />11. Taraji P. Henson ('Abbott Elementary' Season 2)</div><div>12. Stephanie Hsu ('Joy Ride')<br />13. Cedrick Juan (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/gomburza/" target="_blank">'GomBurZa'</a>)</div><div>14. Jane Krakowski ('Schmigadoon' Season 2: 'Schmicago')<br />15. Ronnie Lazaro ('Kapag Wala nang mga Alon')<br />16. Justina Machado ('The Horror of Dolores Roach' Season 1)<br />17. John Magaro ('Past Lives')<br />18. Rachel McAdams (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/" target="_blank">'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.'</a>)<br />19. Charles Melton ('May December')<br />20. Carey Mulligan (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/maestro-2023/" target="_blank">'Maestro'</a>)<br />21. Park Ji-Min (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/return-to-seoul/" target="_blank">'Return to Seoul'</a>)<br />22. Pedro Pascal ('The Last of Us' Season 1)</div><div>23. Chris Perfetti ('Abbott Elementary' Season 2)<br />24. Rosamund Pike (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/saltburn/" target="_blank">'Saltburn'</a>)<br />25. Margaret Qualley (<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/sanctuary-2022/" target="_blank">'Sanctuary'</a>)<br />26. Bella Ramsey ('The Last of Us' Season 1)</div><div>27. Margot Robbie ('Babylon')</div><div>28. Sarah Snook ('Succession' Season 4)<br />29. Ben Whishaw ('Passages')<br />30. Ramy Youssef ('Poor Things')<br /><br />* * * * *</div><div><br /></div><div>I have 10 more things to point out:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. Lawrence Ang's editing of <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/leonor-will-never-die/" target="_blank">'Leonor Will Never Die'</a>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. Justin Hurwitz's all-timer, Oscar-losing score for 'Babylon'. 'Voodoo Mama', 'Gold Coast Rhythm', and 'Manny and Nellie's Theme'--and variations of the last two thereof--on loop.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Nicholas Britell's closing themes for 'Succession' Season 4 made the closing credits an event in themselves. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. <span style="text-align: left;">Say what you will about 'Barbie', but that production design is insane. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. The Trinity test scene alone in 'Oppenheimer' makes the price of admission worth it, but unquestionably the highlight of the film is the one with the small crowd of White Americans going gaga over news of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Through sly use of light and sound, Nolan evokes pure horror.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. The animation of <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-boy-and-the-crow/" target="_blank">'The Boy and the Crow'</a> is the best I saw in 2023; it's a shame this short film feels like an abruptly abandoned idea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. The wonderful deployment of theatrical sensibilities in 'The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. The pitch-perfect playing of literary types by the ensembles of 'Lucky Hank' and 'You Hurt My Feelings'. Writers being petty and nasty and butthurt? Sign me up!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">9. Prime Video's 'Dead Ringers' as a written thing--to quote <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/arts/television/movie-tv-book-adaptations.html" target="_blank">James Poniewozik of<i> The New York Times</i></a>, "a wondrous monster that firmly answers the questions too many adaptations fumble with: Why bother and why now?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">10. The second season of Netflix's 'Heartstopper' was a chore to go through, but its explication of bisexuality--the accompanying dread, confusion, uncertainty and self-doubt, and the world's biphobia--was dazzling and piercing in its truthfulness.</div><div><br /></div><div>* * * * *</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, here are three non-2022/23 titles that I saw for the first time this year and rated five Letterboxd stars:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/reds/" target="_blank">'Reds'</a></b> (1981, dir. Warren Beatty)<br /><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/jaws/" target="_blank">'Jaws'</a> </b>(1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)<br /><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-talented-mr-ripley/" target="_blank">'The Talented Mr. Ripley'</a></b> (1999, dir. Anthony Minghella)</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;">And four non-2022/23 titles rated four Letterboxd stars:</span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/all-the-presidents-men/" target="_blank"><b>'All the President's Men'</b></a> (1976, dir. Alan J. Pakula)</span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/back-to-the-future/" target="_blank">'Back to the Future'</a></b> (1985, dir. Robert Zemeckis)</span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/citizenfour/" target="_blank">'Citizenfour'</a></b> (2014, dir. Laura Poitras)</span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/dead-ringers/" target="_blank">'Dead Ringers'</a></b> (1988, dir. David Cronenberg)</span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div>* * * * *</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Links to my past lists, which are best read as time capsules documenting what I'd seen and where I was at the time I wrote them:</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The Year in Film and TV <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2022.html" target="_blank">2022</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2021.html" target="_blank">2021</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2020.html" target="_blank">2020</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2019.html" target="_blank">2019</a></div><div>The Decade in Film <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-decade-in-film-2010-2019.html" target="_blank">2010-19</a></div><div>The Year in Film <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-film-2018.html" target="_blank">2018</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-year-in-film-2017.html" target="_blank">2017</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-year-in-film-2016.html" target="_blank">2016</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-year-in-film-2015.html" target="_blank">2015</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-best-films-of-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a></div></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-88647652397396681052023-12-31T09:03:00.001+08:002023-12-31T09:03:33.862+08:00The Year in Philippine Theater (2023)<div style="text-align: justify;">Haven't written one of these in ages—and won't be writing one in at least the next two years. Here is the website <a href="https://lifestyle.tribune.net.ph/2023-no-it-wasnt-groundhog-day-for-local-theater/" target="_blank">link</a> in <i>The Daily Tribune</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>2023: No, it wasn't 'Groundhog Day' for local theater</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2ewGSTMqPZVl9p0ARWyox4iQC0L5-Zf6Cmh2fIU338zToyUvRQEjl3WtsOe1CLOG7lQ9Ss4JMzSahgqztvUIlpvKn9zD9QfadTHU7edkeXP9O1polzt_pDsubLoZbdiSF_3NJA5NXxAVFz5xgdLQT2ZdUmHMXyH4yu7UB46tcGHNu1jQO5rdsd2-k8MY/s4032/A020584B-68FE-4263-B13F-FD56BC44B0ED.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2ewGSTMqPZVl9p0ARWyox4iQC0L5-Zf6Cmh2fIU338zToyUvRQEjl3WtsOe1CLOG7lQ9Ss4JMzSahgqztvUIlpvKn9zD9QfadTHU7edkeXP9O1polzt_pDsubLoZbdiSF_3NJA5NXxAVFz5xgdLQT2ZdUmHMXyH4yu7UB46tcGHNu1jQO5rdsd2-k8MY/w320-h240/A020584B-68FE-4263-B13F-FD56BC44B0ED.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Curtain call at <i>Uncle Jane, </i>March 2023.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Making art requires money—and our stages are still reeling from the pandemic lockdowns. It makes sense that many companies revived old productions throughout the year to lure paying audiences back to the theater, from 9 Works Theatrical’s <i>Tick, Tick… Boom!</i> to Full House Theater Company’s <i>Ang Huling El Bimbo</i>.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the returnees I caught, <i>Laro</i> was the most successful; director John Mark Yap’s take two at this Floy Quintos play nailed the rhythm and, more importantly, the light-and-dark balance of its updated queer politics—and boasted some of the year’s richest performances, from Phi Palmos, Gio Gahol and Jojo Cayabyab to Jeremy Mayores, Noel Escondo and Al Gatmaitan.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But 2023 didn’t lack for original work—contrary to what one writer described as the “<i>Groundhog Day</i>” situation of local theater.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There were gems to be found everywhere if one actually looked. Some disappeared all too soon: Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo’s “I’m Still Here” from <i>Follies</i> at September’s <i>One Night Stand</i> cabaret (cast her as Phyllis in that musical or Norma Desmond in <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>, please!); Arman Ferrer’s spine-chilling “Awit ni Isagani” from <i>El Filibusterimo the Musical</i> at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s 54th anniversary concert; Miren Alvarez-Fabregas’ rendition of “Sonnet 104” at <i>Sari-Saring Soneto: An Evening of Shakespearean Sonnets</i>, making a case for a live version of Tanghalang Ateneo’s <i>Password: Oedipus Rex</i> from 2021, where she slayed as Jocasta.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Banner year</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More notably, it was a banner year for our actresses: Gab Pangilinan in <i>The Last Five Years</i>, Shaira Opsimar in <i>Walang Aray</i>, Kim Molina in <i>ZsaZsa Zaturnnah the Musical</i>, Felicity Kyle Napuli and Wincess Jem Yana (a star is born!) in <i>Sandosenang Sapatos</i>.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino proved, yet again, she’s a national treasure, aging and de-aging literally before our eyes in a matter of seconds in Dulaang UP’s <i>Sidhi’t Silakbo</i>. And Adrienne Vergara was twice a standout: as Medea in <i>Sidhi’t Silakbo</i> (please let her do the full thing!) and, in a knockout comedic turn, as a director battling a dramaturge from hell in the Virgin Labfest’s <i>Ang Awit ng Dalagang Marmol</i>.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two plays by Guelan Luarca could, in the ways they spoke to each other, well be regarded as one. Under TP, Luarca premiered <i>Nekropolis</i>—the best piece of theater writing I’ve encountered of late, and inarguably a crucial artistic documentation of the Duterte years. Borrowing from Michel Foucalt, Achille Mbembe and Vicente Rafael, Luarca dramatized the concept of “necropolitics”—how power is wielded to decide who is worthy or unworthy of life. The result was a lucid questioning of the lives we lead and the worlds we build when death and fear are normalized.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second play, under TA, was <i>Ardor</i>. Clearly a fictional take on the ongoing revolutionary movement in the country, it was as much about activists as it was about the pitfalls of ideology, with a solution that points toward anarchy: Might as well burn down this world you’re inheriting if it’s run by those with such contempt for the poor, the marginalized and the ones genuinely fighting for the causes of the first two. Better stay friends than be “too political,” right? Despite the production’s shakiness, I found myself, for a brief moment, becoming a millennial doomer.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Which brings me to <i>Uncle Jane</i>, Nelsito Gomez’s crisp, modern-day adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s <i>Uncle Vanya</i>. This is my pick for best theater production of 2023, and Missy Maramara’s turn as the titular character, the theatrical performance of the year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No doomer vibes here; instead, I gained from it a more practical, less incendiary outlook. Here’s a play about people who feel like their lives have been wasted on one thing or another; who feel like their efforts toward something have been taken for granted. Yet in the end, they still find hope, no matter how muted, and chances at pursuing better possibilities.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Hope for 2024</b></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My foremost hope for 2024 is simple: That every production finds its audience, gets its makers paid, and turns a handsome profit.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the lined-up shows, I’m most looking forward to 9 Work’s restaging of <i>Rent</i>, the rock musical about impoverished New Yorkers living in the shadow of the HIV epidemic. Almost 14 years ago, the company staged this musical for a new generation of Filipino theatergoers, myself included. Now it will be interesting to see how the musical and its down-with-oppressive-systems, “no day but today” ethos will resonate in a painfully different decade.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additionally, I’m excited to see two of our most thrilling musical theater voices summon an original work to life: Gab Pangilinan and Vic Robinson in <i>Pingkian</i>, TP’s Emilio Jacinto musical.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Three lessons from 2023 to bring into the new year, then: One, as illustrated by Virgin Labfest 18, is that a new thing always needs ample nurturing. With far longer incubation, this year’s festival of one-act plays unveiled its strongest lineup in years. Obviously, developing new plays takes time and material and human resources. But when a thing is painstakingly nurtured, the result can be something wonderful.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Second, getting artists to “cross over” into theater is a smart way of filling seats. But, in <i>Walang Aray</i>, only Alexa Ilacad (from the duo KDLex) triumphed in her theater debut (commanding—and funny!—as Julia).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <i>Tabing llog, The Musical</i>, Miah Canton and Vino Mabalot stood out among the panoply of Star Magic kids, delivering two of the year’s most compelling performances while giving crash courses on theater performance. A full house is always a welcome sight; a blundering newbie, not really.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s marketing for <i>The Last Five Years</i> was breathtaking in its efficiency, and worth studying for other companies. Barefoot knew and understood today’s chronically online audiences. It mastered social media. It turned the show into an event: The trip to the theater as something Instagrammable, from the LED billboard, the set (and venue) design, to the decked-up washrooms.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It could all have been just a rare confluence of right show-right people-right time, of course, but still—what a genius way to sell out a run!</span></p></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-1559982242634051842023-09-25T11:26:00.001+08:002023-09-25T11:26:35.108+08:00Daily Tribune Review: 'Hamilton' - The 2023 International Tour in Manila<div style="text-align: justify;">So... I wrote my first "official" theater review (published by an actual publication, as opposed to just "Facebook reviews") after... over two years?? Last one was Tanghalang Ateneo's virtual <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2021/03/pdi-review-password-oedipus-rex-by.html" target="_blank">Oedipus Rex</a>! Anyway, can't think of a better way to return to this than with an actual phenomenon (website link <a href="https://tribune.net.ph/2023/09/24/review-hamilton-astonishing-stagecraft/" target="_blank">here</a>).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>'Hamilton' -- Astonishing stagecraft</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtm-UZRYkASVLVCg5oIf-X0u8ghlCHxjGGA3pmohCsi_gm77ljcDhBrOpC8jrVRbf_rwmo4Xl2MrFltzNGzo37P4SKxLV_QNGPABkyhWJhYKYRUgI88Yyi3Ai2iso_Im3jfuhbB8vE9tTyyiu7qQ4nCcHZ6FDx5LrYvC66w4v3vqfiugw5_qtj3ug20Nf/s4032/IMG_3862.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihtm-UZRYkASVLVCg5oIf-X0u8ghlCHxjGGA3pmohCsi_gm77ljcDhBrOpC8jrVRbf_rwmo4Xl2MrFltzNGzo37P4SKxLV_QNGPABkyhWJhYKYRUgI88Yyi3Ai2iso_Im3jfuhbB8vE9tTyyiu7qQ4nCcHZ6FDx5LrYvC66w4v3vqfiugw5_qtj3ug20Nf/s320/IMG_3862.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda's rap musical about the eponymous Founding Father, has finally landed in Manila--the first stop of a new international tour that replicates the exact production currently running on Broadway and London's West End.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is, in other words, essentially the same production that's won every major theater award conceivable in the West, and whose live stage recording released on Disney+ three years ago was a global success among Covid-captive home viewers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You wouldn't immediately know all that, however, just from watching this production: Even as it brims with dazzling theatricality and refreshing erudition, it also feels surprisingly small, rid of its status as a phenomenon, pared down to human size.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's a show that's almost oblivious to its own celebrity, even as entrance applause (erupting to diminishing returns) dotted the first 15 minutes of its 21 September gala performance at The Theatre at Solaire.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, it knows when to build up to the big musical moments, which are few and far between, and does so organically and therefore quite satisfyingly. The logical progression of the narrative and individual character drama--the musical's unassailable structural precision--are rendered very clear; put bluntly, it is a storytelling apologist's wettest dream.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Never mind that the musical itself--evidently a product of modern-day liberalism, the politics of the American Dream made manifest through the eyes of 21st-century immigrants--is by now indivisible from the very valid criticisms it has received from many corners of American scholarly thought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the uninitiated, <i>Hamilton</i> tells through rap the rise of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as they built America in the latter half of the 18th century. Admittedly, given what we know now and what we've been through since the musical premiered in New York in 2015, it feels weird, to say the least, to be watching a show that hero-worships to varying degrees the likes of Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton--all products of and complicit to the sins of their time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, the way the musical intentionally casts non-white actors to play these historically white figures (and slavers) can, depending on how one looks at it, come across as a stroke of meta subversion or "revisionist and insulting nonsense," to quote one critic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Unique brilliance</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Again--all valid criticisms, which some have suggested are actually part of the musical's unique brilliance. Watching the musical (through this particular production) in Manila, however, you entertain those thoughts mainly in retrospect.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inside the theater, it's all those aforementioned merits--and more!--that surround you: a show that's so technically precise in ways that highlight the material's inventiveness, a feast of astonishing stagecraft, a display of just how good musical theater can get when given vast resources.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite the title, the crux of this production is DeAundre' Woods' Aaron Burr (Hamilton's archrival, if you will). It's a performance for which the phrase "no notes" seems to have been coined. Whenever Woods disappears from the stage, you look for him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, more importantly, the genius of Woods' performance is in how it becomes the anchor through which the musical itself can be better understood: as a story of wanting and longing, a warning against the folly of ambition, a morality tale run parallel to the uncertainty and messiness of nation-building.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Woods sings (and brings down the house with) Burr's first big solo "Wait for It," you instantly comprehend the song--and, for that matter, the musical.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arguably, Burr is the central and meatiest role here. Next to Woods' interpretation, however, the smallness and silliness inherent to the story <i>Hamilton </i>tells become all the more coherent. You grasp how Hamilton and his posse were essentially just kids bumbling their way through a revolution. It's all very grand on paper, but it's also a journey chockfull of pettiness and foolishness--and on that stage, a history lesson that revels in its occasionally juvenile, highly accessible nature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Three other male performances stand out in the process: Jason Arrow's Hamilton, who convincingly pulls off the title character's transformation from "young, scrappy, and hungry" to world-weary; Darnell Abraham's Washington giving gospel-preacher-showdown realness; and Brent Hill's King George literally putting the "mad" to delectably comic effect in his interpretation of the famed mad king.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Dreamcasting</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Elsewhere, this is a production that's supplied with all the right parts--but, on a local stage as technologically impressive as The Theatre at Solaire (the best acoustics in Metro Manila, hands down), it also invites "dreamcasting"--permitting you to imagine in real time how certain Filipino theater performers cast in certain roles would, without a doubt, totally slay those parts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No matter: As it is, this <i>Hamilton </i>is one that lives up to the hype surrounding its supposed brilliance--while simultaneously earning that reputation before a live audience night after night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among other spots of pure artistry, it has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it onstage costume change involving the terrific ensemble early in Act I, a historical battle conjured through frenzied dance, and entire scene changes and moments evoked simply through the deliberate arrangement of performers' bodies (that climactic bullet scene, anyone?).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In lieu of an arduous and expensive trip to New York or London, this production more than does the job.</div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-24558382546590739272023-01-02T17:08:00.009+08:002024-03-06T17:23:30.081+08:00The Year in Film and TV (2022)<div style="text-align: justify;">In 2022, I rejoined society, resumed meeting up with friends, revenge traveled-ish. Also returned to the cinemas (thrice!--'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bones-and-all/" target="_blank">Bones and All</a>' during QCinema, '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/black-panther-wakanda-forever/" target="_blank">Wakanda Forever</a>', the new 'Avatar') and the theatre! My Letterboxd tally reflected this: just a measly 209 entries, compared to the previous year's 384. Not complaining, obviously; wouldn't swap, say, ten more entries for that first trip to Bangkok. My tally doesn't include TV, of course, and the side bar on the right of this blog listing everything I saw during the year does not account for the shows I dropped/ couldn't be bothered to finish--shows old and new, like the abysmal fifth season of 'The Crown' (sorry, Lesley Manville!), or beloved, new stuff like 'Yellowjackets', 'The Bear', 'Bad Sisters', 'This Is Going to Hurt' (the most ridiculous premise for a conflict, if we're being real; Ben Whishaw, whom I love, wasn't enough to keep me going).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, the same annual disclaimer: This yearender accounts for titles from this year (2022) and leftovers from the previous one (2021). As someone who lives in the Philippines and whose movie- and TV-watching life is therefore largely dependent on piracy, I find it pointless to watch *everything* (meaning all the awards contenders) before writing a yearender, seeing as such a goal is always impossible to achieve hereabouts. It's called a "year" ender, after all. Fuck the Whiteness of trying to be a completist. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, I tried making a top 10; ended up with 12. My top three's pretty much set; they epitomize the year onscreen for me and are listed alphabetically because I refuse to commit to a firm top three like some grade-conscious high school kid. After that, it's nine more titles that, further down the list, can easily be swapped for the rest of my five-star titles. Blah blah blah.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgzYgEvSjPacpfSgSBdPnHJa5XLNXAh-93dq4AZh08p12M86ujxXgNWkgXP-UeOLB4CVz3LlnBQ0F7-j_OE4_l0c0VgQ7ZZhRNtdVEyqIJrbrp4qHZ97nelc4dlGQtFOEbSiMaIkIGbqAum_HFlPdJzp4MdWfl8ORxoxmnY3BDopuX8T4e2IcXoA7W7w/s800/final%20final.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgzYgEvSjPacpfSgSBdPnHJa5XLNXAh-93dq4AZh08p12M86ujxXgNWkgXP-UeOLB4CVz3LlnBQ0F7-j_OE4_l0c0VgQ7ZZhRNtdVEyqIJrbrp4qHZ97nelc4dlGQtFOEbSiMaIkIGbqAum_HFlPdJzp4MdWfl8ORxoxmnY3BDopuX8T4e2IcXoA7W7w/w400-h300/final%20final.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/barbarian-2022/" target="_blank">Barbarian</a>'</b> (dir. Zach Cregger)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anytime someone asks me what's the one movie from 2022 they should watch, this is my answer.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. <u><b>'Better Things' Season 5</b> (FX; dir. Pamela Adlon)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best way to describe this perfect, perfect show: It feels like it's cut straight out of its makers' hearts; there's not a false note in its depictions of familial and generational conflict, familial and generational happiness, our human fears, our mortality. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/close-2022/" target="_blank">Close</a>'</b> (dir. Lukas Dhont)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Starts out as a portrait, almost fantastical, of the fragility of male friendships, only to become a wrenching meditation on the incomprehensibility of grief. There can only be so much happiness, this film asserts, and so much time for it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. <u><b>'Abbott Elementary' Season 1</b> (ABC; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This show is the very definition of joy. I'm not including Season 2 just yet--it's still ongoing and is even better than this pilot season. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/everything-everywhere-all-at-once/" target="_blank">Everything Everywhere All at Once</a>'</b> (dirs. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)</u>/ <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/turning-red/" target="_blank">Turning Red</a>'</b><u> (dir. Domee Shi)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two excellent films about the ways mothers love and ruin their daughters; about the ways daughters love and ruin their mothers back. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6. <u><b>'Ramy' Season 3</b> (Hulu; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The pathway to greatness: less serious religious blather, more religious-adjacent absurdity. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7. <u><b>'Atlanta' Season 3</b> (FX; dirs. Hiro Murai, Ibra Ake & Donald Glover)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The sense of thematic and narrative adventure, the balls to push boundaries in its interrogation of what it means to be a Black person today, was unmatched. Still strikes me as weird (if not downright illiterate) that the nonlinearity of its 10 episodes has been a widespread source of negative criticism, when to me it's precisely this refusal to abide by the rules of sequential storytelling that made this season quite effective.</div><div><br /></div><div>8. <u><b>'What We Do in the Shadows' Season 4</b> (FX; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Season 3 was a letdown; this new one was just one riot of an episode after another, culminating, probably, in Matt Berry's delivery of this gem of a line from the ultimate gas pain-inducing episode: "Trust me. Gay is in. Gay is hot. I want some gay. Gay it's gonna be."</div><div><br /></div><div>9. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/athena-2022-1/" target="_blank">Athena</a>'</b> (dir. Romain Gavras)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Loud, chaotic, very angry, all high emotion like a present-day Greek tragedy by way of 'X2', Brad Pitt's 'Troy', and the Battle of Helm's Deep.