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Meet Me in St. Gallen
Year of Release: 2018
Director & Screenwriter: Irene Villamor
Producers: Spring Films & Viva Films
Cast: Bela Padilla, Carlo Aquino, Angelica Panganiban, Nonie Buencamino, Lilet Esteban, Kat Galang, Sean Padlan, Happy Laderas, Joel Vitor, Joseph Manuel Hernandez, Wenah Nagales, Eljhay Gonzales, Nino Aquino, Welwel Silvestre, Arvin Trinidad, Paeng Sudayan, Barry Gonzales, Xyrus Rodriguez, Edwin Serrano, Kevin Almodiente, Kian Dionisio, Nicole Johanntgen, Sputnik, Chanel, Rhedd de Guzman, Jonathan Bausas, Patricia Tan, Sarah Ereneo, Mark Cai
After being asked to return to office for an urgent last-minute revision of her advertising design, Celeste leaves when her computer breaks down and informs her boss of her resignation. Jesse, on the other hand, performs with his band on an open-air stage and gets scolded by his parents, who want him to review for a med-school exam. Stranded by the rain, the two converse and find enough in common but pledge to keep apart after a farewell kiss, so as not to ruin the memory of their acquaintance. Four years later, Jesse encounters Celeste in a coffee shop and attends her exhibit; she shares how she realized he was getting married from his social-network post, but they decide on having a one-time fling. A few more years later Jesse, having heard that Celeste was in Switzerland, flies to St. Gallen to see her.
Meet Me in St. Gallen manages several tricky maneuvers that apparently escaped the appreciation of local evaluators when it came out. It was an indie production that had enough commercial potential to be distributed by a mainstream studio; it presented a variation on the manic pixie dream girl rom-com familiar, but somehow managed to reverse gender expectations; finally it presented the aspirational lifestyles (a no-no for the original critics group) of millennial kids, but provided its characters with enough exceptionality to make their status credible as rebellious struggling citizens. Ironically the jurors of the Filipino Arts & Cinema International’s annual film competition, comprising foreigners including a Fil-Am, were sufficiently impressed with the film to even explain why they gave it top prize. The passage of time has proved which critical perspective fell short. MMSG still manages to sustain enough interest in its interpersonal intrigues and pack its final mixed-feelings jolt even with the viewer aware of its plot twists. Lesson for serious appreciators: listen to elderly critics at your own risk. The auteurial voice announced by MMSG will be among the strongest in global cinema for some time to come.
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Ulan
English Translation: Rain
Year of Release: 2019
Director & Screenwriter: Irene Villamor
Producers: Viva Films, N2 Productions, Hooq
Cast: Nadine Lustre, Carlo Aquino, Ella Ilano, Perla Bautista, AJ Muhlach, Marco Gumabao, Josef Elizalde, Limer Veloso, Andrea del Rosario, William Martinez, Leo Martinez, Angeli Bayani, Meghan Dee, Kylie Verzosa, Keagan de Jesus, Dingdong Dantes, Mercedes Cabral, John Roe Apolis, Antonette Garcia, Lotlot Bustamante, Hazel Valera, Lauren Rei, Nathan Khatibi, Jourdanne Castillo, Vangie Martelle, Kristine Mangle, Daniela Carolino, Aries Go, Aerone Mendoza, Tim Macardle, Gayle Maxine Villamor, Dennah Bautista, Jeremiah Cruz, Andy Kunz, Olan Chan, Irene Celebre, Jenny Silvino, Fhayeng Alarcon, Marlyvic Suavillo, Bruce Venida, Joshua Cillo, Aldrin Pababero, Mitch de Guzman, Reynalyn Bermejo, Jimmy Tesorero, Kiko Paglilauan, Christian Pianar, Peter Gabrielle, Archie Ventosa
Bright and impressionable, Maya thrives on her grandmother’s tales of native mythological creatures, particularly fascinated by sunshowers, which supposedly occur when kapres, or horse-headed tree giants, are getting married. Her imagination is strong enough to steer her through the mockery of her contemporaries and elders, but then she grows up an attractive but socially awkward woman, her closest confidant a gay best friend. She becomes the girlfriend of a sportsman, but he dumps her when she asks him about a trip he’ll be taking with a female athlete without informing her beforehand. She takes on a writing assignment and covers an educational program for indigent children, where Peter, the teacher, explains the premises and dynamics of the setup. Maya and Peter find their mutual respect and attraction growing, upon which Peter informs her that he’s a seminarian under regency, meaning he’s allowed to circulate in civil society but only until he has to fully commit to the priesthood.
