Super Inday as babaeng bakla

It needs to be said that I’m a fan of Maricel Soriano. Hers is an image I grew up with, from the spoiled only daughter Shirley in John en Marsha, to too many movies where she played the tomboy / the suplada / the mataray opposite heartthrobs for leading men; from her series of Inday roles to her series of Marias, one of whom went to town. But too, Maricel’s image was about her personality extraneous to the camera, one that was consistently about being truthful even when it makes people uncomfortable, one that was borne of her practical matter-of-fact articulations rarely seen in showbiz personalities of her time. Maricel, I always thought, was the only one who could do comedy in one breath, and drama like no other (ala Saan Darating ang Umaga) in the same breath. I always thought no one -- and I do speak as a die-hard Maricel Soriano fan -- no one could ever fill in those iconic roles again.

And then I heard that Marian Rivera was doing the Super Inday and the Golden Bibe remake (directed by Mike Tuviera). And I let that sink in, until there I was inside the theater, being entertained easily enough by this version that was obviously made for the times. What are these times, we might wonder. Well, if this portrayal of Super Inday is any indication, it has got to be the era of the fag hag. Because in this version, Inday’s transformation into a superhero has much to do not just with her powers, but with her voice. Literally. Right here is a superhero who’s babaeng bakla, and given the consistency with which it happens in the movie, well, I imagine this to have been planned. Which, by all intents and purposes, was a plan that succeeded in eliciting laughter if that was the point. Though more than that it could only be entertaining to see this superhero in hot pink, speaking like a vekla in the way that only girls can: in this extreme way that’s a genre of speaking all its own, almost separate from its... uh ... gay origins, a babaeng bakla on superhero drugs. Now was the rest of the movie funny? The truth is, it showed me how difficult it now is to come up with a Super Inday movie, given all the other superhero fantaseryes that riddle our primetime TV viewing. So there was nothing new here, and the kontrabida in the form of Mylene Dizon, while superbly-acted in, was nothing but an archetype. The classic drama of the provincial orphan Inday who now searches for her real mother in Manila, is stuff for soap operas. Becoming oppressed househelp in Manila, becoming the friend of her alagas who will defend her to kingdom come, her amo turning out to be her long-lost father. Yes, we’ve seen all this on TV before. Right here though is what most of this movie was about, and much of the action for most of the film was about Inday gaining superhero powers slowly but surely, as she passed each test that involved being deserving of superhero-hood. For most of the film, Inday was no Super Inday, she was just slowly transforming into the latter, and as she did, all she had was a fake pink cape, some white shades, a batya and palo-palo as weapons. All she had was the ability to fly and kick and scream and right there she was saving the world. With of course the love interest and real superhero with his own issues, Amazing Jay played by Jake Cuenca. Now I am no fan of this guy, but goodness he did this role so well, I was, like Inday, fawning halfway through the film. This of course is a network crossover, but both Jake and Marian did it so well, it could only be proof of an amount of good credible acting. Which is what’s here, believe it or not. Of course Marian, as with Maricel, was practically playing herself, moving from effective sensitive and emotional girl Inday, to brave and aggressive -- and noisy -- Super Inday. Right here, it was an extreme version of Super Inday, also of Marian herself as we know her to be. Marian deserved the nomination if only for that extreme self she was willing to show, a stretch by all counts. To say that she got the award because she was tailor-made for the role, is just unfair to her -- and any actor’s -- abilities. And then there were the other actors of this movie who should’ve been nominated for the Metro Manila Film Fest (MMFF) awards. There’s John “Sweet" Lapus, who I though deserved a darn nomination for all those roles he ably played, being the bearer of Super Inday’s powers, being the one person who wanted her to pass all those tests. Watching Sweet’s portrayal of five different characters, I could only be reminded of those years I saw him on the State University’s stage, an icon then, one that contemporary showbiz fails to do justice to. In the same way that the MMFF jury failed to do justice to Sabrina Man’s performance as the little tiyanak in Super Inday, the one that was going to help the bibe played by Sweet. Again, I imagine a nomination to have been in order, just because this is a girl who had wonderful timing and seemed to be willing to go the extra mile in doing this role. This is of course to say that she ably played four other different roles here, something that’s challenging for child and adult actors alike. That both Sabrina and Sweet didn’t get nominations for their roles seems like an oversight, really; but that Buboy Villar didn’t get the award was just plain... painful to me. This kid seems to be a man stuck in a little boy’s body. He had wonderful timing, one that we already saw slowly honed and improved in his TV roles. He stands in front of that camera with a confidence rarely seen in kids his age. Suffice it to say that the roles we speak of here, for both Buboy and Sabrina are infinitely more difficult than throwing lines within a family setting in a straight-out comedy. And so here lies the tragedy that befell Super Inday and the Golden Bibe. It had the good actors and actresses it needed, a pretty solid storyline, and the effects that it required. But it was slow storytelling that was obviously gearing up for a sequel. Now this isn’t at all a bad thing, and is in fact more than the original imagined possible. In truth, Amazing Jay, Super Inday, and Pokwang’s Second Rate Trying Hard Copy Cat as a team of superheroes aches for a sequel. But maybe it will do Regal Films well to imagine that it deserves a better storyline, one that’s quicker and more action-packed, one that’s not what we’d see on TV to begin with. Without the back story to tell, Super Inday can become funnier and more powerful as a superhero franchise. One that’s for and of the times that works because it is so real. As real at least as every other fag hag we know. – GMANews.TV