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">10. </span><u style="text-align: left;"><b>'The White Lotus' Season 2</b> (HBO; dir. Mike White)</u><span style="text-align: left;">/ </span><u style="text-align: left;"><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/glass-onion-a-knives-out-mystery/" target="_blank">Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery</a>'</b> (dir. Rian Johnson)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Epitomes of a fun time masquerading as whodunits. The whodunit is never the point, of course; it's Jennifer Coolidge becoming an instant Twitter meme with "These gays, they're trying to murder me," and Daniel Craig (and his stewpid accent) not gagging from a throat spray because, presumably, he's used to stuff being shoved down his throat. </div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The rest of my 5-star titles, as per Letterboxd:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/avatar-the-way-of-water/" target="_blank">Avatar: The Way of Water</a>'</b> (dir. James Cameron)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Narrative broadness notwithstanding, the audiovisual spectacle of the year (and I didn't even see it in 3D).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Derry Girls' Season 3</b> (Channel 4/ Netflix; dir. Michael Lennox)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Siobhán McSweeney should be president of the world, and Nicola Coughlan's Clare deserves a spinoff.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/fire-island-2022/" target="_blank">Fire Island</a>'</b> (dir. Andrew Ahn)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So much fun, but also, insane how it nails every single time it evokes the side-eye emoji, often in extended and consecutive sequences.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-first-wave-2021/" target="_blank">The First Wave</a>'</b> (dir. Matthew Heineman)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This gave me war flashbacks; easily one of the great COVID documentaries of the last three years.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/great-freedom/" target="_blank">Great Freedom</a>'</b> (dir. Sebastian Meise)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The wealth of feeling it offers in every frame, the way it evokes history, entire life stories, with only the barest bodies, faces almost devoid of expression, the most piercing silences--it's an absurd tragedy, really, that this didn't make the Oscars final five, while that <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/lunana-a-yak-in-the-classroom/" target="_blank">inept Yak movie from Bhutan</a> did.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Heartstopper' Season 1</b> (Netflix; dir. Euros Lyn)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Terrific queer fantasy that's sure to melt your defenses unless you're made of granite. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/marcel-the-shell-with-shoes-on-2021/" target="_blank">Marcel the Shell with Shoes On</a>'</b> (dir. Dean Fleischer Camp)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Watched this with a stupid smile plastered on my face the entire 90 minutes, which is to say if you're gonna do pure and earnest, you better make something of this caliber.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/revolution-of-our-times/" target="_blank">Revolution of Our Times</a>'</b> (dir. Kiwi Chow)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not flawless by any measure, but this really is the only depiction--unflinching and deeply infuriating--of #ACAB you will ever need to see.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/river-of-tears-and-rage/" target="_blank">River of Tears and Rage</a>'</b> (dir. Maricon Montajes)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Necessary viewing; harrowing and enraging, and thoroughly does justice to the assiduous, tireless journalism from which it draws.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Season 7</b> (Paramount+/ WOW Presents Plus)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Returned temporarily to the church of Ru for this "All Winners" season and can 100% say it was the right decision; there wasn't a bad or even meh episode, and everyone really turnedt it outtt.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Season 2</b> (HBO Max; <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I thought the relative aimlessness and ADHD pacing of this season would be a turnoff, but not even halfway through, I was already totally onboard and laughing my brains out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/soul-fish/" target="_blank">Soul Fish</a>'</b> (dir. Zurich Chan)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Absorbing, perceptive, revelatory in its concise explication of how happy, and intimate, and close we all used to be as people.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/tar-2022/" target="_blank">Tár</a>'</b> (dir. Todd Field)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most lived-in, most entertaining depiction of power of late.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/west-side-story-2021/" target="_blank">West Side Story</a>'</b> (dir. Steven Spielberg)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A great adaptation of a beloved, if problematic, film; a great movie musical--surely one of the 21st century's best.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-worst-person-in-the-world/" target="_blank">The Worst Person in the World</a>'</b> (dir. Joachim Trier)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Messy existential crisis, but make it really sexy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PLUS--it was a great year for movies and TV (it always is, if you're paying attention), so first, the 4-star titles from the L-app list (a.k.a. full-length films, shorts, comedy specials, "episodes" of anthology series):</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/aftersun/" target="_blank">Aftersun</a>'</u> (dir. Charlotte Wells); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-gossips-of-cicadidae/" target="_blank">Alingasngas ng Mga Kuliglig</a>'</u> (dir. Vahn Pascual); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/all-quiet-on-the-western-front-2022/" target="_blank">All Quiet on the Western Front</a>'</u> (dir. Edward Berger); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/benediction/" target="_blank">Benediction</a>'</u> (dir. Terence Davies); <u>'Bones and All'</u> (dir. Luca Guadagnino); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bros/" target="_blank">Bros</a>'</u> (dir. Nicholas Stoller); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/kate-berlant-cinnamon-in-the-wind/" target="_blank">Cinnamon in the Wind</a>'</u> (dir. Bo Burnham); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/decision-to-leave/" target="_blank">Decision to Leave</a>'</u> (dir. Park Chan-wook); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/fresh-2022/" target="_blank">Fresh</a>'</u> (dir. Mimi Cave); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/whether-the-weather-is-fine/" target="_blank">Kun Maupay Man It Panahon</a>'</u> (dir. Carlo Francisco Manatad); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/last-days-at-sea/" target="_blank">Last Days at Sea</a>'</u> (dir. Venice Atienza); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/licorice-pizza/" target="_blank">Licorice Pizza</a>'</u> (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-lost-daughter-2021/" target="_blank">The Lost Daughter</a>'</u> (dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-murmuring-2022/" target="_blank">The Murmuring</a>'</u> (in Guillermo del Toro's 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; dir. Jennifer Kent); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/nope/" target="_blank">Nope</a>'</u> (dir. Jordan Peele); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-outside-2022/" target="_blank">The Outside</a>'</u> (in Guillermo del Toro's 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; dir. Ana Lily Amirpour); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/joel-kim-booster-psychosexual/" target="_blank">Psychosexual</a>'</u> (dir. Doron Max Hagay); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/random-people/" target="_blank">Random People</a>'</u> (dir. Arden Rod Condez); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/jerrod-carmichael-rothaniel/" target="_blank">Rothaniel</a>'</u> (dir. Bo Burnham); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/simple-as-water/" target="_blank">Simple as Water</a>'</u> (dir. Megan Mylan); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/spring-awakening-those-youve-known/1/" target="_blank">Spring Awakening: Those You've Known</a>'</u> (dir. Michael John Warren); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-territory-2022/" target="_blank">The Territory</a>'</u> (dir. Alex Pritz); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-tragedy-of-macbeth/" target="_blank">The Tragedy of Macbeth</a>'</u> (dir. Joel Coen)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AND THEN--11 more TV titles (or seasons thereof) that I wholly recommend:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>'Atlanta' Season 4</u> (FX; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u>'Barry' Season 3</u> (HBO; dirs. Bill Hader & Alec Berg); <u>'Cheer' Season 2</u> (Netflix; dirs. Greg Whiteley & Chelsea Yarnell), except the Jerry episode, which was a solid five stars; <u>'Hacks' Season 2</u> (HBO Max; dirs. Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs & Trent O'Donnell); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/irma-vep-2022/" target="_blank">Irma Vep</a>'</u> (HBO; dir. Olivier Assayas); <u>'The Kangks Show' Season 1</u> (WeTV; dir. Antoinette Jadaone); <u>'Pachinko' Season 1</u> (Apple TV+; dirs. Kogonada & Justin Chon), although episodes 4 and 5 were flat-out great, I cried over a scene involving freakin' rice; <u>'The Rehearsal' Season 1</u> (HBO; dir. Nathan Fielder), a five-star show with a four-star ending; <u>'Severance' Season 1</u> (Apple TV+; dirs. Ben Stiller & Aoife McArdle), a four-star show with a five-star ending that was, to borrow from James Poniewozik, simply stupendous; <u>'Slow Horses' Season 1</u> (Apple TV+; dir. James Hawes); <u>'Somebody Somewhere' Season 1</u> (HBO; dirs. Robert Cohen & Jay Duplass)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Always fun to promote actor-centrism, so here's an alphabetical list of 23 performers I want to draw attention to (as opposed to a list of "the best"--like what does that even mean? Everyone on this list can be described as the best, and many others from the year who fit that description are not here.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Jeanne Balibar ('Irma Vep') </div><div style="text-align: left;">2. May Calamawy ('Ramy' Season 3) </div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Pauline Chalamet ('The Sex Lives of College Girls' Season 2)</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Meghann Fahy ('The White Lotus' Season 2)</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Mike Faist ('West Side Story')</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. Sarah Goldberg ('Barry' Season 3)</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Alana Haim ('Licorice Pizza')</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. Brian Tyree Henry ('Atlanta' Seasons 3-4)</div><div style="text-align: left;">9. Kate Hudson ('Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery')</div><div style="text-align: left;">10. Janelle James ('Abbott Elementary' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">11. Kim Min-ha ('Pachinko' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">12. Gabriel LaBelle ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-fabelmans/" target="_blank">The Fabelmans</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">13. Anna LaMadrid ('The Rehearsal' Season 1) </div><div style="text-align: left;">14. Anders Danielsen Lie ('The Worst Person in the World')</div><div style="text-align: left;">15. Paul Mescal ('Aftersun')</div><div style="text-align: left;">16. Aubrey Plaza ('The White Lotus' Season 2; '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/emily-the-criminal/" target="_blank">Emily the Criminal</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">17. Sheryl Lee Ralph ('Abbott Elementary' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">18. Mark Rylance ('Bones and All')</div><div style="text-align: left;">19. Rachel Sennott ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bodies-bodies-bodies/" target="_blank">Bodies Bodies Bodies</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">20. Bill Skarsgård ('Barbarian')</div><div style="text-align: left;">21. Sami Slimane ('Athena') </div><div style="text-align: left;">22. Tramell Tillman ('Severance' Season 1) </div><div style="text-align: left;">23. Anamaria Vartolomei ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/happening/" target="_blank">Happening</a>')</div><div><br /></div><div>PLUS--13 more unforgettable performers: </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Angela Bassett ('Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'); Nicole Beharie ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/frederick-douglass-in-five-speeches/" target="_blank">Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches</a>'); Cate Blanchett (Tár); Olivia Colman ('The Lost Daughter'; '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/landscapers/" target="_blank">Landscapers</a>'; 'Heartstopper' Season 1); Kerry Condon ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-banshees-of-inisherin/" target="_blank">The Banshees of Inisherin</a>'); Janice de Belen ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/big-night-2021/" target="_blank">Big Night!</a>'); Dolly de Leon ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/triangle-of-sadness/" target="_blank">Triangle of Sadness</a>'; 'The Kangks Show' Season 1); Sabrina Impacciatore ('The White Lotus' Season 2); Dakota Johnson ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cha-cha-real-smooth/" target="_blank">Cha Cha Real Smooth</a>'; 'The Lost Daughter'); Margaret Qualley ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/maid-2021/" target="_blank">Maid</a>'); Conrad Ricamora ('Fire Island'); Taylor Russell ('Bones and All'); Michelle Yeoh ('Everything Everywhere All at Once')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A list of notable sound work, cinematography, standout scenes, anything but individual actors:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. The opening dance sequence of '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/after-yang/" target="_blank">After Yang</a>'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. Best opening credits/ theme music is a three-way tie between the new seasons of 'Pachinko', 'Severance' and 'White Lotus' (okay, maybe the last one takes the crown for sheer replayability).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Speaking of music: "Wherever I Fall" from the Peter Dinklage-headlined '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cyrano-2021/" target="_blank">Cyrano</a>', and Kathleen's yassified cover of "Pure Imagination" as the perfect welcome to 'Fire Island'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Speaking of music, pt. 2: The original songs of 'Turning Red', all making full use of Jordan Fisher's heaven-sent falsetto and now unjustly snubbed at the Oscars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. Speaking of music, pt. 3: The musicscapes of 'Heartstopper' Season 1, 'Tar', 'Everything Everywhere All at Once', 'Bones and All', 'Wakanda Forever', and 'Close' (this last one, especially, with how it uses silence as stand-in for sound).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. Speaking of sound: The insane soundscape of 'Nope'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. Speaking of sound, pt. 2: That great, great, great sound engineer scene in '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/memoria-2011/" target="_blank">Memoria</a>'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. Cinematographers flexin': Hoyte van Hoytema ('Nope'), Bruno Delbonnel ('The Tragedy of Macbeth'), Janusz Kamiński ('West Side Story'), Kim Ji-yong ('Decision to Leave'), Florian Hoffmeister ('Tar').</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">9. The camera work in 'Athena', a jaw-dropping combination of cinematography <i>and</i> choreography. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">10. That truck scene in 'Licorice Pizza'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">11. All hail the editors of 'Tar', 'Barbarian', 'Bones and All' and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">12. Two from 'The Rings of Power' (the new Lord of the Rings series from Amazon): The Khazad-dûm ruveal in episode 2 and, even more impressive, the Mt. Doom ruveal in episode 6, a satisfying (if admittedly nonsensical) payoff for those of us who obsessively studied/followed the show's Middle Earth geography.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">13. How, in the first season of HBO's 'The Gilded Age', Carrie Coon's grandiose outfits were always just the slightest bit off or tacky because she's new rich and probably had nobody to teach her the ways of the old.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">14. Line readings: "I started therapy!" --Michelle Williams, a comedy queen in 'The Fabelmans'; "Oh god, did your mom get assassinated?" --Pauline Chalamet in 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Season 2; "Gutom? Take home?" --Lotlot de Leon versus the police in '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/on-the-job-the-missing-8/" target="_blank">On the Job: The Missing 8</a>'; everything that emerged out of Kate Hudson's mouth in 'Glass Onion'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">15. The ensemble of 'The Lost Daughter'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, I didn't get to see as many non-2021/22 titles as I would have liked, but here are the three that easily merited five Letterboxed stars from me:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/platoon/" target="_blank">Platoon</a>'</u></b> (1986, dir. Oliver Stone)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-savages/" target="_blank">The Savages</a>'</u> (2007, dir. Tamara Jenkins)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-visitor/" target="_blank">The Visitor</a>'</u> (2007, dir. Tom McCarthy)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">And here are nine--including one miniseries--that merited four stars:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/amadeus/" target="_blank">'Amadeus'</a></b> (Director's Cut) (1984, dir. Miloš Forman)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/billy-elliot/" target="_blank"><b>'Billy Elliot'</b></a> (2000, dir. Stephen Daldry)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bo-burnham-make-happy/" target="_blank">'Bo Burnham: Make Happy'</a></b> (2016, dirs. Bo Burnham & Christopher Storer)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/born-on-the-fourth-of-july/" target="_blank">'Born on the Fourth of July'</a></b> (1989, dir. Oliver Stone)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cast-away/" target="_blank">'Cast Away'</a></b> (2000, dir. Robert Zemeckis)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/catch-me-if-you-can-2002/" target="_blank">'Catch Me If You Can'</a></b> (2002, dir. Steven Spielberg)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cucumber-2015/" target="_blank">'Cucumber'</a></b> (2015, dirs. David Evans, Alice Troughton & Euros Lyn)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/gandhi/" target="_blank"><b>'Gandhi'</b></a> (1982, dir. Richard Attenborough)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-wrestler/" target="_blank">'The Wrestler'</a></b> (2008, dir. Darren Aronofsky)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Links to my past lists, which are best read as time capsules of what I'd seen so far when I wrote each of them, and what I thought about the stuff I listed in those particular moments in time:</div><div><br /></div><div>The Year in Film and TV <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2021.html" target="_blank">2021</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2020.html" target="_blank">2020</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2019.html" target="_blank">2019</a></div><div>The Decade in Film <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-decade-in-film-2010-2019.html" target="_blank">2010-19</a></div><div>The Year in Film <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-film-2018.html" target="_blank">2018</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-year-in-film-2017.html" target="_blank">2017</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-year-in-film-2016.html" target="_blank">2016</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-year-in-film-2015.html" target="_blank">2015</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-best-films-of-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a></div></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-54847914002222610352022-07-31T15:40:00.000+08:002022-07-31T15:40:31.230+08:00CoverStory Feature: The return of 'Mula sa Buwan'<div style="text-align: left;">Second article for CoverStory PH is out today--<a href="https://coverstory.ph/mula-sa-buwan-in-the-spirit-of-defiance/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>'Mula sa Buwan': In the spirit of defiance</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When “Mula sa Buwan” returns on Aug. 26 at Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati, it will not be the same creature that played to packed houses every performance four years ago. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In turning Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo’s Filipino translation of that play into a musical, director and co-creator Pat Valera recentered the story on college-age Filipinos whose lives are upended by World War II. But, while the pre-Covid-19 version of the show highlighted its romantic and spectacular elements, Valera says this staging will underscore the spirit of defiance coursing through the musical.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In part, Valera attributes this change in direction to what he calls the “great pains” inflicted by both the pandemic and the recent presidential election. The musical, whose score he wrote with William Elvin Manzano, will still be about “wide-eyed, idealistic misfits” who “cling to their friends and the power of stories and the theater”; this time around, however, the focus will be on how these misfits dream of a better world and fight for space for their future.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Deeper probe </span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone familiar with the musical or its source material will know how that future turns out to be anything but bright for its characters. Hence, Valera’s rewriting of certain lines and character motivations to be reflective of this age of disinformation: in place of mere escapist entertainment, a deeper probe into our ways of (mis)remembering the past, and, in the case of the titular character, questioning the very notion of (anti-)heroism. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, the changes may not be immediately apparent even to the most ardent fans of this musical, says Valera. Instead, for those who have seen the multiple hit iterations of this show that ran from 2016 to 2018, the most obvious change will be an old face becoming the new lead. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From playing the handsome but vacuous Christian in the musical’s 2018 staging at Ateneo de Manila University, Myke Salomon will now assume the part of the poetry-spouting Cyrano, in addition to serving as the show’s new musical director. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The decision did not come easy to Salomon, though. “It took me weeks to agree to play the part,” he says. “To be honest, I had lost hope. There was a point [during the last two years] when I kept asking myself whether I would still be able to do live theater. I did not want to leave the theater; theater left. That was the hardest part.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Salomon describes the moment he agreed to do the role as a Moses-with-the-burning-bush situation: “I did not want to stay home anymore,” he says, so he decided to jump in and join the show—“atrophied” performing skills notwithstanding. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Besides, it is an almost completely new show, says Salomon. For instance, among its cast of 27, only four performers will be tackling parts they had already played in the show’s earlier runs. Salomon also shares Valera’s recalibrated vision of the show’s characters as now fighting for their own safe spaces, and, in the case of his Cyrano, as someone fighting for the displaced artists and dreamers, arguably harking back to the earlier days of the pandemic that destabilized the entire theater community. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">1st since the pandemic </span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When it opens, “Mula sa Buwan” will become the first Filipino-language musical to do so since the pandemic started. More significantly, it will be the first production to play the recently inaugurated, 1500-seat Samsung Theater. Gab Pangilinan will return to the role of Roxane, while Markki Stroem will be the new Christian.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This return engagement has been almost a year in the making, says Valera, beginning with industry and audience surveys he co-initiated with Philstage (or the Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group, Inc.) in late 2021. It looks like it has widespread audience support going for it. As of July 8, the show had sold almost half the seats allotted for its 13-performance run, according to Valera.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“People are definitely coming, and because of that, we are definitely pressured.” This pressure, says Valera, has become the fuel that inspires everyone involved to give performances worthy of an industry reopening.</span></p></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-25929166678032484392022-07-09T00:35:00.001+08:002022-07-09T00:35:01.848+08:00CoverStory Feature: Virgin Labfest 17<div style="text-align: justify;">Hello, it's me. Good for you if you still visit this site. Some *personal* news: After 9-ish wonderful years, I have officially said goodbye to Inquirer-Lifestyle. I will now be writing theater-related articles for CoverStory PH under--surprise, surprise--dear old Gibbs. This one, on Virgin Labfest 17, was my first piece; came out two months ago. Click <a href="https://coverstory.ph/virgin-labfest-untried-untested-unstaged-plays-back-on-stage-this-june/" target="_blank">here</a> for the website version. Since I have no photo to go with the piece, here, instead, is me with Art, Gibbs, Cora, and Emil--the final (and my fondest) iteration of the Inquirer theater critics team (2012-2020)--at Sentro in Greenbelt 5 last month: </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgW7n-n1th-9lTaI9ugZKZpmz8OVI304ZE0Ryvr9iv-rOwqE5OwhGbdpCpCgCsZwy_AvTwXr9HVhdkQWdNffTTE5zEhfTT_-rqH1Yf3vKPOqmufaeYPMBgfnH-DEgevtR1G1ChgyZeHQt4yqb5XwEtOalSwtd4C_M3txZlKHc5NJjGtGuKV3wPkT84oQ/s1280/2EE1A271-EBB2-445A-A090-57C817AA02BD.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgW7n-n1th-9lTaI9ugZKZpmz8OVI304ZE0Ryvr9iv-rOwqE5OwhGbdpCpCgCsZwy_AvTwXr9HVhdkQWdNffTTE5zEhfTT_-rqH1Yf3vKPOqmufaeYPMBgfnH-DEgevtR1G1ChgyZeHQt4yqb5XwEtOalSwtd4C_M3txZlKHc5NJjGtGuKV3wPkT84oQ/w400-h300/2EE1A271-EBB2-445A-A090-57C817AA02BD.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Virgin Labfest: 'Untried, untested, unstaged' plays back on stage this June</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Exactly two years and three months since Covid-19 shut down all of Manila theater, the Virgin Labfest will return on June 16–26 to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), marking the reopening of in-person theatrical performances in the capital region.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Or so the plan goes, according to the organizers of the 17th edition of this annual festival of “untried, untested, unstaged” plays. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Of course, if a Covid-19 surge happens in June, the plan will have to change drastically,” says playwright and festival cofounder Rody Vera. As it stands, the Labfest is gearing for a hybrid approach: two weeks of in-person shows at the CCP, followed by at least another two weeks of streaming of the plays’ recordings. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This year, we hope to at least restore the thrill of performing live, [but] one thing we learned [in the past two years] is the importance of making good videos of performances,” Vera says. “Filmed well, these recordings can extend the festival’s life. The online setup may not be as thrilling as live theater, but the reach is so much more, given the short time frame.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2020, the festival’s 16th edition saw the first large-scale effort in the country at virtual or “Zoom” theater, in reference to the videoconferencing software that swiftly became a lifeline for theater folk worldwide. Last year, the festival showcased no new works, opting instead to stream recordings of previous Labfest plays.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">12 new works</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year’s edition will feature 12 new works: 10 from 2021’s call for submissions, plus two that were unable to mount online productions in 2020 (“Bituing Marikit” by Bibeth Orteza and “‘Nay May Dala Akong Pansit” by Juan Ekis).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Portions of the usual side events will also be returning to in-person setups, such as the Playwrights’ Fair (with four of 10 sessions to be conducted live at the CCP) and the Writing Fellowship Program (aiming for a live presentation of the fellows’ outputs on closing day). Others, like staged readings and the Revisited set, have been scrapped for now.