PDI Review: 'M. Butterfly' by Jhett Tolentino/ FrontRow Entertainment

Yep, this was bad. The website version of my review here.

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This 'Butterfly' fails to seduce

When David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly" premiered on Broadway in 1988, The New York Times declared it "a visionary work" and "a sweeping, universal meditation on two of the most heated conflicts--men versus women, East versus West--of this or any other time."

Hwang's play dramatizes the real-life account of a French diplomat who carried on a 20-year affair with a Beijing Opera singer--a story so ridiculous it may as well be the stuff of present-day news. The singer turned out to be a Communist spy and, even more absurd, the diplomat never knew his lover was a man in drag until it was too late.

The play doesn't dwell on sleazy facts. Told predominantly from the perspective of the diplomat, here named Rene Gallimard, it is an exhumation and eventual subversion of one (White) man's psychology, the play flipping over its cards during the final act as it hands over the reins to the singer Song Liling.

Big problems

That "M. Butterfly" hasn't aged well is really for the best. Current sensibilities in this rapidly evolving society now render antiquated many of the play's arguments concerning gender and even the East-West dichotomy.

But in FrontRow Entertainment and Tony Award-winning producer Jhett Tolentino's staging of this play, the script's outdated qualities are hardly the biggest problems.

Simply put, the production directed by Kanakan Balintagos gravely bungles the poetry of Hwang's writing. This literal-mindedness consequently dilutes the power of the piece, especially in the final act.

Comedy

There is comedy here, sure, but only in superficial doses--mainly in the seduction scenes between Gallimard and Song, and occasionally in the placeless accents zooming back and forth the stage like bullets.

But a daft sense of tragedy is nowhere to be found, which is the real tragedy here. Without a firm grasp of what makes this play really powerful--the gradual fall of both White man and White nation to the "inferior," feminine Orient in a most farcical manner--what transpires onstage is reduced to mere play-acting in heavy makeup.

Paper-thin

Is it too much to pine for a more perceptively performed production, one that could do justice to Hwang's passages? Balintagos' production is populated by a paper-thin ensemble and--chief among its troubles--two lead performances that don't jibe at all.

Olivier Borten's inept portrayal of Gallimard renders the character an idiot from the beginning, so that there's no sliver of excitement, no deeper thrill at all, at watching him fall for Song's spell. It's a fool being duped from the get-go.

One may wonder, then, why RS Francisco's Song even bothers to amp up the stilted, submissive-girl theatrics for this Westerner, but only if one can get past the distracting self-consciousness that plagues Francisco's portrayal (to say nothing of his even less convincing version of the spy out of drag). This production, after all, is partly advertised as Francisco's return to the role after first doing it for Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas almost three decades ago.

Has anything changed? Alas, this writer is in no position to answer that. But this much is certain: While the onstage seduction of Gallimard by Song does occur, the more important seduction--of the audience by this play--is inexistent.

It's admirable how skillfully this "M. Butterfly" has been marketed. It sold out more than half the performances of its three-week run before it even opened, with 100 percent of the proceeds, as stated in the program, going to beneficiaries such as Philippine High School for the Arts and Love Yourself, Inc.

But a sold-out crowd deserves a better, more thoughtful and scrupulously mounted show.

PDI Feature: Red Turnip Theater and 'A Doll's House, Part 2'

I wrote my first advancer feature, on the return of my favorite theater company in Manila (bias!), for the Inquirer--the website version here. "A Doll's House, Part 2" runs Sept. 15-Oct. 7.

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Red Turnip is back with 'A Doll's House, Part 2'

Topper Fabregas and the cast of "Tribes" (2016).

They were on a roll. Then they vanished. Now they're back.

That's the life--so far--of Red Turnip Theater, the quintet of Rem Zamora, Cris Villonco, Jenny Jamora, Ana Abad-Santos and Topper Fabregas. At their peak, they were churning out one critically acclaimed production after another, snagging the Best Play citation for full-length non-Filipino material in Inquirer-Theater's yearend roundup for three consecutive years (for Mike Bartlett's "Cock," Moisés Kaufman's "33 Variations" and Nina Raine's "Tribes").

