Missing Codec

Bale itong post na ito ay tugon sa isang tanong mula sa curiouscat account ko ng isang anonymous. Ito yung tanong nya: “ano nangyari sa PH cinema? bakit nung 2nd golden age naman may maayos naman na lumabas na mga pelikula? ano sa tingin mo yung major factor bat nag regress yung quality after that era?”

Gusto ko sya sagutin in a manner na maaaddress ko sya historically, so siguro ngayon pa lang magpapatawad na ko sa medyo magiging (relatively) kahabaan nito.

Una, sa usapin ng ‘quality’, di ko sya maaaring i-address without talking about quantity. Kumbaga, pede natin pag-usapan in-terms of ‘ratio’. What happened with the so-called “Second Golden Age” kasi as we see it now in our context ay kung ano na yung nasa canon. Maybe you can start an understanding with how the term started: yung periodization was a rhetorical postulate posed by Joel David in an article published in CCP’s Kultura back in the late 80s, the article was later republished don sa unang anthology ni Joel David na The National Pastime (1990). It was more of a product nung culmination ng activities ng Manunuri in the 70s and 80s since sila yung largest body of film critics back then. The periodization started as an attempt for a canonization of ‘great works.’

Sa isang mas recent na lecture ni Nick Deocampo he contended for a more ‘data-driven’ approach to periodization by looking into the quantitative aspect of the film industry. He hit back then sa lecture na yon yung attempts by earlier commentators to periodize PH Film History according to standards of taste rather than sa standards ng history. He has an answer to the ‘golden-ages’ as periods to which the Philippine Film Industry reach peak production outputs.

By mid-80s, nag-peak yung film production ng Philippines to 300-ish feature length movies in a year. Kumbaga, almost enough to fill a calendar one new movie per day. Yung dahilan nitong numero ay nakaugnay sa konteksto ng unang “golden age”: bale nung isa isang bumagsak mga malalaking studios ng 50s-60s, nag diffuse yung production houses patungo sa “independent” outfits na either Artista ang may ari o kung sinong negosyante na gustong pumasok sa pamemelikula kasi malaki ang kita. Pero if you compare this number with what the Manunuri likes back then, you’ll know for a fact na the magic number is always 10 as in “Top 10 Films of the Year”. So that’s 3.33% roughly of the year that is considered as “great.”

If you look at it from this context, you may ask is that 3.33% a good ‘representative’ of a national cinema?

Nangyari after 80s, after EDSA, ay re-consolidation ng film studios, so nagkaroon ng malalaking Film Studios ulet (Viva, Regal, Seiko, Star Cinema), problema na dito eh yung mas pinalalang liberalization ng merkado sa Pelikula na pinauso ni Marcos at pinagpatuloy ni Cory at Ramos, na mas madaling nagpapasok ng mas maraming foreign films, so mas mahigpit ang kompetisyon since Hollywood ang kabangga.

I think you may say the same on the decades that comes after, despite of dwindling quantity of output, meron pa rin talagang minority percentages that will come out as outstanding to critics and commentators. And this is what’s happening if we are looking at Philippine Cinema in the shadow of the so-called ‘second golden age’, that is we keep repeating the same taste-based assessment for what should be seen historically. Nung 90s, despite Doy Del Mundo’s declaration na “The Film Industry Is Alive, Filipino Cinema Is Dead”, andon pa rin naman yung choice “best” ng critics among the sea of bullshit from studios, still probably maintaining the same ratio of 1:30 perceived good to bad films.

Let me tell you an answer to the question of Quality: Our films “get better” each year, objectively speaking. This is something that I mistakenly ranted out back in an Alternative Class that I have attended accidentally because I thought we were having regular classes. And in that Class, the lecturer was Mae Cruz (now Mae Cruz-Alviar) of Star Cinema with her then-sidekick, Dan Villegas. Someone back then asked the same question of quality and I answered: you may look at quality objectively—digital technology made things easier and hence, better looking pictures. And I still think of this from time to time: how really things are better now in mainly because of the mobility of the digital camera. At least we had better shot works right now, di ba? What will make them “good films” is something that is left to taste.

