The consolations of cinema
April 20, 2007 | 12:00am
Of the readers who joined last " week’s quiz, only two got all " the answers right. On one hand " all the contestants knew their Hitchcock, Visconti and Nicolas Roeg (with or without the help of Google and the Internet Movie Database), but they stumbled on the Filipino movies, which is a little distressing. These movies were directed by Ishmael Bernal and Mike de Leon  how could you not know them?
A) Because you were too young to have seen them when they first came out.
B) Because you don’t get the Filipino Movie Channel on cable.
C) Because they’re not available on DVD.
D) Because we don’t have a proper film archive because culture is not a priority issue because our governments have other priorities such as alleviating poverty. So today poverty is worse, we still have no money for culture, and there’s very little film left to put in an archive.
E) Because you think all Tagalog movies are tacky.
F) Because you think movies are silly and people should be doing something useful.
If you answered E or F, I can’t help you. For the rest, here are the answers to the quiz.
1. The Year of Living Dangerously, directed by Peter Weir. Stars Mel Gibson as a journalist, Sigourney Weaver as a British Embassy employee, and Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan the dwarf photographer and guide. The film was shot partly in Manila  you can see the Quezon City Hall, Quiapo, Manila City Hall, and various government buildings. Bembol Roco and Kuh Ledesma have substantial roles as Gibson’s office staff, and Professor Domingo Landicho plays Gibson’s driver. He’s supposed to be Indonesian, but he shouts, "Para niyo nang awa, huwag ninyo siyang sasaktan!"
2. Sullivan’s Travels, written and directed by Preston Sturges, with Joel McCrea as the movie director who disguises himself as a hobo, and Veronica Lake as the girl who accompanies him on his travels. Preston Sturges also made my current favorite movie of all time, The Lady Eve.
3. Magnolia, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The ensemble cast includes John C. Reilly as the good cop, Melora Waters as the junkie, Philip Baker Hall as the quiz show host, Julianne Moore as the trophy wife who realizes she loves her dying husband, Jason Robards as the dying man, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the kind-hearted caregiver, William H. Macy as the former quiz show champion planning a heist, and Tom Cruise in his best-ever performance, playing a jerk.
4. Chinatown, written by Robert Towne, directed by Roman Polanski. Jack Nicholson is the detective, Faye Dunaway is the widow he falls in love with, and John Huston is a bad, bad man. Polanski himself appears as the midget who slices Nicholson’s nose.
5. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra. Starring Gary Cooper as the small-town writer of greeting card verse who inherits a fortune, and Jean Arthur as the reporter who tries to expose him as a fool. It was remade a few years ago as Mr. Deeds starring Adam Sandler.
6. Manhattan, written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody, Diane Keaton, and a teenage Mariel Hemingway. The Mariel Hemingway character was frequently mentioned in connection with the scandal involving Woody and his former adoptive stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn, who is now his wife. Many of the contestants thought the answer was Annie Hall. Right city, wrong movie. Manhattan is the one with the score by George Gershwin.
7. Strangers On A Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. The Ripley novels have been filmed by Rene Clement, Wim Wenders, Anthony Minghella, and Liliana Cavani. The charming sociopath Tom Ripley has been portrayed by Alain Delon, Matt Damon and John Malkovich.
8. New York, New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli. Yes, she sings that song.
9. Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese. Harvey Keitel plays the gangster’s nephew who wants to be good, and Robert De Niro is his unruly friend. Scorsese himself appears as the hitman hired to kill De Niro. In a later movie, Taxi Driver, Scorsese plays a passenger sitting in De Niro’s taxi, talking about shooting his cheating wife.
10. Summertime, directed by David Lean. Katharine Hepburn is the American spinster in Europe for the first time; Rossano Brazzi is the Venetian shop-owner she falls in love with. In the 1950s, Brazzi was Hollywood’s idea of the suave Italian. Try to watch him without giggling.
11. The Wings of the Dove, the adaptation of the novel by Henry James, directed by Iain Softley. Helena Bonham-Carter is brilliant as Kate Croy, the Englishwoman who convinces her lover to pretend to be in love with the dying American heiress. He falls in love for real, and complications ensue. Linus Roache is the lover, Merton Densher, while Alison Elliot is Millie Theale, the terminally-ill heiress. Other Henry James adaptations, in case you’re interested: The Golden Bowl, A Portrait Of A Lady, and Washington Square. And yes, all his novels are about money.
12. Senso, directed by Luchino Visconti, who was an actual Italian count  his family was descended from Charlemagne’s father-in-law, Desiderius. Visconti himself was a communist who got into film directing after the designer Coco Chanel introduced him to Jean Renoir. In the film Alida Valli plays the obsessed aristocrat, and Farley Granger plays her unfaithful lover. A key sequence was shot in Venice’s opera house, La Fenice. When La Fenice burned down in the mid-1990s, the film was used as a reference in the reconstruction.