Pulling back

So eyebrows were raised when, after staging Jennifer Hailey's "The Nether" in March 2017, the group fell off the radar.

"We had an inkling that we were going in a direction we wanted to pull back from," says Zamora, "so we unanimously decided to hit the refresh button. [The five of us] are literally behind everything, from planning the season to counting ticket stubs. It's been a juggling act since day one."

Now, Red Turnip returns with its 10th production--"A Doll's House, Part 2," Lucas Hnath's unauthorized sequel to the 19th-century Henrik Ibsen classic about the disintegration of an unhappy marriage.

Ibsen concludes with Nora, the protagonist, leaving her husband and kids--quite the controversial ending back in the day, when feminism and women's rights were still alien notions. Hnath picks up 15 years after Ibsen, with Nora, now a celebrated author, coming home.

"Part 2" opened on Broadway last year and was Tony-nominated for Best Play. But while it seems like typical material by Turnip standards--their avowed mission, after all, has been to mount "edgy," "in-your-face" nonmusical work--it's also a sequel to a story that hasn't been staged (at least professionally) in Manila since the new millennium. 

"You really don't need to know anything [about the original] to walk into this show," Villonco says. "When I saw it in New York, I was completely floored. Everything is already given in the exposition. I love that it is only 90 minutes and set in modern language."

Directorial debut

The play marks Villonco's directorial debut--the last of the Turnips to helm a production of their own. And, in a reversal of artistic roles, she's directing her uncle, renowned filmmaker Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, in his acting debut as Nora's husband Torvald.

"Torvald was the most difficult to cast," Villonco says. "At a family reunion, I saw [my uncle] and thought, 'What if?' I'm so used to him directing me, but on the first day of rehearsals, he gave something completely different that I liked but shook me a bit."

The role of Nora, which won Laurie Metcalf last year's Tony for Best Actress, will be played by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, in her Red Turnip debut and her second consecutive lead role in a straight play (after Repertory Philippines' "Agnes of God" last year).

"It's a role I can really sink my teeth into," says Lauchengco-Yulo, popularly regarded as Philippine musical theater's First Lady. "Nora is a character way ahead of her time--a strong, highly intelligent and very determined woman."

The show, which also features Sheila Francisco and Rachel Coates, will open in a new venue for Red Turnip--the Zobel de Ayala Recital Hall at Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City.

"Part of our 'stepping back' was scaling down the sizes of our audiences per show and going for more intimate stagings," Zamora says. "The recital hall is perfect for this."

"We knew coming in that [exclusively staging straight plays] was going to be an uphill climb," he adds. "We figured, 'if we build it, they will come.' And the audience did. The challenge is keeping them coming."

PDI Review: 'Gee-gee at Waterina, Ang Musikal' by Artist Playground

A post-run review in today's paper--the website version here.

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'Gee-gee at Waterina, Ang Musikal': Flamboyance with a dark streak

In the 2000 Metro Manila Film Festival, Dolphy headlined "Markova: Comfort Gay," based on the life of Walterina Markova, one of many gay men forced into sexual slavery in World War II.

Playwright J. Dennis Teodosio imagined a sort of behind-the-scenes account of that movie for the first Virgin Labfest back in 2005, setting his tale in that snapshot of time when Walterina finally received the payment for film rights to his life story.

Working with Artist Playground, Teodosio expanded his straight play into the recently concluded musical, "Gee-gee at Waterina," which played only five performances (including a press preview) at Arts Above, Quezon City.

Distended affair

Perhaps such a brief life was all for the best. Despite its roughly 90-minute running time, the production directed by Andrew de Real was a distended affair, managing to feel both too long and too spare, with one too many musical numbers that only sent the story spinning in circles.

At its best, "Gee-gee at Waterina, Ang Musikal" was a marvelous romp. The idea was flamboyance with a dark streak, like vaudevillian cabaret, or as the creators put it during the post-preview talkback, an intimate musical by way of Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart (from Kander and Ebb's "Chicago").