The filmic fairy tale unadopted from preexisting sources is such a rare occurrence that Ulan will seem even more exceptional in having been produced and released as a mainstream-studio entry. The narrative moreover apprises adult audiences, with the central character’s childhood scenes only serving to provide backstory when necessary. The presentation turns on the contributions of authoritative performers, who deliver the goods—specifically Perla Bautista as the eccentric granny doing what she thinks is best to protect her now-orphaned charge from the harsh realities of life; and Carlo Aquino as the reserved but smitten admirer who recognizes in Maya the ability to appreciate metaphysical concepts since he’d been trained along a similar line for years. But the film’s crown jewel is Nadine Lustre, who succeeds in the highwire challenge of embodying weirdness without being offputting and without soliciting audience sympathy either. Like all responsible realist dramas, Ulan allows the so-called real world to supersede the fantastic, but its triumph remains visionary, enabling audiences to glimpse an existence that would be counted as intolerable (queer in the nonsexual sense) in anyone’s experience of contemporary normality.
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On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets
Year of Release: 2020
Director & Screenwriter: Irene Villamor
Producer: Viva Films
Cast: Bela Padilla, JC Santos, Matteo Guidicelli, Rio Locsin, Kean Cipriano, Jasmine Hollingworth, Danita Paner, Kathleen Paton, Phoebe Villamor, Lucho Beech, Jiad Arroyo, Bridge Martin, Brian Sombero, Timothy Abbott, Jeffrey Castro, Carrie Lopez, Clay Mercado, Ronald Regala, Candy Arcangel, Carmela Faye Viray, Edwin Serrano, Meryl Margaux Bunyi, Rod Marmol
An actress declining in popularity and saddled with a colorful past that marks her as a target for abusive men, Jane relies on alcohol more heavily than she used to. She even forgets how Francis, an aspiring band member, once dedicated a song number to her. Realizing that Francis’s romantic motives are genuine, she starts hanging out with him although her violent steady, Ronnie, insists on his privileges with her. Friends and family insist that she needs rehab intervention in order to solve her addiction, but she keeps finding ways to evade their influence, even Francis’s. When she loses a minor role in a plum assignment, she meets a former flame who also burned out like she did, and they go on a drinking binge which lands her in jail. Francis tells her that he’s unlike the privileged crowd she hangs with and feels helpless about handling her problem.
Non-Filipino audiences (including members of the native bourgeoisie alienated by their own culture) might need some historical preparation for the variation that On Vodka, Beers, and Regrets performs on the standard alcohol-addiction treatment emblematized by such Hollywood samples as Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945). That is, one of the distinctions of the Second Golden Age of Philippine cinema was not just the emergence of previously marginalized racial types (i.e. everyone who failed to conform to the Euro-mestizo preference of the fresh-off-the-ark elite) but also the predominance of women actors as top stars, in contrast with men in all preceding eras. Hence what might appear to be a masochistic male persona is really nothing more than an adjustment to contemporary realities that span across a wide swath of local experience, including even overseas work. In fact, what might count as a weakness of OVBR would be its unavoidable reliance on quotidian exchanges between the dominant-but-dissipated celebrity and her committed-but-frustrated fan. The film mitigates this situation via the twin-pronged strategy of utilizing a near-documentary level of credibility in its range of options, as well as casting a mature and equally matched acting pair well-versed in each other’s capabilities and responses.
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