No Other Woman
I didn’t watch it.
Though almost everyone has been talking about it when it was a trending topic both in the real and virtual world, I never even thought of catching a glimpse of it. Hindi issue na sayang ang pera sa pelikulang ito, it’s more of sayang ang common sense.
After all, what’s seminal about the movie? By the mere title, a five-year old can pretty much guess how the story will start, what the conflict will be, and probably, how it will end. Indeed, the Filipino masses have long been deprived of quality movies. Gone were the days when the films starred by the likes of Vilma Santos or Nora Aunor left the viewers pledging their lives for the protagonists or cursing the antagonists as if they were their personal enemies, too, upon stepping out of the cinema.
What have the contemporary movies offered the people? An overdose of love triangles, of plots based on the story of its theme song, or worse, re-makes of foreign films or recycled movies from the archives.
Our movies, which include several shows on TV, have dumbed down our people. Thank God we don’t see action films concluded by late-responding policemen or comedy films where we expect the cast to be dancing in the beach anymore. But local movies have continued to be predictable, ordinary, and boring- not to mention corny..
So what must be done? If it’s true that the movie industry is an ailing one, then it must be true also that euthanasia is among the options. By continuously, and uncritically, patronizing Filipino movies, we are actually telling those behind the movies that they are doing a good job. They get rich while feeding our people with the same old trash.
By boycotting local movies, we make it clear that we deserve better. We tell those guys in the movie industry that what they give us is destitute of the creative juice which not only entertains but informs.
When I chanced upon a UP literature professor at Sarahs (a pub near UP Diliman), we talked about the fall of Gaddafi and our local movies. I pointed out that despite the battery of national artists and Palanca-awarded playwrights that we have, why do we still hear actors and actresses recite lifeless scripts that don’t invite critical thinking. I told him that our writers, those with sense, can do us a favor by getting involved in movie-making. It is sad, according to the professor, that the movie industry and the popular media have depicted, successfully in fact, local artists nothing but a bunch of weirdos. “Look at Makata Tawanan”, the prof said.
Choosing not to watch Filipino movies is not being anti-Filipino. Dumbing down the Filipino is.
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Tags: anne curtis, corny movies, filipino movies, no other woman, pinoy film
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Critique
It’s quite sad that the Philippine Entertainment industry is reaching its dark ages in terms of creativity. While it is true that the creative staff is in charge of making the show or movie, they are not to be solely blamed for the deterioration of the industry. Often times, greedy film producers are to blame since they are in charge of financial matters in producing a movie or show. Producers don’t want to risk their money on projects that will flop. As a safe move producers would like genres and screenplays that are liked by the masses.
I for one rarely watch movies produced by the top movie making companies in the Philippines. Not that I don’t like Filipino movies, what I don’t like is that their is nothing new.