The venue, which resembled a rundown music hall, was centered on a stage outfitted to look like a drab dressing room, with robes, sequined gowns and myriad other costumes adorning the walls.

And whenever Norman Peñaflorida took to the spotlight as Waterina's politician friend Gee-gee (also based on a real person), the musical soared to life. Peñaflorida was game-show emcee, crass but sympathetic friend, and self-aware fourth-wall breaker all at once. The highlight of the show was one of his numbers, which was woven as a hysterical litany of Waterina's past lovers.

Lengthy journey

Alas, the musical tripped on its stilettos whenever it turned somber, the epitome of this somberness being Roeder Camañag's Waterina.

Camañag's take on the role just felt too studied, the character, as written, at times bordering on caricature. And though it might have been done with the best intentions, the way the more "serious" moments in Waterina's story were handled made it difficult to take such scenes seriously.

In fact, the one serious moment that actually felt genuine belonged to Gee-gee (thanks, again, to Peñaflorida's unlabored performance).

It's this thematic incoherence that plagued the songs (Teodosio's lyrics set to Jesse Lucas' music), and even entire scenes. On one hand, there were laugh-out-loud sequences, and on the other, tearful drama, but where the two would (and should) meet--in effect, producing a conscientiously built musical--it was hard to pinpoint.

In his program notes, Teodosio shared the lengthy journey of his original one-act play to the stage, as it morphed along the way into such forms as a 10-minute piece for The Writers' Bloc and a workshop piece at the Iligan National Writers Workshop. It follows, then, that perhaps what this musical needs is similar extensive incubation, hopefully into something tighter and less tonally dissonant.

PDI Review: 'Desaparesidos' at the Ateneo Areté

I've started listing down my picks for the expected best-of-the-decade list next year. This production at the Ateneo, running until Sept. 2, is more or less a sure bet. The online version of my article here. Today's milestone: first time to have two pieces in one issue!

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'Desaparesidos' is fiery, stunning theater

Post-show talkback with Edita Burgos, mother of farmer-activist Jonas Burgos, who was abducted by military agents in 2007 and hasn't been seen since. 

Total surrender--that's the singular effect of the best theater productions on the viewer. So completely are you transported into another world, another time, deep into the hearts and minds of imagined people, that the show ceases to be just make-believe; it becomes an experience, absorbing and unforgettable.

UP Playwrights' Theatre's "Angry Christ" was one such production. So, too, were Atlantis Production's "Next to Normal," Tanghalang Ateneo's "Middle Finger" from 2014, and, earlier this year, The Sandbox Collective's "Himala, Isang Musikal."

Into this exclusive company now storms "Desaparesidos," a brilliantly mounted production that fuses fury, fear and, in its final moments, faint slivers of hope as it plunges the viewer head first into some of the darkest moments of contemporary Filipino history.

The production, running until Sept. 2 at the Doreen Black Box Theater in the Ateneo's Areté complex, is a restaging of Guelan Luarca's adaptation of the Lualhati Bautista novel. (Its 2016 premiere, it bears mentioning, was prompted by the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a national insult enabled by the Duterte administration.)

On the surface, "Desaparesidos" neatly splits into two acts: The first is a visually harrowing chronicle of Anna and Roy's time as New People's Army activists during the Marcos regime; the second deals with their life as a married couple after the despot's fall.

Closure

But what everything boils down to is a search for truth and closure: Anna looks for the child she had entrusted to a fellow activist's wife; Roy is haunted by having been forced, under torture, to kill a comrade; Lorena, Anna and Roy's daughter, struggles to understand why her parents prioritized their activism and left her to the care of surrogate families; Malaya, a girl from Canada, seeks answers to her past.

In this production, memories weave in and out of the story, even across acts, the versions--and more importantly, the meaning--of events never fully clear until the heartrending finale. This "Desaparesidos" is no mere invitation to passively witness; through the small lives of its characters, it becomes another galvanizing battle cry to "never forget."