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also part of the Labfest’s pandemic-related precautions is a reduced seating capacity of 60 percent, or 136 seats of the Tanghalang Huseng Batute, where all performances will transpire.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As longtime festival production manager Nikki Garde-Torres puts it: “There is a semblance of normalcy, [but] we are also in an in-between where the pandemic and the possibility of higher alert levels remain. It feels like I am relearning how to do live shows.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Many are still scared of performing live,” Vera says, “and many members of the public will, presumably, still be afraid of returning to the theater—and I guess we just have to accept that.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Giddiness, excitement</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite that fear, the CCP these days is also abuzz with a kind of “giddiness,” to quote Garde-Torres, as face-to-face rehearsals go in full swing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the words of Marco Viaña, incoming festival codirector (alongside Tess Jamias), it’s the excitement of “once again being in the same room as your fellow theater artists, some of whom you’ve only seen or talked to online for the last two years.”</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Viaña, who was initially apprehensive about taking the position—“I’ve only ever acted for the festival; I have no experience as playwright, director, or stage manager”—also attributes that excitement to the theater artist’s need to be with an audience: “These artists simply cannot wait to once again perform live before the public. For sure, <i>punung-puno ng puso ang mga pagtatanghal na ‘yan</i>” (the performances will be bursting with heart).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What remains to be seen,” says Vera, “is whether the audience will match that excitement.”</span></p></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-6681951943841128092022-01-03T18:29:00.004+08:002023-08-15T12:49:56.958+08:00The Year in Film and TV (2021)<div style="text-align: justify;">In 2021, given the continuation of my work-from-home situation, my self-imposed non-socialization beyond my immediate family, and the almost complete absence of local theater, I set out to watch as much as possible. According to my <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>, my final tally was 384--a new personal record. That number includes not only the full-length releases of the year, but also short films, limited series or miniseries, recordings of live theatrical performances, rewatches (hello, '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/phantom-thread/reviews/" target="_blank">Phantom Thread</a>' and '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/moonlight-2016/reviews/" target="_blank">Moonlight</a>'), and old work that I was seeing only for the first time (more on this in the final section). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, that number excludes the television that I consumed--seven seasons of 'Veep'; four seasons of 'Better Things'; three seasons of 'This Country' (plus a <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/this-country-the-aftermath/reviews/" target="_blank">special</a>); three seasons each of 'Broadchurch' and 'Sex Education'; two seasons of 'Feel Good'; the second seasons of 'Staged' and 'The Morning Show'; the second half of the final season of 'PEN15'; the final seasons of 'Insecure' and 'Pose'; and a season each of the following new and returning shows: 'Dead to Me', 'Girls5eva', 'Hacks', 'I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson', 'Loki', 'Made for Love', 'The Other Two', 'Reservation Dogs', 'The Sex Lives of College Girls', 'Schmigadoon!', 'Succession', 'What We Do in the Shadows', and 'The White Lotus'. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moreover, that number fails to account for the shows that, for one reason or another, I couldn't stomach or simply didn't have the drive to finish beyond an episode or two, such as 'Bridgerton', 'Euphoria', 'Mythic Quest', 'Only Murders in the Building', 'Rutherford Falls', and the new season of 'Never Have I Ever' (whose first season I loved).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The same annual disclaimer, then: This is a list of my favorite titles from this (2021) and the previous (2020) year, the latter to account for the "leftovers" that get *released* quite late in the Philippines or that I didn't get the chance to see during the previous year. If you're viewing my blog in desktop mode, the side bar on the right provides an exhaustive accounting of everything I watched in 2021. I always make a top 10, but of course it's more fun to have more than 10, and anyway, my top three, maybe four, are basically interchangeable. And one last thing: What a year for HBO!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKMK_xY7dlNp8GkgMeDTRHsndjTrcBe1-XI20eCicEu9QxPCt_eHK0rgkobnpVThKvhqZpxXFVL1vbkbvYwZA2-KkjqNchdrlwpmGOMhJx4zDS_5DZYv8wEQVv8C_DLACcbZOLJFlB4xQb8N1efTe-4i4CJd9nYG23rjJkBHRzNoAf9MZPTxhQ-ZFunQ=s800" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKMK_xY7dlNp8GkgMeDTRHsndjTrcBe1-XI20eCicEu9QxPCt_eHK0rgkobnpVThKvhqZpxXFVL1vbkbvYwZA2-KkjqNchdrlwpmGOMhJx4zDS_5DZYv8wEQVv8C_DLACcbZOLJFlB4xQb8N1efTe-4i4CJd9nYG23rjJkBHRzNoAf9MZPTxhQ-ZFunQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/drive-my-car/" target="_blank">Drive My Car</a>'</b> (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A modern masterpiece: cinema as a spiritual literary experience. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. <u><b>'The Other Two' Season 2</b> (HBO Max; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note-for-note and episode-by-episode a perfect season of television, its critique of gay, celebrity, and social-media cultures best epitomized by this singular, iconic passage: "I'm his son. I'm straight. And I'm from Kansas."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bo-burnham-inside/" target="_blank">Bo Burnham: Inside</a>'</b> (dir. Bo Burnham)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Burnham gave me exactly the kind of unhinged I didn't know I needed: an existential meltdown in the form of musical comedy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. <u><b>'Succession' Season 3</b> (HBO; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If Shakespeare featured UTIs, dominatrix-style role play, missent dick pics, Adrien Brody in elaborate layers, and the most erotic bathroom conversation between the guy from "Weeds" and one of the kids from "Home Alone."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/collective/" target="_blank">Collective</a>'</b> (dir. Alexander Nanau)</u>/ <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/flee-2021/" target="_blank">Flee</a>'</b> (dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen)</u>/ <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/procession-2021/" target="_blank">Procession</a>'</b> (dir. Robert Greene)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Three documentaries--on corruption within the Romanian health system, an Afghan refugee's arduous flight to freedom, and an art-therapy group among survivors of abuse from Catholic priests--proving how the pursuit for truth and the act of truth-telling can sometimes be the most cathartic <i>and </i>most frightening things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. <u><b>'PEN15' Season 2 Part 2</b> (Hulu; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This show starring two thirty-something women pretending to be teenagers around an ace ensemble of actual teenagers deserved to run forever. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. <u><b>'The White Lotus' Season 1</b> (HBO; dir. Mike White)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In which grandpa is a power bottom, mother is a nymphomaniac, hotel manager gets to <i>eat</i>, Sydney Sweeney demonstrates how scary Gen Z can be, and the one and only Jennifer Coolidge teaches the world how to pronounce "chaise."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/red-rocket-2021/" target="_blank">Red Rocket</a>'</b> (dir. Sean Baker)</u>/ <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/titane/">Titane</a>'</b> (dir. Julia Ducournau)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The closest simulations this year to being on uppers, each an absolute, exhilarating trip anchored by lead performances that would have been very worthy winners in their respective categories at Cannes 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">9. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/judas-and-the-black-messiah/" target="_blank">Judas and the Black Messiah</a>'</b> (dir. Shaka King)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Knife-sharp in its constant shifts between brash, electric psycho-thriller and states of fragility, tenderness, and loneliness. My pick for Best Picture from the contenders of the 2020-21 season. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">10. <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/everybodys-talking-about-jamie/" target="_blank">Everybody's Talking About Jamie</a>'</b> (dir. Jonathan Butterell)</u>/ <u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/tick-tick-boom-2021/" target="_blank">Tick, Tick... Boom!</a>'</b> (dir. Lin-Manuel Miranda)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two movie musicals that are nothing short of sublime miracles, each managing to expand upon, make sense of, and completely transform their source materials to become heartfelt, messy, flamboyant creatures pulsing with genuine <i>life</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thanks again to Letterboxd for simplifying life for me. Here are the rest of my 5-star titles for the year, in alphabetical order:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/76-days/" target="_blank">76 Days</a>'</b> (dirs. Hao Wu, Wuxi Chen & Anonymous)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the most harrowing, heartbreaking 90 minutes of the year, plunging the viewer back to Wuhan at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, where health workers weren't so much glorified heroes as simply bodies in desperate need of rest. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/ascension-2021/" target="_blank">Ascension</a>'</b> (dir. Jessica Kingdon)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Capitalism and unfettered consumerism in present-day China rendered in mesmerizing, almost-wordless sequences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'Better Things' Season 4</b> (FX; dir. Pamela Adlon)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every seemingly unhappy family is actually happy in its own, secret way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cmon-cmon/" target="_blank">C'mon C'mon</a>'</b> (dir. Mike Mills)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Either the sweetest, most incisive portrayal of modern adult-children relationships, or the most convincing ad of late for not having kids.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-crime-of-the-century-2021/" target="_blank">The Crime of the Century</a>'</b> (HBO; dir. Alex Gibney)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Outstanding investigative journalism, historiography, and qualitative research rolled into one as it dives deep into the opioid epidemic, medical authoritarianism, and a very specific brand of greed endemic to the U-S of A.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/exterminate-all-the-brutes-2021/" target="_blank">Exterminate All the Brutes</a>'</b> (HBO; dir. Raoul Peck)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A towering, four-hour distillation of the centuries-old White tradition of premeditated bloodshed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-father-2020/" target="_blank">The Father</a>'</b> (dir. Florian Zeller)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The most painful, truthful, <i>and</i> compassionate portrayal of dementia I've seen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'Feel Good' Seasons 1-2</b> (Channel 4/ All 4/ Netflix; dirs. Ally Pankiw & Luke Snellin)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In which Mae Martin shows the world what genius can do with just 12 episodes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'Girls5eva' Season 1</b> (Peacock; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These girls are on fire! 'Cause if you plan on telling a joke, why not make ten? And then a hundred?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'Hacks' Season 1</b> (HBO Max; dirs. Lucia Aniello, Desiree Akhavan & Paul W. Downs)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At first glance the Jean Smart show, but obviously so much more than that. The epitome of comedic spark.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'Insecure' Season 5</b> (HBO; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A balm of a show that allowed its characters to just be real people--grappling with low-stakes situations, navigating relationships, muffling their hurts, finding success.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/mare-of-easttown/" target="_blank">Mare of Easttown</a>'</b> (HBO; dir. Craig Zobel)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Incest, but make it an entire town. If you've seen this show and think of it as primarily a whodunit, you probably need to see it again. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/minari/" target="_blank">Minari</a>'</b> (dir. Lee Isaac Chung)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is how you do metaphors. This is how you do endings. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/nomadland/" target="_blank">Nomadland</a>'</b> (dir. Chloé Zhao)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An evocation of loss--and the quiet, almost imperceptible sadness it engenders--that deserved every bit of attention it received last awards season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-queens-gambit/" target="_blank">The Queen's Gambit</a>'</b> (Netflix; dir. Scott Frank)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fairy tale, sports thriller, bildungsroman, redemption story, addiction narrative, and superhero saga whose underlying credo appears to be the subversion of expectations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised/" target="_blank">Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)</a>'</b> (dir. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Film as hypnosis. Hypnosis as documentary. Documentary as music. Music as stand-in for the cadences of history. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">PLUS--20 more titles not to sleep on, listed alphabetically:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/allen-v-farrow/" target="_blank">Allen v. Farrow</a>'</u> (HBO; dirs. Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bad-trip-2021/" target="_blank">Bad Trip</a>'</u> (dir. Kitao Sakurai); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/city-so-real-2020/" target="_blank">City So Real</a>'</u> (National Geographic; dir. Steve James); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-green-knight/" target="_blank">The Green Knight</a>'</u> (dir. David Lowery); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/hive-2021/" target="_blank">Hive</a>'</u> (dir. Blerta Basholli); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/holler-2020/" target="_blank">Holler</a>'</u> (dir. Nicole Riegel); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/its-a-sin-2021/" target="_blank">It's a Sin</a>'</u> (Channel 4; dir. Peter Hoar); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-year-of-the-everlasting-storm/" target="_blank">Life</a>'</u> (in 'The Year of the Everlasting Storm'; dir. Jafar Panahi); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/luca-2021/" target="_blank">Luca</a>'</u> (dir. Enrico Casarosa); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-power-of-the-dog/" target="_blank">The Power of the Dog</a>'</u> (dir. Jane Campion); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/prayers-for-the-stolen/" target="_blank">Prayers for the Stolen</a>'</u> (dir. Tatiana Huezo); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/quo-vadis-aida/" target="_blank">Quo Vadis, Aida?</a>'</u> (dir. Jasmila Žbanić); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/riders-of-justice/" target="_blank">Riders of Justice</a>'</u> (dir. Anders Thomas Jensen); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/romeo-juliet-2021-1/" target="_blank">Romeo & Juliet</a>'</u> (dir. Simon Godwin); <u>'Schmigadoon!' Season 1</u> (Apple TV+; dir. Barry Sonnenfeld); <u>'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Season 1</u> (HBO Max; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/shiva-baby-2020/" target="_blank">Shiva Baby</a>'</u> (dir. Emma Seligman); <u>'This Country' Season 3</u> (BBC Three; dir. Tom George); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-underground-railroad-2021/" target="_blank">The Underground Railroad</a>'</u> (Prime Video; dir. Barry Jenkins); <u>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy/" target="_blank">Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy</a>'</u> (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My contribution to perpetuating our actor-centric film culture is this list of *45* performances that I truly enjoyed/ loved/ still can't stop thinking of (and where absence is of course not in any way a measure of *quality*):</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Bob Balaban ('The Chair' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Murray Bartlett ('The White Lotus' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Mayra Batalla ('Prayers for the Stolen')</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Nicolas Cage ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/pig-2021/reviews/" target="_blank">Pig</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Pauline Chalamet ('The Sex Lives of College Girls' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. Jodie Comer ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-last-duel-2021/reviews/" target="_blank">The Last Duel</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Jennifer Coolidge ('The White Lotus' Season 1; '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/single-all-the-way/reviews/" target="_blank">Single All the Way</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. Penélope Cruz ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/parallel-mothers/reviews/" target="_blank">Parallel Mothers</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">9. Ariana DeBose ('Schmigadoon!' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">10. Kaitlyn Dever ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/dear-evan-hansen/" target="_blank">Dear Evan Hansen</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">11. Chase W. Dillon ('The Underground Railroad')</div><div style="text-align: left;">12. Aunjanue Ellis ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/king-richard/" target="_blank">King Richard</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">13. Isabelle Fuhrman ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-novice/" target="_blank">The Novice</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">14. Andrew Garfield ('Tick, Tick... Boom!'; '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-eyes-of-tammy-faye-2021/" target="_blank">The Eyes of Tammy Faye</a>')</div><div>15. Renée Elise Goldsberry ('Girls5eva' Season 1)</div><div>16. Kathryn Hahn ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/wandavision/" target="_blank">WandaVision</a>')</div><div>17. Keeley Hawes ('It's a Sin')</div><div>18. Marielle Heller ('The Queen's Gambit')</div><div style="text-align: left;">19. Anthony Hopkins ('The Father')</div><div style="text-align: left;">20. Jayne Houdyshell ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-humans/" target="_blank">The Humans</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">21. Oscar Isaac ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/scenes-from-a-marriage-2021/" target="_blank">Scenes from a Marriage</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">22. Matthew Macfadyen ('Succession' Season 3)</div><div style="text-align: left;">23. Kych Minemoto ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/summer-blues-1/" target="_blank">Masalimuot ya Tiyagew ed Dayat</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">24. Ruth Negga ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/passing-2021/" target="_blank">Passing</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">25. Dev Patel ('The Green Knight')</div><div style="text-align: left;">26. Jesse Plemons ('The Power of the Dog'; 'Judas and the Black Messiah')</div><div style="text-align: left;">27. Simon Rex ('Red Rocket')</div><div style="text-align: left;">28. Natasha Rothwell ('The White Lotus' Season 1; 'Insecure' Season 5)</div><div style="text-align: left;">29. Molly Shannon ('The White Lotus' Season 1; 'The Other Two' Season 2)</div><div style="text-align: left;">30. Samantha Sloyan ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/midnight-mass-2021/" target="_blank">Midnight Mass</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">31. Jean Smart ('Hacks'; 'Mare of Easttown')</div><div style="text-align: left;">32. Kodi Smit-McPhee ('The Power of the Dog')</div><div><div>33. Lakeith Stanfield ('Judas and the Black Messiah')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">34. Dan Stevens ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/im-your-man-2021/" target="_blank">I'm Your Man</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">35. Jeremy Strong ('Succession' Season 3)</div><div style="text-align: left;">36. Lili Taylor ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/paper-spiders/" target="_blank">Paper Spiders</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">37. Emma Thompson ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/cruella/" target="_blank">Cruella</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">38. Mia Wasikowska ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/bergman-island-2021/" target="_blank">Bergman Island</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>39. Aimee Lou Wood ('Sex Education' Seasons 2-3)</div><div>40. Steven Yeun ('Minari')</div><div>41. Brittany S. Hall & Will Brill ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/test-pattern/" target="_blank">Test Pattern</a>')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">42. Carey Mulligan & Bo Burnham ('<a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/promising-young-woman/" target="_blank">Promising Young Woman</a>')</div><div style="text-align: left;">43. Julianne Nicholson & Evan Peters ('Mare of Easttown')</div><div style="text-align: left;">44. Kieran Culkin, Adrien Brody, & Justin Kirk ('Succession' Season 3)</div><div style="text-align: left;">45. Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, & Woody Norman ('C'mon C'mon')</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A list of 15 where the sound, score, music, or musical rendering rocked:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. 'The Winner Takes It All' needle drop in '<u>Bergman Island</u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-killing-of-two-lovers/" target="_blank">The Killing of Two Lovers</a></u>', sound and music work</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' in '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/encanto/" target="_blank">Encanto</a></u>'</div><div>4. Jonny Greenwood's scores for '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/spencer-2021/" target="_blank">Spencer</a></u>' and '<u>The Power of the Dog</u>'</div><div>5. '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/saint-maud/" target="_blank">Saint Maud</a></u>', sound and music work</div><div>6. The use of the spiritual 'Were You There' in '<u>Midnight Mass</u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Dan Romer's central motif for '<u>Luca</u>', the best for a Pixar movie since 'Up'</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/zola/" target="_blank">Zola</a></u>', sound and music work</div><div style="text-align: left;">9. Emilia Jones performing Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides, Now' in '<u>CODA</u>'<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">10. 'When the Sun Goes Down' sequence in '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/in-the-heights/" target="_blank">In the Heights</a></u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;">11. '<u>Shiva Baby</u>', sound and music work</div><div style="text-align: left;">12. Hans Zimmer's score for '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/dune-2021/" target="_blank">Dune</a></u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;">13. 'Obituary' by Alexandre Desplat in '<u><a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/film/the-french-dispatch/" target="_blank">The French Dispatch</a></u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;">14. The soundscape and score for '<u>C'mon C'mon</u>'</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The best use of black and white:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>'<b>Passing</b>', dir. Rebecca Hall; cinematography by Eduard Grau</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5-Letterboxd-star, non-2020/2021 titles that I saw for the first time in 2021:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'</u><span> (2007, dir. Cristian Mungiu)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><u style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'Asako I & II'</u><span> </span></span><span>(2018, dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><u style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: underline;">'Barking Dogs Never Bite'</u><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>(2000, dir. Bong Joon-ho)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Capote'</u> (2005, dir. Bennett Miller)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Farewell My Concubine'</u> (1993, dir. Chen Kaige)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Happy Hour'</u> (2015, dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Himala'</u> (1982, dir. Ishmael Bernal)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>'<u>How to Survive a Plague'</u></b> (2012, dir. David France)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Moral'</u> (1982, dir. Marilou Diaz-Abaya)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Mother'</u> (2009, dir. Bong Joon-ho)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>'Letters from Iwo Jima'</u></b> (2006, dir. Clint Eastwood)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Little Children'</u><span> (2006, dir. Todd Field)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'The Lives of Others'</u> (2006, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>'<u>Quiz Show'</u></b> (1994, dir. Robert Redford)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>'Rosemary's Baby'</u></b> (1968, dir. Roman Polanski)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><b style="font-weight: bold;"><u style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'Sense and Sensibility'</u> </b>(1995, dir. Ang Lee)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'United 93'</u> (2006, dir. Paul Greengrass)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>'Yi Yi'</u></b> (2000, dir. Edward Yang)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A link to my past lists, which are best read as time capsules of what I'd seen so far when I wrote each of them, and what I thought about the stuff I listed in those particular moments in time:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Year in Film and TV <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2020.html" target="_blank">2020</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2019.html" target="_blank">2019</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Decade in Film <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-decade-in-film-2010-2019.html" target="_blank">2010-19</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Year in Film <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-film-2018.html" target="_blank">2018</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-year-in-film-2017.html" target="_blank">2017</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-year-in-film-2016.html" target="_blank">2016</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-year-in-film-2015.html" target="_blank">2015</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-best-films-of-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-3405034735940347942021-03-01T16:18:00.007+08:002021-03-02T17:09:44.510+08:00PDI Review: 'Password: Oedipus Rex' by Tanghalang Ateneo<div style="text-align: justify;">First review of the year (Inquirer website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/379829/breathing-fiery-life-into-strange-hybrid-art-form/" target="_blank">here</a>). And from the way things are happening--or not happening--in this country, it's looking more and more like another year of Zoom theater. Ugh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><u><b>Breathing fiery life into strange, hybrid art form</b></u><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4VuSCuvYNDinzgMImoT-QrrEDP71ygAnBshA6Tfa8i9w-8OsEK9ZYdL6TE2ubiPWo5UmHrigakWbx1w4DwExpiRhHrePIXUhDYpTD9SH1HpoMMEGDV6J1Q_Mp_ZF77zssewc4NPXFhr7/s1440/Yan+Yuzon+and+Marian+Rivera+in+Tanghalang+Ateneo%2527s+virtual+adaptation+of+%2522Oedipus+Rex.%2522+-SCREENGRAB+BY+AUTHOR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1440" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4VuSCuvYNDinzgMImoT-QrrEDP71ygAnBshA6Tfa8i9w-8OsEK9ZYdL6TE2ubiPWo5UmHrigakWbx1w4DwExpiRhHrePIXUhDYpTD9SH1HpoMMEGDV6J1Q_Mp_ZF77zssewc4NPXFhr7/w400-h224/Yan+Yuzon+and+Marian+Rivera+in+Tanghalang+Ateneo%2527s+virtual+adaptation+of+%2522Oedipus+Rex.%2522+-SCREENGRAB+BY+AUTHOR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In an <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/378428/greek-classic-to-break-ground-in-pandemic-era-ph-theater/" target="_blank">interview last month</a>, actor-director Ron Capinding laid out the existential crisis that has
