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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Finding Michael�s Neverland By Antonio C. Abaya Written March 16, 2005 For the Philippines Free Press March 26 issue My trouble with this year�s crop of films nominated for the Oscar awards was that I did not like the situational milieu in which at least two of them were set, so I could not empathize with their lead characters. I have never liked or enjoyed the sport of boxing. The only prize fight I ever watched in my entire life was the one in which Floyd Patterson knocked out Archie Moore in Chicago in the late 1950s, and that was only because my apartment-mate Jimmy (who may be reading this in Australia) was a boxing aficionado and dragged all of us non-aficionados to the stadium with him.. And the only boxing film that I ever enjoyed was Martin Scorsese�s Raging Bull (1980), which was an engrossing character study set in a boxing milieu, a portrait of a lost soul spiraling into financial and domestic oblivion. Certainly I do not derive any pleasure from watching two grown men pummeling each other to bloody pulps for no other reason than that they are expecting to win some money for doing so. What more two grown women similarly engaged? I am no pacifist, but violence as entertainment � especially violence by women on other women - is not my cup of tea. Having said that, I must add that Clint Eastwood�s Million Dollar Baby redeemed itself, in my opinion, in the last reel when Maggie, the character of Hilary Swank, paralyzed from a bad fall on the ring and now missing a leg that had to be amputated because of gangrene from bed sores, asks her manager-coach (Eastwood) to put her away, �like my father�s dog Axel.� Assisted suicide or mercy killing is a moral dilemma that is bound to become more prevalent in an age where the technology for prolonging life keeps on getting better and intersects with the question of whether a particular life, lived in a particular set of circumstances, is worth prolonging. Moral absolutes are not helpful. Eastwood�s Baby resolved that dilemma honestly and without preaching. I thought Swank deserved the Oscar she won as best actress, and I thought Eastwood himself should have been chosen best actor, aside from getting the Oscar for best director. I could not empathize with the character of Jamie Foxx in Ray because I do not particularly enjoy Black or Negro music (except Negro spirituals sung by the likes of Mahalia Jackson). My musical taste runs mostly along classical lines. When I venture into pop, it is almost exclusively Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. In jazz, it is limited to such oldies as Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Mel Torme, George Shearing, plus the one and only Louis Armstrong. I am more eclectic in folk and foreign music: I go for Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Gibson, the polyglot Nana Mouskouri, Ravi Shankar (for Indian sitar music), Theodore Bikel (for Israeli folk music), and contemporary Brazilian ballades. But the musical genre represented by Ray Charles is uninteresting to me, and having to listen to it for two hours is almost as bad as having to listen to Kris Aquino for one. Not surprising that Martin Scorsese did not win an Oscar for The Aviator. His recent films have been cinematic misses, including Bringing Out the Dead (1999) and Gangs of New York (2002). Are his creative juices drying up? A pity if they were. Surely the genius who gave the world such masterpieces as Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1986) � which I watch every Holy Week, together with Ingmar Bergman�s The Seventh Seal (1956) � Raging Bull (1980) and Cape Fear (1991) is capable of more dramatic tension than could keep The Aviator airborne. But I do not understand why Johnny Depp, with a fake Irish accent, was a contender at all for best actor for his role in Finding Neverland, a children�s fantasy about a children�s fantasy. Finding Neverland is not half as interesting as finding Michael in it, fondling the little duckies of his pubescent guests. �Nuff said. In the meantime, in an effort to stop the Muslim invasion of Metro Manila, a new law supposedly subjects to arrest not only vendors but also buyers of globalized DVDs. At the same time, vendors have been warned by no less than President Arroyo, who has just solved all our catastrophic national problems, that they have only up to June 30 this year to dispose of their merchandise, presumably by giving them away for free, since they will not want to go to jail, and neither will their (formerly) paying customers. So if you see your favorite Muslim vendor giving away DVDs at your favorite mall, walk up to him and show your sophisticated cosmopolitan taste by sneering that you will not accept any of the pedestrian American garbage that he is giving away, but will gladly reconsider his generosity if he has any of the following (globalized) cinematic gems: A Short Film About Love, by Krsysztof Kieslowski. (1988, Poland, in Polish.) A shy 19-year old voyeur has developed an obsession for a promiscuous woman living in a flat across the courtyard from his, whom he spies on nightly with a looking glass. Expanded from the original 55-minute episode in The Decalogue or The Ten Commandments from Polish TV, this film takes off from the Sixth Commandment (Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, in case you have forgotten) and straddles the grey area between animal lust and genuine concern for another human being, sometimes called love. Madadayo, by Akira Kurosawa. (1992, Japan, in Japanese.) Aptly, Kurosawa�s valedictory film. A respected and beloved professor retires from teaching to devote the rest of his life to writing. On his 60th birthday and every birthday thereafter, his appreciative former students honor him with a dinner, toasting him with a ceremonial Mahda-kai? (�Are you ready for the next life?