Herein enters Luarca's genius as director. He employs all the faculties--and virtually every inch--of the theater at his disposal to create a production that is as inventive as it is visceral. And he is aided by a superior design team: Charles Yee (set), Rowel Pasion (costumes), D Cortezano (lights), Arvy Dimaculangan (sound), Steven Tansiongco (projections) and Jomelle Era (movement).

Their individual aesthetic appears to be simplicity, but harnessed as a whole, they turn scene after scene into stunning, powerful evocations of the imagined past. Through simple sleights of hand, torture sequences are enacted with gut-wrenching tangibility, while a relatively peaceful safe house becomes a horrific battleground in a matter of seconds.

Painful

The cast is phenomenal, from Chic San Agustin as a steely Anna, to Jewel Tomolin, seething with rebellion and confusion as Lorena, to Teetin Villanueva as Karla, the woman who eventually bridges Anna's past and present. And Brian Sy, as Roy, is in a league of his own--an actor finally landing the role and spotlight worthy of his talents.

"Painful" is a word many have associated with this production, and rightfully so. For it would only be downright disrespectful to sugarcoat or take shortcuts in one's depiction of this horrific past, when the lives of thousands were rendered inexistent under the watch of someone many in this country are now passing off as a hero.

For two and a half hours, Luarca's "Desaparesidos" unflinchingly brings such horror to life, that the viewer may hopefully acquire a more layered and empathetic understanding of the present we're grappling with. It is unquestionably a fiery addition to the pinnacles of local theatrical experiences, and deserves to be seen again and again and again, until we can no longer forget.

PDI Review: 'Ze Papu and Mamu Show' - Juliene Mendoza and Stella Cañete-Mendoza in Concert

The Triple Threats concert series is back at the CCP this year (theme: theater couples), and I caught and reviewed the first one--the Inquirer website version of my piece here. The next evening is set on Sept. 6, featuring "Miss Saigon" royalty Robert Seña and Isay Alvarez-Seña. Also, I have a photo credit in today's paper!

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Ze exuberant 'Ze Papu & Mamu Show'

There's nothing like the perfect song by the perfect singers in the perfect setting.

If we're shamelessly gushing, it's because it was that easy to be swept away by the emotional current conjured by Juliene Mendoza and Stella Cañete-Mendoza during their concert on Aug. 16, opening this year's Triple Threats series at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The playfully titled "Ze Papu & Mamu Show"--a nod to the couple's terms of endearment--looked carnivalesque in the publicity material, echoing a variety show in a circus tent.

The actual evening delivered such exuberance, especially when the Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ensemble lent onstage support, or when the MadMen--the all-male quintet composed of Mendoza, Jun Ofrasio, Chino Veguillas, Raul Montesa and Raymund Concepcion--came onstage for a Broadway medley (launched by a spiel that crossed "Titos of Manila" humor with high school bathroom talk).

Prior to the MadMen, a gowned Cañete-Mendoza took to a raised platform and recreated, rather inventively, the famed "Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy" duet, singing the Judy Garland track alongside a black-and-white video projection of Barbra Streisand.

But the concert was so much more than just rowdy fun or audacious diva moments; it got the audience laughing, but also wrung a river out of them.

Two key moments: The first, a montage of the many stage productions that husband and wife have done and which celebrated their origins in UP's theater landscape, set to a mash-up of The Dawn's "Salamat," downtempo, and "Remember Me" (from the animated film "Coco"). The latter was rendered largely unembellished--and all the more poignant--by Mendoza, the song snug within his range.

And then there was their stripped-down cover of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect," which recreated a snapshot of their wedding day. In its simplicity, the number became the evening's flawless peak--like the best love stories, stirringly capturing the artistic couple as an image of tenderness and longevity.

Screen Log 20: BuyBust; Mary Poppins; Blockers; Isle of Dogs; Succession Season 1

"Isle of Dogs."

