Little Miss Sunshine

Funny how the word sunshine evokes a sense of wonder to those who hears it. It captures scenes of quiet afternoons walking under a midday sun on a lonely stretch of road, or a quiet stroll on a secluded beach while cool soothing waves lap over one's feet. Of course, nobody likes walking under the blistering heat. My point is, sunshine will always stir a feeling of calmness in one's imagination. It offers a brief respite after a long and hard-fought struggle against the heart-drenching elements life throws at you.

I was lucky to stumble over some good movies on cable lately. One of these films is Little Miss Sunshine, which I have heard before but didn't pay attention to when it was shown on theaters last year. It is a road movie about a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant in California. The events that took place from the beginning of their journey in Albuquerque, New Mexico to their destination, and the pageant itself is the focus of the story.

The story begins with little Olive watching the Miss America Beauty Pageant in front of the TV. She is the 7-year old daughter of Sheryl and Richard Hoover who dreams of becoming a beauty queen someday. Sheryl juggles her two jobs to support the family, while also having to take care of Frank, her gay brother who is a Proust scholar and lives temporarily with the family after a failed suicide attempt. Richard aspires to become a motivational speaker and a life coach with his nine-step program that encourages people to cast away their loser attitude. With Dwayne, Sheryl's Nietzsche-reading teenager son from a previous marriage and Edwin, Richard's Heroin-addicted foul-mouthed father, one will get a picture of how dysfunctional the Hoovers are.

Olive discovers that she is qualified to compete for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant which will be held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. With little money to spare and an untrained chubby prepubescent daughter to compete, the Hoovers have decided to go on an 800-mile road trip in their yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus so Olive can follow her dreams.

Little Miss Sunshine explores the tensions that build up when a group of tight-knitted people travel together on an open road. It test their resolve to stay together, or leave someone behind so that the journey could go on and let those who continue reach their destination. The Hoovers had to face many struggles along the highway, and at stops they had to make. Most of them were heart-wrenching ones and at times it seemed one has to stay for Olive and the rest could proceed. The family decides that even if things get hopeless, no one is left behind. With a stroke of luck and a firm determination to end their journey, the Hoovers arrive at the hotel where the beauty pageant will take place - together - even if things have changed.

The film has many symbolisms and references to American Pop Culture. The aging Volkswagen T2 Microbus represents the Hoover family. It breaks down early on with its selection lever unable to shift to first and second gear. They resolve this problem by pushing the van until it is moving at about 20 mph before it is put into third gear, at which point they have to run up to the side door and jump in.

As the setbacks begin to mount on the Hoovers, the Volkswagen's mechanical failures become more and more severe. The gear stick was the first to break down, then it was the car horn that got stuck leaving the car honking as they make their final push to California. I guess what prevented the Microbus from totally breaking down is the Hoovers resolve to fix every family crisis that comes along the way. The analogy between the machine and the family is pretty clear.

The climax takes place at the beauty pageant. After a frantic race against the clock, the Hoovers arrive at the hotel a few minutes past the deadline. Unfortunately, the snooty pageant organizer would not allow Olive to register because she is late. Richard begs on his knees to let Olive compete but the organizer remains unmoved. Only the timed passing of a hired hand, who sees Richard's desperation swayed him to intervene and register Olive in the contest.

The pageant itself is a reflection of how Americans see beauty pageants in general. As Olive enters the dressing room, the camera pans to reveal her rivals: slim, hypersexualized pre-teen girls with teased hair and capped teeth. They wear lip gloss and puts on heavy make-up to make them look older. They artificially tan themselves using an airbrush to achieve a bronze skin.

The contestants were made to walk around the stage in their adult-like swimsuit. As the other pre-teens strutted with poise and grace(?), Olive walked so stiff, the contrast between the seasoned girls and her became clear. During the evening wear segment, the host crooned them with "God Bless America" while lustfully gazing at each contestant's not-so-innocent eyes. It basically sums up what the rest of America had become - a nation obsessed with cheap flicks while maintaining their patriotic leanings.

