Gay zombies, the return of Nora, and other pop phenomena in 2011

A coming of age like no other.  Written by Michiko Yamamoto, Raymond Lee, and co-written and directed by Jade Castro, Zombadings was an absolutely heartwarming story of coming into gayness. That is, a coming of age for a whole fictional community that begins homophobic and filled with zombies, and comes to accept homosexuality as a valid choice to make, no matter how late in the day, or in this case, how late in a father’s life and how early in a young teenage boy’s. Granted the use of zombies vis a vis kabaklaan has its pitfalls, but I do think that this movie navigated the discourse of the latter well, logically rendering even the most macho (hello, John Regala as the father), as possible ally against homophobia. We got to give that its power.  The TV5 Shift. It’s difficult not to be taken aback by TV5’s Christmas station ID if only because it features actors and actresses that used to inhabit the bigger networks. Dolphy and Aga Muhlach, Lorna Tolentino and Nora Aunor and Sharon Cuneta, alongside Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon, are difficult names to beat really. That they’re on the roster of TV5 is a reminder of how all it takes to be a new player in the TV game is to channel enough money to make those big names move. Now the goal has to be spending a similar amount for the creative teams that will make that shift worth it. And will actually make me want to stay on TV5. Jose, Wally, Paolo. You might not know their names really, but if you watch Eat Bulaga regularly enough, the kind of work these three guys put into the “Juan For All, All For Juan” segment is astounding. Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, and Paolo Ballesteros sweat it out in the smallest and most remote of barangays, deal with crowds in impoverished areas with nary a discriminatory bone, and can just make you laugh with humor that doesn’t look down on the sadness and struggles of the poor contestant winners. These three are unbeatable in their use of humor premised on the audience’s ability at intertextuality, i.e., impersonating a varied set of pop culture icons from Nora Aunor to Mike Enriquez to Kiko Matsing. Though in the end what Jose, Wally and Paolo might take pride in is their keen sense of propriety in the face of poverty. That is what makes them a class act. So who’s in that septic tank? Is in fact the right question at the end of watching Ang Babae sa Septic Tank. This film moved from being indie to having a commercial release the past year, and while Eugene Domingo in the lead role might explain the commercial interest in it, credit must go to this material which is as worthy of the attention. In fact, Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank written by Chris Martinez and directed by Marlon Rivera should spell the end, to some extent, of the kind of indie film that we send out into the world, if only because this film reveals it to be a box we utilize and consciously fit into, its excesses and the lack of creativity becoming acceptable in the process. There’s nothing funny about that. The Superstar is back. In 2011, we welcomed home Nora Aunor, and it seemed it was the right time for a Superstar comeback. Ate Guy’s interviews revealed an honesty about her, a fearlessness if you will, in answering questions about the years she has spent in America, but more importantly about her life in local showbiz, finally answering questions on alcoholism and lesbian tendencies, finally talking about her failed marriage and strange choices in men, finally speaking on the showbiz system of old like no one else has. Ate Guy has earned the right to let it all hang out. And in the highly controlled world of showbiz, we should thank the high heavens that she is home.  Magalona mania. While I celebrated the Magalonas last year, I thought this year Elmo Magalona did not just spread his wings, he flew higher with A Wazak Love Story, a Romeo and Juliet adaptation he did with Julie Ann San Jose for Party Pilipinas. Last year these two had me channel surfing across the Sunday variety shows; for Wazak, and their other production numbers, these two had me glued this year. But there’s even more reason to celebrate Elmo, and the rest of the Magalona brood really: in a year that had them on my Twitter feed and in my consciousness, they have proven consistent. That is, Elmo along with Maxene, Saab, and Frank—the latter two doing some acting this year, too—seem to have remained unaffected by the superficiality of showbiz. Particularly for blogger Saab, the sense of humor and the self-reflexivity remains refreshing. That they all still also consistently celebrate nation in the way that their father did, with the classiness and intelligence that their mother Pia must take credit for, is just fabulous for a generation in search of role models—precisely because the Magalona brood do not work on being such. They just are.  The return of the adult romance. These movies might not have been surprising in terms of content—infidelity and catfights, women fighting over men, sampalan, sabunutan, sex—we’ve had those in the Regal and Viva films of the 80s. Ah, but how we’ve missed them! And while I love romantic-comedies and think we’ve got some gems of it every year, 2011 must be about My Neighbor’s Wife written and directed by Jun Lana and No Other Woman written by Kriz Gazmen and Jay Fernando and directed by Ruel Bayani, mature romances both. Of course when we say mature, we also mean female leads in fabulous outfits, topless leading men, and again lots of sex and sexy. But also this year it meant an effort at campy lines and campier actresses to deliver those lines. The winner? Carmi Martin. How’s that for a 1980s throwback?   A selling out in the right direction. We all know Patricia Evangelista to be the spit of a girl who had some award tucked under her belt, who just seemed too young to deserve the media space she was being given. Yet particularly in the past year, Patricia seems to have finally found herself a cause. Human rights in this country,  where people disappear and are killed every day, is not easy to wrap one’s head around. But Patricia proves herself worthy of this cause, and seems to have found value in talking less about herself, and more about the stories she lives off of, more about this context we are all part of, with a bravery that’s borne of knowing she’s now standing on the right—because it is the just—side of the fence. Selling out to a cause, going beyond one’s self-proclaimed mentors, and declaring oneself independent, never looked this good. And has never been this relevant. Brava Patricia.