Sick-lit
You still haven’t read my Newsweek piece on Kinatay? The piece was dismembered but at least it wasn’t killed. It’s in the current issue, cover date 22 June—do buy hard copy, help the publishing industry a little. Red cover, ‘Capitalist Manifesto’. The same issue has a piece on Asian chick-lit which includes our local authors. (They cover the Jimmy Choos, I cover the gruesome crime drama.)
Here’s one of the behind-the-scenes shots they didn’t use.
P.S. My webmaster has received a bunch of questions about Newsweek editions and passed them on to me. There are two: Newsweek US and Newsweek International. They are both in English. Newsweek US is sold in the United States. Newsweek International is sold outside the US. I have been writing for Newsweek International since 97 or 98. The Kinatay piece appears in Newsweek International, but it may also be in the US edition. Yes, the Philippines does get covered in US and International publications, though not as often as we would like.
Reminds me of a conversation I’ve had more times than I care to remember.
Condescending snoot: So you’re a writer. Where can I see your writing?
Me: National Bookstore. Philippine Star. Blog. Newsweek a couple of times a year.
Condescending snoot: Oh you write for Newsweek? As in Newsweek Newsweek?
Me: Hinde, yung Newsweek diyan sa kanto. (No, the Newsweek down the street.)
Condescending snoot: Does not get it.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
June 17th, 2009 at 09:06
I was flipping through Newsweek just last night when I saw your article. I started to read it until the guard asked me if I would buy a copy ^^ Too bad I couldn’t, so I made a mental note to head to the library this weekend to read your article. ~
June 17th, 2009 at 22:39
Read your Newsweek article.
The Mark Meily quote is interesting. It suggests that Filipinos expect only Pleasantville on the silver screen. I think no one is confusing cinema for tourism propaganda. Masyado naman underestimated ang pinoy viewers. I mean, we all loved Brocka, Bernal, De Leon, Guillen, Diaz-Abaya and all their festival films were dark and brooding.
Isa lang naman ang hinihiling ng pinoy audience. Sana huwag naman LAHAT ng pelikula na ipalalabas sa Cannes at iba pang international film festivals ay tungkol sa baho ng Pilipinas. Mendoza talks about filming what is not seen and translates that as violence, perversion, squalor, etc. Doesn’t it occur to him that it’s actually beauty that is not seen in our afflicted country? People everywhere already know that we stink. Try living abroad for a year at least and you’ll know what I mean. I just talked to a respected American academic and she told me that when she first visited Manila, she felt like she “starved for beauty.”
That said, you are so right about the conflicted reactions from Mendoza’s kababayans. Like most pinoys, I have reservations about Kinatay (which I have sworn to see one day) but I am happy that he won.
But what makes me more hopeful and proud of Philippine Cinema is that we have Raya Martin. My guess (can’t wait to see Independencia) is that he might be the balance we’ve been waiting for.
Thanks for your article, a good read as always.
Even if squalor is the dominant image of the Philippines, at least the world knows that we have some damn good writers.
June 18th, 2009 at 03:00
Addendum: Philippine headlines scream that the body of a woman- murdered and cemented inside a steel drum -had been recovered from the Navotas River. Kinatay is not about depicting “what is not seen” as Mendoza puts it. It is about stating the obvious and rubbing it in.
June 18th, 2009 at 13:57
I agree with Director Mark Meily. Filmmakers have no business making their works Procrustean. That is to say, it is not their responsibility to tweak their works so that they may suit someone else’s taste.