So let me just rank the most recent Erik Matti films in order. Number one, by a mile, is his Iglesia-ni-Cristo parable "Honor Thy Father." Then a far number two is "On the Job," minus points for all the times it couldn't help being Star Cinema-ish. Lightyears below, down there, is the bamboozling "Seklusyon." And in between, just a little below "On the Job," is the newly released and much-lauded BUYBUST, which stars Anne Curtis in arguably top form.

I realize films like "BuyBust" are the ones I really react to on a genuinely visceral level--the kind that skirts just beneath perfection, the kind that, through a couple of missteps, ends up a lesser film. I don't agree with all the noise online, praising it like it's a seamless masterpiece. It's not. There are contrivances that weaken the story, one appearing as early as thirty minutes into the movie. There's a final act--and a final line--that's clumsily handled in the spirit of "message." And there are moments when the filmmaker's emotions get in the way of the story itself. 

Make no mistake, however, the film is a scathing indictment of our times. I do agree that the fight scenes are too many and too long to the point of being redundant, but sizing them up against the whole work, it all makes sense. It's poor-against-poor madness rendered so convincingly, you'd have to be heartless not to be infuriated. The people in government, and especially the 1% who run this country, ought to see this film, but then I don't think they're the type who'd watch movies of a certain IQ level such as this. 

I only got around to seeing the classic musical film MARY POPPINS recently. And I must say, it is a rather pointless story. Julie Andrews is the only thing that keeps the whole thing worth plodding through. Can somebody explain its appeal to me? Is this a parable on the dangers of drug use because, you know, these people be tripping and flying and seeing colors and worlds and stuff?

The sex comedy BLOCKERS makes me thankful I wasn't born at a time when social media is front and center of life (a.k.a. now). Watching it, I found myself wondering, "This is how they do prom now?" Like with Facebook messages and cellphones and videos and stuff everywhere. I kind of thought this was maybe "Superbad" for the 2010s high school crowd or something. Anyway, Leslie Mann in this movie--poignant, career-high work, if you ask me. What an underrated actress.

Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was marvelous, delicious, eye-popping cinema. His newest film, the Berlinale winner ISLE OF DOGS, is also a visual feast (the stop motion is superb). But I'm not even going to get into that whole cultural appropriation discussion. I'm just here to say that this movie eventually felt like something I needed to get through, instead of something I wanted to drown myself in. Not bad Anderson, but also, for me, not worth storing in a limited-space hard drive.

Last night I finished the first season of HBO's SUCCESSION. This will be my new answer to people who ask me for viewing recommendations, probably with the same level of passion and aggression with which I promote Donna Tartt's literary masterpiece "The Secret History" to any willing ear. I loved the whole thing from start to finish. Brilliant, brilliant television. Well, not really the entirety. I thought episode 9 was its weakest--the one where you really felt the writer just setting things up and making people run into each other just so they could have shady conversations. The ending, too, I initially felt ambiguous about, but then in retrospect, I realized what genius it was. Jeremy Strong's performance--especially his entire arc in the finale--is a shoo-in for an Emmy next year. Kieran Culkin and Matthew MacFayden, too, as the family idiots. Also, episode 6--the one where Jeremy Strong's character tries and embarrassingly fails to stage a coup against his father (Brian Cox, making superhuman recovery from a hemorrhagic stroke)--is one of those episodes I will always remember, alongside "Hardhome" from "Game of Thrones," "The Animals" from "Orange Is the New Black," "Beryl" from "The Crown," "Teddy Perkins" from "Atlanta," "Halloween" from the second season of "Modern Family" (yep, it used to be able to produce excellence), etc. Also, J. Smith-Cameron liked my tweet about this, just so you know. Am aware I'm not being very coherent right now. Basta, watch this!

PDI Feature: Guelan Luarca, incoming TA Artistic Director

I interviewed someone whose name seems to be everywhere in the theater. This man is a National Artist in the making. The online version here.

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Guelan Luarca: 'Don't reinvent the wheel? Why not?'

The pre-show set of "Desaparesidos."

Miguel Antonio "Guelan" Luarca is the epitome of the multitasking theater artist.