gripped the theater industry for the past year: either go virtual—“online and
recorded”—or perish. With his new adaptation of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” under
Tanghalang Ateneo, Capinding more than averts this metaphorical death; he
breathes fiery, forceful life into a strange, hybrid art form.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sophocles’ tragedy is now
“Password: Oedipus Rex,” styled “password: 03d1pu5_R3x” like a boomer reading
challenge, and staged as a series of Zoom conferences unfolding in a digital,
modern Philippines. What a ticket affords the viewer is an edited recording—a
practical decision, given the erratic nature of internet connection in the
country.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This “Oedipus,” however,
is clear from the outset that it is foremost a creature of the stage. It
embraces its theatrical roots, wasting no effort to adopt a more filmic realism
and hide its desire to be mounted on an actual, physical platform. The
performers act in the heightened vocabulary of stage performance, spouting the
classical language of Rolando Tinio’s Filipino translation with no hint of trying
to make themselves “small,” as is the norm in cinema. The result approximates
the exhilarating experience of a front-row seat.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Retains the basics</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Capinding’s adaptation,
which he also directs, retains the basics of the Greek classic. By now there is
essentially no spoiling the story. The beginning sees Oedipus as ruler of his
land, husband to Jocasta, and hungry for answers to his predecessor’s murder. By
the end, he would discover that his predecessor was his father, whom he had unwittingly
slain, and that his wife is his own mother.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s a tale as morbid as
it is delirious. By twisting it just enough, tinkering with narrative bits and
pieces, Capinding has made an adaptation that perfectly fits the Philippines we
now know. He and his cast commit entirely to the transposition—and therefore
make it wholly believable, even as seers turn up and ancient gods are invoked.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oedipus is now president,
hotheaded goon and self-confessed murderer, whose erratic behavior throughout
the play is the very definition of small-dick energy. He hears what he wants to
hear and does what he wants to do. In an ingenious piece of casting, his
second-in-command, Kreon, is now a woman—whom he vilifies throughout the course
of the story and blames for his predecessor’s murder. Around him—this play’s
point of view—are adorers who will blindly support him to his very end. After
the story has wrapped up, and Oedipus’ rule has ended, you suspect they might
call for his reinstatement as ruler, even his eventual burial as a hero.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Zoom format</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Zoom format makes the
play even more disorienting. Parts of it unfold as media interviews, some as press
briefings, complete with introductions from a sort of press secretary. In these
briefings, Oedipus rambles like a mad man, hurling accusations and curses left
and right. You wonder at some point if he might start talking about drugs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s not a perfect
format, however. In one scene, for example, Oedipus screams at a seer who has
appeared alongside him in a media interview: “Lumayas ka sa paningin ko!” Then
the scene continues; nobody has left. Are we to believe that this impetuous
Oedipus wouldn’t have just tossed his device to the floor and stormed off?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another weakness of the
Zoom format: You actually feel the script’s verbosity. Anyone who spent the
past year working from home would be familiar with <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/coronavirus-zoom-fatigue-is-taxing-the-brain-here-is-why-that-happens" target="_blank">Zoom fatigue</a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In an actual theater, we’d
take in not just the performer delivering a monologue, but everyone and
everything else around this performer. The Zoom play, on the other hand, almost
demands that you glue your eyes to the screen, hyper-focused only on that one
face speaking at length within that one box—and in this specific case, made no
easier by the challenging baroque Filipino of Tinio’s script.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But somehow you don’t
mind these weaknesses, which sound like nitpicks in the bigger scheme of
things. Capinding and his creative team have more than surmounted the challenge
of applying their skills for the theater to this so-called virtual stage. “Password:
Oedipus Rex” not only sustains your attention; it grabs you by the neck, pulls
you into its world—which you willingly enter.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mesmerizing</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How can you not, with Yan
Yuzon’s Oedipus at the helm? Yuzon is a hurricane in the role, as mesmerizing
as he is frightening. Even his vilest words mean something, that you understand
how he could amass such a following. Opposite him, as Jocasta, Miren
Alvarez-Fabregas is the epitome of regal calm. Their scenes together,
particularly the revelatory act-one ender, make you long for the day when we
can finally return to the theaters—and hopefully watch these two titanic actors
revisit these roles.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of performance,
how is film and TV star Marian Rivera-Dantes—easily the main draw of the
production—as Kreon? There’s a palpable reverence to the material that
Rivera-Dantes somehow doesn’t completely lose, which can make her come across
as tonally insipid at times and sets her apart from the other performers who attack
their roles with unrestrained playfulness. Nonetheless, it’s a capable
performance that makes you hungry to see what Rivera-Dantes would be like on
the physical stage. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>At the end of play,
Rivera-Dantes’ female vice president, owning the moment completely, tells the
ruined Oedipus: “Sumunod ka na lamang. Tapos na ang iyong kapangyarihan.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The original play carries in that scene heavy sadness</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—it's Oedipus himself, after all, who begs Kreon to have him exiled. Watching it now, however, in this specific point in contemporary Philippine history, with our specific set of leaders, this scene rings quite differently: In the current scheme of things, it's a vision of a kinder future.</span></span></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-29325618105658676612021-01-06T17:17:00.001+08:002022-08-24T09:58:32.632+08:00The Year in Philippine Theater (2020)<div style="text-align: justify;">The annual theater yearender published in the January 4, 2021 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, also accessible through my <a href="https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu/letters/the-year-in-philippine-theater-2020" target="_blank">TinyLetter</a> and the <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/377066/10-plays-of-remembrance-and-thanksgiving/" target="_blank">paper's website</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>10 plays of remembrance and thanksgiving</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7atTFYta704nviYYCRC3TbaI_zJF8CUJqKpmVPtCuJcCaRS9q2JthBQJmdBcC6MTVo27kXglaIH_s90U0yJfAnTYeGRM7M2P8T8os212Tw8bqLeqjD1Q7GiqHBuBdBZ8ilNwE1AMZo8B3/s2048/IMG_9258.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1784" data-original-width="2048" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7atTFYta704nviYYCRC3TbaI_zJF8CUJqKpmVPtCuJcCaRS9q2JthBQJmdBcC6MTVo27kXglaIH_s90U0yJfAnTYeGRM7M2P8T8os212Tw8bqLeqjD1Q7GiqHBuBdBZ8ilNwE1AMZo8B3/w400-h349/IMG_9258.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is not a best-of list of the kind we annually publish in these pages. Ten months into the pandemic, our stages remain hopelessly shuttered. The arts, from the looks of it, are barely on government’s main agenda.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So I write this as both remembrance and thanksgiving: a last glance at that seemingly alien time when we could still sit side by side in a darkened house; and a gesture of gratitude to how theater and its tireless makers have found ways to reach us, the audience, even in the midst of our social isolation.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Much of my “theatergoing” in 2020 was in the form of streamed theater—either archival recordings or altogether new pieces tailored to the virtual platform—and not just limited to Filipino works. Among others, I saw a modern-day adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “<a href="https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu/letters/has-it-really-been-three-months" target="_blank">The Seagull</a>” from New Zealand; <a href="https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu/letters/has-it-really-been-three-months" target="_blank">three new plays by Richard Nelson</a> from New York’s The Public Theater; past London stagings of “<a href="https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu/letters/this-won-t-be-the-last-hopefully" target="_blank">A Streetcar Named Desire</a>” (with Gillian Anderson) and “Red” (with Alfred Molina); and—what would have otherwise been an impossibility—Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday concert as it unfolded in real time.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">This list is devoted to the Filipino landscape. Back in January of last year, I wrote about “<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/01/pdi-feature-2020-theater-calendar-so-far.html" target="_blank">10 things to look forward to</a>” in Philippine theater. Now, taking stock of this </span><i style="font-size: 13px;">annus horribilis</i><span style="font-size: 13px;"> for live entertainment, I leave you with 11 that made 2020 a little more bearable.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1. ‘<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/03/pdi-review-next-to-normal-by-ateneo.html" target="_blank">Next to Normal</a>’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A university company tackling a rock musical about a family grappling with its matriarch’s bipolar disorder? In an ordinary year, this Ateneo Blue Repertory production would be topping yearend lists—and would have run longer. Directed by Missy Maramara, this was “Next to Normal” with its insides fully exposed— emotionally lacerating, deeply moving, with Cris Villonco and Jef Flores in career-best performances. It was the real deal.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2. Jaime del Mundo and Reb Atadero in ‘Amadeus’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Taal Volcano’s January 2020 eruption feels like a lifetime ago already. That Sunday, as ashfall slowly peppered the roofs and streets of Metro Manila, Del Mundo and Atadero delivered the year’s first great performances as Antonio Salieri and Mozart, respectively, in Company of Actors in Streamlined Theatre’s two-show-only staged reading of this Peter Shaffer play. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3. Rody Vera’s script for ‘<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/02/pdi-review-under-my-skin-by-peta.html" target="_blank">Under My Skin</a>’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Premiered by Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta), Vera’s new play was more than just a Filipino face for the HIV-AIDS epidemic. It was also a breathtaking translation of complex science into dramatic language at once illustrative and accessible—suggesting how much better off we’d be if only our best scientists were also potent communicators.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">4. ‘Joseph the Dreamer’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trumpets’ revival of its musical take on the titular Bible story was a literal party. Fueled by Myke Salomon’s musical direction and MJ Arda’s choreography, this was RuPaul’s Drag Race meets dance concert meets Susan Sontag’s “Notes on ‘Camp’,” a church for the zany and unabashedly gay, with the divine Alys Serdenia presiding.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5. The theatricality of ‘<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/02/pdi-review-batang-mujahideen-by.html" target="_blank">Batang Mujahideen</a>’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What stayed with you was the sheer theatrical vision of this Tanghalang Pilipino (TP) play about the unending violence in Mindanao: the actors shifting characters and timelines in seconds; D Cortezano’s lights and Arvy Dimaculangan’s soundscape evoking the fever of war; the unnerving quiet of Lhorvie Nuevo’s turn as an extremist leader; bullets climactically raining down on the stage—all woven together by Guelan Luarca’s direction.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">6. Open House roundtables</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group’s (Philstage) fundraising campaign for theater workers sidelined by quarantine measures was a series of roundtables streamed via Facebook. Beyond intimate peeks into the very craft of theater—the sessions gathered directors, sound designers, even critics (for which I was a discussant)—these roundtables were also early coping mechanisms, an admirable attempt at bringing together a newly splintered community. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">7. ‘Pilot Episode’ and ‘Wanted: Male Boarders, Vidjokol Edition’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At last year’s <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/06/pdi-review-virgin-labfest-16.html" target="_blank">Virgin Labfest</a>, the annual festival of one-act plays that marked the first major, collective effort in the country at “<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/09/pdi-feature-on-virtual-theater.html" target="_blank">Zoom theater</a>,” the best entries were the ones that figured out how to transpose to the screen a script that was originally intended for the stage. Part of what made “Pilot Episode” a brilliant visual explication of mental illness was its manipulation of multiple frames and cameras; “Boarders,” on the other hand, employed its ribald themes to its advantage, committing to the idea of the smartphone as stage (and arena for phone sex), in the process ruffling certain feathers and raising discussions on what constitutes “tasteful art.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">8. ‘The Price of Redemption’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In just 20 minutes, TP’s amalgamation of excerpts from this Anton Juan play, available on YouTube, is at once a perceptive deconstruction of “Zoom theater,” a (meta-)commentary on our lives in quarantine, and a fervid reminder that the Filipino’s fight for social justice is far from over.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">9. 12th Gawad Buhay Awards</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Disclaimer: I’m a jury member for these awards, which some amusingly compare to the Tonys. Let me say, then, that last year’s ceremonies, broadcast via Facebook and YouTube, were the most efficient of late (Tonys, take note)—showing how such events can be (relatively) concise yet also highly entertaining. Two of many highlights: Kakki Teodoro’s acceptance speech (I’m not crying, you’re crying!); and, halfway through, music icon Gary Valenciano’s soul-cleansing rendition of “Could You Be Messiah?” </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">10. <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/09/pdi-feature-on-virtual-theater.html" target="_blank">Streaming Filipino theater</a></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That Resorts World Manila’s jukebox musical “Ang Huling El Bimbo” reached seven million views and raised over 12 million pesos when it streamed for 48 hours last May was no mean feat. Now, as Manila-based companies release recordings of past shows online, either for free (as in the case of Tanghalang Ateneo on YouTube) or for a fee (like Peta’s “Care Divas” on KTX.ph), one implication is that, for the first time, these homegrown productions can be viewed by anyone anywhere in the country, even abroad. It’s a system that’s still figuring itself out, but it’s also one that points to a progressive way forward—a step toward a more democratic Filipino theater.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">11. ‘<a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/03/pdi-review-bands-visit-by-atlantis.html" target="_blank">The Band’s Visit</a>’</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My personal temporal marker between the pre- and post-COVID days: <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/03/pdi-feature-theater-cancellations-amid.html">As government announced the first lockdown measures in March</a>, I was literally watching a preview of this Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group production, the cast giving what felt like the performances of their lives knowing full well they would no longer officially open. How ironic that this Broadway musical, about a troop of musicians arriving in the wrong town, depicted the beauty of human connection—that which the pandemic soon made us learn to fear. The production itself was first-rate, from Bobby Garcia’s direction, the design elements, to the pitch-perfect ensemble led by Vera and an incandescent Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.</span></span></div><style type="text/css">
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</style>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-15679229216073320222021-01-02T08:43:00.011+08:002023-08-15T12:53:48.044+08:00The Year in Film and TV (2020)<div style="text-align: justify;">Here we are again, at the end of another year of relentless downloading and watching. I'll skip the requisite intro on how it's been a particularly awful year, since I have that for my theater year-in-review coming out on Monday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I started a <a href="https://letterboxd.com/vincengyu/" target="_blank">Letterboxd</a>, finally, and according to my log I saw 285 films between January 1 to December 31, 2020, and I know that count's off by at least one or two shorts that aren't in the site yet. That number also doesn't include the TV series I consumed, including six seasons of "The Americans" (nothing compares!) and "Schitt's Creek"; four seasons of "Insecure"; two seasons of "Ramy," "What We Do in the Shadows," and the horrible "The Kominsky Method"; the disappointing "Lovecraft Country"; the mixed-bag "Little America"; the not-quite-there-yet "P-Valley"; and the lazy fourth season of "Fargo." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The same annual disclaimer: This is a list of my favorite titles from this (2020) and the previous (2019) year, the latter to account for the "leftovers" that get screened quite late in the Philippines (such as Gerwig's "Little Women" and Mendes' "1917") or not at all. This is NOT a best-of-2020 list--but you may as well read it as such. If you're viewing this piece on desktop or mobile, there's a side bar to the right that lists everything I watched in the last 366 days. And if you're wondering why I've combined film and TV--which I started doing only last year--well, why not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In order--though except for numbers one to four, the ranking barely matters, I think--my top 10 films and TV of 2020:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamGTxM0-_4cXguZGtL0k5U6FlYwjliP56u-W3fdzHX0Z4cflNFJCotjJpw1qt3LOvCI4Qpt8z1olaX2J28olrFtdTQCQ-uodAoZVdDOHaOfLYIlZ-wMNIuM0afLGihhadw3PSWZl7225x/s1440/Untitled.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamGTxM0-_4cXguZGtL0k5U6FlYwjliP56u-W3fdzHX0Z4cflNFJCotjJpw1qt3LOvCI4Qpt8z1olaX2J28olrFtdTQCQ-uodAoZVdDOHaOfLYIlZ-wMNIuM0afLGihhadw3PSWZl7225x/w400-h300/Untitled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. <u><b>'So Long, My Son' </b>(dir. Wang Xiaoshuai)</u>/ <u><b>'A Sun' </b>(dir. Chung Mong-hong)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A tie between these two Chinese-language masterworks, because why not? Both films are basically redemption stories, about sons clashing with their fathers, about parents struggling and failing to understand their children. If there's anything you need to know about Chinese culture, it's that family is everything--salve and source of scorn, beginning and end of the stories that matter--and both films get that with penetrative accuracy. "So Long, My Son" is almost a history of the Mainland writ small, from the Boluan Fanzheng era up to the 21st century, as seen through the eyes of two families; "A Sun" is a genre-bending stunner from Taiwan, following the lives of one family in the aftermath of a grisly crime. Each left my Asian heart full; each, despite running over two-and-a-half hours, left me wanting more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. <u><b>'I May Destroy You'</b> (BBC/HBO; dirs. Sam Miller & Michaela Coel)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best shows don't only make you laugh, or cry, or laugh and cry; they also offer illumination, a new way of seeing things--and if you're lucky, a whole enough glimpse into another, better path forward. This is one such show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. <u><b>'Little Women'</b> (dir. Greta Gerwig)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pinnacle of literary adaptation. In the immortal words of one Saoirse Ronan, "Women!" Still can't believe this lost the Oscar, BAFTA, and WGA for Adapted Screenplay to, um, "Jojo Rabbit"! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. <u><b>'PEN15' Seasons 1-2a</b> (Hulu; dirs. Dan Longino, Andrew DeYoung & Sam Zvibleman)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seasons 1 to 2a, that's right, because all 17 episodes so far have been nothing short of great. Coming of age has never been this fun, or funny. And also sad. And absorbing to witness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. <u><b>'Aswang'</b> (dir. Alyx Ayn Arumpac)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is not a movie. This is our lives now. #WhenWillDaddyDigzDie?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. <u><b>'First Cow'</b> (dir. Kelly Reichardt)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reichardt really said, No to lazy viewers! Best Picture 2020, yes please.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. <u><b>'Insecure' Season 4</b> (HBO; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Exceptional in the way it captures the tenor of real, functional-dysfunctional, mature-immature adult relationships. Shoutout to Natasha Rothwell's Kelly, MVP supporting character. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">8. <u><b>'Spontaneous'</b> (dir. Brian Duffield)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps the most precise approximation of young love and/or falling in love in 2020. The teen rom-com, macabre humor, the apocalypse and post-apocalypse rolled into one. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">9. <u><b>'Mank'</b> (dir. David Fincher)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The year's most clear-eyed, crushing yet compassionate depiction of the creative process. Vision! Talent! Commitment!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">10. <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">'The Vast of Night' </b><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">(dir. Andrew Patterson)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If the sensations of Shelley's "Ozymandias" were distilled into a thrilling gabfest of a movie. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thanks to Letterboxd for simplifying life for me. Here are the rest of my 5-star titles for the year, in alphabetical order:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'The Crown' Season 4 </b>(Netflix; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Best season yet, largely because the series finally realized how it works best when it treats the Windsors for what they really are: spoiled brats who have no place in this world, except as fodder for gossip. And not one less-than-excellently written episode here!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><u><b>'Driveways' </b>(dir. Andrew Ahn)</u></div><div>Perfect little gem of a film. RIP Brian Dennehy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Fan Girl' </b>(dir. Antoinette Jadaone)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">A pleasurable, moths-drawn-to-the-flame electrocution. I love mess!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'For Sama' </b>(dir. Waad Al-Kateab & Edward Watts)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My pick for Best Documentary Feature at the 92nd Oscars. Maybe doctor biases at play here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'The Forty-Year-Old Version' </b>(dir. Radha Blank)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">I couldn't stop laughing, 1.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Honey Boy' </b>(dir. Alma Har'el)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ninety-minute father-and-son emotional roller coaster. Excellent cardio substitute.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Kalel, 15' </b>(dir. Jun Robles Lana)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This greatly offended my devout Catholic mother, which is maybe the best endorsement for this all-around incredible film.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Never Have I Ever' Season 1 </b>(Netflix; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pinnacle of wholesome teenage comedy-drama. (Is there such a thing?)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' </b>(dir. Eliza Hittman)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">Gut-wrenching parable of our times, and a masterpiece of a fuck-you to all the male garbage of the world.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u><br /></u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Overseas' </b>(dir. Yoon Sung-a)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That this documentary about Filipino women training to become OFWs is set in my hometown, the subjects speaking my local tongue, only made it cut even deeper.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Rewind' </b>(dir. Sasha Joseph Neulinger)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Best non-Filipino horror film of the year. Also my pick for best non-Filipino documentary of the year. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Schitt's Creek' Season 6 </b>(CBC/Pop TV; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Peak "Schitt's Creek," as it completely let go of being just superb sitcom (a transition that began mid-Season 4) to become something more poignant.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Sorry We Missed You' </b>(dir. Ken Loach)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chekhov's piss bottle. If this is really Ken Loach's farewell at Cannes, what a way to go! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Unbelievable' </b>(Netflix; dirs. Lisa Cholodenko, Michael Dinner & Susannah Grant)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pinnacle of the police procedural. Merritt Wever: robbed of an Emmy!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Watchmen' </b>(HBO; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pinnacle of superhero comic adaptation. Jean Smart: robbed of an Emmy!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div><u><b>'What We Do in the Shadows' Season 2 </b>(FX; dirs. <i>various</i>)</u></div><div>I couldn't stop laughing, 2.