Intelligent humor, poignant drama

I have to admit I had misgivings when I first heard about this movie project called Crying Ladies. When I saw its full-page ads in leading dailies, I couldn’t make anything out of it.

I was also wary about the capabilities of its director, Mark Meilly (I think he comes from advertising) being new. Of course, this is wrong attitude on my part because I should be more welcoming of new talents. But then, based on recent developments in local films, our new breed of directors today (except for Jeffrey Jeturian and Lav Diaz) only seem to be concerned with form and never with substance).

And so, with a baggage of doubts heavier than that of St. Thomas (the apostle), I went to see Unitel’s Crying Ladies during the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) screening. Thank heavens I was wrong – very wrong – for even the opening credits of Crying Ladies are already very impressive. Being the technological idiot that I am, I have no idea what they call the process used here, but I swear, each frame looks like prints by Paris-based Pinay artist Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi.

From the opening credits, the excitement is practically never-ending. We are first introduced to the character of Sharon Cuneta, who plays Stella Mate, a con artist of the first order. Fresh out of prison (for estafa). she yearns to be with her son, except that she loses him to the boy’s father, Ricky Davao, who is now married to Charmaine Centenera.

One day, she is hired by Chinese yuppie Eric Quizon to cry in his father’s wake. Some of you must still remember this Chinese custom of recruiting people to cry at funerals. The rationale behind this – so the movie explains – is that when the Chinese gods see that a lot of people are mourning the death of a person, they (the gods) would think the departed had been so good and kind on earth and this would expedite his or her entry to heaven.

Stella’s departed mother, it turned out, had a career crying at Chinese funerals and the young Stella had always tagged along and she would still know the trade. (People in this profession – if you can call it that – are a vanishing breed because this practice is hardly observed anymore in most Chinese funerals.)

Since Stella needs other companions to cry at the wake, she brings in with her a neighbor, Aling Doray (Hilda Koronel), a former movie starlet (screenname: Rhoda Rivera) whose biggest film credit was having been stepped on by a giant in the 1970s Vilma Santos movie, Darna and the Giants. Aling Doray is the type who lives in the past and would tell anyone who’d care to listen about her "film career."

To complete the trio of the "Crying Ladies," we have Angel Aquino, whose only fault is that she can never say no to the call of the flesh and continues to have an affair with a married man (Raymond Bagatsing) whose wife is her good friend.

The characters and scenarios in this film are real and the dialogues too are so real that you will start pinching yourself to ask if this film is for real. Especially for those who haven’t seen a good local movie in a long time, no, you are not dreaming or hallucinating. Yes, you are actually watching a wonderful, wonderful Filipino film called Crying Ladies.

Based on a Palanca award-winning script by Meily himself, Crying Ladies has a lot of humor intelligent-humor, if I may add. The comedy is pegged mostly on every day life or even in wakes and funerals, except that there is nothing morbid or offensive about the manner in which these are staged. There is one hilarious scene at a wake, for instance, that involves Bella Flores (who is marvelous here), but unfortunately, I cannot tell you what happens here because it will ruin your viewing pleasure. But I swear it is a gem of a scene.

But it is not only comedy that you get to see here (the laughter is practically non-stop) for this film is also injected with poignant drama particularly the part where Sharon spends one last night with her young son who is bound for Cagayan de Oro with his father and stepmother.

One thing I also like about Crying Ladies is the fact that you’ll never be able to guess what’s going to happen next. There is nothing predictable in this film – which is why the viewer‘s attention will never stray, no, not even for a moment from beginning to the end. (It has a "cute" ending – this much I will tell you.) And then, I also commend the director and the producer (Tony Gloria) for taking the risk with this "non-commercial" material and by choosing not to stick to formula.

Also deserving praise are the performances of every cast member: Chamaine Centenera as the stepmother, Sherry Lara as Eric Quizon’s mother, Julio Pacheco as Sharon’s son (the kid is cute but not cloying), Raymond Bagatsing and Ricky Davao – although for a security guard, he is too nattily dressed and speaks very good English (sorry, I’m stereotyping here).

Eric Quizon is simply brilliant as the son who has mixed feelings about the death of his father and yet has to take charge of his father’s funeral and do it in the traditional Chinese way.

As for the three Crying Ladies, oh they are all excellent. Angel Aquino in spite of the fact that her character is the least colorful of all three still manages to shine in the film.

On the part of Hilda Koronel, she proves once more that the mark of a great actress is one who can excel in both comedy and drama (just like Gloria Romero and even Rosa Rosal in the 1950s LVN comedy Biglang Yaman). It’s a campy role that Hilda plays in Crying Ladies and has all the opportunities in the world to ham it up. But the disciplined artist that she is, she is able to restrain herself from going to town and camping out the part – a very wise decision because she comes out marvelous in all her scenes..

And then, we also have to stress the fact that the finished product of Crying Ladies would never have come out this good had it not been for the very engaging performance of Sharon Cuneta. Sharon had long been acclaimed as a fine actress (she’s a grandslam queen, after all). But in Crying Ladies, she shows a facet she has never displayed in the movies before.

While she looks too well-scrubbed to a small-time swindler, she is obviously talented enough to be able to internalize the role and successfully comes up with a realistic portrayal of a street-smart woman out to hoodwink everyone. It is a very effective performance that she delivers here actually the best in her entire acting career.

Crying Ladies, undeniably, is also one of the best films of the year and definitely in the ongoing Metro Filmfest. (It got an A rating in the Cinema Evaluation Board, by the way.) To those who despair the lack of quality films in local cinema, cry no more. Crying Ladies is here to prove that there is still hope in Filipino films.