Until two weekends ago, he was acting in Carlo Vergara's "Edgar Allan Hemingway" for Virgin Labfest 14. His adaptation of Lualhati Bautista's "Desaparesidos" (which he also directs) is in rehearsals for a three-week rerun next month, following its 2016 premiere that former Inquirer Theater editor Gibbs Cadiz hailed as that year's best full-length Filipino play. And he's also finishing his translation of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus," slated to debut in February under Tanghalang Pilipino.

Then there's his new job as artistic director (AD) of Tanghalang Ateneo (TA).

"I won't lie: Being AD is a dream," he says, "but I imagined this [happening] 20, 30 years from now, hindi ganitong agad-agad."

Prolific writer

Luarca is 27 years old. A TA alumnus himself, he succeeded Glenn Sevilla Mas, whom he considers one of his three artistic fathers. The other two are Ron Capinding and Mas' predecessor Ricky Abad, who kindled Luarca's involvement with TA by having him help out with the performance text of "Sintang Dalisay," the Sama-Badjao transposition of "Romeo and Juliet."

"I left school for two semesters after third year college because of financial issues," Luarca says. "When I returned, my collaborations with TA continued even though I was no longer formally a member. When Sir Glenn took over [from Abad], he made me part of his 'inner circle' who helped him come up with each season.

In fact, for the first production under Mas, Luarca worked as an actor, playing the rebellious teenage lead in Han Ong's "Middle Finger" with "aching, nervy realism," wrote Inquirer reviewer Cora Llamas.

"Just when I thought I didn't want to act anymore!" says Luarca, who has become one of our most prolific writers. He was introduced to the Greek myths at 5, started reading Shakespeare at 7, and has now adapted into Filipino works ranging from Shakespeare to Euripides, Sarah Ruhl to Samuel Beckett, on top of scoring two Carlos Palanca first prizes for his Labfest entries "Mga Kuneho" and "Bait."

First season

Luarca's inaugural season, titled "Sturm und Drung/Bagyo at Bagabag," also happens to be TA's 40th.

The lineup, apart from the already-announced restaging of Ian Maclennan's "The Squaddies' Shrew" (hewn from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew"), will include Puerto Rican playwright José Rivera's "Marisol," to be translated by Rody Vera and directed by Ed Lacson Jr.; and Luarca's adaptation of the seminal Mike de Leon film "Batch '81."

"Marisol," about a woman who gets caught up in a surreal, apocalyptic revolution between the angels and a so-called "senile God," will see Teresa Barrozo's return to designing music and sound for TA after 2016's "Boy."

For "Batch '81," Luarca hopes to assemble an artistic team made up of TA alumni. "Sir Glenn opened up TA to the larger theater world, and I want to continue that exchange of artistic practices. But I also want to go back to those old-school TA vibes, to enhance the bond between alumni and current members, in preparation for our TA [40th anniversary] ball."

Social activism

Luarca, who is also faculty member of the Ateneo's Fine Arts Department, is interested to see the young TA actors use their craft as a medium for social critique and activism. "I wish to burrow deep into the psychology of someone who sincerely believes in strongman rule, to the point that he's willing to give up his morals for his 'idol.'"

"As theater practitioners, drama and its processes are our weapons for activism. Theater has to reclaim its role as bangaw ng lipunan--agitating and ever-questioning, ardent in its pursuit to challenge the status quo," he adds.

Think poetically

"TA has to be socially engaged, and I want to expose its audiences to plays that force you to think a certain way, like how [Bertolt] Brecht forces you to suspend emotion for the sake of pure analysis; or how Shakespeare forces you to think poetically all the time; or how Sir Floy [Quintos] suspends your judgment of the excesses of the Filipino upper middle class to show they also have revolutionary potential.

Otherwise, he says, "why stage something that doesn't respond to the big picture?"

"I suppose that's where my youth enters," says Luarca. "I'm not afraid to fail, but also unafraid to come up with weird, challenging stuff. In fact, perhaps I invite it, because at least it means we're doing something new."

