Jay

Last night, at Laemmle Sunset 5, I saw one of the finest Filipino films I have seen in the last five years. The film is called Jay.

Baron Geisler leads the sterling cast of mostly unknown actors in Francis X. Pasion’s impressive behind-the-scenes look at how TV documentaries are made. The subtle coercions and desire to be famous play like a never-ending dance that renders the movie its bittersweet tone.

The movie is hysterically funny although its subject matter is actually grim. It involves a grisly crime – a gay teacher is found dead with numerous stab wounds all over his body – and a young ambitious TV documentarian who crosses the boundaries of ethical journalism just to be able to capture his “scoop” and present it in the most sensational way.

Surely, we must have heard a lot of unsavory stories about how TV journalists “stages” news to make it more interesting. And the movie attempts to uncover all this in an unapologetic fashion.

Geisler plays Jay, the crafty TV journalist who stops at nothing to make his scoop his most sensational ever. If he had to restage key events because the stock footage was ruined, he would not think twice about it. If he had to make up fake police pursuits because the original aprehension was less thrilling, he would force his way into an actual pursuit. If he had to flirt with uncooperative subjects to make them agree to appear on camera, he would do so without qualms. And what's interesting is that he does all these without losing his charm!

How Geisler plays Jay is the movie's biggest surprise. He is magnificent throughout. There is never a moment where one can sense a hesitancy or awkwardness in his acting. Quite a revelation, indeed!

Flor Salanga, the actress who portrays the victim's mother is also very, very good! She had me fooled in the beginning. Her initial scenes really fooled me into believing that she was a real person and not someone who was “acting”.

Her character, Luzviminda, initially has reservations about the camera following her and making her family’s tragedy into a “reality show”, but when she gets the hang of it and the realization that she could be seen on TV eventually get the better of her. She starts becoming conscious of her appearance and begins to “act” like a grieving mother would on TV.

Like her, most of the characters in the movie are portrayed as hungry for fame. The victim’s younger sister initially thought that Jay’s TV crew was from the Pinoy Big Brother show. There is a teacher who never wanted his face to be seen on camera but scrambled for his foundation just before the take. There is a friend of the victim who cried no end during an interview because she was instructed to look “really sad.”

The movie is never meant to be entertaining the way entertainment is normally defined, and yet it is resoundingly fun. It never takes itself too seriously and never even attempts to correct what surely are production mistakes.

Francis X. Pasion has created a world not far detached from reality. His character's confused understanding of what is ethically and morally right make it all the more credible in a society that is slowly being controlled by media in all its ancillary forms.

And in another clever ploy, Jay, the movie’s title, is the name shared by the crime “victim” and Geisler’s character, which plays as the “victimizer” of sorts. There is no question why the writer did this. If the roles were reversed and Geisler’s character turned out the real victim, there is no doubt that the other Jay, given the opportunity, would also somehow take advantage of the same tragedy. We are indeed only as good or as cunning as our circumstance would allow it.

swag

don't laugh. i discovered only yesterday what "swag" really stands for.

but first, here is how urbandictionary.com defines it:

swag :

1 apperance ,style ,or the way he or she presents them selves.
usage: he got a killa swag.

2 the way one carries their self.
usage: im really diggin your swag

3 promotional merchandise for a band, record label, or other entity in the music business, usually distributed at concerts. may include t-shirts, stickers, promo CDs, posters, etc. often free, but not necessarily; a t-shirt or record purchased at a concert might still be considered swag, especially if it is a design or release that is not readily available in the mass market.
many independent record labels throw in a handful of free swag when they ship out mail-order packages (stickers, sampler CDs, etc). the chief difference between swag and regular merchandise is that its purpose is not to make a profit, but to promote the band/label, and reward its supporters by giving them something cool and unique.

too wordy, isn't it?

well, yesterday, we had a meeting at work and the word swag came out. the ensuing discussion had the moderator ask what swag meant.

and now i know that "swag", after all, is simply S.W.A.G or "stuff we all get". and that's today's urban dialect 101.

The Soloist

When a man helps another man, is it an act of generosity or an act of self-redemption? Does generosity extend beyond merely handing out help to actually influencing the person to evolve into someone that suits our definition of a well-adjusted individual? These are the questions that confront the audience as they watch The Soloist.

There are so many things to like in The Soloist. There’s Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey, Jr., Catherine Keener, Atonement director Joe Wright, and In Her Shoes screenwriter Susannah Grant. Too bad it doesn’t live up to its promise. It could have been a very powerful movie about homelessness in Los Angeles or about schizophrenia - if the movie had only focused on either one. True, the main protagonist, Nathaniel Ayers, (Jamie Foxx) is suffering both from the aforementioned mental condition and homelessness; however, the way it played up didn’t allow the viewers to fully empathize with either of Ayers’ plight.

Nathaniel Ayers is a homeless man in LA’s Skid Row when he was accidentally discovered by Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.), an LA Times columnist, while playing an old broken violin in front of Beethoven’s statue in Downtown LA.

Bored and looking for a good story material, Steve engages Nathaniel in a brief conversation and he discovers that Nathaniel used to be a Cello scholar at Juiliard, who, due to his developing mental illness, dropped out after only two terms. Patiently, he starts to interview Nathaniel and eventually traces his sister and part of his history. His stories start appearing on LA Times and one reader, drawn to the sad story of Nathaniel, sends her old Cello for Nathaniel to start playing again.

Over time, Steve starts spending more and more time with Nathaniel. His desire to make Nathaniel get better and resume functioning normally again begin to influence his judgment and he forgets what he is to Nathaniel.

For Nathaniel, Steve is just a friend. He is nothing more than just someone who is there to listen to his ramblings and his life story during his lucid intervals.

This conflicted view on how one individual plays his part in a relationship, be it friendship or otherwise, has already been effectively tackled in writer Susannah Grant’s In Her Shoes with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. This time, the characters are based on real life and the limitations of the real story is clearly evident in the limited “cinematic” moments that made the film appear too forced while at the same time wanting in high emotion that the movie of this kind surely needs.

Over time, the film tells how Nathaniel developed his illness but the audience just couldn’t care less. It is as confused as Nathaniel. Or probably, it was the director’s intent.

What the film lacks in effective storytelling is supplanted by the excellent performances turned in by the cast. The climax is quite most noteworthy for Foxx’s and Downey’s performances more than its suggestive intent. Scenes involving LA’s homeless are so moving especially when you learn later on that those were actually real people.

Now I know why this movie got bumped off from its original December release.