Magnifico (2003)

Magnifico (Maryo J. de los Reyes, 2003)

Curiously snubbed by the Metro Manila Film Festival during the same year the festival had films like Boy Vinarao’s Hula Mo... Huli Ko, Tony Reyes’ Lastikman and Enrico Quizon’s Home Along da Riber competing for the top plum, Maryo J. De los Reyes’ Magnifico was eventually released the following year to much critical recognition. Unfortunately, the film failed miserably in the box office. Nonetheless, the film, despite its very traditional filmmaking style, was way ahead of its time. In a way, it preceded the independent films of today in the sense that the story, more than the famous actors and actresses that lend their names and talent to the film, was the very vehicle that drove the film to acclaim. However, its unsuccessful local commercial run also preceded the mostly unsuccessful attempts of today’s independent films to break into mass consciousness.

Written by Michiko Yamamoto, the film is about the titular young boy (then newcomer Jiro Manio) who attempts to give his ailing grandmother (Gloria Romero) a decent funeral. Along with his best friend, he naively goes around town, talking to various personalities or finding ways to earn money, to piece together his grandmother’s funeral, from the coffin that he constructs from the extra plywood he gathered from the local crafts factory to the actual lot wherein his grandmother would be buried.

Yamamoto crafts an entire town populated with quirky individuals with realistic intentions and motivations. Gerry, Magnifico’s father (Albert Martinez) who works as a carpenter working for the local crafts factory, seems to be content with his family and their modest lifestyle. Edna (Lorna Tolentino), Magnifico’s mother who is mostly left in the house to take care of both her sick mother-in-law and her daughter (Isabella de Leon) who is suffering from cerebral palsy, takes her lot in life with a lot less of her husband’s optimism. Magnifico’s elder brother, Miong (Danilo Barrios) has just returned home from Manila after losing his scholarship and is now trying to court the daughter (Girlie Sevilla) of the factory owner (Tonton Gutierrez) in an attempt to escape his family’s fate.

Around town are a bevy of similarly complicated lives. Domeng (Mark Gil), the town’s bus driver, still morose and mourning months after his mother’s demise, is oblivious to the charms of Cristy (Cherry Pie Picache), the town’s primary source of gossip and as a result, the rival of Tessie (Amy Austria). Ka Doring (Celia Rodriguez), the owner of the town’s lone funeral parlor, has turned into the town’s laughing stock because of her seemingly incurable hoarse speaking voice.

De Los Reyes’ directs with precision, making sure that each character adds up to the emotional heft of the story. Although brimming with acting talents, he never allows any of the supporting cast to overshadow Magnifico or his younger sister, whose heart-warming interactions turn out to be the centrepiece of this finely tuned drama. Lutgardo Labad’s beautifully composed score is probably one of the very few in recent Philippine cinema that is truly memorable and hummable. It is quiet and subdued at times and swells whenever necessary, allowing the film to sink deep into the hearts of its audience. Magnifico is a masterfully orchestrated tearjerker. Each of its individual elements are weaved perfectly to create an emotionally rousing experience that never feels slight or ill-conceived.

Magnifico is that rare children’s film that tackles mortality, the inevitability of death. It buffers the seriousness of its subject matter with levity and humor, allowing the children to create for the film an atmosphere of endearing innocence amidst the drollness of the affairs of the adults.

By portraying life as a colorful tapestry of relationships affected by small acts that are fuelled by good intentions, it emphasizes its value while underlining its fragility. It is hardly an empty product that exploits Filipino sensitivity for shocks and tears, like the many melodramas that populate the Metro Manila Film Festival that unfairly neglected it because of its lack of commercial appeal. It is genuinely moving, as it makes you familiar with its characters, allowing you to understand instead of merely witness their virtues, flaws, and humble ambitions. Undoubtedly, Magnifico is a film that will be remembered far longer than any of the films that made it to that miserably misinformed film festival that year.

(Cross-published in Lagarista.)

Torotot (2008)

Torotot (Maryo J. De Los Reyes, 2008)
English Title: Destierro

The Tagalog term "torotot," apart from its ordinary definition of makeshift horns made out of paper and used film strips ordinarily used during celebrations, also colloquially refers to the repeated acts of infidelity the wife commits against her husband. It is a term that has an unsavory connotation to the husband involved, especially coming from a society that takes pride in its men's innate masculinity and sexual prowesses, whether imagined or not. It is derogatory to the husband since the term implies an inability on his part to sexually satisfy his wife. Being a semantic product of the traditionally patriarchal society that pervades the Philippines, the term "torotot" eludes any attempt at finding an accurate English translation.

Maryo J. De Los Reyes' Torotot, a film that details the story of two married men whose respective wives cheat on them, is internationally released as Destierro, a term that refers to the penalty imposed on the husband who kills his wife and/or her paramour upon catching them engaged in a sexual act. In lieu of incarceration, the husband will instead be prevented from being in a certain distance from the relatives of the killed wife and/or paramour. It is essentially a get-away-from-jail card whose basis as according to Philippine jurisprudence is to safeguard the Filipino male from the humiliation of being cheated on by his wife.

Leo (Baron Geisler), a standard bearer of the metrosexual male whose idea of male bonding includes trips to salons and skin clinics, is married to Marie (Maui Taylor), a veterinarian who is too busy with her dogs to spend any quality time with Leo. The film opens with Leo catching Marie and her lover (Andrew Schimmer) having sex in Marie's veterinary clinic, and eventually killing the two of them. He is thus sentenced to destierro and evades imprisonment. When Leo's best friend Gabby (Yul Servo) suspects that his wife Rita (Precious Adona) is cheating on him, he plans to kill both his wife and his wife's lover (Anton Bernardo) while having sex, relying on the impunity that the penalty of destierro has provided Leo and inevitably will provide him.

What essentially differentiates Torotot from all the other Filipino films that tackle marital infidelity (which includes De Los Reyes' previous film A Love Story (2007), a well-made melodrama about a man who becomes romantically involved with two women) is that it consciously brings to the fore the idea that the psyche of the Filipino male is steadily changing amidst the rapid cultural and social transitions that blur gender roles and preconceptions. The film attempts to pit this movement in gender politics towards equality and whatever residue, in the form of antiquated methods of thinking and laws, of the diminishing influences of the patriarchal society in the country. Sadly, it remains an attempt, a flimsy one at that.

There is little depth to the characterizations. Leo's narcissism feels more like a plot device borne out of convenience rather than a direct attempt to examine a pertinent social phenomenon. With Geisler's one-note portrayal of Leo (angst-ridden, rough, and loud), the character becomes fatally irritating. Rita's sexual awakening (initiated by a sexual affinity with meat before culminating with a torrid affair with a butcher) is crudely portrayed and unintentionally funny. De Los Reyes' need to infuse his pic with sex (probably from the prodding of producer Viva Films, a studio that used to churn out glossy romances and melodramas before ending up as the premiere distributor of direct-to-video straight and gay erotica) forces the attention to Rita's pathetic self-discovery, giving less time and story to Gabby's plight, who up to the end, is essentially a jerk both in life and in bed. Torotot is in one word, abrasive. It is an abrasive film about abrasive characters trapped in abrasive situations.