"I hate the mentality of 'Why fix what isn't broken?' or 'Don't reinvent the wheel.' Why the hell not?!"

Screen Log 19: Superbad; The History Boys; Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again; Pose Season 1

"Pose."

When that "Post a poster of your favorite movie without explaining" game went around on Twitter, I put SUPERBAD in with some hesitation. Maybe I was wondering if it's just a case of not remembering clearly, the way we tend to filter the less fun parts out of memories, so that what we end up recalling isn't exactly the entire thing, but just a glamorized part of it. I saw "Superbad" again, and nope, definitely a fun movie from start to finish. It's just unabashed bastusan from start to end, with no pretenses whatsoever, and it pulls off its comedy big time. 

It's a different case with my rewatch of THE HISTORY BOYS (which I don't think any company will be staging in Manila any time soon, too damn culturally specific as the play's topic and milieu is). So many layers and nuances I missed out on the previous times I saw this. That "Hodge the Drummer" scene between Samuel Barnett and Richard Griffiths, for instance, is just poignant, just plain effective use of dialogue and understatement and metaphor. Or that whole "History is women following men with buckets" speech by Frances de la Tour, which I never really fully grasped until now, how it sort of encapsulates the whole movie, especially with regards to her character. This is definitely one of the successful stage-to-screen adaptations of our time, one that grows richer with every viewing.

I didn't think the first "Mamma Mia" movie was bad, but then I was still in high school when it was shown in our cinemas, and the first few minutes I was confused, if I remember correctly, as to where exactly the "real" world stopped and the "singing" world began, or if there even was such a boundary. The new movie, MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN, was just the perfect antidote to the recent turn of events in our country. I saw it the other day, after the shit president's state of the nation address and the announcement that the plundering thief of an ex-president is the new speaker of Congress. "Mamma Mia 2" is a load of unbridled joy, its prequel-sequel magic delivered seamlessly, the transitions never jarring, the fun always infectious. It knows it's a silly movie and doesn't pretend to be something more serious. Everyone is terrific--Lily James is my discovery--but the glorified cameos of Cher and Meryl Streep are the best parts, quite appropriately saved for last. If I may be allowed an act of heresy, maybe the movie ought to travel back in time and give some tips on pulling off this prequel-sequel mumbo-jumbo to "The Godfather 2," which never really clicked with me on a more visceral, emotional level.

Just finished Season 1 of POSE, the new Ryan Murphy TV series about the 1980s LGBTQ ballroom scene in New York. Billy Porter and Indya Moore can start campaigning for their Emmys now, and if they don't get nominated next year, I am sure some heads will have to roll. Evan Peters, too, I think, if only for his episode 3 performance. Moore is the best part of the show. Episode after episode, she just oozes raw emotion and commands every scene she's in, not by eating scenery or anything loud, no, but by quietly luring the viewer into her world, perhaps into her soul, even. There's just something so natural, so earthy, so heartbreaking with the way she delivers her lines. The show as a whole can't veer away from its "Glee"-like moments and turn of events, but I'm willing to forgive the show for those moments if it means watching Elektra (most improved actress by the finale!) say "I think we've had enough of feelings" again. And of course her epic read of House Ferocity. Next season, please. 

Screen Log 18: Incredibles 2; Ocean's 8; Hereditary; RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10; Atlanta Season 2

"Atlanta Season 2."

It's hard to believe it's been, like, more than a decade, almost 15 years, since "The Incredibles" was released. That was a great animated movie and a great superhero movie, back when superheroes weren't in vogue yet (I'm looking at you, Marvel). Do I think INCREDIBLES 2 was a good movie? Sure (though I thought the short that opens the film, "Bao," was even better). I do think it faltered when it devolved into a conventional superhero caper, but it shone best when it's turning everyday life on its heels, like the baby having all the powers, for instance, or the father having to stay at home, or Edna Mode (the best character!) agreeing to babysit the baby. Truth be told, I kind of don't remember a lot about it now, which must speak of the film's staying power. "Bao," however, I remember from beginning to end, the storytelling just plain lovely and heartrending.