As the pageant draws to a close, each contestant perform for the talent portion. There is a black girl who sings a country song, complete with a white southern accent. Another one shows her gymnast skills by rolling around the stage while making it appear that she is dancing. Olive, who everyone thought would be humiliated after being perceived having lack of talent to present, scandalizes everyone with her burlesque dance routine that she joyfully performs on stage. Later did I find out that it was the dance steps she and her Grandpa Edwin were choreographing throughout the film.

Little Miss Sunshine is a feel good movie that has some dark underpinnings. Some scenes were quite disturbing, especially the body snatching and the scandalous talent performance where parents were completely grossed out by Olive's exotic dancing. Some scenes were completely hilarious, it makes you wonder if the directors intended to include it as a satire or an attempt to dispel the blackness which surround the film. Despite these disarrayed observations, there were two scenes that struck me most. First was Dwayne's accidental discovery that he was color blind, and thus will be disqualified to become a test pilot. It triggers a fit of rage that broke, not only his spirit but also his vow of silence which he exhibited during the first half of the film. His sudden break down also threatened Olive's chances of making it at the pageant on time. After every method has been attempted by the adults to keep him sane again, the only thing that changed his mind and led him back to his senses was Olive's sincere concern where she placed her head on Dwayne's shoulders without uttering a single word.

The other scene, which I think completely caps the film is when Dwayne and Frank talked about Proust.

Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that.

The long journey which the Hoovers made just to get to the beauty pageant were all, but full of sufferings. But these sufferings were also their redemption. Olive never won the contest. In fact, she can never join any beauty pageants in California after the scandal she and her family did. But in the end, it made her dysfunctional family look more functional than most families seen in the film.

The title of the movie is about a beauty contest but if you read the lines through, it is the word sunshine that makes us look forward to the brighter sides of life the film has generously shown.

Apocalypto

History tells that every great empire crumbles from within. Rome was overran by the great hordes of Germania after a string of incompetent emperors failed to secure its frontiers. Genghis Khan expanded his borders too quickly, his death triggers internal divisions that lead to his empire's decline. Great Britain, once dubbed as Invincible Britannia had an empire that spanned a quarter of the world's land area. Two global wars and a new world order later and it was forced to cede its colonial possessions back to its original inhabitants.

Time conquers immortality and in the words of Will Durant, "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

Apocalypto is an epic film set in the jungles of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula during the declining period of the Maya Civilization. It tells the story of Jaguar Paw, (Rudy Youngblood) a young tribesman whose village was attacked and burned to the ground by Mayan soldiers. Their aim is to capture as many villagers as possible, which are not subjects of the Maya empire. They are to be sold as slaves or for human sacrifices that are performed atop the Sun Pyramids at the heart of Mayan cities.

Jaguar Paw escapes death through some astronomical event that occurred the day he was about to become a Mayan human sacrifice. He must race back to his village in order to save his son and his pregnant wife who is trapped inside a cave that was suppose to serve as their place of refuge. Meanwhile, he must also evade the same Mayan Soldiers who destroyed his village earlier. Being chased through dense jungles and trackless swamps, Jaguar Paw and the remaining Mayan soldiers who survived the elements will discover at the end of the film that their petty squabbles prove meaningless in the face of a more serious threat: the arrival of their future masters from the West.

Apocalypto explores different subjects which include civilizations and the underlying reasons for their decline and the abuse of the environment. It also shows the contrast between a sophisticated society that relies on material wealth for satisfaction and a hunter-gatherer society that takes only what the community needs. A scene where a tribal elder sings of a legend about man's unyielding desire for resources struck a chord in me. The passage where the owl speaks "No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give.'" reflects the current place of humanity in the world today.

The film is not for the faint of heart. When I watched it at 3 in the morning, my biggest fear is that the gory scenes where still-beating hearts are being pulled out from the body of a human sacrifice and decapitated heads rolling down the Sun Pyramid might be replayed in my head long after I fall asleep. There were also scenes were suspension of disbelief is necessary especially during the chasing moments. I will let you see for yourself these scenes so you will understand what I mean. As for me, human endurance in the face of a death-defying struggle is something I still need to appreciate.

Overall, I find the film deeply profound and very refreshing. Mel Gibson is truly an artist who explores themes that Hollywood rarely finds interesting. The use of the Maya Language enabled me to be immersed in Jaguar Paw's world like as if I am part of the time frame. Finally, the use of characters who serve as omen-givers gave depth and color to an action flick that deserves more recognition for recreating a Maya World that is close to its anthropological setting.

The film is alive and pulsating, and for that it deserves to be written.

Jay

A film is a story narrated with moving images and characters acting out the words that complete the entire picture. If letters are the writer's tool to weave a narrative, it is the director's camera that captures the heart of a film.

It was suppose to be a lecture day at J. Wendell Capili's class today. However, instead of him talking about the merits of good writing, he asked everyone to watch Jay, which was about to be shown at the UP Film Center this afternoon. His instruction came as a pleasant surprise, for much as I would like to attend the Cinemalaya Indie Film Festival at Diliman, work had kept me busy from seeing these films. Bloggers have written good reviews about Jay last week. (which in my sheer bitterness of not being able to go to CCP to watch it, I decided not to read their entries) However, word of mouth tells that Baron Geisler had a stunning performance in the film which earned him the best actor award in the festival. Add to that the constant prodding of friends who eat and breathe art films and you would see me giggling as I stood in the cue outside the theater before the film showing.

Art Films are not my expertise. I don't even know how to critique one with Bayaning Third World, Crying Ladies and Masahista as my only comparison. Despite these limitations, I somehow understood why Jay was acclaimed by critics when I watched it. Please bear with me as I try to give a modest review of the film, for I myself had a hard time processing the story due to its immensity despite its plot's simplicity.

At first glance, Jay is presented like a TV documentary. The female narrator introduces the would-be characters which is the family of Jay Mercado - a man stabbed to death inside his apartment in Manila. The documentary interviews the people close to him to give the audience an idea about who this person was. Talk about character sketch. We learn from the interviews that Jay was a gay man and the reason behind his murder was prostitution. As the documentary closes in to reveal the killer, the narrator cuts the story to announce a commercial break. There is no commercial break of course. Instead, the scene switches to a story behind the documentary revealing that the documentary is actually a prologue of the main story.

The scene opens with Jay Santiago (Baron Geisler) arriving in Pampanga with his TV crew to follow the events shortly after Jay Mercado's brutal murder first broke out to his family. From the first hours of the funeral to the capture of the killer a few days later, we see the characters' struggle to cope up with the lost and acceptance of a family member's death. With Geisler's character as the unsympathetic protagonist, the scenes reveal how the interview for the documentary really took place. I will not reveal how the story was treated, but rest assured that everything is taken lightly.

Like I confessed at the beginning of the entry, my lack of film exposure limits my ability to present a comprehensive review of Jay. The dialogue did not make a strong impact on me, suggesting that it was weak from the beginning. However, there were so many unintended comic moments throughout the film that it took away the seriousness of the subject. The screenwriter failed to develop some of the characters - especially Coco Martin, who I supposed had a supporting role for this film. Baron Geisler, who presented himself as the TV producer who showed artificial sympathy to the family he was following spent more time exploiting the unfolding human drama for his personal gains. This makes Jay a film with no heroes or moral ground to stand on.

Despite the film's minor shortcomings, it broke new grounds in introducing cinematic shots that narrated the story without using strong dialogues to make a point. I still could not forget how the camera pans on Geisler as he shed a tear while forcing the mother of the victim reenact her reaction the first time she saw Jay at the morgue. If there was any real humanity in that film, I believe that scene sums up everything.

Jay is a story within a story that tells how human drama can be twisted or exploited to create exaggerated scenes for someone's personal goal. It also tells how people will obligingly do the extremes in hopes of getting media exposure that is prized by everyone these days. Cast in different light, it is a film that parodies the prevailing media culture which emphasizes on getting the story without any regard or sensitivity for those people whose lives were suddenly altered by a tragic event.

As the story comes to a close, I thought Jay will suffer a disappointing predictability with Baron Geisler falling victim to the same butchery that lead to Jay Mercado's untimely death. But like most Indie films, unpredictability makes a work of art stands out among the rest.

I'd leave you to watch it from beginning to the end.