13. Don’t Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg, based on the short story by Daphne DuMaurier, who also wrote Rebecca. The troubled couple is played by Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.
14. Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman, based on the play by Peter Shaffer. Tom Hulce plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and F. Murray Abraham his nemesis Salieri.
15. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the surgeon reduced to washing windows. He climbs into the windows of women’s apartments and says, "Take off your clothes." Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin are the two fabulous women he’s in love with. My favorite answer to this question was The Man With Two Brains. Similar premise  Steve Martin is also a surgeon in love with two women, one of whom is in a jar  but wrong city.
16. Here’s where nearly everyone tripped up: Salawahan, the romantic-comedy directed by Ishmael Bernal. Jay Ilagan, our favorite Filipino actor of the 1980s, plays a serious young man who runs a printing press; Mat Ranillo III is his frivolous playboy cousin. They decide to experiment: Jay tries to be a playboy, Mat tries to be serious. Sandy Andolong and Rio Locsin are the women they are pursuing, and Ms. Rita Gomez is the complication. Rene Requiestas steals a scene from right under everyone’s nose as a gay fashion designer’s assistant. Salawahan has almost enough irony to make up for the general lack of irony in Filipino movies.
17. Ikaw Ay Akin, directed by Ishmael Bernal featured Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos as two intelligent, independent women competing for the affections of Christopher De Leon. In one scene Vilma and Christopher go to a film showing at Alliance Francaise or Goethe Institut. You don’t see many characters in Tagalog movies watching art house films.
18. Temptation Island, directed by Joey Gosiengfiao. Cultists have been reciting lines from the movie for years, so Chris Martinez adapted the screenplay for the stage. It’s hilarious.
19. Kakabakaba Ka Ba? directed by Mike De Leon. This comedy-musical stars Christopher De Leon, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, and Sandy Andolong as four friends who stumble onto a gang war between Chinese and Japanese drug syndicates. Their issues are worked out partly in song. My favorite line in the movie is uttered by Jay Ilagan. After Sandy Andolong’s character asks a dumb question, he says, "Siguro nung nagpaulan ng utak ang Diyos, nakapayong ka."
20. Moral, directed by Marilou Diaz Abaya from a screenplay by Ricky Lee. Starring Lorna Tolentino as an aimless UP student and rebellious daughter, Sandy Andolong as a smart woman who makes unfortunate choices, Anna Marin as a stifled housewife, and Gina Alajar as a singer who can’t sing. One of the best movies ever shot on the UP Diliman campus.
Congratulations to the winners, Eileen Ang and Patrick Llaguno. You each get a copy of Twisted Travels.
You can reach me at http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com.
A) Because you were too young to have seen them when they first came out.
B) Because you don’t get the Filipino Movie Channel on cable.
C) Because they’re not available on DVD.
D) Because we don’t have a proper film archive because culture is not a priority issue because our governments have other priorities such as alleviating poverty. So today poverty is worse, we still have no money for culture, and there’s very little film left to put in an archive.
E) Because you think all Tagalog movies are tacky.
F) Because you think movies are silly and people should be doing something useful.
If you answered E or F, I can’t help you. For the rest, here are the answers to the quiz.
1. The Year of Living Dangerously, directed by Peter Weir. Stars Mel Gibson as a journalist, Sigourney Weaver as a British Embassy employee, and Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan the dwarf photographer and guide. The film was shot partly in Manila  you can see the Quezon City Hall, Quiapo, Manila City Hall, and various government buildings. Bembol Roco and Kuh Ledesma have substantial roles as Gibson’s office staff, and Professor Domingo Landicho plays Gibson’s driver. He’s supposed to be Indonesian, but he shouts, "Para niyo nang awa, huwag ninyo siyang sasaktan!"
2. Sullivan’s Travels, written and directed by Preston Sturges, with Joel McCrea as the movie director who disguises himself as a hobo, and Veronica Lake as the girl who accompanies him on his travels. Preston Sturges also made my current favorite movie of all time, The Lady Eve.
3. Magnolia, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The ensemble cast includes John C. Reilly as the good cop, Melora Waters as the junkie, Philip Baker Hall as the quiz show host, Julianne Moore as the trophy wife who realizes she loves her dying husband, Jason Robards as the dying man, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the kind-hearted caregiver, William H. Macy as the former quiz show champion planning a heist, and Tom Cruise in his best-ever performance, playing a jerk.
4. Chinatown, written by Robert Towne, directed by Roman Polanski. Jack Nicholson is the detective, Faye Dunaway is the widow he falls in love with, and John Huston is a bad, bad man. Polanski himself appears as the midget who slices Nicholson’s nose.
5. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra. Starring Gary Cooper as the small-town writer of greeting card verse who inherits a fortune, and Jean Arthur as the reporter who tries to expose him as a fool. It was remade a few years ago as Mr. Deeds starring Adam Sandler.
