The Ma’Rosa ending that made Kirsten Dunst cry

When Brillante “Dante” Mendoza invited me to an exclusive screening of Ma’Rosa at the Director’s Club of SM Megamall, I readily said yes because I was curious what made his movie turn heads at the recent Cannes International Film Festival (it was in competition) and win Jaclyn Jose the Best Actress plum, beating the likes of Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Marion Cotillard. (Jaclyn’s award is the highest won by a Filipino actress, far heavier in importance and in weight, literally and figuratively, than any won by other Filipino artists.)

What I love about Dante’s movies is his directorial style (unscripted) which makes you not just an spectator but a participant in what’s going on onscreen. His camera doesn’t just stand there, it explores and it follows the performers like a stalker, tagging you along from beginning to end when you find out what mystery is unfolding towards the end.

I was particularly eager to find out how the ending of Ma’Rosa made actress Kirsten Dunst, a Cannes juror, cry (as she herself admitted to the media). As you know by now, in the movie, Jaclyn and her husband (played by Julio Diaz) use their sari-sari store in a slum area as front for pushing illegal drugs. They are caught and milked dry by corrupt cops, forcing their children (played by Jaclyn’s daughter Andi Eigenmann, Felix Roco and newcomer Jomari Angeles) to pitch in for the supposed “bail” that actually goes to the pockets of the cops (Mark Anthony Fernandez, Mon Confiado, Neil Ryan Sese and Baron Geisler).

Lest you accuse me of being a spoiler, I won’t tell you what makes Jaclyn’s character walk miles. Suffice it to say that, tired and weary, perspiring in the slight drizzle, she stops by a hawker to fill up her long-empty stomach with a stick of fish balls. It’s the way Jaclyn gobbles up the fish balls, her expression shifting from self-pity to anxiety to relief that made Dunst cry, finding that finale scene so memorable that she actually congratulated Jaclyn for it. That made me and, I’m sure, you, too, cry. (Find out for yourself when the movie is shown locally starting on Wednesday, July 6.)

Ces Drilon and Pablo Tariman, two of the other invited guests, suggested to Dante to enter Ma’Rosa in the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language category but so sorry, said Dante, that might not be possible.

Jaclyn Jose in her Cannes-awarded performance in Ma’Rosa, directed by Brillante ‘Dante’ Mendoza (below, with Ces Drilon during the movie’s special screening). So far, Dante said that he has no next movie yet with Jaclyn who is busy with her GMA sitcom A1 Ko Sa’yo.

“It’s not for me to decide,” explained Dante. “You see, the Oscars has designated a group in each country to choose the films to be submitted. You just cannot submit a film yourself.” (Paging the Film Academy of the Philippines, which is in-charge of choosing the film for submission. Ma’Rosa might make history for us the way it did, with Jaclyn’s win in Cannes, and bring honor to our country.) Neither is Dante, contrary to an earlier report, entering the movie in the MMFF which doesn’t accept entries already shown abroad.

Meanwhile, Dante is busy with the post-production work on Chinoma, the trilogy he and two other directors (from Cambodia and Japan) were commissioned (financed) to do by Japan Foundation. Each episode is good for 30 minutes, connected to each other by a bird, touted as “an Asian tri-fold mirror.”

“My 35-minute episode features Lou Veloso as the lone star,” said Dante (who directed Lou in Taklub which earned him a Gawad Urian Best Actor nomination). “He plays an OFW caught in a horse farm. The episode is set during the famous Horse Festival in the Northern part of Japan, near Hokkaido. The word chinoma means dead horse in English. We plan to enter it in the Sinag Maynila Film Festival in March next year.”

Incidentally, we were happy to see Julio Diaz at the screening. Although walking with a cane, Julio is up and about and didn’t at all look like he suffered a massive stroke that landed him in the ICU of a Quezon City hospital last April 9.

“My blood pressure hit 240/100,” recalled Julio (a hypertensive). “An immediate procedure was done on me. Had it been delayed for 24 hours, you wouldn‘t be talking to me now. Thanks to that procedure that saved me from having my skull opened up. I was unconscious for several days and, thank God, my brain wasn’t damaged. My memory is as good as ever.”

And he is as good as new and can easily go around by himself, even riding public transport (MRT, etc.).

“I’m ready to work again,” he assured us. “Please mention it in your column.” There. Request granted. Any taker out there? “And also, please help me thank those who have helped me financially and morally. They are so many, hindi ko na iisa-isahin pa. They know who they are.”

Also present at the screening was Baron Geisler who, a few days earlier, engaged Kiko Matos in a showdown in the Universal Reality Combat Championship that ended in a draw after two rounds.

“Look,” said Baron, lifting his shirt (and making Ces gasp), “I still have bruises on my back, and on my forehead.”

How come there was no round three, as the somewhat disappointed crowd complained, to break the tie?

“We were so gassed out already,” said Baron.

Didn’t he suffer any head injury?

“None,” he smiled, joking, “besides, matagal nang sira ang ulo ko, eh.”

Still and all, Baron added that he felt like the winner. “I stood up after the fight,” he said. Did he and Kiko talk? “Yes, we did. He was crying.”

Just to be very sure, Baron planned to see his doctor.

“I will have to undergo an executive check-up,” he stressed. “Para sigurado.”

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