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photocredits: Baron Geisler's Multiply
Next UP Screening: August 6, 2008 - 7pm (Subject to confirmation)

The Original Dream Journal One | Cloverfield

This anecdote was taken from my first diary. Pardon the short narrative below, for it was written apparently, when I was still in first year high school. (the entry has no date) After much thought, I decided not to edit it or flesh out the scenes hoping that it would gain credibility by opening the first paragraph using a kid's voice. Nevertheless, I still remember the dream, even if it happened more than a decade after it was first written.

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"(This dream occurred when I am in Grade VI)

Godzilla was on the front or I'll say I saw Godzilla w/ a puff of smoke destroying (buildings) in its path. I am in the fourth floor of the Grade School Building. (of St. Joseph's College, where I spent my elementary days) When I saw the left, I mean right view, it was so devastated so I ran down the building up to our lobby. I was fetched by Ate Pet. (my yaya) It was so traffic so I watched the news. They pictured the path of Godzilla in visual simulation. From St. Joseph's College to (Welcome) Rotonda. I was shocked that our community (neighborhood) was in the path. When I went home, I cannot recognize the place because of the devastation."

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Our elementary school building is four stories high and once you find yourself in the fourth floor's open-air corridor that faces the east side of the city, the entire Timog area from Roxas District to South Triangle is still covered by huge swath of trees. Development is unheard of, and on sunny late afternoons, one could still find the white-washed Quezon Memorial Circle proudly standing amidst an urban forest that was once Quezon City 14 years ago.

The sky was Ash Grey in my dream, I could still remember it exactly as it was. I could not hear any sounds; I could not even hear the dreadful groaning of a monster, which Godzilla was known for. In those days, it was my favorite pastime to scale the entire length of the fourth floor open-air corridor from one end to the other. Since I had been a loner throughout my elementary, I found great enjoyment seeing the view of Quezon City east of Manila.

However, that late cloudy afternoon, the sight I saw made me tremble to my knees. There it was, a jet black, sludge-colored dinosaur stomping the ground below it. Just behind the beast was a cloud of smoke and dust that obstructed my view of the beast's surrounding area. The towering monster was fast approaching and I had a feeling that the building - the ground where I remained frozen, would be trampled soon.

Before I was able to run down the stairs, I took one last look at the trail of devastation brought by the terrible beast. This time, I turned my head right, facing the direction of Quezon Avenue and Roosevelt area. What I saw was total destruction; building were toppled and obviously, the entire area was devoid of life. I didn't even remember hearing the sirens of ambulances and firetrucks heading towards that direction.

I ran as fast as I could to the lobby, where my sundo was waiting for me. Since the distance of the lobby from the Grade School Building was quite far, I was panting when my yaya, Ate Pet found me. We immediately boarded the first jeep that stopped in front of us. It was packed with people beyond its capacity and traffic was on standstill on the way home. Strangely, this jeep had a TV installed just above the driver's seat and it was tuned in to the news.

I remember the news anchor showing the projected path of destruction of the monster. My school will be trampled down, as well as the Welcome Rotonda area in Espana. What sowed deep fear and anxiety inside my juvenile heart was that my neighborhood would be hit as well before the monster crosses the Pasig River and into the oil depots of Pandacan.

We arrived home too late. Though, I cannot remember the image of destruction that took place, My mind still holds the last image of a place shrouded in pitch-black darkness and a once-lively neighborhood that was now beyond recognition.

The scene ends there, and perhaps I woke up still trembling from that nightmare.

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Naalala ko itong panaginip na ito simula noong napanood ko ang trailer ng Cloverfield sa YouTube. Gaya ng marami, akala ko na isang love story/comedy ang nasabing palabas dahil sa napaka-unassuming na title nito. Noong isang linggo ko pa binalak panoorin ito sa sinehan, ngunit sa kasamaang palad, lagi akong nawawalan ng oras para dito. Bumili ako ng pirated copy nito sa Quiapo kagabi, ngunit nang mapanood ko ang unang bahagi nito sa DVD, na-bad trip ako dahil sa sobrang labo nito.

Hindi ko alam kung hanggang sa Martes ay palabas pa rin ito sa mga malls. For the meantime, pagsasawaan ko muna ang trailer nito - na siyang nagpaalala sa akin na minsan sa aking kabataan, mayroon akong naging bangungot na hindi nalalayo sa trailer na ito.