But this “improvement” is merely a historical consequence and not something filmmakers themselves consciously developed from scratch. Filipino filmmakers are far from history makers. Sa ngayon, ang problem with canonization here is that critics are still doing it in the shadow of Manunuri or of the Second Golden Age. That such and such works must be declared in a list etc, but this is in a more cynical end: none of the critics now who openly engage in Philippine Cinema does canonization projects for the sake of Cinema (or sa context ng Manunuri, for their own contention of a “national Cinema”), but for their own fulfillments. After all, most of these critics comes from blogging, where the most important audience is ones’ self.

While there is indeed a problem with “quality” sa current Filipino films in as much as there is a grave problem with quantity, I think another factor contributing to this perceived “regression” of quality with recent Filipino Films eh yung very liberal (and often uncommitted) engagement sa Cinema both ng filmmakers and critics. We live in an era when filmmaking is a corporate enterprise that is closer to BPOs: services that do more favor to a “client company” in exchange with a hefty “individual performance bonus.” Papansin mo maraming naaacclaim dito na pelikula abroad, o mga nanalo sa festivals dito, pero pag pinanuod mo naman parang di mo naman magagap agad sa tindi nung pagiging self-serving nito (either in form or personality).

Sa ganitong siste ng pamemelikula, bumubuntot yung film critics para masabing relevant sila. Minsan din sila pa ngangunugna: maaappreciate itong ganitong pelikula na nag-premiere sa isang local festival tapos sa sinulat na review either iaangkla sa current na hot issue o comparison sa isang festival o arthouse favorite. Mabilis ma conflate yung festival participation, lalo yung award, sa relevance.

Yung problema dito, lalo nung mid-2000s to early 2010s, etsa pwera talaga mainstream sa mga sulatin. Although understandable nung mid-2000s na may papausbong na independent film na eksena, na at least merong ‘task’ yung critics noon na magbigay puwang sa mga di masyado ‘napapansin.’ So medyo understandable din at some point yung mga critics non. Yung counter effect nito eh nag breed sya ng newer writers nung panahong iyon na ang priority talaga eh yung indie indie.

Aquino Era: pataas ule produksyon ng pelikula, pero na flatten nito yung aesthetics, wala na halos pinag-iba ang mainstream at indie by 2013/2014 mula filmmaking hanggang sa mga tao sa likod ng pelikula. Pero sobrang weird na pa-mainstream na tong mga pa-indie indie asta pa rin silang labas ng kahon. Mga critics nung panahon na ito may todo elitista na rin, sabay nag eevolve sa papa-elitistang masa-kuno na Philippine Cinema (kung mapapansin mo naman, elitistang masa-kuno ang Star Cinema at ang mainstream in general). Lalo nung nag mainstream yang indie-indie ngayong panahon ni Duterte.

So kung susumahin yung points ko eh medyo mas lilinawin ko na mahihirapan ako mag establish ng case to prove na may“regression of quality” lalo kung titignan siya historically at objectively. Pero, mas obvious ngayon yung kung para kanino ba ginagawa yung mga pelikula. Yung nararamdaman nating “qualitative” disappointment eh baka sintomas ng lumalalang disconnect ng mga pelikulang Filipino sa buhay ng mga Filipino. Worse, yung papalalang disconnect ng Filipino Film Critics, na di na nga relevant mula’t sapul sa mamamamayan, mas pinalalala pa ng blogger attitudes nila yung disconnect. I guess andon na rin yung punto ng development nating mga manunuod na gumigising sa mas papahirap na buhay, na yung dapat libangan natin eh ginagawang pangtrophy at pet-project ng iilan na wala namang ibang natutuwa kundi sila (at mga tropa nila).