</div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">PLUS--22 more titles not to sleep on, listed alphabetically:</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>'And Then We Danced'</u> (dir. Levan Akin); <u>'Babyteeth'</u> (dir. Shannon Murphy); <u>'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'</u> (dir. Jason Woliner); <u>'Cheer' Season 1</u> (Netflix; dirs. Greg Whiteley, Chelsea Yarnell & Arielle Kilker); <u>'City Hall'</u> (dir. Frederick Wiseman); <u>'Dark Waters'</u> (dir. Todd Haynes); <u>'Elehiya sa Paglimot'</u> (dir. Kristoffer Brugada); <u>'End of the Century'</u> (dir. Lucio Castro); <u>'Fourteen'</u> (dir. Dan Sallitt); <u>'Gulis'</u> (dir. Kyle Jumayne Francisco); <u>'How To with John Wilson' Season 1</u> (HBO; dir. John Wilson); <u>'I Hate Suzie' Season 1</u> (Sky Atlantic/HBO Max; dirs. Georgi Banks-Davies & Anthony Nielson); <u>'Normal People'</u> (BBC Three/RTÉ One/Hulu; dirs. Lenny Abrahamson & Hettie Macdonald); <u>'Saint Frances'</u> (dir. Alex Thompson); <u>'Schitt's Creek' Season 5</u> (CBC/Pop TV; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u>'Sound of Metal'</u> (dir. Darius Marder); <u>'Unorthodox'</u> (Netflix; dir. Maria Schrader); <u>'Waves'</u> (dir. Trey Edward Shults); <u>'We Are Who We Are'</u> (HBO/Sky Atlantic; dir. Luca Guadagnino); <u>'Welcome to Chechnya'</u> (dir. David France); <u>'What We Do in the Shadows' Season 1</u> (FX; dirs. <i>various</i>); <u>'The Wild Goose Lake'</u> (dir. Diao Yinan)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I don't have a performance of the year for 2020--because a case can be made for each of these 25, in alphabetical order:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Riz Ahmed ('Sound of Metal')</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>2. Jennifer Aniston ('The Morning Show' Season 1)</div><div>3. Maria Bakalova ('Borat Subsequent Moviefilm')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>4. Rose Byrne ('Mrs. America')</div><div>5. Elijah Canlas ('Kalel, 15' & 'Babae at Baril')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">6. Viola Davis ('Ma Rainey's Black Bottom')</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Brian Dennehy ('Driveways')</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. Charlie Dizon ('Fan Girl')</div><div>9. Julia Garner ('The Assistant')</div><div style="text-align: left;">10. Jack Dylan Grazer ('We Are Who We Are')</div><div style="text-align: left;">11. Zoe Kazan ('The Plot Against America')</div><div style="text-align: left;">12. Paul Mescal ('Normal People')</div><div style="text-align: left;">13. Cristin Milioti ('Palm Springs')</div><div>14. Elisabeth Moss ('The Invisible Man')</div><div>15. Josh O'Connor ('The Crown' Season 4)</div><div>16. Catherine O'Hara ('Schitt's Creek' Seasons 5-6)</div><div>17. Billie Piper ('I Hate Suzie' Season 1)</div><div style="text-align: left;">18. Aubrey Plaza ('Black Bear' & 'Happiest Season')</div><div style="text-align: left;">19. Florence Pugh ('Little Women')</div><div style="text-align: left;">20. Gina Rodriguez ('Kajillionaire')</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>21. Amanda Seyfried ('Mank')</div><div>22. Jean Smart ('Watchmen')</div><div>23. Meryl Streep ('Let Them All Talk')</div><div>24. Merritt Wever ('Unbelievable')</div><div>25. Yong Mei ('So Long, My Son')</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">PLUS--25 more performers whose works I wholly recommend:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u>Ben Affleck</u> ('The Way Back'); <u>Paulo Avelino</u> ('Fan Girl'); <u>Antonio Banderas</u> ('Pain and Glory'); <u>Elizabeth Banks</u> & <u>Ari Graynor</u> ('Mrs. America'); <u>Reed Birney</u> ('The Forty-Year-Old Version'); <u>Hong Chau</u> ('Driveways'); <u>Olivia Colman</u> ('The Crown' Season 4); <u>Carrie Coon</u> ('The Nest'); <u>Paul Walter Hauser</u> ('Richard Jewell'); <u>Ethan Hawke</u> ('The Good Lord Bird' & 'Tesla'); <u>Lucas Hedges</u> ('Let Them All Talk' & 'Waves'); <u>Nicole Kidman</u> ('The Undoing'); <u>Shia LaBeouf</u> & <u>Noah Jupe</u> ('Honey Boy'); <u>Phi Palmos</u> ('Kintsugi'); <u>Charlie Plummer</u> ('Spontaneous'); <u>Jeremy Pope</u> ('Hollywood'); <u>Amit Rahav</u> ('Unorthodox'); <u>Saoirse Ronan</u> & <u>Timothée Chalamet</u> ('Little Women'); <u>Wu Chien-ho</u> & <u>Liu Kuan-ting</u> ('A Sun'); <u>Ramy Youssef</u> ('Ramy' Season 2); <u>Renée Zellweger</u> ('Judy')</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5-Letterboxd-star, non-2019/2020 titles that I saw for the first time in 2020: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'All About Eve' </u><u>(1950, dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Batch '81'</u><u> (1982, dir. Mike de Leon)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><u><b style="font-weight: bold;">'The Big Lebowski'</b><b> </b>(1998, dir. Joel Coen)</u></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">'Kisapmata' </u><u>(1981, dir. Mike de Leon)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'One Cut of the Dead'</b> (2017, dir. Shinichiro Ueda)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution'</b> (1988, dir. Nettie Wild)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: left;">FILMED THEATER</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With live theater shut down, avid theatergoers like myself had to content ourselves mostly with filmed recordings of past shows. Here are the 5-star productions I recommend you run after, if you've yet to catch them (years indicate the cinema release or streaming premiere):</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Act One'</b> (2015, Broadway premiere, Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Loved this play and loved this production, but I loved the physical casting most of all. Tony Shalhoub as Older Moss Hart, Santino Fontana as Younger Moss Hart, and that kid as Kid Moss Hart is the definition of 'family resemblance'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'All My Sons'</b> (2011, West End revival, Apollo Theatre)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of those casts you wish you could have seen live, with Daniel Lapaine's George Deever as the standout.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Company'</b> (2008, Broadway revival, Ethel Barrymore Theater)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My definitive "Company." 11/10 would recommend to anyone who wants to get into Sondheim, or musical theater, or both.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Coriolanus'</b> (2014, London revival, Donmar Warehouse)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">Talk about sense of fcking space.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Falsettos'</b> (2017, Broadway revival, Walter Kerr Theater)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stephanie J. Block losing the Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical is what? Homophobic.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'Hamilton'</b> (2020, Broadway premiere, Richard Rogers Theater)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">My hot take: It's pretty good. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'She Loves Me'</b> (2016, Broadway revival, Studio 54)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shallow and pretty and intent on having an all-around old-fashioned good time. Come for Laura Benanti, stay for Zachary Levi. The Tony for Scenic Design (beating "Hamilton") was the definition of justice.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'South Pacific'</b> (2010, Broadway revival, Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center)</u></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Revelatory revival of an old dame, thanks to Bartlett Sher. And Kelli O'Hara--a goddess on earth.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><b>'A Streetcar Named Desire'</b> (2014, London revival, Young Vic)</u></div><div style="text-align: left;">Tennessee Williams for the #MeToo era.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A link to my past lists. Interesting time capsules, these lists, as I don't necessarily agree with some of my choices anymore.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-decade-in-film-2010-2019.html" target="_blank">The Decade in Film 2010-19</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-year-in-film-and-tv-2019.html" target="_blank">The Year in Film & TV 2019</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Year in Film <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-film-2018.html" target="_blank">2018</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-year-in-film-2017.html" target="_blank">2017</a>/ <a href="http://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-year-in-film-2016.html" target="_blank">2016</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-year-in-film-2015.html" target="_blank">2015</a>/ <a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-best-films-of-2014.html">2014</a></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-73816213579448102592020-12-28T14:36:00.000+08:002020-12-28T14:36:36.816+08:00PDI Opinion: Beyond the social media bubble<div style="text-align: left;">In today's Inquirer, a rant--<a href="https://opinion.inquirer.net/136488/beyond-the-social-media-bubble" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Beyond the social media bubble</u></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Recently, I was involved in a project that gathered the narratives of people who use drugs in the urban poor. In one Zoom meeting, the senior anthropologist of our team told us about a striking observation from a similar work. "It's easy for us to see that every single tokhang victim can be traced back to Duterte himself," she said. "But ordinary people in the communities don't always share this view. They can be angry at the police who violated their homes, or the masked assailant who killed their loved ones, but again and again I was told 'it's not Duterte's fault,' or, 'we can't blame the President for everything that's happening in the country.'"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was reminded of this anecdote yet again on the morning of Dec. 21, roughly 12 hours after the deaths of Sonya and Frank Anthony Gregorio in the hands of Tarlac police officer Jonel Nuezca. That's really all you need to know about the crime: A Filipino policeman murdered two defenseless Filipino citizens in broad daylight.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As video footage of the incident went viral, social media was in uproar, the online furor nowhere more deafening than on Twitter. And it was so easy to believe that the unending deluge of tweets condemning the murders, demanding accountability across all levels of government and the police force, meant the entire nation was actually angry that day--that in every pocket of this archipelago, people were united in a state of rage, horror, and disbelief. It was easy to forget, no matter how many times this has been said, that the virtual world is but a bubble--and in the case of the Philippines, hardly anything like the "real" world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Which begs the question: What do you do after posting that carefully worded series of tweets that gets shared by tens of thousands, or after typing the final period to that kilometric Facebook essay replete with academic references? What's next after you like and share that tweet or post or on-point meme?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The thing to understand about impunity in the police force is that it's not, to use the term Mr. Duterte's minions have desperately clung to in describing Nuezca's act of murder, "isolated." What I mean is, it's not only in the police and government where a culture of impunity thrives unchecked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seeing people call out the so-called "good cops" for staying silent, I couldn't help wondering: Where were these people when shit closer to their respective homes hit the proverbial fan? Because when doctors choose to stay silent over Health Secretary Francisco Duque III's weak-kneed handling of the pandemic, and when those working in private institutions simply watch as these institutions attempt to pass the burden of COVID-19 to public hospitals, that is also impunity. When writers choose to stay silent while a National Artist for Literature and a national writing workshop blatantly support the government's drug war, that is also impunity. And when lawyers and political scientists choose to stay silent as their former professors and current colleagues abet the running of this country to the ground, that is also impunity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Obviously, not all doctors, and writers, and lawyers, etcetera.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Allow me, then, to further extend the Wieselian thought (the original being that "silence only helps the oppressor"): When all we do is make noise online, and only on matters that are beyond our own backyards, we are actually barely helping. I am not saying there is no point in voicing out our anger. I am saying we need to carry that anger into the real world. I am saying we need to walk the (virtual) talk.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is a world beyond social media, its thought-provoking discourses and clout-chasing influencers. It may contain your neighbor who is proudly "apolitical." Your sibling who is a "timeline cleanser." Your parents' business partner who still supports Mr. Duterte because "he is good for business." Your lawyer friend who views the law as words on a page, and not something that should have moral and ethical guideposts. Hundreds of thousands of people who don't even use Twitter, and probably haven't seen, or heard, or seen and heard what Nuezca did on Dec. 20.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amid this pandemic, which has worked so well to government's advantage in that it has become easier than ever to suppress organized action and stamp out dissent through covert operations, disrupting the fragile comforts of our polite and decent circles is maybe the best that we can do to bring the "discourse" outside our virtual echo chambers. This, too, will never be enough. But it can be a start.</div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-19864283608925006882020-10-13T13:05:00.003+08:002022-07-29T23:58:12.343+08:00PDI Opinion: Iloilo as Wakanda<p style="text-align: justify;">New commentary in today's Inquirer--<a href="https://opinion.inquirer.net/134395/iloilo-as-wakanda" target="_blank">website version here</a>. Let me just add that coming home prior to the start of the March lockdown was the best decision ever.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Iloilo as Wakanda</u></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">ILOILO CITY--Perhaps it's time we stopped referring to this city as the Philippine Wakanda. The title, referencing the fictional African utopia integrated into everyday language by the 2018 superhero film "Black Panther," aptly captured how local leadership marshaled its own pandemic response during the first half of the year, when the national government couldn't even get its act together. These days, however, the moniker is being tossed around in various other contexts, a placeholder asserting this idea of the city as an infallible paradise.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">One recent instance involved the Iloilo River Esplanade: On Twitter, it was hailed as a paragon of nature-friendly public infrastructure, the antithesis to that brainless dolomite beach reclamation in Manila Bay.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Separately, as authorities grappled with the rise of biking in Metro Manila--and preoccupied themselves with how best to earn from it--netizens swiftly pointed out how Iloilo already provided a model for this "new normal," justifying this claim with images of the eight-lane Diversion Road with its companion 11-kilometer bike lane. (So picturesque is the highway, in fact, that a year ago, pro-Duterte trolls even circulated a photo of it, claiming it was a picture of Davao City.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A more clear-eyed perspective would celebrate the long-term vision that doubtless informed these projects--boosting the city's "habitability" and its attractiveness to tourists and investors--while also acknowledging their consequential imperfections.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A quick online search, for example, easily reveals how these esplanades, now stretching several kilometers, came at the expense of the original river flora. As late as two years ago, mangroves lining the river were still dying, as the construction work disrupted the tidal flow and water salinity necessary for the plants' survival. (Good news, though: A mangrove-replanting scheme has, from the looks of it, by far succeeded.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">And while anointing the city as the country's "bike capital" may not be totally off-base, at the very least it conveniently ignores, if not altogether erases, the local lived reality--how the past decade's mad rush to rehabilitate (and even "re-rehabilitate") the city roads, in a place with barely the inherent space to accommodate sprawling, simultaneous road works, meant month after month of perennial, time-consuming congestion spilling across districts.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is not to diminish the achievements of a city whose push for progress has remarkably included green spaces and cultural heritage in the picture. But in the age of virtual information warfare, a nuanced perspective must always prevail, more so in instances touting supposed progress. In other words, facts--and therefore clarity--above all else.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Scholars have long noted the political nature of names: The very act of naming spawns its own power structure, eventually influencing future thought and action. Iloilo itself is no stranger to the politics of nomenclature: Remember back when someone declared it the "most shabulized city" in the country?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The present case is the complete opposite. Now we're dealing with a name connoting invincibility and impenetrability, at such a critical juncture in contemporary history. The danger, then, in ascribing a status of implied superiority to a single place goes beyond mere misrepresentation. It warps public consciousness, birthing instead an idea of the place that's devoid of imperfection and immune to criticism. To go by a tenet of propaganda, repetition is key to creating the reality. Keep upholding this myth of the Ilonggo Wakanda, and soon you'll have anything but. (In this era of right-wing populism, you might even get an army of blind believers to back you up.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If there's anything the last four years in Philippine politics have taught us, it's that too much belief in something--or someone--eventually blurs the line between fact and fiction, blunting our collective judgment.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Our cities, and our leaders, should not be placed on pedestals. They must always be rendered on a human scale--to be praised where praise is due, and to be held accountable for their every shortcoming. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">For Iloilo, that may mean commending its government for the way it has handled the pandemic these last six months (establishing accessible mass testing, sustaining open lines of communication, nurturing public-private partnership, etc.). But even this commendation should go hand in hand with recognizing that these mechanisms haven't always been perfect or fully effective in curbing the threat of COVID-19.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Such a duality, in the bigger scheme of things, should be enough. Anything more--anything subscribing to ridiculous superlatives, like this perpetration of the Wakandan analogy--is unnecessary, and may even prove damaging in the long run. </p>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-20972384078793569112020-09-28T10:23:00.002+08:002020-09-28T10:23:52.403+08:00PDI Feature: On virtual theater<p style="text-align: justify;">Major-ish news: The <i>Philippine Daily Inquirer</i>'s Theater section has been absorbed by Arts and Books (where theater articles used to appear before November 2012). The move makes sense, of course, given how local theater has been at a standstill for the last six months. My first essay under this new arrangement appears in today's paper, and contrary to what the headline makes it sound like, I am in fact not the biggest fan of virtual theater. See you in this same space next month, probably. The website link to the article <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/371722/is-virtual-theater-the-future-of-the-ph-stage/">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><u>Is virtual theater the future of the PH stage?</u></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Four months ago, a video recording of "Ang Huling El Bimbo" streamed for free on Facebook and Youtube as part of ABS-CBN's fundraiser for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In just two days, the musical reached seven million views and raised over 12 million pesos.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Those were unquestionably impressive numbers, though to be fair, "El Bimbo" was an easy sell. A massive hit at Resorts World Manila, where it played 115 performances in the span of a year to some 150,000 people, it could rely on solid word of mouth. The show's use of the Eraserheads' music was also an attraction in itself, and would have lured even those who did not identify as theatergoers but were fans of the seminal band. Plus, the audience was already essentially "present": Anyone with internet access anywhere in the world could watch the show--and donate to the cause.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Nonetheless, the case of "El Bimbo" proved that, with the proper publicity and the "right" material, there can be a future for streaming theater in the Philippines. The question now--six months into this crippling pandemic--is how to make it work. One may as well begin by stressing the importance of the quality of the recording. This was never a problem for "El Bimbo"; at Resorts World Manila's Newport Performing Arts Theater, the shows were always accompanied by a "live recording," as strategically stationed cameras beamed the ongoing performance on either side of the stage. (Sudden;y, what used to be a distracting feature of the theater became its asset.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But "El Bimbo" was a rarity: Numerous companies also released archival content on the internet, such as Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas' "Ang Nawalang Kapatid" and Philippine Educational Theater Association's "William"--but often, these recordings were poorly captured and frustrating to watch.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">And in any case, "El Bimbo" was no global pioneer. London's National Theatre and New York's Lincoln Center have been in the business of streaming theater for years, recording their shows as if they were shooting films and releasing them in cinemas or through broadcasters like PBS. In fact, when the pandemic struck and London theater shuttered, the National Theatre was one of the first to launch these online shows-for-a-cause initiatives. For Filipino viewers, that meant free and previously impossible access to Tom Hiddleston's "Coriolanus," for example.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">But is such a model sustainable in the Philippines? If, for example, in a postpandemic world, "El Bimbo" were to hold regular cinema screenings, would enough people pay to see it?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's a tricky question to navigate at the moment, and using First-World examples such as the National Theatre, or even "Hamilton's" tie-up with Disney+, to assert the financial viability of this future won't be very convincing.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's even trickier for original material--this alien thing we now call virtual or "Zoom" theater, after the video conferencing app that artists worldwide have used as a stage. Now the question starts at the time of inception: Playwrights must now tailor their material to the virtual media, with Zoom screens in mind, while actors, directors and designers must navigate their craft in this strange in-between of film and physical theater.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The early local examples can be seen as stepping stones to this forced transition. Playwright Layeta Bucoy, for instance, wrote for Tanghalang Pilipino a trilogy of "monovlogs" that tried to unpack the human experience of COVID-19, the second installment of which starred screen legend Nora Aunor as the eponymous "Lola Doc." Gabay Kalikasan, an advocacy arm of PLDT-Smart, did a couple of revues employing many from the cast and creative team of "El Bimbo"--first, "Songs for a Changed World"; then "Tatsulok: A Trilogy for Change."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The recent Virgin Labfest, the Cultural Center of the Philippines' annual festival of new one-act plays, might just be the biggest such effort yet--and perhaps the most insightful.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">For one, the most successful entires of this year's edition, which unfolded on the video platform Vimeo, were those that figured out how to transpose to the screen a script that was originally intended for the stage, such as Floyd Scott Tiogangco's "Pilot Episode," which surely benefited from having filmmaker Giancarlo Abrahan ("Dagitab," "Sila-Sila") at the helm. And as longtime festival production manager Nikki Garde-Torres shared, the dip in this year's revenues was countered by a huge rise in viewership--audiences from a wider geographical catchment--reflected in the postfestival numbers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Especially in the past decade, Filipino theater has often been touted to be a "booming" industry, but in fact what this "theater" refers to has been largely confined to the stages of Metro Manila--the unfortunate product of, among other factors, theater journalists of prominent publications being mostly based in the capital and therefore covering only shows in that region; and the congregation of talent, from professional theater companies to universities with reputable training programs, in that same, insular space.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Virtual theater is just about our best answer now to solving this question of access--of whose theatrical creations get to be seen and who gets to see these creations.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Live theater is irreplaceable. But now we must also embrace virtual theater, whether streamed recordings of existing shows or completely new productions, as a vital part of the landscape. Doing so will not only be in support of sustaining the art form while the pandemic rages on; it will also be a step toward realizing a truly democratic Filipino theater.</p>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-27208475050983078312020-06-28T09:19:00.002+08:002020-06-28T09:21:51.182+08:00PDI Review: Virgin Labfest 16<div style="text-align: justify;">Nearly three months since my/our last piece for the Theater section! Due to space issues (because print media in the time of COVID-19), this piece has been split into two parts, published <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/365130/virgin-labfest-ph-experiences-its-first-virtual-theater/" target="_blank">yesterday (part 1)</a> and <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/365196/virgin-labfest-2020-tests-virtual-theater/" target="_blank">today (part 2)</a>. I'm putting it here in the original, unbroken form.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">* * * * *</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Virgin Labfest: PH experiences its first 'virtual theater'</u></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj2BULvfHPe0fxq_H6cdEWGPS5mjSgKLqx1zVe0sVZsTL9uaQRf2u5tKotVfgRmDrYdOjAjPwz_3p9uzKWkJZoXlwYI3Mr-bYl6safv_4vARtLDMrS__4GNnBLfFzK6pcR4Ph5WfZgdra/s1440/Screen+Shot+2020-06-28+at+9.19.55+AM.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1440" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXj2BULvfHPe0fxq_H6cdEWGPS5mjSgKLqx1zVe0sVZsTL9uaQRf2u5tKotVfgRmDrYdOjAjPwz_3p9uzKWkJZoXlwYI3Mr-bYl6safv_4vARtLDMrS__4GNnBLfFzK6pcR4Ph5WfZgdra/w400-h250/Screen+Shot+2020-06-28+at+9.19.55+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under ordinary circumstances, the Cultural Center of the Philippines would have resembled a pilgrimage site of sorts these last three weeks, as Virgin Labfest, the annual festival of "untried, untested, unstaged" one-act plays, holds its 16th edition from June 10-28.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But this is no ordinary time: A pandemic rages across the world, with ill-equipped, populist leaders in charge of governments, to our global misfortune.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Manila, live entertainment has been at a standstill for 15 weeks, resulting in thousands of displaced individuals and hundreds of millions in financial losses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What's the Filipino theater artist to do in the face of unprecedented crisis where physical proximity in a live performance is a no-no?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're JK Anicoche, newly installed festival director of Labfest, you forge on, doing what theater artists around the world have done the past three months--migrating online and making do with "virtual theater." The festival theme "kapit" ("hold on") couldn't have been more apt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Substitute for live theater</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One wonders what the German cultural critic Walter Benjamin would have to say about this new arrangement. In his 1935 landmark essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Benjamin briefly distinguished theater from film through two elements: the presence of camera for the latter, and a physical audience with whom the stage actor interacts constantly for the former.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Benjamin didn't have to deal with a pandemic, nor could he have foreseen the rise of the internet, which has not only influenced how we "reproduce" and "distribute," and thus "view" and "consume" art, but which can now dictate the very creation of art itself. Especially in light of the pandemic, the distinctions laid out by Benjamin aren't so much rendered pointless as placed in positions that demand careful reflection and reconsideration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There can be no substitute for live, physical theater as we've known it, but one might as well make room for this new "virtual" theater--works that aren't just filmed versions of live performances, but created, designed and intended to be performed for the virtual space.