A lyrical study of longing and loneliness
September 6, 2006 | 12:00am
"Sarong Banggi (One Night)," the movie that won for Jaclyn Jose her most recent Urian best actress trophy, is opening in theaters today. The movie is a lyrical, sensitive study of waiting and loneliness.
The film is slow-paced and quiet. In fact, it is to the big credit of its first-time director and writer Emmanuel Dela Cruz, to have confidently worked at a film atmosphere with a rhythm of sustained lyricism till the film's chilling climax. It chooses to ignore the commonly perceived penchant of Hollywood-influenced local filmgoers for fast-paced action-a difficult feat any film director will attest to.
In the film, Jaclyn Jose plays the part of an ageing streetwalker plying her trade at Lito Atienza's Baywalk. She has been contacted by a group of teeners, who wanted their friend celebrating his birthday to get initiated into the adult world via a one-night encounter with an "expert." The first time we see her, she sits alone at a table, idly playing a solitary game of constructing stories the many passersby suggest through their body language and facial expressions.
Through her voice-over monologue, we learn several things about the character and how her mind works, foremost is her projection of loneliness and longing for someone she had abandoned earlier in her life, and the way the present group of youngsters who have initially contacted her on the phone decided to leave and summarily dismiss her services upon seeing that "the merchandise" is "unfit" as a birthday present-casually, mindlessly, insensitively.
Strangely, the birthday boy intuitively finds his way back to the lady of the night, who promptly invites him at her table. After an exchange of surface pleasantries that worked more at deeply probing each other's internal landscape, the two part ways only to cross paths once again as if mysteriously by fate.
In this film, Jaclyn Jose, a great actress who has been occasionally relegated to brief, supporting roles takes center stage once more and shows what made her the choice of the country's premier critics group for the year's Urian Best Actress award. Her hauntingly expressive face in maturity tells millions of stories, a lifetime-full of emotions in varied tones and shades of nuances.
The celebrity tiangge cum fund-raising project organized by KC Concepcion last Sunday at the Rockwell Tent was very successful. Billed as Super Artists' Fair, it attracted a huge crowd of shoppers when it opened at 10am and the steady flow of people continued until late in the evening as several bands took turns to perform in a show late in the night.
The fans had a great time selecting the items up for sale from their favorite celebrities. Among the stars who put up booths were Sharon Cuneta, Pops Fernandez, Gary Valenciano, the Film Artists Group (represented by Maria Isabel Lopez, Ms. Evangeline Pascual, and Melissa Mendez), Borgy Manotoc, Tim Yap, and Aiza Marquez. Of course, KC has her own booth.
We saw that there was a table for Danica Sotto and Mark Pingris but we didn't see them arrive. Pops wasn't there but there was a person in charge of her merchandise. Gary V came to visit his stall that sold some of his Armani shirts, CDs and a coffee table book, as well as clothes owned by his children Paolo, Gabriel and Keana Valenciano.
Even if they have their own stall, Maribel, Evangeline and Melissa went around to see the items for sale from other celebrities. Majority of the items were really cheap, with blouses from Sharon costing only P50 and used shirts for P20. Sharon had several gowns for sale for a reasonable prize.
Other stars who dropped by included Christian Bautista, Donita Rose, her husband Erik and their son, Iza Calzado (who came with her dad Lito Calzado). Christian and Iza each received that I am Super Award from the organizers of Artists' Fair, recognizing their contribution in making the Filipino artist known.
But the biggest star of the day was KC. She was mobbed by the crowd. She's like a magnet that attracts metal or like a bowl of sugar attracting the ants, as the people rushed to her when she came back to the venue later in the night. When she went around the Rockwell Tent to visit each section, the people followed her, took her pictures and grabbed every opportunity to shake her hands. The security personnel had quite a hard time containing the crowd. In fairness to KC, she's very accommodating. She granted fans' requests for photo-ops and answered inquiries. In truth, the security people assigned to her were the ones somehow difficult to deal with, unlike KC who's very accommodating and friendly.
And the items on her booth sold like the proverbial hotcakes. T-shirts, dresses, even some of her baby clothes, were up for sale and everything was gone in a matter of minutes.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan came (with daughter Frankie) to show his support for KC's project. But KC's mega-mom Sharon Cuneta couldn't make it as she was finishing a paper to submit to school the next day. KC was very pleased with the outcome of Super! Artists Fair, which is for the benefit of Hands On Manila and Virlanie Foundation, the same group supported by Prince Andrea of Monaco when he came to the Philippines a few weeks ago.
The campaign period for next year's elections hasn't started yet the mudslinging and backstabbing had started. A group has initiated a smear campaign through text, maligning and seeking to discredit Sen. Kiko Pangilinan and the Juvenile Justice System Law that he authored. The malicious text message claimed that youthful offenders would not go to jail if the bill that Kiko created would be passed.
The good senator belied this claim when we had the chance to talk to him last Sunday. "Yes, the youth offenders are exempted from the criminal justice system but not in the new juvenile justice system where they can be found liable and accountable if the offense is serious such as rape or homicide," said Kiko. "The youthful offender, by order of the court, can be confined in a facility for minors and undergo rehabilitation as part of the system. Minors do not go scot-free and are accountable for their acts under the juvenile justice system."
"The kids we save today through a restorative justice system, will mean lesser hardened criminals in the future," he added. "Text messaging can be an important tool for giving correct information and we hope is not used to discredit people as well to disseminate false information. Maganda ang layunin ng batas. Huwag sana ito siraan ng politika."
