Ode to Judy Ann; praises
for ‘Ploning’

As may be expected, her boyfriend Ryan Agoncillo and her mom, Carol, were there. Even Ryan’s dad gave a message saying they’re welcoming Juday to their family and are looking forward to the day that they will tie the knot. We also won’t be surprised if Juday would give the rights to their wedding coverage to GMA-7 as it’s also the Kapuso Network which supported the promo of her movie, "Ploning."

It’s obvious that Juday is so happy with Ryan as she is blooming so beautifully these days, on and off cam.

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At the "Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus" eviction night last Saturday, Atenean Robi got 44.82 percent of the votes, while LaSallite Josef got 29.43 percent, with Prisoner’s Daughter Rona of Dumaguete got 17.9 percent. Gentle Giant Jolas of Bulacan got only 8.66 percent so he was the one ousted. He said he has mixed feelings about his eviction. He’s happy to be reunited with his family in the outside world, but he’s also sad to leave his friends among the housemates. One good news is that he got an offer from the University of the Philippines to play basketball.

Meantime, three of the housemates were taken to the hospital. Alex and Robi had diarrhea while Beauty slipped and had to have a check up. A new housemate also entered Kuya’s house last week. This is Shy, a masked mystery beauty called the "House Player ng Bayan," patterned after the Big Brother USA’s 8th season where a special housemate joined the housemates to act on the wishes of the viewers and also to carry out the mission of testing the characters of the housemates.

Shy has to accomplish five tasks each week, dictated by text votes. Each successful task wins her P10,000. The first task given to Shy (which hosts Luis Manzano and Mariel Rodriguez elicited from the audience) is to choose among the remaining guy housemates one to whom Shy will pretend she has a crush on. Josef got 53.72 percent of text votes. Will she be believable in this and how will Nicole (who obviously is fond of Josef) react?

In the nominations held last Monday, Josef was nominated by the guardians who gave him 5 votes. But even among the housemates, Josef was also the topnotcher and he got 11 votes. This is his fourth nomination. Nan was exempted from being nominated as he won in the immunity task. The other two nominees are Rona and Nicole, who got 4 and 8 votes each, respectively. You can now vote to save your favorite housemate.

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This is an email from Chimmy Changa of San Pedro, Laguna: "Inabangan ko talaga ang ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya’ para mapanood uli ang acting ni Gabby Concepcion. Sad to say, hindi inalagaan ang shots niya. May mga kuhang kitang-kitang nagkaedad na siya at may lines na sa mukha. O baka naman pagod lang siya kaya mukha siyang tumanda? Sa acting, mukhang kinalawang din siya. Dapat siguro, kinuha niya ang role ni Tirso Cruz III bilang amo dahil mas challenging at mas nakakatawag pansin iyon pagdating sa pag-arte. I read na si Gabby raw mismo ang pumili ng role ng family driver, then someone should tell him na para maipakita na magaling siyang aktor, hindi siya dapat playing safe sa roles na ginagampanan niya. In contrast, I saw the trailer of ‘Caregiver’ nang manood ako ng ‘When Love Begins’ at ang husay-husay ni Sharon Cuneta sa bawat eksena niya. Buti ngang huwag muna silang magpareha ni Sharon at baka lamunin lang siya nito sa pag-arte kapag magka-eksena na sila."

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Our two grandchildren, Louise and Sammy, are diehard fans of "Dyesebel." "Only because there are no classes yet," says their mom, Hannah. "But once the schoolyear starts, I wish it would be scheduled on an earlier slot so they could still watch it."

One reason "Dyesebel" hooked them is that it’s technically dazzling, especially when compared to previous "Dyesebel" films that did not benefit from the advantages offered by digital technology. In the TV version now, the underwater scenes are obviously production designed and shot with chroma effects, making them look marvelous on screen. Even the tails of the mermaids are obviously enhanced by digital effects, like when Marian Rivera first appeared as the grown up Dyesebel.

During the pilot week, we commended Jean Garcia for her fine performance as Dyesebel’s mom who’s tormented by the town’s people who think her mermaid daughter is a salot. We can’t wait for Jean’s return as a rich woman who will take revenge on her oppressors.

This week, Dyesebel gets to rescue Fredo (Dingdong Dantes) and takes him to a cave where she saves his life after he’s bitten by a sea snake. She also saves him from a giant lobster and helps him return to land with the assistance of Erebus (Alfred Vargas). Fredo regains consciousness on the beach and kisses Dyesebel, then loses consciousness again. Dyesebel returns to their underwater kingdom, Sirenea, and is punished by Reyna Dyangga (Mylene Dizon) who sentences her to death. Erebus defends her and she gets saved. Banak (Lotlot de Leon) implores Dyesebel to forget about Fredo.