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While we look forward to finally returning to watching theater in real time as an intimate crowd, it is necessary, if only in the meantime, to explore what it means to be writing scripts with streaming platforms in mind; directing and performing for the unseen but ever-present audience; even presenting shows in a country where decent internet connection--the basic requirement of virtual theater--isn't common.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The nine works of this year's Labfest prompt discussion of those questions. (The 10th play of the original lineup, Dustin Celestino's "Doggy," has been pulled out of the festival.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'Pilot Episode': Brilliant</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best of the nine is Floyd Scott Tiogangco's "Pilot Episode"--not only a cut above the rest, but also inarguably the first great Filipino play of the quarantine. The writing is a brilliant explication of mental illness, honest and compassionate in its portrayal of the cycle of helplessness that hounds not just the patient, but also the patient's loved ones, to an almost normalized degree.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The advantages of having a filmmaker at the helm are instantly recognizable. But more than just his evident grasp of working on screen, director Giancarlo Abrahan actually lends the medium of film to heighten both the storytelling and the theatrical production, instead of insisting that the theater adjust to preconceived demands of film.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The play's first half is a straightforward monologue, with Phi Palmos (in one of the year's finest turns as the bipolar protagonist) acting straight before the camera (and thus, the viewers).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The second half is a tour-de-force dramatization of a manic episode in the life of the character, who lives with his parents (Missy Maramara and Jojit Lorenzo, providing excellent support). Six rectangular screens are present throughout, as each actor shoots from two differently positioned cameras at home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By merely playing with the screens--the "positioning" of the actors, how many screens they occupy in a scene, even the way they appear, disappear, or are cut within a screen--Abrahan is able to capture the internal and external struggles of mental illness, and renders the confusions of mania--the flight of ideas, the fluctuating emotions and energies--in surprisingly accessible and evocative terms.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The "editing" and "production design" even succeed in granting the play a sense of visual and narrative continuity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'The Boy-boy & Friends Channel': Fine sketch comedy</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anthony Kim Vergara's "The Boy-boy & Friends Channel," directed by Joshua Tayco, also lends itself well to the virtual medium.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The play is about four friends who run one of those Youtube channels that put out inane, if selectively entertaining, content. And the inanity is reflected foremost in the use of comical (and comically cheap) visuals, from Zoom backgrounds to outlandish physical gestures (mostly care of Gabo Tolentino, a hoot as the quartet's tattoo artist friend).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The treatment is, in a way, meta: On stage, the play would have unfolded with the audience located "inside" the physical space where the characters are shooting their Youtube content; now, the viewer watches from the other side of the "camera," chunks of the play unfolding as the supposed video recording.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The play itself is too long, takes unnecessary detours, and ends unconvincingly. But when it's good, it's really good, Vergara's writing calling to mind the finest moments of sketch comedy shows like "Bubble Gang" and "Ispup," but for the Duterte era. And the perfect casting includes Jerald Napoles and Anthony Falcon, so believable as the kind of people who would casually poke fun at Duterte's drug war on their Youtube channel, that you wonder just where the script ends and the improv begins.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'Titser Kit': A marvel of simplicity</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jobert Grey Landeza's "Titser Kit" is the opposite of Vergara's play. A conversation in a school storage room between a new student, who happens to be lumad, and the teacher who is his sole friend and confidante, it is devoid of noise and is a marvel of simplicity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Director Adrienne Vergara's "staging" evokes the limits of the play's intimate physical (as well as social) space with just two alternating camera perspectives and through the clever use of close-ups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The play, however, is riddled with a clumsy eagerness to arrive at moments of poignancy by way of nostalgia-as-exposition. Nevertheless, in the instances that it does land those moments, in the quiet gestures and small pauses of its actors (IO Balanon and JM Salvado as teacher and student, respectively), it becomes a deceptively simple but no less illuminating discourse on the unspoken trauma of children from violence-stricken places. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>'Multiverse,' 'Papaano Turuan ang Babaw Humawak ng Baril': Ravishing visuals</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The inelegant handling of emotion also marks Juliene Mendoza's "Multiverse," one of two plays that know exactly what they want to achieve with their visuals--and execute those visuals with ravishing effect (the other being Daryl Pasion's "Papaano Turuan ang Babae Humawak ng Baril").</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Multiverse," directed by Fitz Bitana, runs away with its visual conceit, merging the superhero comic books of Marvel and DC with arcade video games of old. It also has the perfect stars (Iggi Siasoco and Vino Mabalot) to exude the mile-a-minute energy of its story of two brothers who rekindle bonds after the younger one's catastrophic spiral into alcoholism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the story's stumble into all-too-convenient melodrama is its undoing--when it starts rubbing emotions on the viewer's nose and relies on a disingenuous twist for its climax.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pasion's play, on the other hand, looks like an oil painting, with its almost-static background of the light-deprived interiors of a meager home. The writing is also the festival's most poetic and lyrical--and to a certain extent, succeeds in intimating the personal change that affects the protagonist, a military underling's lowly wife who must finally confront the senseless violence that has long plagued her husband and her community.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the play is overwritten, and combined with Erika Estacio's loose direction, comes across as a play of big moments and big emotions stifled by its technological platform, and too engrossed with its poetic and lyrical qualities. It also makes you wish to see Lhorvie Nuevo tackle the role of the wife onstage; here she can be affecting, but only to a degree.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'Mayang Bubot sa Tag-araw,' 'Blackpink': Burdened by narratives</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, two plays feel more burdened than buoyed by the narrative messages they are so preoccupied with delivering.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Norman Boquiren's "Mayang Bubot sa Tag-araw," directed by Mark Mirando, apparently wants to bring to light the desecration of ancestral lands of indigenous peoples in the country, but spends an inordinate amount of time skimming the surface and dwelling on petty and less insightful matters. As the closest this festival has to outright protest theater, the play seems hesitant to dramatize the issues that demand dramatizing (relegating those to its final 10 minutes), or perhaps, too overwhelmed by the issues it initially sought to tackle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's even more baffling with Tyron Casumpang's "Blackpink," directed by Jethro Tenorio. It positions itself as progressive, an ally of the LGBTQ community, in creating the characters of a father who has long accepted his son's homosexuality, and of the son whose family rallies behind him to fight for his right to dance to a Korean girl group's song in the school talent show.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But as the characters unravel--the "gay" son reveals he is straight, and at one point, the father dictatorially commands his sons to admit to their homosexuality in the name of self-acceptance--the play becomes more confused, and ends up dropping its agenda in favor of a "fun" and "family-friendly" conclusion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Blackpink" is not exactly "I have gay friends, so I can't be homophobic" made manifest, but it sure resembles that friend who claims to be an ally, but nonetheless proceeds to bully (and betray) you, and ultimately tells you to forego and forget politics in the name of "friendship."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'Dapithapon,' 'Gin Bilog': Fragmented</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for Jay Crisostomo IV's "Dapithapon," directed by Sig Pecho, and Luisito T. Nario's "Gin Bilog," directed by James Harvey Estrada, what's most striking is how the translation from stage to screen seems to have significantly lost the written work's essence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Dapithapon" is a nostalgia trip for those who miss their adolescence in the presocial media age. Its day-in-the-life story of three boys in the twilight of high school thrives on dick jokes, bathroom humor, and just tons of broad comedy that it doesn't land all the time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But onscreen, the energy the play would have derived from portraying three hormonal teenagers in a single space is now fragmented and muted, so much so that the arrival of Ina Azarcon-Bolivar (as the larger-than-life teacher) late in the play becomes such a welcome disruptive force.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The fragmentation and lost-in-translation effect is worse for "Gin Bilog," an absurd comedy about three drunks whose night gets out of hand and ends morbidly. It would be pretentious to say with certainty how this play could have transpired on a physical stage, but this virtual version unfortunately comes across as rudimentary in so many ways, from the attempts at animation to the strangely catatonic delivery of the comedy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>'Wanted: Male Boarders,' 'Jenny Li': Utter delight</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, the other runaway success of this Labfest is in the Revisited section (traditionally, the three plays from the previous year chosen to return for the current season).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rick Patriarca's "Wanted: Male Boarders," which distilled its central theme--that prejudice is learned, and can be unlearned--into its go-for-broke telling of three hypermasculine guys who must learn to live with their gayer-than-gay new housemate, now comes with a subtitle: "Vidjokol edition."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pacing issues notwithstanding, what an utter delight this play directed by George de Jesus III has become. Not only does it makes punchlines out of the notion of phone and video sex in the age of smartphones, it has also fully committed to the idea of the smartphone as the stage, and cleverly situates itself in the time of the pandemic--which means TikTok, Snapchat filters, freezing screens, Kim Chiu's "Bawal Lumabas," Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain on Me," and so forth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The result is a completely new staging that would no doubt merit a spot in the Revisited section.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And among the staged readings we've caught, Buch Dacanay's "Jenny Li," directed by Nour Hooshmand, is one that demands to be seen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's ridiculous to call this a staged reading (it's a fully staged virtual production, come on!), and its use of a twist as dramatic device may comes across as deceptive and counterproductive in the context of the story it wants to tell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But this is a play that addresses the unending issue of rape, male predatory behavior, and the exceptional bravery it always takes for victims to come forward--and does so with remarkable empathy and clearheadedness. A spot in the featured works section would have been more than deserved.</div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-52308032657130196932020-06-26T19:57:00.004+08:002020-06-26T20:02:54.805+08:00I Have Moved to TinyLetter<div style="text-align: justify;">Just a PSA for anyone who still visits this space (thank you, I really appreciate it). This blog will now just be an archive of my published work. For the diary/ drama/ personal eme, subscribe to my TinyLetter: </div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu" target="_blank">https://tinyletter.com/vincengyu</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">See ya!</div></div>VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-61621857429141840882020-04-04T10:56:00.000+08:002020-04-04T10:56:10.320+08:00PDI Feature: Impact of COVID-19 on Filipino theater companies<div style="text-align: justify;">
Cora and I do the numbers and economics in today's theater section--<a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/360466/sometimes-the-show-cant-go-on-how-filipino-theater-tries-to-cope/">here</a>. I can only hope I never again see in my lifetime the theater community besieged by something as crippling and monstrous as this pandemic.</div>
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<b><u>'Sometimes, the show can't go on': How Filipino theater tries to cope</u></b><br />
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Twenty-eight productions of 22 companies in Metro Manila have been affected so far by the new coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) pandemic, which forced the government to lock down Luzon and suspend all public gatherings.<br />
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From a public health perspective, the move was necessary.<br />
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Yet, one simply cannot ignore the economic repercussions of this unprecedented shutdown.<br />
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"Theater is time-bound and time-sensitive. Very few productions are able to circumvent the idea of 'It's now or never,' which is why 'The show must go on' has become synonymous with the performing arts," says Pangasinan Rep. Toff de Venecia, the managing artistic director of The Sandbox Collective. "But COVID-19 is a different monster altogether. It has caught everyone in the industry off-guard."<br />
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Sandbox canceled 14 performances of a 16-show repertory run of "Lungs" and "Every Brilliant Thing," its two hit nonmusical plays from 2018 and 2019, respectively.<br />
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Postponing a single weekend of shows alone, De Venecia says, would already incur a loss for the company, as it grapples with "venue availability vis-à-vis the preferences of both ticket buyers and show buyers for rescheduled performances. What more postponing the whole run."<br />
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According to an industry insider, mounting a typical four-weekend run of an English-language nonmusical play by a non-Filipino playwright--covering licensing, salaries, production costs, administrative work and marketing--now costs anywhere between P2 and P4 million. A musical of similar pedigree costs at least P10 million.<br />
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For productions of homegrown material--without the need to pay for licenses and royalties overseas--the costs run anywhere between P800,000 (the minimum for nonmusical plays) and P2 million (the usual maximum for musicals).<br />
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To break even, or recover expenses, a production would have to net at least 15-20 percent return of investment. This translates to 50-60 percent capacity for every performances--which is hardly the case in the local theater scene, where audiences usually start filling houses only past the second weekend, from word of mouth.<br />
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Productions by university companies cost less to mount--according to another insider, P50,000 to P200,000 for a straight play, and around P1.2 million for a musical.<br />
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<b>Student-run</b><br />
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Of the 28 productions sidelined by the pandemic, 13 were by student-run theater organizations or university theater arts programs.<br />
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That included Ateneo Entablado's (Enta) "Macli-ing," which had only the first of its three-week run; Ateneo Blue Repertory's (BlueRep) "Next to Normal," with a sold-out five-show opening weekend; and Tanghalang Ateneo's (TA) "Top Girls," which never got to open.<br />
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Collectively, they incurred P1,121,011.39 in losses, according to the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo.<br />
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Missy Maramara, director of "Next to Normal," says: "In student-run companies, the students raise the funds, make the decisions and do the legwork. We apply for grants from the school; we don't get automatic subsidies. The university support comes in the form of minimal expenses for the use of the venues. So our only streams of revenue are ticket sales, sponsorships and the occasional gig."<br />
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According to Maramara, "Next to Normal" lost around half a million pesos because of cancellations. "Productions of the following year are dependent on the financial capacity of the previous year, so it's a deficit the company will bring over to its next production."<br />
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This snowball effect is felt not only on a micro level (e.g., detailed finances), but also on a macro scale (e.g., the planning of a company's entire season).<br />
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Sandbox's sister company, 9 Works Theatrical, has postponed one of two productions set later in the year for next year, says managing director Santi Santamaria.<br />
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The 11-year-old company's original lineup included a new jukebox musical using the songs of former Rivermaya frontman Rico Blanco, and the stage adaptation of the Whitney Houston vehicle "The Bodyguard."<br />
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<b>No opening night</b><br />
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Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group has preemptively canceled its production of "Oliver!," set for June. Its maiden offering for 2020, "The Band's Visit," managed only a couple of invitational technical dress rehearsals (March 11-12) and shuttered before opening night.<br />
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Repertory Philippines' (Rep) "Anna in the Tropics" never got to open, while its "Carousel," to be directed by De Venecia and originally set for May, has been postponed.<br />
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"Batang Mujahideen," the production of Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), was the earliest casualty of the pandemic.<br />
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Even before its late-February opening night, it already had to cancel five of its 12 performances, as the schools that bought those shows backed out in compliance with the Department of Education's memorandum on prohibition of educational trips.<br />
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Despite losing roughly P400,000 from those canceled shows, however, artistic director Fernando "Nanding" Josef chooses to think of TP as somehow lucky. "The onset of the epidemic happened at the tail end of our season. Our Actors Company (AC) and staff were psychologically prepared for the 'off-season' mood, and the show itself was well-received by audiences and critics, so morale did not get too low. Plus, one of the show buyers that backed out instead transferred its reservation to the rerun of 'Lam-ang' in September."<br />
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In the meantime, some reevaluation of existing structures and internal policies is needed--what Josef calls starting "a solid, sustainable program of in-depth reflection, analysis and new creative collective action."<br />
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<b>Strong business sense</b><br />
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Rep artistic director Liesl Batucan, for one, notes that "there are advantages to being a company that's been in the business for a long time. [Late company cofounder] Tita Bibot Amador ran Rep very well; she had a strong business sense. Now we have financials--not a lot, but enough to help us not shut down the whole year--and the human resource infrastructure."<br />
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As Santamaria puts its, "Unlike normal businesses that are accustomed to monthly income flow, theater has trained us to be naturally prudent, as we only really earn or lose income whenever we have a production."<br />
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It's this ephemeral nature of local theater that De Venecia sees as both boon and bane. "It's a kind of cushion in that we don't have tremendous overhead, as opposed to those who maintain facilities or have regular employees. But as arts organizations, our engagement with audiences is seasonal and transactional. We put up a show, engage with paying audiences and disengage soon after--which is maybe why theater companies work so hard to scream in a crowded market to attract fickle audiences.<br />
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"As producers, we can't not look ahead; we still have to make plans and provisions for future programming. But if anything, this pandemic has compelled micro-, small and medium enterprises such as ours to start thinking medium-term rather than short term--to think of plan B or C in light of force majeure."<br />
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Moving forward, after all, is not as easy as it sounds. Rescheduling canceled shows must consider the availability of venues, that of artists and behind-the-scenes personnel.<br />
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There is also the emotional toll the sudden forced closures have inflicted on the artistic community.<br />
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"Our circles are not just tightknit, but also concentric," says De Venecia. "Workers in the industry vacillate between capacities and capabilities--one actor in this show is a producer in the next, and so on. There is literally one degree of separation within Philippine theater.<br />
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<b>Sad emojis</b><br />
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"When we announced the postponement of Sandbox's shows via Viber, 'It is what it is,' said most of our team with sad emojis. We couldn't even have a proper face-to-face company call because by then, Metro Manila was already on community quarantine."<br />
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Maramara says "Next to Normal" was already looking into adding shows because it had sold out its three-week run. "People tell us, 'At least you got to open.' That is true, and we are grateful, but that doesn't diminish the intensity of the loss. This isn't a contest of whose pain is greater."<br />
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No doubt, it's an even more trying time for freelancers--artists who earn on per-project basis--who constitute majority of the community.<br />
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As Audie Gemora, Philstage president and Trumpets artistic director, puts it, "The initial disappointment over the lockdown was frustration over not being able to perform after having prepared for months.<br />
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"Then came the realization that it meant loss of income, with no clear view of when this crisis will be resolved."<br />
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"COVID-19 has brought the plight of the freelancers into play and provided a startling new viewpoint into their vulnerability," De Venecia says. "Before Congress adjourned last March 11, we tackled an Occupational Safety Bill about the performing arts, known as the Eddie Garcia Bill. It is now in the technical working group (TWG) stage.<br />
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"There is a need to find out how many artists there are, and how the pandemic has affected them, since many are not covered by formal employer-employee contracts, and thus, the recent Department of Labor and Employment assistance of P5,000 for displaced workers, for example.<br />
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"The displacement of creative workers is an economic reality that the Creative Workers Welfare Bill that I refiled in the 18th Congress hopes to address, by providing access to secondary livelihoods for our affected stakeholders. I've also filed a Freelancer Protection Bill, which is now in the TWG stage."<br />
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<b>Taken up the cudgels</b><br />
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In the absence of concrete legislation, theater artists themselves have taken up the cudgels to raise funds for creative works most vulnerable to this lockdown.<br />
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A coalition involving Philstage, Artists Welfare Project, Silly People's Improve Theater-Manila, Third World Improv, Ticket2Me and Theater Actors Guild has put up Open House, an online serial fundraiser whose programs have so far included classes on movement (with Jack Yabut) and hurdling auditions (with Rony Fortich), an episode of the five-year-old cabaret series "One Night Stand," and even a song interpretation workshop delivered by Gemora himself.<br />
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Another group--made up of JK Anicoche, Laura Cabochan, Jopie Sanchez, Komunidad, Sipat Lawin and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines--has set up #CreativeAidPH, which has gathered much-needed preliminary data on the specific extent of the lockdown's financial toll, from a pool of nearly 500 respondents.<br />
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"We have also reached out to CCP and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to realign their budgets for the displaced workers," says Gemora.<br />
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And within companies themselves, the wheels are already turning.<br />
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In the case of TP, Josef says it "should continue its research-oriented programming of theater," citing the company's recent partnership with the Asian Institute for Distance Education (AIDE) as an important cushion for these down times.<br />
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Under AIDE, TP has launched an online certificate-granting workshop in performing arts led by Remus Villanueva, under its Kamalayang Pilipino Workshop in the Arts program. "We can develop more modules for scriptwriting, production design, etc., and employ not only the AC, but other artist-teachers who are temporarily out of work because of the pandemic," says Josef.<br />
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Preexisting coalitions among university organizations have also proven beneficial, as evidenced by the Ateneo theater companies. Starting last year, TA, BlueRep and Enta have collaborated on TresPass, a season pass for their productions running simultaneously toward the end of the school year.<br />
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"When the pandemic hit, and everyone's morale plunged, we turned not only to members of our own organization, but reached out to other companies as well," says Maramara.<br />
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"It was the officers of all three companies who worked out logistical and financial concerns with the university's Performing Arts Cluster and Office of Student Activities.<br />
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"The companies are now competing with compassion. The students talk to each other, which is the best way to learn what each of us can offer."<br />