There's a whole generation out there that's not even aware of the Ocean film franchise. Hence their clueless reaction to the Danny Ocean references, as I witnessed firsthand from my cousin last night, in OCEAN'S 8. I enjoyed this new movie. It has a lot of fun moments, most of them involving Anne Hathaway in one of her best roles so far (and also, she returns to the Met more than a decade after she snatched that trip to Paris from Emily Blunt). In fact, the cast is solid, from Rihanna to Sarah Paulson to James Corden. But the story is very, well, linear. Everything goes smoothly and as expected. They pull off the heist, get their shares, and go their own ways. It's middling writing and direction that just doesn't make the most of its incredible lineup of talent. It's a missed opportunity, is what it is.

I loved HEREDITARY. I loved it so much. That was just fiction at its finest. It's difficult not to compare it to the other great horror film of the year so far, "A Quiet Place," which I also liked, but not as much as this new movie. Imagine if Toni Collette and Emily Blunt both land Oscars and the slew of other accolades that come with it by year's end. Two female actresses in horror flicks. What a concept.

Thoughts on Season 10 of RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE, anyone? One, you could see Aquaria winning the whole thing from the start (I agree, she's one of the top ten runways ever). Two, um, Kameron Michaels, lipsync assassin? Really? Three, that Reunion episode though.

At the risk of sounding redundant and uncreative, Imma go ahead and call the second season of ATLANTA, subtitled "Robbin' Season," perfection. I know I also said this about its pilot season, so let me clarify: Season 2 is even better. Off the charts better. Like one of the few pieces of television (given the very few that I watch, to begin with) that left me immensely satisfied at the end of every episode. Season 2 of "Fargo," with Kirsten Dunst, was one. Seasons 2 and 3 of "The Leftovers" was basically 18 masterpiece episodes. In "Robbin' Season," every episode works like a wonderfully executed short story. I mean, "Teddy Perkins," for instance! Or Brian Tyree Henry's excursion to the woods in, well, "Woods." Or "Barbershop." Or that Drake party. Or the finale. Or Alligator Man. This season here is just TV deliciously, mesmerizingly delivered.  

'The Language of Silence'

After years--and I mean literally years--of submitting and getting rejected, I'm finally published in "Cha: An Asian Literary Journal." All the more special for me because I happen to be in the Philippines-themed issue, guest edited by Ricky de Ungria and Larry Ypil. And also my Silliman co-fellows Jam and Jake are in this issue. So yay, hashtag Germane (our batch name)! Here's the link to the site.

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The Language of Silence

"Children displaced by the fighting in Marawi City play inside the temporary learning space at the central elementary school in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur."

--Photo by Fernando Sepe Jr. for ABS-CBN News.


Nobody wrote prayers for dead cities,
so the children were quick to learn
the language of silence. Say nothing
when a tank rolls by. Say nothing
to the men in camouflage. Here a boy
perfects his pauses, sings through gestures
bearing little sense. The brevity of goodbye
rolled with the twirling hands of let go.
On cracked pavement, two girls, mirrors
of each other, cake their soles with grime,
begging the ground to keep them
from flying. Too late: Their wings,
luminous as the mosque's golden dome,
spread wide, and soon they are dancing
specks on an iceberg sky. The boy
opens his mouth in imitation
of a bomb's roar, but what he means
is the opposite of run. What he means
eludes utterance. Eyes fixed on the cold
vermilion moon, wishing for the swift
swish of flight, he crouches low
against a dented lamppost. Remain,
even when the nights are never sound,
rain pooling in muddy craters, umbrellas
and slippers collecting in potholes.
Soon the world will dismantle itself,
rid of syntax and syllables, territory
marked by measured sentences,
and there will be no one to build
fires, fetch water, whittle wood to spears.
Soon, the patter of running feet
on cobblestone, before the stillness,
heavy with the land's hushed desires,
and in that stillness, a new city,
smaller than an embryo, its cry
louder than the last monsoon.