Art or artifice?
MANILA, Philippines - At around 2 in the morning of the last day of February, Wenn V. Deramas learned that her sister has been brought to the hospital. The director, who is as dutiful to his family and friends as he is to his work, hurriedly rushed to the hospital, only to witness his beloved sister succumbing to death. Moments later, he suffered a heart attack and joined his sibling in eternal peace.
It is a scene that could have belonged in one of Deramas’ films. Deramas is, after all, the director of Ang Tanging Ina (2003), a film that opens with a montage of weddings ending up in violent deaths. He is also the director of Pasukob (2007), a film that has a woman experience misfortune after misfortune while her twin sister is showered with blessings. Deramas’ films are populated with scenes riddled with insane amounts of tragedy, that they are often regarded as absurd, unrealistic and insensitive, given that the string of tragedies goes hand in hand with churlish humor.
There is no humor, however, in Deramas’ surprising demise. There are a lot of tears, a regret, a lot of unspoken gratitude, but none of the boisterous laughter that is to be expected out of a room full of people enjoying his latest hit. If anything, Deramas’ death forces a revisit to his work as a strange artist, one who started within an established system before evolving into a filmmaker of equal renown and infamy, but whose invaluable contributions to the morphing film culture of the country are veiled with all the trappings the cool kids of the independent uprising have come to rebel against.
Blockbuster Director
Deramas embraced his position as a blockbuster director. There were no pretenses of pleasing critics or academics. He was there to please his most relevant stakeholders, the ordinary moviegoers and his bosses whose business relies on the happiness of those ordinary moviegoers.
His first film, Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita (1998), is nothing more than the typical romantic comedy whose very existence depended on the lasting charm of Claudine Barretto and Rico Yan’s on-and-off-screen romance, which Mula sa Puso, the telenovela he worked in prior to his first film, mined for all its worth. He then directed the film version of Mula sa Puso in 1999. It was; however, Kung Ikaw ay Isang Panaginip (2002) that first showcased Deramas’ penchant for the downright absurd. The film, which features the typical Joline Magdangal-character falling for a billboard model, is framed like a typical romantic comedy, complete with a predictable love triangle and other stereotypical issues, but is differentiated by its extremely playful take on fantasy-based love, which Deramas takes very literally.
It was Ang Tanging Ina that both cemented his position in the industry and established the trajectory of his creative forces in the future. The film, like Kung Ikaw ay Isang Panaginip, has the formula of the feel-good family flick as its base. What separates it essentially is its amusingly reckless attitude towards conventions about how families should work. It is brazenly unapologetic in its depiction of a mother, played wondrously by Ai Ai delas Alas, who does everything to raise a horde of kids left to her by her deceased husbands. The sequels of Ang Tanging Ina pushed boundaries further towards directions that verged on the slapstick. Nevertheless, the film series gave Deramas a brand of comedy that is entirely his own, one that he has been able to utilize in various genres, from the inane superhero flick Volta (2004) to the nostalgia-reliant chick flick D’Lucky Ones (2006).
Evolving Comedy
Clearly, Deramas’ brand is one that is indisputable, especially if one is to base its success on the numbers of tickets sold. Interestingly, despite the seeming repetitiveness of his films, Deramas’ comedy actually evolves. Perhaps it is because Deramas knows the value of the performers he works with. He turned Delas Alas into a maternal figure in the Ang Tanging Ina films. He exploited Ruffa Mae Quintos’ brainless bombshell persona, which she popularized in Joyce Bernal’s Booba (2001), to great effect in Pasukob. He was able to draw laughs out of Sharon Cuneta’s rotund frame in BFF: Best Friends Forever (2009).
Deramas’ collaboration with Vice Ganda, however, is of a completely different level. What started out as an experiment in Petrang Kabayo (2010) exploded into a phenomenon that allowed for something extremely interesting, something that would turn Deramas into a filmmaker who is far more important than the money he has generated out of his work. Whether out of his own design or not, films like Praybeyt Benjamin (2011), This Guy’s in Love with You Mare! (2012), and Girl Boy Bakla Tomboy (2013) have put the spotlight on adamantly homosexual characters. Sure, the films themselves may be politically backward, perhaps with the tendency to embrace stereotypes without remorse, but the very act of having a film, on a market that is too engrossed with heterosexual love stories, whose narrative is catapulted by the decisions of a queer character is noteworthy. It could very well be said that Deramas is one of the Philippines’ most important queer-themed directors, and his utmost contribution is that he made the mostly Catholic public completely fine with themes that are central to the queer cause.
Even without Vice Ganda, Deramas’ films still put an emphasis on queer concerns. Note that this is very noteworthy considering that Deramas is doing this within a system that is quite conservative on what to show the public. Bromance: My Brother’s Romance (2013) has an intolerant straight man understand his gay brother by literally wearing his shoes and donning his responsibilities. Maria Leonora Theresa (2014), a horror film about murderous dolls, heavily features a same-sex couple who properly raised a daughter. Clearly, Deramas has full control of his medium, knowing very well how much of himself he can put in the films that often look commercial and generic.
Let’s be honest. At first glance, Deramas’ films do not seem worth much. However, his filmography shows otherwise. There is a design in how he has grown as an artist. The fact that he works well within the establishment but has come out a filmmaker who is distinct from the rest is already an accomplishment. That he is able to do things most filmmakers will only be able to do if their projects are bankrolled by their personal bank accounts is an extreme feat.
Deramas had decades more to show his critics what a stubborn but diligent man could do within an even more stubborn and diligent film industry. What he left is a blueprint for success, a journal of an artist who can only be honest in such a gravely dishonest world.
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