On the Waterfront

Coming into this (before having seen it), I imagined Bayaning Third World turned into a (straight) comedy. People quickly mentioned that they were only similar in premise but nothing else. With that comparison out of the window, what was left was to compare it as it is, as it should. A film, and a funny entertaining picture. Is or should?

The premise is two young people who want to make a film. I guess you could say that they've studied the 'indie' scene quite a bit, frequently citing elements of a 'formula for success/awards'. Outside the film proper, this is apparently sort of a satire, or a critique of current local independent cinema, with all the 'poverty porn' and everything being impossibly similar to each other. One can even suggest that it's 'ironic', or even 'reflective of actual society' that these 'well-off' kids (given that they have Apple products and drive cars, etcetera) are, in a way, using the poor for their personal gain (awards, recognition and fame). One would ask if they really do 'feel something' for their subjects, or is it a purely pragmatic approach.

Within the film though, it should be the fuel of the plot, the overarching theme. The cannon fodder for hilarity. It should. With people commenting on how bad it actually was, on how it was, well, over-hyped and without merit, I was decided on giving it an 'it was entertaining'. It should.

It has all the necessary elements. The two leads (the filmmakers) aren't hard on the eyes and don't incite negative emotions. I didn't associate them with anyone I didn't like. It has Eugene Domingo, who though is a bit oversaturated, is undeniably capable of delivering laughs. The topic/premise itself was something I was personally interested in. It shouldn't have had a problem in making me like it.
But there are only two scenes of note here. One is of the newly popular director (Jonathan Tadioan) who got recognition in a famous foreign film festival. He's back and he has a newly acquired air of smugness. Another is the much-awaited scene with Eugene Domingo and her MegaActing. But the problem is you've seen the latter in the trailers or, if anything, you've heard of it before. (Also, the car scrapping scene at the end)

The problem is that the whole production is undercooked and/or poorly developed. There's nothing leading to that semi-climax. You drag through an hour or so of dullness and this small bump is exposed as little more than a small bump. I think a proper, or at least a better-made build-up would have at least highlighted the comic punch of that scene. At least.

But, instead, from the start up to that moment, besides the scene at the cafe with the now-bigshot director, we have..repetitions.

It's the first scene of the movie. It involves a bunch of scenes of the movie the characters are making, narrated with production notes/script. This is then repeated multiple times throughout. I don't really have a problem with this 'style' per se. I mean, I liked Source Code and Groundhog Day, and I loved Los Cronocrimenes. So I can take repeated screenings of scenes.

This used dilemmas like who to cast as the lead (Domingo, or Cherry Pie Picache, or Mercedes Cabral), or what genre to make it (docu-drama, straight drama, or a musical), or if a plot-element character (no active role) should be male or female. They re-imagine the scene with the different options, going back and forth as they argue. But the problem is that they stretch it for too long. They jump around too many times and what is originally a novel hip effect is now an extended sequence. It gets a tad tedious, and admittedly boring. Bayaning Third World employed a similar artistic style but it wasn't as dull as this by deploying all the options in a brisk, sort of montage-y single compound joke.

But here, it's as if the production team thought of these handful of punchlines and turned/developed them into plot points. But they're just aren't that. They're punchlines. They're enjoyable if peppered around, but they aren't something you can stretch into a whole stand-up routine (and still have the same impact or not be awkward). But since that's apparently all they have up their sleeves and this is a feature, they're forced to exactly stretch things too much.

So in the end, you have a feeling of sayang. The premise was interesting, and things certainly were promising. But the things highlighted were more of the same, and things that didn't deserve centre stage anyway. In some other cases, sure they aren't intended to be up front, but they would have been good context. Something like an anchor. Cai Cortez plays the production assistant here and she doesn't have more than a few lines of script. Her character has so little to work with that I'm pretty confident that I could have pulled off the acting job. She doesn't have big scenes and her entire dialogue is something even I wouldn't have a problem of memorising in half an hour at most.

She's hardly the topic. The topic is probably the production process, or maybe the conflict of personalities. But those are decidedly vanilla here. There's nothing you can squeeze out of them. And it's in these cases that I look for little bits to hold on to, to make me at least like the film a bit. To make it a bit interesting.

Cortez could have been it. Could have. Pero wala. Walang wala akong makuha.

(Ang Babae sa Septic Tank - Marlon Rivera)