Friday, December 16, 2022

 THE SENSUAL RETURNS TO FILIPINO FILM,

LAWRENCE FAJARDO'S NERISA SIZZLES -
It must be said: After more than two decades of celibacy in Filipino cinema - romance comedy/drama, which for the most part, shies away from dealing with adult subject, or evades its depiction - the sensual makes a vengeful return to Filipino film, thanks to streaming, filmmakers start to feel adult, unencumbered by the sharp scissors of the censors, and the Filipino viewer is not shy about it.
Vivamax, the streaming platform owned by Viva Films, is taking the lead. With Lawrence Fajardo's NERISA, sex in Filipino cinema makes an auspicious return and we are the better for it: The film opens FACINE 28, the 28th annual filipino international cine festival, this Friday, November 5, online.
As with Joel Lamangan's LOCKDOWN, Fajardo's NERISA is no mere sex film. While it revisits the mysterious woman in an island trope of many a Filipino film - I can recall Celso ad Castillo's ANG PINAKAMAGANDANG HAYOP SA BALAT NG LUPA [the most beautiful animal on the face of the earth], 1974 - and the island films in general, the island, because separate from the mainland, becomes the site of conflict between the traditional and the modern, Fajardo's NERISA is framed in the background of lost ownership, lost agency of the fisherfolks in the face of encroaching invader (read: West Philippine Sea conflict), that the appearance of a mysterious maiden - can she be a mermaid - is seen as a blessing to the island - or a curse?
However, unlike island films in the past, NERISA's island is never idealized; as a matter of fact, the film critiques a parochial mindset that remains a barrier to progress. In its last sequence, reminiscent of a boat leaving the island in the last frame of Ishmael Bernal's NUNAL SA TUBIG [a speck in the water], 1976, the filmmaker makes definite decision, give it up and move forward.
The beautiful Cindy Miranda makes her first lead role as Nerisa, will she be our new sex symbol? (The last sex symbol of note in Philippine cinema is the talented Rosanna Roces and I understand she last played a sex siren in 2001 with LA VIDA ROSA?).
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Lawrence Fajardo's NERISA opens FACINE 28, the 28th annual filipino international cine festival and is one of the eight films in competition. Festival runs November 5-7 in a streaming platform.
Please visit our website, www.facine.org for festival information and tickets purchase.
Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr, Founder/Artistic Director, FACINE
Instrella Ed, Nick Deocampo and 36 others
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