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As with all industries wrestling with this global crisis, the Filipino theater community is starting to come to grips with changes that can permanently alter the landscape. To paraphrase De Venecia: "More than moving forward, this pandemic is forcing us to restrategize and contend with the reality that sometimes, the show cannot go on."</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-5325670286533438842020-03-27T13:32:00.000+08:002020-03-27T13:32:37.220+08:00PDI Opinion: Adding fuel to the COVID-19 infernoWhat a fucked-up time we are living in now. Every hour, something infuriating just seems to happen in this country. The website version of this rant <a href="https://opinion.inquirer.net/128354/adding-fuel-to-the-covid-19-inferno">here</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Adding fuel to the COVID-19 inferno</u></b><br />
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It's hard not to envy the Singaporeans. Through a televised address on March 12, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong laid out in a mere 11-and-a-half minutes the state of his country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and his government's plan of action. The speech was clear, concise, and, most importantly, reassuring, the gist of it being: We are wading on uncharted waters, but your leaders are on top of things.</div>
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How nice to have a government--or even just a head of state--that actually knows how to talk to its people, instead of sending them into alternating states of panic and paranoia.</div>
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The same day as Lee's address, President Duterte also faced his nation. He was two hours late to the scheduled broadcast, and when he finally appeared, it was to announce--in increments--the provisions of the Metro Manila quarantine. "Announce now, details to follow" was the gist of the whole affair, as if the document he was reading were the most banal and unimportant thing.</div>
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Days later, his lackey, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, also took to the podium. Mind you, this was before the actual announcement of the "enhanced quarantine"--now the whole island of Luzon was to be locked down. Among the many things Panelo said: The Cabinet was about to propose a Luzon-wide lockdown to the President (so why was he already blabbing about it to the media?); the country was taking South Korea's lead in locking down (Korea has done no such thing); eating bananas and gargling saltwater would prevent you from getting COVID-19 (they won't); and the operations of such services as supermarkets and food cargo deliveries would be impeded (the Department of Trade and Industry had to quickly go on record to refute that statement).</div>
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Neither instance was out of character; anyone who has lived through all three-and-a-half years of Mr. Duterte's presidency should by now be familiar with its penchant for chest-beating and noise-making set to maximum. "We can say what we want and get away with it" has always been the gist of this government.</div>
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It's only rational, then, to think that, for all the proactive actions it has indeed taken, this government remains blithely unaware of just how extraordinary and precarious a time we are living through--that now, more than ever, the unhinged minds occupying its highest echelons must take responsibility for every single word they utter.</div>
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In the two instances cited above, what transpired afterward was only expected. Perhaps for the nth time within the span of two weeks, many people in Metro Manila found themselves panic-buying, prodded by vague, doomsday-like proclamations from above to head to groceries, pharmacies, and other establishments. In other words, crowding in public places--and, quite possibly, transmitting the virus among themselves. The pictures of these crowds--the indirect result, it must be emphasized, of the government's reckless mouth--are just some of the stuff that health care workers' nightmares are made of these days.</div>
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And it isn't just its mouth this government can't control; it also doesn't care about the kind of messages it sends out to its already anxious and agitated people.</div>
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The country running short on testing kits for the virus? Let's have asymptomatic politicos get tested, anyway, violating the algorithm set by the Department of Health, and have them parade their results in public. Meanwhile, patients under investigation for COVID-19 are dying in our hospitals without even knowing if they were positive for the virus.</div>
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A pandemic laying siege to our fragile health care system? Let's have a law-and-order solution to this public health problem, with checkpoints manned by the military, ill-equipped and clueless about the necessary hygienic precautions (though hopefully not as clueless now).</div>
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Nobody expects any government to get through this pandemic perfectly. But the least it can do is provide a reassuring voice to its people, and show them it is exhausting every possible means to get them through this unprecedented time--something numerous local government units, through the leadership of their mayors and governors, seem to be achieving.</div>
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Our national government, on the other hand, is only adding fuel to the Philippine COVID-19 inferno. Not only are we facing a virus the world still knows very little about, we must also deal with leaders who don't know how--or don't care--to talk to us like they actually want us to survive this pandemic.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-6187882457370464352020-03-21T09:40:00.000+08:002020-03-21T09:40:09.565+08:00PDI Feature: Theater cancellations amid COVID-19Fucking pandemic. The website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/359550/cancellation-notices-simply-heartbreaking/">here</a>.<br />
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<b><u>Cancellation notices simply heartbreaking</u></b><br />
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How does one even begin to take stock of unprecedented loss--much less learn how, or what, exactly to feel?<br />
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It's a thought worth pondering these days of the Luzon quarantine, which shuttered nine theater productions and led to either the postponement or cancellation of 18 more, including eight slated to open the week the quarantine was announced.<br />
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Make no mistake, this was a necessary move. We still know very little about the enemy--and we're not even being dramatic in calling COVID-19 "the enemy"--though we know for certain it thrives in close quarters. Logic only followed that the theater, an art form that breathes through human proximity and intimacy, should close immediately.<br />
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A necessary move, no doubt. But it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking. Unlike Broadway or the London's West End, whose marquees dimmed all at once following organized edicts from above, the Manila theater industry instead endured day after day of pounding uncertainty.<br />
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"The show must go on" has always been a powerful adage, fueling productions even in times of man-made disasters or natural calamities, and fuel productions it did in the weeks leading to the quarantine announcement.<br />
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<b>State of limbo</b><br />
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At first, it was just Tanghalang Pilipino's (TP) "Batang Mujahideen" preemptively canceling performances, its show buyers--mostly schools--withdrawing their participation, given the pandemic's looming threat.<br />
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Then with the initial suspension of classes in Metro Manila from March 10 to March 14, the university productions were sent into what could have only been a harrowing state of limbo. (Do they make up for canceled performances? Extend the run? Close altogether?)<br />
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Even on the night of the quarantine announcement itself, two productions--Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group's (ATEG) "The Band's Visit" and Repertory Philippines' (Rep) "Anna in the Tropics"--were more than ready to open, should they have been allowed to do so, while the international tour of "Matilda the Musical" carried on at The Theatre at Solaire.<br />
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Now, only drawn curtains and heartbreak magnified. When the theater has become so integral to your life, as it has been to the writers of this section--when your weekends are plotted according to the varying runs of productions, and chasing after shows across the region's scattered stages has become a way of life--the sight of these productions posting closing or cancellation notices one after another can be a most gut-wrenching experience.<br />
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Perched distantly as surveyors of the scene, we cannot even claim to imagine how much more difficult a time it has become for the artists themselves--the writers, directors, performers, designers, musicians, publicists, crew members, who actually keep our stages running and burning bright.<br />
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<b>Economic impact</b><br />
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The economic impact of this pandemic will be brutal. Perhaps it may be too early for a thorough assessment of the damage that these closures and cancellations have brought upon Philippine theater, but already we are seeing just how fragile the fabric of an industry we have touted to be "booming" all these years remains.<br />
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What of our freelancers? What of our practitioners who are also breadwinners? What of those for whom theater and the performing arts are, clichés be damned, truly the world--financially, as much as artistically?<br />
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So it has been heartening, to say the least, seeing our theater artists themselves take up the cudgels, in the many ways they know how. Some have brought their craft online, through storytelling sessions and concerts on Facebook Live, or even streamed yoga and dance sessions.<br />
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Others have started advocacy and awareness campaigns against the pandemic through song.<br />
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Most important, #CreativeAidPH, led by JK Anicoche, Laura Cabochan, Jopie Sanchez, Komunidad, Sipat Lawin and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, has launched an online platform to gather concrete data from individuals on the economic and financial damage the pandemic has so far caused--which is exactly the kind of moving-forward step the industry needs.<br />
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The next time you use the word "resilient," theater practitioners better be at the top of your mind.<br />
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So--for now--take your virtual bows:<br />
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"Anna in the Tropics" and "Carousel" (Rep); "The Band's Visit" and "Oliver!" (ATEG); "Bogus Pokus" (Harlequin Theatre Guild); "Dekada '70" (Black Box Productions); "Enrico IV" (TP); "Every Brilliant Thing" and "Lungs" (The Sandbox Collective); "In the Heights" (Broadway Theatre Troupe of Ateneo); "Juan Tamban" (Dulaang ROC); "Kublihan," "Kung Paano Maghiwalay" and "Swipe Right, Siz" (College of St. Benilde Theater Arts); "Macli-ing" (Ateneo Entablado); "Matilda the Musical" (GMG Productions); "Nana Rosa" (Dulaang UP); "Next to Normal" (Ateneo Blue Repertory); "Once a Panahon" (Juliene Mendoza/9th Studios Creative Hub); "Ang Pangahas na si Pepe Rodriguez" (Teatro Tomasino); "Rashomon" (ViARE); "The Revolutionists" (Cast); "Tabing Ilog the Musical" (Star Hunt/ABS-CBN); Tamdula 3 (FEU Theater Guild); "Top Girls" (Tanghalang Ateneo); "Under My Skin" (Peta); and "Walang Damit ang Hari ng La Mancha sa Mata ng Hangal" (Dulaang Sipat Lawin).<br />
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We'll see you in the theater when this pandemic is over. The day our curtains rise again is the day we look forward to the most.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-30939869182313843872020-03-21T09:00:00.003+08:002021-01-06T00:20:09.585+08:00PDI Review: 'The Band's Visit' by Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was the last production I saw before the Metro Manila quarantine was enacted. The website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/359555/the-bands-visit-was-simply-perfect/">here</a>. The original Broadway cast recording has been a go-to mental-health break for days now.</div>
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<b><u>'The Band's Visit' was simply perfect</u></b><br />
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Years from now, we will talk of Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group's "The Band's Visit" and remember how it was forced to close even before it could open.<br />
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The irony will not be lost on us: how a musical about human connection had to dim its lights prematurely because of a pandemic that spread, among other means, through human contact.<br />
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Fatalists might even claim the musical's book set it up for that irony. "You probably didn't hear about it. It wasn't very important," goes the opening supertitles, referring to the story of a fictional Egyptian police orchestra that winds up not just in the wrong town, but also in the wrong country.<br />
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Overnight, the musicians are adopted by the Israeli townspeople--allowed into their homes, and for that brief span, into their "bleak" and "boring" lives.<br />
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<b>Anything but boring</b><br />
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This Atlantis production was anything but bleak or boring. It was, in fact, one of the finest musical productions to have graced our stages in at least the last decade.<br />
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As directed by Bobby Garcia, we saw and understood exactly why this show--written by Itamar Moses and scored by David Yazbek--deserved its Tony Award for Best Musical.<br />
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"The Band's Visit" is a true-blue "book musical," the kind of song-and-dance theater that favors sound storytelling over spectacle; where the singing and dancing aid the narrative, instead of the narrative merely interspersed between musical numbers.<br />
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The New York Times called it "an honest-to-goodness musical for adults," and that assessment is just about right. Very little, in terms of incident, may seem to happen in this 90-minute show, but my, does it open up human worlds and histories as evocatively and eloquently as it illuminates the ordinary and seemingly inconsequential in the lives of its characters.<br />
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That, and more, we gleaned from Garcia's production, its compact yet measured pacing reflective of the wisdom and insight that went into its making. And it wasn't just Garcia's direction--everyone involved in this production did topnotch work.<br />
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Farley Asuncion's musical direction was remarkable for its clarity, as for its illusion of simplicity.<br />
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Faust Peneyra's set was of a piece with Adam Honoré's lights. The deceptively barren walls and sparingly outfitted performance space could have revealed its tricks only through the genius lighting design.<br />
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<b>Seamless</b><br />
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Odelon Simpao's costumes and Justin Stasiw's sound design were essential to the seamless creation of the world of this musical, and GA Fallarme's projections heightened effectively the parts of the show where they were needed.<br />
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And that cast? Not a false note: Reb Atadero's girl-baffled Papi; the easy-to-miss groundedness of Bibo Reyes' Itzik and Steven Conde's Simon; Mark Bautista delivering a performance of composed suavity as Haled; even Maronne Cruz's brief but realized turns as Julia and a bus station clerk, to name a few.<br />
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The star pairing of Rody Vera (as orchestra conductor Tewfiq) and Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (as café owner Dina) was of an entirely different level--two lead performances that glimmered with that rare sort of intelligence, when an actor knows exactly how much to give or withhold in every single scene, and in the process, expand the world of the musical way beyond its perceived limits.<br />
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If it isn't clear enough, yes, if there were such a thing as a perfect production, "The Band's Visit" was just about it. Very few saw it during its invitational technical dress rehearsals. It was beautiful. It was important. And it should visit us again the moment we get past this pandemic--hopefully soon. </div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-74929014551890037432020-03-14T11:05:00.005+08:002020-03-14T12:02:01.328+08:00PDI Review: 'Next to Normal' by Ateneo Blue Repertory<div style="text-align: justify;">
Manila theater is officially shut down. It has been heartbreaking, to say the least. This one, in particular, is a huge loss. The website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/359108/next-to-normal-2020s-best-local-musical-youll-miss-due-to-covid-19/">here</a>.</div>
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<b><u>'Next to Normal': 2020's best local musical you'll miss due to Covid-19</u></b></div>
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The COVID-19 (new coronavirus) outbreak in Metro Manila this past week virtually crippled what had promised to be a bustling month for theater, with as many as 13 canceled productions for this weekend alone.<br />
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Among the casualties is "Next to Normal"--and it's especially hard not to feel dejected over this one: This new staging by Ateneo Blue Repertory (BlueRep) may well be the year's best local musical production.<br />
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It's easy to say that BlueRep had a straight path to victory. The material, after all, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, and masterpieces are harder to bungle. But it is precisely how this "Next to Normal" highlights what a masterpiece the musical is that makes the production an unmissable work.<br />
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<b>Emotionally lacerating</b><br />
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Once again codirecting with Darrell Uy (after last year's ravishing "<a href="https://vincengregorii.blogspot.com/2019/04/pdi-review-spring-awakening-by-ateneo.html">Spring Awakening</a>"), Missy Maramara helms this production--and again, sidesteps the temptation to yield to the material's rock-musical roots. The result is "Next to Normal" with its insides fully exposed--an emotionally lacerating, meat-of-the-matter treatment that only brings to light the airtight, organic quality of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's writing and music-making.<br />
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Another way to put it: Maramara's production visibly makes sense of the material--of the lyrics, and of the story itself. The plunge into the unraveling lives of the fictional Goodman family (consisting of Diana, who has bipolar disorder, her husband Dan and daughter Natalie) never once feels rote or dishonest. Every element in this production, both human and nonhuman, is intertwined.<br />
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This "Next to Normal" becomes an even more outsized accomplishment when one considers the physical space it is given: Ateneo de Manila University's Gonzaga Fine Arts Theater, a cramped box of a room that the affluent school has somehow passed off as an actual "theater." Why this place is home to this show is topic for lengthier talk, but one thing's clear: This place does not deserve this masterpiece and the tremendous talent it employs.<br />
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<b>Overcoming limits of space</b><br />
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Yet somehow we should also thank this venue, if only for the chance to witness the topnotch skill involved in this production, how it has overcome the limits of space through intelligent direction and design.<br />
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Tata Tuviera's set reflects the fragile state of the Goodman family, especially Diana's state of mind, and effectively evokes the story's needed spaces, working hand in hand with Franco Ramos' efficient movement design, Miyo Sta. Maria's strategic lighting and Cholo Ledesma's crystal-clear sound design. And Tuviera's costumes, take note, are fine specimens of what one might label "no-costumes costumes."<br />
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<b>Main draw</b><br />
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The main draw of any "Next to Normal" would be rightfully its Diana--a Herculean part requiring any actress to wander stoutheartedly what the lyrics call the "manic, magic days and [dark], depressing nights." But guided by Maramara, and on the strength of its actors, this production becomes at once the individual and converging stories of Diana, Dan and Natalie.<br />
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Cris Villonco is, simply put, heartbreaking as Diana, but equally so is Jef Flores as Dan; they are breathing, singing, open wounds, and we'd be heaven-blessed to come across a more magnificent pair of leading performances this year. As Natalie, Nikki Bengzon (alternating with Jam Binay) is a vision of clarity, in every sense of the word, and one of the most exciting newcomers to the scene we've seen of late.<br />
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In fact, so thoughtfully staged is this production that it even makes you care about the Goodmans' son Gabe (Tim Pavino, affecting and in wondrous voice, alternating with Adrian Lindayag), Natalie's boyfriend Henry (Carlos de Guzman, immensely likable, alternating with Davy Narciso), and Diana's doctors (Jobim Javier, alternating with Jason Tan Liwag, who is "authoritative as a man of science," notes former Theater editor Gibbs Cadiz).<br />
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In the program, Maramara writes: "The hope of art is to sublimate human experiences [into] a form that allows for manageable confrontation." On that account alone, this "Next to Normal" is a success. It is also a musical triumph (the musical direction by Ejay Yatco), and a powerfully moving time at the theater. It is the real deal.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-78789535933085737922020-03-07T08:42:00.000+08:002020-03-08T10:18:33.420+08:00PDI Review: 'Dekada '70' by Black Box Productions<div style="text-align: justify;">
I like this show less now than when I first saw it two years ago, but it's still an important, must-see piece. The website version of this review <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/358716/dekada-70-the-revolution-is-alive-in-this-musical/">here</a>.</div>
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<b><u>'Dekada '70': The revolution is alive in this musical</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pat Valera addressing the audience post-show two years ago. The production has returned to the same venue this year.</span></div>
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Plays set in or centered on the Marcos dictatorship (these days, interchangeable in certain ways with the Duterte administration) all come to us with that singular, oft-intoned message: Never forget. Pat Valera's musical adaptation of the Lualhati Bautista novel "Dekada '70" tells its audience exactly that, but in all capital letters.</div>
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There is no denying the revolution, in its myriad forms, is alive in this musical, which has been enjoying a sold-out rerun at Ateneo de Manila University. That can only be for the best.</div>
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One can argue that the resistance taking the form of song and dance is, in effect, preaching to an echo chamber--the sort of people willing to shell out money for an obviously anti-Marcos (and by extension, anti-Duterte) piece of theater are in all likelihood long on the same page as the play itself--but lest we forget, today's high school kids weren't even born during the second Edsa Revolution, and their K-12 curriculum has made a joke out of Philippine History as a subject.</div>
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In that sense, "Dekada '70" should stick around this notoriously amnesiac nation for as long as it can, hopefully packing every performance not just with theatergoers who are there on their own dime, but more importantly with scores of students, their parents and teachers.</div>
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<b>Far from perfect, but...</b></div>
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Never mind that both the play and its current iteration under Black Box Productions are far from perfect.</div>
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"Dekada '70" examines literally a decade of life under martial law through the eyes of the comfortably middle-class Bartolome family. The stage version actually feels like watching a decade unfold.</div>
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There are two--not just one, but two!--plays-within-the-play, on top of drawn-out song numbers that bleed into each other and scenes that either repeat previous points or gratingly spell the point out for the audience.</div>
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Throughout this production, the volume, both auditory and emotional, is set to maximum; the action is always an approximation of fear and confusion; the moments of silence become literal breaths of fresh air, you would think this show might one day outlaw the mere act of breathing. And, by the way, the exhausting pace that this production insists on actually shows, most visibly taking its toll on the performers toward the end of both acts.</div>
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It's still an excellent cast, though, and taken on its own, the score by Valera and Matthew Chang gives us some genuinely heart-stopping anthems.</div>
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Stella Cañete-Mendoza's performance alone is still worth the price of admission; the narrative journey she brings the audience along, her transformation from subdued matriarch to empowered woman, remains a most accomplished creation of the stage.</div>
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Note, as well, that her real-life husband Juliene is playing her onstage husband--and that we can probably make notebooks of notes out of studying their masterful pairing.</div>
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When Cañete-Mendoza's Amanda finally asserts her personhood--"My God, Julian, it's a woman's world, too!" she tells her husband--it's as perfect a moment as any for applause. Fast-forward to a few minutes later, and husband and wife reconcile, earning a tender moment between themselves. Then, the play launches into song--in itself, a terrific piece of music, but in the context of the production, like rubbing the script on the viewer's nose.</div>
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That's "Dekada '70" in a nutshell.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-52462939868712117892020-02-29T09:28:00.000+08:002020-03-09T14:20:42.109+08:00PDI Review: 'Batang Mujahideen' by Tanghalang Pilipino<div style="text-align: justify;">
Between this and PETA's "Under My Skin," it's shaping up to be a great year for the original Filipino play. The website version of this review <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/358269/batang-mujahideen-magnificent-drama-told-through-facts/">here</a>.</div>
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<b><u>'Batang Mujahideen': Magnificent drama told through facts</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Curtain call during the closing performance of "Batang Mujahideen."</span></div>
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A puppet figures in Tanghalang Pilipino's (TP) premiere of Malou Jacob's "Batang Mujahideen." It is the character of Fatima, who witnesses her father's death at the hands of a Christian extremist, and is later transplanted to an Abu Sayyaf training camp. We see her learn to use a gun, take necessary steps to become the title character--child jihadist--in the definition that militants have reduced "jihad" to.<br />
