How often does a movie come along that reflects the
heart of Baguio that is invisible to the naked eye? Rarely, if not at
all.
And then comes Martin Masadao’s Anac ti Pating (an Iluko
phrase roughly translated as “child of a shark”), written and directed
by him and winner of the Grand Festival Prize at the Second Sineng Pambansa
of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). Anac’s main lead, Deuel
Raynon Ladia, barely in his teens, is best actor prize winner.
The opening scene catches the main character, Sixto
Mangaoang (Ladia), only in his elementary grades but mature and intelligent
beyond his years, in deep thought. He is scribbling a note. What follows
afterwards is an entire flashback that returns to that original scene
(the present) and to Sixto’s not-so-rash but well-thought-out decision
to seek a life elsewhere away from Baguio, once referred to by Masadao
in his play Baguio Stories as similar
to “Peyton Place.”
But it is his ties with a Korean boy named Clark
(Steve Chong) that fills the void in his life. He must put up with warring
parents, a drunken wastrel of a father (Nick Prill Calinao) and a hard-working
mother, a richly nuanced performance by Luchie Maranan (herself a writer
and compared jokingly by her older brother Ed as the new Lolita Rodriguez
in terms of dramatic flair), whose real love is elsewhere, a schoolboy
crush on a physical education teacher that is quickly crushed and other
failed expectations.
The English composition teacher,
played by journalist-playwright Nonnette Bennett, is able to bring out the budding writer in Sixto. One is
reminded of a brief scene in the 1973 movie The Way We Were wherein
Robert Redford plays a novice writer, and the professor reads aloud
his work to the class. That same mix of pride and embarrassment is reflected
on Sixto’s face as his teacher praises him and his classmates tease
him, mainly out of envy.
The next Masadao project, whether film or theater, will be eagerly anticipated.--Text by Elizabeth Lolarga and photos by Spyke Pat-ogan
First published by Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, Jan. 15, 2013.
Anac ti Pating will again be screened at the Baguio Cinematheque in Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City, on Feb. 1 and 2. Screenings: 1.30, 3.30 and 5.30 p.m.
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| Scriptwriter-director Martin Masadao (seated right) with cast and crew |
Masadao says, “We hope to tour the film around the country,
especially in schools. We’ve been invited to Sineng Rehiyon in Los
Baños in February. I believe FDCP will show the Sineng Pambansa 2012
finalists in various cities this year.”
Those used to the pacing and editing of Hollywood
movies can put this preference outside a movie house’s door. The style
Masadao adopted in his debut film has the contemplative, and therefore,
slow pace of a European film. It reflects his sensibility shaped by
directors like Francois Truffaut and Woody Allen, who is funny but cerebral.
The pacing suits Baguio’s rhythm of life. Although
it is a city, old-timers like Masadao, his cast and crew know how the
ticking of the clock up there is like a long drawn-out sigh. Timepieces
move slowly.
The time frame of Anac covers one academic
year. It captures the non-stop patter of rain during the monsoon months
when many residents, especially adults, can get afflicted by Seasonal
Affective Disorder (with it apt acronym of SAD), a Christmas eve with
a fireplace a-glow, the games unique to Baguio kids (sliding on a pine
needle-covered slope using a flattened cardboard as makeshift sled),
the preparations and rehearsals for Panagbenga Festival’s street dancing.
 |
| Sixto writes the letter that holds the film together. |
 |
| Mother (played by Luchie Maranan) and son in noche buena scene |
The maturity and sure-footedness of Sixto for his
life ahead is manifested by his sleeping in his school uniform so he
can be ready to get up early for his classes. He just needs to down
his breakfast and thoroughly brush his teeth and cleanse his tongue,
and he’s off.
Although one notes a reluctant trudge in his walk
to school, it isn’t because he dislikes school work. Like any ultra-smart
kid, he puts up with bullying and is able to extract his sweet vengeance
on the culprits in many ways like when he earns extra money by doing
their homework.
 |
| Sixto and his Korean friend research in a library. |
Sixto and Clark embark on a cross-cultural friendship
that has them addressing one another with swear words in their respective
languages: okinam (your mother’s
vagina in Iluko) and shibal lom (asshole in
Korean). With Clark’s help, his playmate develops an environmentally
themed story about a shark stranded in the Cordillera forest, a story
accepted by a Manila publishing house.
 |
| Classroom scene at the Mabini Elementary School in Baguio City |
Trained in past films as art director and production
designer, Masadao and his unerring eye for detail intrudes lovingly
in almost all scenes, some of them especially symbolic like the cracks
on a green and white Baguio home, the rubble that is part of an overpopulated
city, his assigning bit roles to Caucasian-looking Kawayan de Guia and
newsman Frank Cimatu who play themselves and tapping the community talents
in theater like Karlo Altomonte who can steal a scene with just one
or two lines.
The next Masadao project, whether film or theater, will be eagerly anticipated.--Text by Elizabeth Lolarga and photos by Spyke Pat-ogan
First published by Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, Jan. 15, 2013.
Anac ti Pating will again be screened at the Baguio Cinematheque in Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City, on Feb. 1 and 2. Screenings: 1.30, 3.30 and 5.30 p.m.