The digital movie "Donsol" won the Special Jury Prize award from the Makuhari Film Festival in Japan. This is a big boost to the film, the first directorial job of Adolf Alix, Jr. (an award-winning scriptwriter) since the festival gave out only two awards.
"Donsol" topbills Angel Aquino and Sid Lucero. It was one of the highly-touted entries in the Cinemalaya Film Festival where it won the award for Best Cinematography and the best actress trophy for Angel.
The film is slow-paced and quiet. In fact, it is to the big credit of its first-time director and writer Emmanuel Dela Cruz, to have confidently worked at a film atmosphere with a rhythm of sustained lyricism till the film's chilling climax. It chooses to ignore the commonly perceived penchant of Hollywood-influenced local filmgoers for fast-paced action-a difficult feat any film director will attest to.
In the film, Jaclyn Jose plays the part of an ageing streetwalker plying her trade at Lito Atienza's Baywalk. She has been contacted by a group of teeners, who wanted their friend celebrating his birthday to get initiated into the adult world via a one-night encounter with an "expert." The first time we see her, she sits alone at a table, idly playing a solitary game of constructing stories the many passersby suggest through their body language and facial expressions.
Through her voice-over monologue, we learn several things about the character and how her mind works, foremost is her projection of loneliness and longing for someone she had abandoned earlier in her life, and the way the present group of youngsters who have initially contacted her on the phone decided to leave and summarily dismiss her services upon seeing that "the merchandise" is "unfit" as a birthday present-casually, mindlessly, insensitively.
Strangely, the birthday boy intuitively finds his way back to the lady of the night, who promptly invites him at her table. After an exchange of surface pleasantries that worked more at deeply probing each other's internal landscape, the two part ways only to cross paths once again as if mysteriously by fate.
In this film, Jaclyn Jose, a great actress who has been occasionally relegated to brief, supporting roles takes center stage once more and shows what made her the choice of the country's premier critics group for the year's Urian Best Actress award. Her hauntingly expressive face in maturity tells millions of stories, a lifetime-full of emotions in varied tones and shades of nuances.
The fans had a great time selecting the items up for sale from their favorite celebrities. Among the stars who put up booths were Sharon Cuneta, Pops Fernandez, Gary Valenciano, the Film Artists Group (represented by Maria Isabel Lopez, Ms. Evangeline Pascual, and Melissa Mendez), Borgy Manotoc, Tim Yap, and Aiza Marquez. Of course, KC has her own booth.
We saw that there was a table for Danica Sotto and Mark Pingris but we didn't see them arrive. Pops wasn't there but there was a person in charge of her merchandise. Gary V came to visit his stall that sold some of his Armani shirts, CDs and a coffee table book, as well as clothes owned by his children Paolo, Gabriel and Keana Valenciano.
Even if they have their own stall, Maribel, Evangeline and Melissa went around to see the items for sale from other celebrities. Majority of the items were really cheap, with blouses from Sharon costing only P50 and used shirts for P20. Sharon had several gowns for sale for a reasonable prize.
Other stars who dropped by included Christian Bautista, Donita Rose, her husband Erik and their son, Iza Calzado (who came with her dad Lito Calzado). Christian and Iza each received that I am Super Award from the organizers of Artists' Fair, recognizing their contribution in making the Filipino artist known.
But the biggest star of the day was KC. She was mobbed by the crowd. She's like a magnet that attracts metal or like a bowl of sugar attracting the ants, as the people rushed to her when she came back to the venue later in the night. When she went around the Rockwell Tent to visit each section, the people followed her, took her pictures and grabbed every opportunity to shake her hands. The security personnel had quite a hard time containing the crowd. In fairness to KC, she's very accommodating. She granted fans' requests for photo-ops and answered inquiries. In truth, the security people assigned to her were the ones somehow difficult to deal with, unlike KC who's very accommodating and friendly.
And the items on her booth sold like the proverbial hotcakes. T-shirts, dresses, even some of her baby clothes, were up for sale and everything was gone in a matter of minutes.
Senator Kiko Pangilinan came (with daughter Frankie) to show his support for KC's project. But KC's mega-mom Sharon Cuneta couldn't make it as she was finishing a paper to submit to school the next day. KC was very pleased with the outcome of Super! Artists Fair, which is for the benefit of Hands On Manila and Virlanie Foundation, the same group supported by Prince Andrea of Monaco when he came to the Philippines a few weeks ago.
The good senator belied this claim when we had the chance to talk to him last Sunday. "Yes, the youth offenders are exempted from the criminal justice system but not in the new juvenile justice system where they can be found liable and accountable if the offense is serious such as rape or homicide," said Kiko. "The youthful offender, by order of the court, can be confined in a facility for minors and undergo rehabilitation as part of the system. Minors do not go scot-free and are accountable for their acts under the juvenile justice system."
"The kids we save today through a restorative justice system, will mean lesser hardened criminals in the future," he added. "Text messaging can be an important tool for giving correct information and we hope is not used to discredit people as well to disseminate false information. Maganda ang layunin ng batas. Huwag sana ito siraan ng politika."
"Donsol" topbills Angel Aquino and Sid Lucero. It was one of the highly-touted entries in the Cinemalaya Film Festival where it won the award for Best Cinematography and the best actress trophy for Angel.
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