On land, Fredo wakes up and searches for Dyesebel but no one knows her. Dyesebel discovers the secret that her mom is a former queen and now lives on land. She decides to look for her and for Fredo, who starts to think that Dyesebel might just be a figment of his imagination. Fredo proposes marriage to his girlfriend, Betty (Bianca King), for the sake of his business. Dyesebel searches for Amafura (Rufa Mae Quinto) who can give her feet. But there’s a hitch; she can lose her tail and have feet, but she will become ugly.

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Life in a small island has been shown before in local cinema by Ishmael Bernal’s "Nunal sa Tubig" and Marilou Abaya’s "Sa Pusod ng Dagat." But "Ploning," debuting director Dante Nico Garcia’s personal ode and homage to his native island, Cuyo in Palawan, where it was filmed on location, is still an oddity in that it chooses to use the Cuyonon dialect almost all throughout. He co-wrote the script and no doubt some elements are autobiographical.

The film is not a commercial enterprise but truly a labor of love. It’s about life, death, faith, patience and love, told from the point of view of a five-year-old boy, Digo (Cedric Amit), and the women of his childhood: his crippled mother, Juaning (Eugene Domingo); the salt maker Intang (Gina Pareño); the Ilonggo woman who’s a stranger to the island, Alma (Meryll Soriano); the nurse from the city who decides to settle there, Celeste (Mylene Dizon); and the eponymous heroine, Ploning (Judy Ann Santos, who co-produces the film.)

It features so much local color, like the town fiesta with its "alakayo" (painted men) and the wedding ritual called "esposada." Charlie Peralta’s exquisite cinematography breathtakingly exploits the striking beauty of the scenery, notably pristine beaches, lighting up each scene with so much care that the texture is quite palpable on screen.

The film enigmatically starts with a love scene where you see only bits of bodies and faces of the darkly lit lovers, then shifts to a young man in a Chinese boat, Mou Sei (Bojong Fernandez), who lands in Cuyo to look for his roots. In flashback, we then see the story of Digo, whose mom Juaning is an invalid. He is so attached to Ploning, the maker of candied cashew nuts.

It’s easy to guess that Mou Sei is actually the grown up Digo who returns to Cuyo after an absence of 25 years. How he leaves their island as a small boy and how he survives is a plot ploy for which you have to suspend your belief and take on faith for you to enjoy the whole narrative.

At the core of Digo’s reminiscence of his past is Ploning (the name is from a Cuyonon folk song), daughter of the town’s richest man (Tony Mabesa). Her story is told in flashback, set in the early 1980s when Imelda Marcos held her Manila International Filmfest attended by George Hamilton and Brooke Shields.

Ploning is friendly and accessible to everyone else, but strangely estranged from her own father. She plays surrogate mom to Digo, comforts Siloy (the son of Ces Quesada who later becomes town mayor played by Joel Torre) who’s spurned by the girl he loves, writes letters for Alma, and consoles the anguished Intang, the mother of her boyfriend, Tomas (never shown), who left for Manila when Ploning was 16 and never came back.

Ploning is quiet and mysterious. She’s forever waiting for Tomas to return even if she’s now 30 and there’s talk that she’ll soon go to Manila to follow him. Towards film’s end, some secrets will be revealed, but it’s the deliberate style of the movie that many things are left unsaid, many feelings inarticulated. This is totally in contrast to most local dramas (even TV shows) where subtlety is prohibited and everything is just overstated.

The film is told in a lyrical manner where the characters often seem like they’re not just delivering dialogue but reciting poetry to deliver some profound insights about human values and relationships. It also takes its sweet time in telling the story and viewers used to the remote control and have short attention spans will find its leisurely pacing quite slow, but it surely has its own rewards for the sensitive, thinking viewer as it’s the type of film that grows on you.

The film is also Garcia’s tribute to Judy Ann Santos, his personal friend of 17 years, with the character created obviously with her in mind. The role calls mainly for her radiant, comforting presence. She’s not called to do anything histrionic or theatrical. She’s just quiet in a lot of scenes, but she exudes a certain depth of character that borders on the magical and makes her Ploning even more of an enigma, just like her hidden longings and emotions. Let’s just say Garcia’s self indulgence paid off.