The Last Two Decades of the Philippine Cinema

This essay has been tweaked for this blog post. There are additional information and opinion that are not present on the paper I've passed on class.

NO REPRINTING WITHOUT PERMISSION.

***
The Last Two Decades of the Philippine Cinema
A Paper on Film 280 Class in UPD

The 1980s has whipped about 1,427 films. The 1990s saw a decline with 1,366 films produced. (Carreon, October 2005) It may be just a small amount of difference, but it was a vision of the things to come in the industry in the succeeding decade.

The film industry was beset with a couple of problems in the ‘90s that until this very time is challenging. For one thing, there was heavy taxation on film productions along with exorbitant talent fees of superstars. Given that the industry was star-based that time, producers were at the mercy of such superstars, most of the budget being allotted to them.

Eddie Romero (National Artist for Film) explained that film, since its invention, has belonged to the so-called “non-essential enterprise”. (Carreon, November 2005) Thus, it is only seen by the government as money-making opportunity, gaining one-third of the shared film’s profit. The other third goes to the theater owners who don’t do much in the promotion of the film, but nonetheless get an equal shared profit. The last third goes to the producers.

Secondly, there was severe MTRCB censorship under the watchful eyes of Etta Mendez-Manoling Morato, which dictated what and which scenes in the film to be shown in public depending on what they deemed as immoral and objectionable, regardless of the content the scene had come about. Their vicious ways even reached Hollywood when they try to cut some scenes of the Oscar-nominated films in 1993 (“Schindler’s List” & “The Piano”) and in 1995 (“The Bridges of Madison County”). The films’ makers raised their objections, opting for non-showing here than butchering. Protests from the concerned industry ensued. The government approved the films’ release. Crusades against MTRCB continued, making the industry proposed its abolition. But until now, it exists. It may have already put its scissors down, but it made the producers themselves to do their own cutting upon its suggestions. Not abiding by such would guarantee an X rating that is tantamount to non-showing in theaters. Therefore, causing the producers give in to its will.

Philippine movies also had to deal with competition from Hollywood films. Dealing with economic crisis, audiences was forced to choose between seeing a technically-polished Hollywood film and a Philippine release. There was a battle against Hollywood’s new or redressed plots and Philippine’s formulaic and safe story lines. Given that colonial mentality still pervades most of our senses, there is an inclination towards Hollywood films rather than our own.

The clamor for something fresh and ground-breaking did not go unnoticed to producers. They knew that we were not yet ready to compete with Hollywood’s big-budget release and wider audience, so they tried different ways in dealing with the situation.

In 1990, Lino Brocka’s (National Artist for Film) “Macho Dancer” made it to the Toronto Film Festival which became the first Filipino film to make it big there. It paved the way to the international video release, and made the world known about the existence of remarkable directors, writers, and actors in the Philippines. It also jump started films of such kind that shows “the sensitivity of human relationships through a Filipino perspective,” (Macaro, October 2005) which, incidentally, also made the rounds in different international film festivals like Mel Chionglo’s “Sibak” (1995) and “Burlesk King” (1997). Such films started a trend with movies that we send abroad—gay-themed and poverty-centered.

Armida Siguion-Reyna, a prominent fixture in the industry and a remarkable advocate of the cinema established Reyna Films that aimed to bring quality filmmaking. She also made sure to make them commercially viable. Indeed, she succeeded. Her first venture, “Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit” (1991), has garnered commercial and critical recognition. She may have lost a number of audiences as years went by, but the unrelenting quality of her films remained the same until her last production packed up in 2000 via “Azucena.” (Tiongson, 2010)

“Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit” starred Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta, then a celebrated couple on and off screen. They made a great deal of film contributions in the ‘90s by starring in a number of significantly recognized films, winning acting or technical awards every now and then. Richard was a huge ‘90’s star who started as a bit player in “Inday Bote” (1985) and became a multi-awarded dramatic actor and paired with the likes of the best actresses of the decade.

Aga Muhlach made a comeback, taking second fiddle to Richard, until he became a much-sought leading man. In time he garnered accolades for his portrayals.

To encourage the making of quality films, Manila Film Festival was revived. However, most of its releases were considered disappointments rather than achievements especially in 1994 when the so-called “switching scam” happened during the awards night. Lolit Solis replaced the winning ballots to favor the wins of “Loretta” stars, Ruffa Gutierrez and Gabby Concepcion. Then Manila mayor, Alfredo Lim, exposed the cheating and created uproar in the industry that eventually led Gabby into leaving the country. Lolit confessed while Ruffa and Gabby denied their participation.

In 1993 Star Cinema launched its initial offering, “Adan Ronquillo”, co-producing with Regal Films. From then on they become the industry’s leading film producer, taking most number of the box-office successes and releasing the most number of films every year. They launched Claudine Barretto into stardom and skyrocketed Judy Ann Santos’s career. Today Juday leads her contemporaries in terms of the products she delivers on screen. Under its wing is Piolo Pascual as its top leading man in the late ‘90s to early 00’s. John Lloyd Cruz took the seat in the last few years of ‘00s.

Star Cinema released “May Minamahal” in 1993 under the helm of writer Jose Javier Reyes. Joey had changed the landscape of movie writing by having his characters speak in their colloquial, almost street-smart language. With that, flowery words and almost rhythmic dialogues that are very distinct in the ‘80s were eliminated. Movie dialogues had never been the same since then. In 2001 he made “Live Show” which created pandemonium within the government and church which deemed it pornographic. It was heavily-censored upon its release.

The need for new story materials never ceased. As a result, Carlo J. Caparas ventured into turning sensationalized crime stories to movies. His first film was “The Visconde Massacre” (1993), starring Kris Aquino. It was such a hit that in the following year, another version of the film spawned, and a series of different massacre films came thereafter. It was a box-office magnet that even the industry’s major players jumped-in like Vilma Santos and Sharon Cuneta. Soon enough the interest in such exploitative films dwindled and box-office returns diminished.

Another exploitative film had come about: ST (Sex Trip) Films in the early-mid ‘90s. It was later reborn as TF (Titillating Films) in the late ‘90s-early ‘00s. With Armida Siguion-Reyna heading the MTRCB that time during the late ‘90s, the Board became lenient. It was still governed by laws, but there was also quite a freedom experienced by the producers.

Seiko Films had led the way in coming up with ST Films. It catapulted ‘80s teen star, Gretchen Barretto, into fame by shedding her clothes onscreen, and she pretty much dominated the whole genre until Rosanna Roces entered the picture through TF. Rosanna became a legitimate actress when she did “Ligaya Ang Itawag Mo Sa Akin” (1997) for Reyna Films which also experienced the pangs of MTRCB during its release.

Regal Films, on the other hand, lowered productions costs by means of “pito-pito films” (films made in a 7-day/24-hr period) just to get by and make releases every now and then. Mother Lily had made a handful of movies in different genres under such banner which mostly suffered in quality. “Babae Sa Bubungang Lata” (Mario O’Hara, 1998) and “Tuhog” (Jeffrey Jeturian, 2001) were the two outstanding films to ever come out of this genre gaining international recognitions. (Manila Bulletin, 2008)

GMA Films had also ventured into filmmaking. They produced the highly-acclaimed “Jose Rizal” (Marilou Diaz-Abaya) in 1998 in line with the Philippines’ Centennial Celebration of freedom. They made other highly-regarded films in the next years that came, but had lost their momentum after.

By early 2000s, Philippine Cinema was said to be sick and dying. Filmmakers were alarmed and tried producing “quality” films. However, no matter how great the releases were, people were staying away from theaters. This is because film digital piracy appeared. Audience was inclined to watch movies more in their homes rather than cinemas, be it Hollywood or Pinoy. The PhP40 cost of pirated video goes against a hundred-ticket price. Aside from that, the price of going to the cinema costs more than it appears to be—jeepney/bus fares to the mall, food/snack fee, and exertion of time and effort. So families who can’t afford such luxury would opt for a cheap copy of the film rather than go through the rounds of a true cinema experience. With that, cinema has become an indulgence rather than a cheap entertainment for the masses.

TV has also become larger than the screen. More people are watching TV than cinemas. Even big movie stars relegate themselves into doing more TV projects than movies for it pays higher. Though they have reduced their rates, there are not enough producers making movies.

With such distractions, films vie for audience’s attention to lure them back into theaters in terms of plots and grandiose productions that are sometimes set abroad (OFW stories like those of “Anak” (Rory B. Quintos, 2000), “Milan” (Olivia Lamasan, 2004), and “Caregiver” (Chito Roño, 2008) or use digital enhancements not seen on TV (movies of superhero or fantasy genre). Thus, movie-producing becomes more expensive than ever.

In 2003 the first digital film was produced and released in theaters, “Duda” by Cris Pablo. It was a gay film with minimal budget, but had tremendous gains. Independent cinema was born out of it, and indie films have sprouted like mushrooms, producing more films than major studios combined.

The Bomba exploitation movies in the ‘60s, Bold in the ‘70s, Pene in the ‘80s, and ST-TF in the ‘90s resurface under the guise of gay movies dealing mostly with gay sex. The industry has seen the importance of the gay population in achieving monetary gains for their films.

Despite such films, a rise in local film festivals came subsequently, persuading aspiring filmmakers to make quality films by financing it and giving them incentives. Two of these are Cinemalaya in 2004 and Cinema One Originals in 2005 that aim to generate stories that are not so familiar in our mainstream consciousness yet equally appealing and noteworthy to tell.

There was also a surge of international fame and recognition for our films. Brillante Mendoza’s “Serbis” (2007) is the first Filipino full-length film to ever compete at the Cannes Film Festival since Brocka’s “Bayan Ko: Kapit Sa Patalim” (1984) made it there. In 2009 Mendoza won Best Director for “Kinatay” at the same festival where he received both approving remarks and off-putting gestures.

Other noteworthy filmmakers making the rounds abroad are Jeturian with “Kubrador” (2007); Maryo J. delos Reyes’s “Magnifico” (2003), won the Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival; Aureaus Solito’s “Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros” (2005) garnered applauses and trophies abroad, and is the highly-successful digital film at the box-office; Pepe Diokno’s “Engkwentro” (2009) won the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons Prize and Lion of the Future Award For Debut Film; amongst others.

In 2009 an independent production called Spring Films led by Piolo Pascual released the breakthough hit, “Kimmy Dora” (Joyce Bernal, 2009). It was the production’s first movie and an unexpected box-office success at that. It was an independent production yet devoid of an “indie” feel to it. It had mainstream cinema written all over it. It was a comedy that was different from the usual comedies the country had produced—witty and could be slapstick at times without insulting the intelligence of its viewers.

Obviously, it is the audience’s cry for new “mainstream” material. A plea to producers for new dishes. Throughout the years, Pinoy audience has grown. They may be inclined to give in to what is presented to them, but breaks out when something does not work for them.

The Philippine Cinema as of these days is thriving and holding its ground firmly. It may not be as flourishing as it was in the ‘50s and ‘70s, but it is making its mark in the ever-changing industry of the world. It may not be able to run up against Hollywood’s technicalities, but the stories and lives are bigger than ever. It is sick and the curing continues. So long as the love and appreciation of it never falters, it will never die! Not in the hands of those who care for it deeply and honestly.