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Fatima is only a piece of the puzzle. The larger world of the play is set in March 2000, when the Abu Sayyaf raided two schools in the island-province of Basilan and abducted over 50 individuals, including students, teachers and a Roman Catholic priest. Fatima learns to hate; the kidnapping victims learn the taste of fear.<br />
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How these two narrative strands intertwine is but one of the many strengths of this play, which, though written by Jacob, is also devised--developed and written further--by director Guelan Luarca and the TP Actors Company (AC) that comprise the cast, with dramaturgical input from Dominique La Victoria.<br />
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The end point is something we already know: Violence begets violence. An entire school coming under a terrorist attack may not be of the same contextual scale as a father being brutally murdered before his child's eyes, but the seed of fear, and more importantly, of hate, is planted all the same.<br />
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<b>No cop-outs</b><br />
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The play acknowledges that as a fact of life; it serves us drama through facts, and not cop-outs. But more importantly, the play recognizes that the path to a violent end is preceded by a constant push and pull between fighting for peace and giving in to the temptation for revenge. This inward interrogation is ever present in the play, in the way it structures its plot points and in the words of its characters: The cycle of violence may often prevail, but its path to victory isn't easy. Everywhere there are people who still believe in goodness, and who will stand by goodness, despite the odds.<br />
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Luarca captures all that and more. His production flows with an assured rhythm, like a cogent debate, brimming with ironic calm and intellectual rigor. He lets his actors shift between playing narrators and characters in the story at a brisk pace that never sacrifices clarity. There are arresting scenes of violence, even some coups de theatre, but these are interspersed between lengthy moments of quiet, the play somehow insisting on storytelling and conversation--the power of words!--as salvation.<br />
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<b>Flawless</b><br />
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The design of this production is fundamentally flawless. Marco Viaña and Paw Castillo, in addition to designing the costumes, have created a set that resembles a classroom jungle, with flexible blocks and staircases to conjure different worlds and timelines. D Cortezano (lights) and Arvy Dimaculangan (sound) are reliable as always, turning in topnotch work; their contributions are most essential in materializing violence onstage, complementing Jomelle Era's movement design.<br />
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Among the cast, Manok Nellas and Jonathan Tadioan are forceful presences in their multiple characters, but the standout is longtime AC member Lhorvie Nuevo. Hewing to the prologue's promise to disregard age and gender, Nuevo plays fallen Abu Sayyaf head Khadaffy Janjalani with an acute understanding of the combined power of kindness and silence. Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now" and Joe Pesci in "The Irishman" both knew this: Sometimes, the softest voice in the room is the most frightening of all. Amid the theatrical carnage, you can't help looking at, and for, Nuevo.<br />
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There are faults in this production, of course--graphics that come up short in a logistical sense, performances that are either far less commanding than a role demands or hammy to a degree, lines of dialogue that are distractingly on-the-nose polemical.<br />
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No matter, "Batang Mujahideen" is still magnificent, astutely crafted theater. It runs for less than 90 minutes, which is nothing if not intelligent use of such brief stage time. It has five remaining performances (no thanks to COVID-19!), but deserves to run for plenty more. </div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-10601456987515748712020-02-15T23:29:00.000+08:002020-02-16T14:06:39.893+08:00PDI Review: 'Under My Skin' by PETA<div style="text-align: justify;">
My review of the first production I really liked this year--the website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/357340/a-must-see-under-my-skin-is-petas-return-to-form/">here</a>.</div>
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<b><u>A must-see: 'Under My Skin' is Peta's return to form</u></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Curtain call during media night of "Under My Skin."</span></div>
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First things first: "Under My Skin" is indisputably a return to form for the Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta). As a theatrical piece, it hits the mark; as an advocacy play, it is a triumph.</div>
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In the last decade, Peta has alternated between straightforward dramas and well-intended advocacies: Anton Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard" and Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother" vis à vis original work such as "William," "A Game of Trolls" and "Charot!" The results, especially for the originals, haven't always been unqualified successes.</div>
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"Under My Skin," written by Rody Vera, tackles the HIV-AIDS crisis in the Philippines, where the current daily average of people being diagnosed with the virus is now at a distressing 36. Comparisons to such landmark plays as Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart," or even Tony Kushner's "Angels in America," are thus inevitable.</div>
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But "Under My Skin" does its forebears one better: It has a keen awareness of its dramatic potential, but practices remarkable restraint in fulfilling that potential.</div>
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<b>How HIV works</b><br />
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This play knows exactly how HIV works--how it exists in the casual grind of everyday life, in the silences and pauses that fill our day-to-day activities; how, despite scientific advancement and giant leaps in humanitarian action, it still exists; how, no matter the tears shed or words imparted, it will continue to exist.</div>
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A line from a key character is most essential to the point this play so intelligently, thoughtfully drives home: It is pointless to dwell on the drama. In "Under My Skin," the impact of the virus takes not the form of grand, tear-filled moments or scenes where characters scream and shout their emotions to the heavens. There is crying and shouting, sure, but it is all done at a decibel level that is recognizably real--a reminder that the "h" in HIV stands for "human," after all.</div>
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In positioning his play on an all-too-human plane, Vera has written what may be his most accomplished original theatrical piece in years--one that deals with the science of the story with the same superlative skill employed in its critique of the 21st-century gay community, all while weaving in and out of multiple plot lines, the characters intersecting in scenes, facts flowing alongside and even bleeding into the fiction. </div>
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<b>Ilustrative</b><br />
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And the science here, take note, is handled with such expert skill, it's honestly breathtaking and a breath of fresh air. What Vera does in this play is the kind of pedestrian translation that most of the medical and scientific community is simply incapable of doing--the breaking down of mind-numbing facts and jargon into language at once understandable and illustrative. Witnessing Vera explain the intricate pathophysiology of HIV-AIDS--through more-than-justified breaking down of the fourth wall, no less--makes you realize what a better, and clearer, world we'd be living in right now if only our scientists were also potent communicators.</div>
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Vera is greatly aided by Steven Tansiongco's video projections--the most effective use of the medium we've seen since projections started to be in vogue in local theater--and Teresa Barrozo's sound design and instrumentals, in their best moments elevating the story to the level of thriller, or late-night stand-up, or heartfelt drama. At this point, it may seem a tad greedy to ask for more--tighter direction from Melvin Lee (for the moments that feel either too loose, or too heavy-handed with the drama) or a more uniform level of performance from the ensemble (though there are standouts in Roselyn Perez, Gio Gahol, Anthony Falcon, and even Dudz Teraña, providing a "nonintermission intermission" that could have been a solo drag performance in itself).</div>
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As it is, the premiere of "Under My Skin" is still, pardon the cliché, a must-see. It aspires to a vision of a healthier world, along the way tearing down barriers both social and intellectual, while never once losing sight of the reality we're grappling with now.</div>
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Listen only to the subtle oohs and aahs from the audience during the play's educational portions: That right there is the sound of impactful, meaningful theater. That right there is why we keep going to the theater.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-70607736448898297972020-02-09T21:50:00.000+08:002020-02-09T23:46:57.090+08:00If I had an Academy Award ballot, 2020...<div style="text-align: justify;">
Oscars' eve, Philippine time. Here are my choices! Note that my "should have been nominated" picks are based on how well the films fared during precursor season. (I make an Excel file every year for fun, but also to put some science into this whole crazy business, and the science actually makes sense!)</div>
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<u><b>BEST PICTURE</b></u><br />
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<i>Winner: "</i>PARASITE"<br />
<i>Alternate</i>: "LITTLE WOMEN"<br />
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On a customized preferential ballot, this is how I would rank the Best Picture nominees:<br />
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1. "Parasite"<br />
2. "Little Women"<br />
3. "Marriage Story"<br />
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[gap]<br />
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4. "1917<br />
5. "The Irishman"<br />
6. "Jojo Rabbit"<br />
7. "Ford v Ferrari"<br />
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[gap]<br />
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8. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"<br />
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[gap]<br />
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[a million more gaps]<br />
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9. "Joker"<br />
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"Parasite" is far and away the deserving winner, but "Little Women" can win over it and I would be perfectly happy. Among the Best Picture contenders during precursor season, "Knives Out" would be my third placer, ahead of "Marriage Story." "1917" has extremely dumb situations as major plot points. The third act of "The Irishman" is the film I would have wanted to see more of. "Jojo Rabbit" is cute, but never really transcends its cuteness. "Ford" is fun during the racing scenes. "Once..." was an exasperatingly alienating viewing experience. And "Joker" got this year's trash nominee slot, akin to "Bohemian Rhapsody" last year.</div>
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<b><u>BEST DIRECTOR</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>BONG JOON-HO, "PARASITE"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated</i>: Greta Gerwig, "Little Women"; Céline Sciamma, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"<br />
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No alternates. The floor is now open for questions, but I will not be taking any. Greta should be in Todd Phillips' slot, and Céline, in Quentin Tarantino's (yes, fight me). That should have solved the "no women" complaint.</div>
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<u><b>BEST ACTOR</b></u><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>ADAM DRIVER, "MARRIAGE STORY"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Antonio Banderas, "Pain and Glory"; maybe Jonathan Pryce, "The Two Popes"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated: </i>Brad Pitt, "Ad Astra"<br />
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Joaquin Phoenix has been sweeping the precursors and is going to win for a bad movie. (He was great in "The Master," but there was obviously no beating Daniel Day-Lewis' Abraham Lincoln; he was also great in "Her," a movie I initially adored but now find kind of blech.) Driver clearly deserves to win this year. Banderas would be my alternative vote. Pryce is my far third; I'm not a fan of "The Two Popes" (ordering a cake and getting a muffin). Leonardo DiCaprio, whose Oscar should have been for "The Wolf of Wall Street"--no one was better that year--is nominated this year for a movie I do not care about at all. I would take out either Leo or Joaquin (coin toss; I couldn't care less about the result) and write in Brad Pitt in "Ad Astra." How am I faring so far as "brutally honest Oscars voter"?<br />
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<u><b>BEST ACTRESS</b></u><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>SAOIRSE RONAN, "LITTLE WOMEN"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Renée Zellweger, "Judy"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated</i>: Lupita Nyong'o, "Us"; Florence Pugh, "Midsommar"<br />
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This should be Lupita's second Oscar. But oh, she's not even nominated. So Renée has also been sweeping the precursors and is going to win for a movie that does not deserve her performance. I am fine with her winning. If we go by the actual lineup, Saoirse would get my vote in a heartbeat. Scarlett and Renée both stay. Charlize Theron and Cynthia Erivo both shouldn't even be here; their nominations should have gone to Lupita and Florence Pugh in "Midsommar." Pugh and Pitt should both be double acting nominees this year. Also, the irony that Lupita, who won an Oscar for playing a slave, isn't this year's token Black woman in the lineup; instead, it's Erivo, who's up for Best Actress for--guess what--also playing a slave. Let it be known: What Lupita does in "Us" is the stuff that legends are made of.<br />
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<b><u>BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>BRAD PITT, "ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Joe Pesci, "The Irishman"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated: </i>Song Kang-ho, "Parasite"; Choi Woo-shik, "Parasite"; Wesley Snipes, "Dolemite Is My Name"; Timothée Chalamet, "Little Women"<br />
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This will be a well-deserved acting win for Brad Pitt. If Joe Pesci pulls off an impossible upset, I will cheer for him. Al Pacino, Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins can all go. Pacino is doing classic loud Pacino here. I don't care for Hanks as a stilted Mr. Rogers; I think the film is loads of bull, and Hanks should have been nominated for "Captain Phillips" or even "Sully." Hopkins did what he could with the role. Two actors from "Parasite" are so much more deserving of nominations. Also, Wesley Snipes in "Dolemite"--when camp succeeds, you just know it. If not Snipes, then Chalamet in "Little Women"--nobody has been talking about this performance (maybe it's Chalamet fatigue), which is a shame, because it is terrific in its subtlety.<br />
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<b><u>BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>LAURA DERN, "MARRIAGE STORY"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Florence Pugh, "Little Women"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated: </i>Jennifer Lopez, "Hustlers"; Cho Yeo-jeong, "Parasite"<br />
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I am fine with Laura Dern winning; she is dynamite in this film. Florence Pugh can also win it for that scene alone in the drawing room with Timmy. Kathy Bates can stay in the lineup for her work in "Richard Jewell." ScarJo's "Jojo Rabbit" turn and Margot Robbie in "Bombshell" have to go; in a just world, this should really be Jennifer Lopez's Oscar. Cho Yeo-jeong would be my fifth nominee; her vacuous character is my favorite performance in "Parasite."<br />
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<b><u>BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>BONG JOON-HO & HAN JIN-WON, "PARASITE"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Rian Johnson, "Knives Out"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated: </i>Lulu Wang, "The Farewell"; Céline Sciamma, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"<br />
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Noah Baumbach's script for "Marriage Story" is my third placer. Quentin and "1917" out, Wang and Sciamma in--now there's a solid original screenplay lineup.<br />
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<b><u>BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>GRETA GERWIG, "LITTLE WOMEN"<br />
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No alternates. This is clearly Gerwig's Oscar. To take on a classic novel and somehow reinvent it as your own? "Jojo Rabbit" could never.<br />
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<b><u>BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>ROGER DEAKINS, "1917"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Jarin Blaschke, "The Lighthouse"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated: </i>Claire Mathon, "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"<br />
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What is "Joker" doing here again? That should have been Claire Mathon's nomination--and win. But I'm perfectly fine with Roger winning his second; the cinematography, after all, is one of the strongest elements of "1917." I thought "The Lighthouse" was just okay as a whole.<br />
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<b><u>BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>"PARASITE"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>"1917"<br />
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<b><u>BEST EDITING</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>YANG JIN-MO, "PARASITE"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker, "Ford v Ferrari"<br />
<i>Should Have Been Nominated</i>: Todd Douglas Miller, "Apollo 11"<br />
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I am by no means a fan of "Apollo 11"--I was awed by its technical accomplishment of having woven all those photographs, footages, and recordings into a narrative, but I found the whole just okay. There were certainly more engrossing documentaries this year (see below). But this is the one category that "Apollo 11" deserved a nomination; again, what is "Joker" doing here?<br />
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<b><u>BEST ORIGINAL SCORE</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, "LITTLE WOMEN"<br />
<i>Alternate: </i>Hildur Guonadóttir, "Joker"<br />
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This is the only "Joker" win I would support (it's gonna happen).<br />
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<b><u>BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: "</i>FOR SAMA"<br />
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I am not a fan of "Honeyland." Thirty minutes into it, I was like, what the fuck am I watching? At the end of last year, I was totally fine with "American Factory" winning this. But an "American Factory" win would only be further proof of Hollywood elitism, of just how insular these awards are. People are dying in Syria, Brenda. Doctors are risking their lives to save lives! But oh, sure, let's vote for the movie about how other cultures are taking jobs away from Americans. I jest a little. "American Factory" is a terrific film. But my heart belongs to "For Sama"; I found "The Cave" too produced, its polish getting in the way of authenticity. "For Sama" would be a worthy winner; it would be a great winner.<br />
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P.S. I haven't seen "The Edge of Democracy."<br />
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<b><u>BEST ANIMATED FILM</u></b><br />
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<i>Winner: </i>"KLAUS"<br />
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What a terribly weak field. "Toy Story" was good, but is the weakest of the "Toy Story" films. "I Lost My Body" is a glorified story about a creep. "How to Train Your Dragon 3" is the weakest of the trilogy. And I've yet to see "Missing Link."<br />
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<b><u>BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE</u></b><br />
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Duh.</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4316371824048194269.post-54850395716212182862020-02-01T10:31:00.003+08:002020-02-01T10:31:59.195+08:00PDI Feature: Repertory Philippines' 'Stage Kiss' on their first kiss<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's already Valentine's month! I thought I'd do something different with an advancer this time. The website version <a href="https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/356494/as-if-time-had-stopped-the-first-kiss/">here</a>. "Stage Kiss" runs from Feb. 7-Mar. 1 at Onstage Theater, Greenbelt 1, Makati City.</div>
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<b><u>'As if time had stopped'--the first kiss</u></b></div>
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In 2017, Manila saw two plays by the American playwright Sarah Ruhl--"Eurydice," mounted by Tanghalang Pilipino using a Filipino translation by Guelan Luarca, and "In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)" by Repertory Philippines (Rep).</div>
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Next week, Rep returns to Ruhl with its 83rd season opener: "Stage Kiss," a backstage farce in which two ex-lovers suddenly find themselves playing the romantic leads of the play within the play. Carlitos Siguion-Reyna directs, with Missy Maramara (Best Director of Inquirer Lifestyle's 2019 theater roundup) and Tarek El Tayech (Theatre Titas' "Macbeth," "BuyBust") as ex-lovers.</div>
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Ahead of the Feb. 7 opening night--and just in time to usher in Valentine's season--we asked the cast and crew of "Stage Kiss" to tell us all about their first kisses, either onstage or in real life.</div>
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Here are excerpts from our email exchanges:</div>
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My mom always said that when I was in preschool, I kissed this cute boy in my class. So I grew up thinking my first kiss was gone. The first kiss that mattered, though, was right after high school, with a boy from another school who was very good in math. He watched all my plays even if he wasn't into theater. I really liked him, even if I was also terribly infatuated with my scene partner in our school play. (Said partner was also super cute, and most everyone had a huge crush on him, too.)</div>
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Onstage, it was with Jenny Jamora in New Voice Company's "Stop Kiss" in 2003. That was when I learned how stage kissing is such a delicate component of theater--and nothing like real kissing. Onstage kissing should let the audience be the ones to "feel," and the actors have to be careful not to get lost in the act. It involves a different kind of discipline and trusting relationship. </div>
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--<b>Missy Maramara</b>, "She"</div>
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I have a theory that my kisses make people famous. I had to kiss JC Santos and JM de Guzman in "Isang Panaginip na Fili," and today they're both movie stars. Who wants to be my next leading man?</div>
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--<b>Mica Pineda</b>, "Laurie"/"Millicent"</div>
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I was around 10. My older sister's classmate would always grab me every time she saw me, and kiss me on the lips. All I remember is liking it. My first onstage kiss: in a production of "Much Ado About Nothing" eons ago, where I played Claudio! Me as a romantic lead. Awkward.</div>
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--<b>Robbie Guevara</b>, "The Husband"</div>
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I've played romantic roles, the third party and even an abusive man, but I've had only three onstage kisses, all very chaste, and all in Shakespeare: with Shiela Valderrama-Martinez and Issa Litton in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Niccolo Manahan in the all-male "The Taming of the Shrew." I wonder when I will be cast in a role that will allow me to go to town. Any takers?</div>
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--<b>PJ Rebullida</b>, choreographer</div>
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It was an innocent peck; I was playing doctor with this girl. It was before puberty hit.</div>
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--<b>Tarek El Tayech</b>, "He"</div>
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I had a make-out scene in "Burles" (Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, 1978, written by Rene Villanueva, directed by Jonas Sebastian) where I had to kiss the cheeks and neck of my scene partner. During the first weekend run, she asked me why I wasn't really kissing her and, instead, was just pretending to do so by brushing my lips against her skin. I had thought that the 15-year-old me was trying not to take advantage of her. After that, my kisses during the second weekend became more realistic.</div>
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--<b>Dennis Marasigan</b>, lighting designer</div>
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It was early in high school. She was an exchange student, with surfer blonde hair and a great smile. We kissed in the field at school after class, with the sun getting lower on the horizon. We were walking hand in hand, and I sensed that we could both feel the moment approaching. We stopped walking and faced each other, and then something changed in her eyes, as I am sure something in mine did. It did seem as if time had stopped, and the rest of the world--the noise of children playing, a football game in progress, even the rustling of the leaves--had faded away.</div>
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That magical first kiss had everything in it: awkwardness, excitement, expectations, fear and nervousness, and the feeling that even if we both knew she was leaving, maybe this could somehow be a reprieve. When we had parted, and opened our eyes, and finally caught our breaths, we smiled.</div>
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She was perfect in the afternoon sun. And then the smiles disappeared, and our eyes closed as we leaned in to kiss again, and in my eagerness, I bumped her teeth. We laughed, then stepped closer to try again,</div>
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--<b>Jamie Wilson</b>, "The Director"</div>
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My family and I moved to Ho Chi Minh City when I was in middle school, and that was peak teen--"truth or dare" and "spin the bottle" parties galore. Long story short, I was dared to kiss some dude, when I really wanted to kiss my crush, who was right next to him. My best friend ended up kissing my crush instead, so you can only imagine how a 14-year-old would react!</div>
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--<b>Justine Narciso</b>, "Angela"/"The Maid"</div>
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None--or shall I say, none yet? But either in real life or onstage, it will probably be full of sweetness and excitement, knowing how warm and soft, or how cold and hard, the other must be. Shall I keep my eyes closed? How do I even prepare for that? Perhaps I am scared of the intimacy that will certainly go beyond a mere peck on the cheek or a gentle touch on the forehead, but just the thought of a little kiss is thrilling.</div>
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--<b>Nick Nañgit</b>, pianist</div>
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I was crushing on this girl from a baseball movie that I watched growing up. I was so infatuated with her that one day, with no one around, I walked up to the TV, pressed the pause button, and gave her a big kiss on the screen. </div>
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--<b>Andres Borromeo</b>, "Kevin"/"The Understudy"</div>
VINCEN GREGORY YUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07735177431353302187noreply@blogger.com0