6. Manhattan, written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody, Diane Keaton, and a teenage Mariel Hemingway. The Mariel Hemingway character was frequently mentioned in connection with the scandal involving Woody and his former adoptive stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn, who is now his wife. Many of the contestants thought the answer was Annie Hall. Right city, wrong movie. Manhattan is the one with the score by George Gershwin.
7. Strangers On A Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. The Ripley novels have been filmed by Rene Clement, Wim Wenders, Anthony Minghella, and Liliana Cavani. The charming sociopath Tom Ripley has been portrayed by Alain Delon, Matt Damon and John Malkovich.
8. New York, New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli. Yes, she sings that song.
9. Mean Streets, directed by Martin Scorsese. Harvey Keitel plays the gangster’s nephew who wants to be good, and Robert De Niro is his unruly friend. Scorsese himself appears as the hitman hired to kill De Niro. In a later movie, Taxi Driver, Scorsese plays a passenger sitting in De Niro’s taxi, talking about shooting his cheating wife.
10. Summertime, directed by David Lean. Katharine Hepburn is the American spinster in Europe for the first time; Rossano Brazzi is the Venetian shop-owner she falls in love with. In the 1950s, Brazzi was Hollywood’s idea of the suave Italian. Try to watch him without giggling.
11. The Wings of the Dove, the adaptation of the novel by Henry James, directed by Iain Softley. Helena Bonham-Carter is brilliant as Kate Croy, the Englishwoman who convinces her lover to pretend to be in love with the dying American heiress. He falls in love for real, and complications ensue. Linus Roache is the lover, Merton Densher, while Alison Elliot is Millie Theale, the terminally-ill heiress. Other Henry James adaptations, in case you’re interested: The Golden Bowl, A Portrait Of A Lady, and Washington Square. And yes, all his novels are about money.
12. Senso, directed by Luchino Visconti, who was an actual Italian count  his family was descended from Charlemagne’s father-in-law, Desiderius. Visconti himself was a communist who got into film directing after the designer Coco Chanel introduced him to Jean Renoir. In the film Alida Valli plays the obsessed aristocrat, and Farley Granger plays her unfaithful lover. A key sequence was shot in Venice’s opera house, La Fenice. When La Fenice burned down in the mid-1990s, the film was used as a reference in the reconstruction.
13. Don’t Look Now, directed by Nicolas Roeg, based on the short story by Daphne DuMaurier, who also wrote Rebecca. The troubled couple is played by Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.
14. Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman, based on the play by Peter Shaffer. Tom Hulce plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and F. Murray Abraham his nemesis Salieri.
15. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the surgeon reduced to washing windows. He climbs into the windows of women’s apartments and says, "Take off your clothes." Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin are the two fabulous women he’s in love with. My favorite answer to this question was The Man With Two Brains. Similar premise  Steve Martin is also a surgeon in love with two women, one of whom is in a jar  but wrong city.
16. Here’s where nearly everyone tripped up: Salawahan, the romantic-comedy directed by Ishmael Bernal. Jay Ilagan, our favorite Filipino actor of the 1980s, plays a serious young man who runs a printing press; Mat Ranillo III is his frivolous playboy cousin. They decide to experiment: Jay tries to be a playboy, Mat tries to be serious. Sandy Andolong and Rio Locsin are the women they are pursuing, and Ms. Rita Gomez is the complication. Rene Requiestas steals a scene from right under everyone’s nose as a gay fashion designer’s assistant. Salawahan has almost enough irony to make up for the general lack of irony in Filipino movies.
17. Ikaw Ay Akin, directed by Ishmael Bernal featured Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos as two intelligent, independent women competing for the affections of Christopher De Leon. In one scene Vilma and Christopher go to a film showing at Alliance Francaise or Goethe Institut. You don’t see many characters in Tagalog movies watching art house films.
18. Temptation Island, directed by Joey Gosiengfiao. Cultists have been reciting lines from the movie for years, so Chris Martinez adapted the screenplay for the stage. It’s hilarious.
19. Kakabakaba Ka Ba? directed by Mike De Leon. This comedy-musical stars Christopher De Leon, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, and Sandy Andolong as four friends who stumble onto a gang war between Chinese and Japanese drug syndicates. Their issues are worked out partly in song. My favorite line in the movie is uttered by Jay Ilagan. After Sandy Andolong’s character asks a dumb question, he says, "Siguro nung nagpaulan ng utak ang Diyos, nakapayong ka."
20. Moral, directed by Marilou Diaz Abaya from a screenplay by Ricky Lee. Starring Lorna Tolentino as an aimless UP student and rebellious daughter, Sandy Andolong as a smart woman who makes unfortunate choices, Anna Marin as a stifled housewife, and Gina Alajar as a singer who can’t sing. One of the best movies ever shot on the UP Diliman campus.
Congratulations to the winners, Eileen Ang and Patrick Llaguno. You each get a copy of Twisted Travels.
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