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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Obenieta: Stray cats
By Myke U. Obenieta
So to speak
Who among our politicians would have the heart to stop for a cat mewling aimless in the street? Hands down, my vote goes to the one with whom I could stop caterwauling with cynicism, if and when, that candidate wouldn’t milk that photo-op moment dry and spit away the lick-spittle temptation to do better than Audrey Hepburn cradling her pet under the rain in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
These days, the heat of politics—no less shrill than feline passion on a hot tin roof—obviously holds the candle to the convoluted plots of celluloid potboilers. Rotten. That’s an adjective apt not only for the affairs of governance but also for the state of our movie industry where politicians also hold sway.
Dying, or so they say of our run-of-the-mill reel world on this side of Hollywood where it’s raining cats of doggone formula.
But creativity, like a cat with nine lives, can’t stop. As big studios quake under the weight of star system while on an ascetic’s diet about innovation, being “as helpless as a kitten up a tree” is not for independent filmmakers to whimper. Never say die they do, riding high on the crest of a digital breakthrough.
The age of indies is here, no doubt about it. For the last two years, the local films that have been clawing the lion’s share of critical acclaim not only here but also abroad have been churned out by small independent studios like Mario O’Hara’s Babae sa Breakwater, Maryo de los Reyes’ Magnifico and Naglalayag, Mark Meilly’s Crying Ladies, Cesar Montano’s Panaghoy sa Suba, Jeffrey Jeturian’s Minsan Pa, etc.)
Lately, the indie world has been abuzz with a cinematic cornucopia from the festivals of Cinemalaya and Cinema One, bankrolling each of the brainchild of a new wave of Filipino filmmakers. Mine was the privilege to sit through the recent press preview of Ellen Ongkiko-Marfil’s Mga Pusang Gala (regular screening at the local cineplex tomorrow.)
Based on the stage play “Mga Estranghero at ang Gabi” (script by Jun Lana won first prize at the Palanca Awards), Mga Pusang Gala (Stray Cats) lives up to the alleluia from a chorus of critics who deems it “a delightfully painful film… heartwarming…”
A kick-ass tragicomic parody of the age-old politics of gender (the battle spilling over to the so-called third sex), Mga Pusang Gala portrays the parallel lives of two lovelorn friends, both coping with loneliness and the rigors of loving dangerously. Or traipsing the thin line between hope and illusion while making a living as purveyors of fantasy. Marta is a middle-age advertising practitioner while Boyet is an aging gay romance novelist, both roles soaring in the winged performances of Irma Adlawan and Ricky Davao.
“Cats,” a friend of mine hopes, “go to heaven.” So do this little but huge-hearted film.
(yomyko@yahoo.com)
(August 16, 2005 issue)
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