�), to which he replies Madadayo! (�No, not yet!�), up to his last breath. Unusual for Kurosawa, this film brims with robust good humor. The Barbarian Invasions, by Denys Arcand. (2003, Canada, in French.) An iconoclastic and highly opinionated university professor is suddenly stricken ill. His son, from whom he is estranged, rushes home and, with the end imminent, arranges for his last days to be lived in joyous and cheerful reunion with old friends and former mistresses. A celebration of life in the face of death. In this case, a pre-programmed death at his request. From the director of Jesus of Montreal (1990) and The Decline of the American Empire (1986). Carandiru, by Hector Babenco. (2003, Brazil, in Portuguese.) Carandiru was the biggest prison in Sao Paolo until it became the site of a major prison riot which killed more than 100 inmates, after which it was demolished with dynamite. A searing social portrait of Brazil�s under-classes who populate its prisons, crafted by the same director who made Pixote (1981), about Sao Paolo�s abandoned street children. Social realism was never intended to be pretty. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter�.and Spring, by Kim Ki-Duk. (2004, South Korea, in Korean.) A Buddhist fable set in a one-room monastery floating on a raft in a small lake surrounded by lush mountain scenery. In this microcosmic world, an elderly monk and his child prot�g� live out the unending cycle of life: youth, adolescence, adulthood and death, and then rebirth. ***** Reactions to acabaya@zpdee.net or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Finding Michael�s Neverland� I have no inkling regarding what you have written for the Philippine Free Press. Was it supposed to be a critique or a mere ego-feeding of your "broad" knowledge and "elitist" sense of taste for film and music? I can define the meaning of my quotations, but I honestly cannot be bothered. If what you have written was a review or, god forbid, a critique, that failed miserably. It brought nothing new to the table except your personal tastes. Lyra Porras Garzon, [email protected] Columbia University New York, NY, March 20, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thanks, Tony. Excellent reading. Paul Obrist, [email protected] Paris, France, March 20, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You should have mentioned "Hotel Rwanda." It tells of a situation akin to the Philippine scene and some ethnic cleansing being done amidst the pa-cute-cute of the mediocre economist, the accidental President of the Philippines. Yuko Takei, [email protected] Tokyo, Japan, March 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony: I'm delighted that you remembered the night we watched Floyd Patterson become the youngest world heavyweight champion at 21 when he knocked out ageing Archie Moore in the seventh round at Chicago Stadium in 1957. I'm also glad that you shared that moment in history with me. I haven't watched Million Dollar Baby, mainly because I don't go to movies much. But now you have convinced me to watch it. ~ Jimmy. Jaime Pimentel, [email protected] Sydney Australia, March 21, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Clint Eastwood has certainly come a long way. From an obscure cowhand named Rowdy Yates, in the TV series Rawhide, to a superstar and bankable director. I certainly like his self-effacing method of directing as opposed to the artsy-fartsy style. By the way, do you have a copy of his biopic BIRD ? I never saw a copy here in the Philippines. It's about the life and times of jazz great, Charlie Parker. And when are you going to publish that list of your 200 favorite movies? Please advice. Auggie Surtida, [email protected] Iloilo, March 21, 2005 MY REPLY. No, I have not seen Bird, but it must be available from amazon.com. My list of favorite movies now totals more than 200 and still growing. One of these days, before end of 2005, I will load it in the website. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya: Your article today should have been distributed/published before the Oscar Awards night. Masyadong luma na ang temang ito, lalu na't ang mga readers nito, katulad ko, ay nasa Amerika at ibang bansa sa buong mundo. Baka puwede mong pagtuunan ng pansin at panulat ang mga pa-contest sa ABS-CBN, na napapanood namin dito sa Amerika. Isang halimbawa ang programang "Pera o Bayong." Napag-alaman ko dito, by watching the TV show, na ang mga contestants ay pumipila sa labas ng ABS-CBN para makasali dito. May mga pumipila ng limang araw hanggang sampung araw. Sa tingin ko, hindi makatao ang pamamaraang ito. Parang mga hayup yata ang tingin ng ABS-CBN sa mga contestant nito. Hindi alintana ng ABS-CBN ang lamig at init na tinitiis ng mga taong nagsusumikap makasali sa contest. Bakit hindi padaanin sa pormal na imbitasyon ang mga contestants, para ang pupunta lang sa contest show ay ang mga imbitado. Ang mga contestants ay pipiliin sa mga entries sent to them by mail of those interested to participate in the TV show's contest. Sa ganitong paraan, tina-trato ng ABS-CBN ang mga contestants na tao - hindi parang mga hayup sa mala-kuwadra nilang pilahan sa studio. Jess Guim, [email protected] New York City, March 20, 2005 MY REPLY. Sorry, hindi ako nanuno-od ng mga programa ng ABS-CBN at dahil dito wala akong kakayahang mag-komento sa kanilang mga patakaran. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |