CinemaOne 2011: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM LILIA CUNTAPAY Review
Most
famous for the several short films which displayed a very casual understanding
of the idiosyncrasies of Filipino life without relying heavily on cheap charms,
Antoinette Jadaone has been regarded by the late Alexis Tioseco as the person
that is most qualified to give Filipino mainstream filmmaking that much-needed
burst of novel inspiration. Tioseco's observations are very much valid,
considering that Jadaone's shorts are all tightly packaged confections that
marry the popular appeal of mainstream escapist entertainment and the unique
wit of more adventurous fare. The only concern remaining is whether or not
Jadaone can replicate and sustain the irresistible charms of her short films in
a feature length film. Fortunately, Six
Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay is more than enough proof that
she can.
Lilia
Cuntapay, the film's endearing subject, is the perennial extra, playing nameless
characters in various films. Perhaps because of her distinctly memorable
features, she has been type-casted to play hags or ghosts in horror films.
Cuntapay is actually most famous for having a face that is easier to recall
than her name. Six Degrees of Separation
from Lilia Cuntapay springs from that unique fame of Cuntapay, opening with
a montage of popular actors and directors who have all worked with Cuntapay who
can't seem to recall who Lilia Cuntapay is, until Peque Gallaga, who discovered
Cuntapay while shooting one of the episodes of Shake Rattle & Roll 2 (Gallaga and Lore Reyes, 1990), breaks
the name's supposed unfamiliarity to describe Cuntapay's strange appeal.
Set
in a fictional scenario wherein Cuntapay gets a very surprising nomination as
Best Supporting Actress, a filmmaker (played by Jadaone) ventures into Cuntapay's
neighborhood to document Cuntapay's life a few days prior to the awards night.
The film follows Cuntapay as she goes to work to play another nameless role for
a television melodrama, or as she excitedly sets up a viewing event for her
first-ever interview for a popular primetime news program, or as she tearfully
recounts her memorable past few days to her stepdaughter who lives in Canada.
Despite
the numerous humorous depictions of a woman who has always settled to be in the
fringes of an industry whose main currency is popularity, the film remains a
very human portrait of Cuntapay, who suddenly finds herself in the brink of her
long-ambitioned recognition. Six Degrees
of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay succeeds not only because it seamlessly
merges fact and fiction or because it manages to tackle a personality who
exists in the margins of Filipino pop culture within a context of absolute familiarity
but because it is genuinely touching. As the film reveals Cuntapay's other
sides, as longing mother to an absentee stepdaughter, as dutiful mentor to her
patient assistant (Geraldine Villamil), as a beloved and loving neighbor, it
graduates from merely being just a witty and hilarious satire into something
more worthwhile, more enduring.
Jadaone
may have just made the quintessential Filipino underdog movie. Cuntapay is in
fact the quintessential Filipino underdog. She struggles in a world of pretty
faces, supple breasts, and pleasant gestures, despite the fact that she is the
epitome of the complete opposite of what her world values the most. She is
someone to be rooted for, not exactly to be given the fame and fortune luckier
talents would normally aim for but only to be recognized, to be given a
permanent place in that world she has devoted her life and uniqueness to but cannot
give the same devotion to her. Jadaone's film, rooted in that fantasy that someone
who has persisted for so long like Lilia Cuntapay may actually cross-over to be
pitted against established and talented actresses in a glittery awards ceremonies,
is a heartfelt tribute to each and every person who dared to dream dreams as
big (and probably far-fetched) as the ones dreamt by Lilia Cuntapay.
(Cross-published in Lessons from the School of Inattention.)