69 AND A HALF
Yael
Buencamino (FLOW 02 Magazine)
69 ½,
the independent feature film from first time wrider-director Teddy
Manotoc is in the final throes of postproduction. Having had a quick
conversation with Manotoc, a peek at production stills and a viewing
of the film’s trailer, it is this writer’s guess that this film is,
for better or for worse, nothing like any other Filipino film in
recent memory.
The smarmy film producer featured in the trailer (accessible on
www.69andahalf.com), and the film’s title, suggests a slapstick
comedy. But the artfully directed shots, the film noir-esque images,
interspersed with the fashion spread-like takes, flashes of musical
production numbers and the outspoken design of the sets, hint at the
film being a little bit more than a standard slapstick. When you open
the website of the film, what confronts you is not a picture of the
main protagonist in a comical pose, but rather the image of a
kabuki-faced firl in an origami-like skirt crawling on what seems to
be a tall dark grass—Japanese glam horror perhaps? If anything this
film is hard to put a finger on.
Although Manotoc claims that he did not set out to make an “art film”,
the visuals suggest otherwise. The saturated palette evokes the
hyperrealism more commonly found in contemporary painting The periodic
appearance of a gigantic ear of corn in the most unlikely places seems
to reference the surrealist Magritte. Perhaps this is all an extension
of the reflexive nature of the film as it is easy to imagine that the
director of the film is going through the same journey that his
protagonist is going through, the struggle to put forward something
that the audience will enjoy while being able to present his vision of
film as art. Whatever Manotoc’s intentions, the sensibility of the
film was no doubt affected by the diverse backgrounds of the minds
that contributed to it. The production team featured the likes of
veteran cinematographer Miguel Fabie, LA-based commercial director
Jasmin Kuhn, video artist/film editor Clarence Sison, print designer
Yodel Pe, artist Alvin Zafra, music producer/composer Dan Gil, video
artist Tad Ermitaño, and fashion director Melvin Mojica (who selected
designer Puey Quinones’s gowns) to name a few. There were even
contributions from LA-based feature film Director Francis dela Torre,
photographer Jake Versoza, and artist Christina Dy.
The film is reflexive in nature and there are constant reminders that
the audience is “watching". The bars of the jail cells call to mind
strips of film, the windows on the back wall of the cell mimic the
projection windows of a movie theatre—and in what Filipino jail, or
any jail for that matter, will you ever find a carefully stenciled
sign in Italian, saying “your imagination will set you free”? How this
all comes together as a movie will be interesting to see. But based on
the stills and trailer, whatever the story is like, you can at least
be guaranteed of a unique visual experience.
