Last year, 208 Filipino full-length films and hundreds more short films screened in various theaters and online platforms. The Society of Filipino Film Reviewers selected the ten best scenes and invited the filmmakers and actors behind the films to share their favorite tidbits in the writing and/or filming of the scenes. Because talking about the scenes involves deep dives into details, please be warned that the writeup of many scenes contains SPOILERS.
Here is the first of our four-part series.
The meetup, My Future You
Manuel Pangaruy, SFFR: “Maraming tinawid ang My Future You bago tayo dinala sa pinakaaabangang pagkikita nina Lex (Seth Fedelin) at Karen (Francine Diaz). Una rito sa lahat ay ang alinlangan sa pagkakatulad sa Your Name (Makoto Shinkai, 2016) at iba pang pelikula na kaya nating banggitin. Salamat sa honest-to-goodness na pagkakalatag ng naratibo sa unang 15 minuto ng pelikula, na bagama’t nasa iisang nilutong putahe, magkaiba naman ang paraan ng pagkakalagay ng rekado. At wala namang tanong at pagkaumay sa argumento na lahat ay kayang tawirin ng dalawang pusong nagmamahal nang wagas, may kaibahan man ng panahon sa anumang laot at lalim ng pagitan. Ang eksena sa dulo ay hindi lamang assurance ng kapangyarihan ng pagmamahal kundi ang cinematic na aspeto na rin ng pelikula: ang creative decision na ilagay ang rendezvous sa lugar sa Metro Manila na pamilyar sa ating lahat (na ang tamang panahon ay hindi umuulan kamukha ng naunang tangka), ang clock tower na nagpapaalala na ‘oras lang ‘yan, mangingibig kami’, ang costume and make-up choice para kay Seth bilang depiction ng elapsed time (na hindi tayo nainis dahil posibleng hilaw ang kalabasan — mabuti na lang!), at higit sa lahat, ang kapani-paniwalang puppy love na nag-uumapaw at kumakawala mula sa mga mata ng FranSeth.”
Crisanto Aquino, writer-director: “Even from Draft 1 of my script I was very certain that the older Lex (36) meets the present Karen (22) in the ending scene.
One of the most difficult things was how to shoot it so that the audience sustains their excitement. So, I thought ‘what if I show the young Lex and transition to older Lex in one shot?’ It was really difficult since I was dealing with same actor for Lex (Seth). Imagine a shot where younger Lex is in the foreground with Karen in the background, then I dolly in to Karen leaving Lex off frame. Then once Karen is alone on frame as the camera comes closer to her, we will see the figure of a man in the background going closer to Karen. We follow the man but the camera focus stays on Karen. The man now crosses Karen’s back and now the camera moves 180 degrees with Karen still on focus. Then man, still blurred, now replaces the younger Lex’s position a while ago since we are seeing the reverse of the shot we saw earlier, then now is the time to rack the focus to older Lex (36), who is still Seth Fedelin.
This is how I did it:
First I needed an orientation that the two leads are facing each other using two medium shots. Then I did an over-the-shoulder shot for each of Karen and Lex. And finally for the tricky shot, I needed two plates: Plate #1 is solo Lex on frame in chroma with a marker where Karen would be. We dolly to invisible Karen making younger Lex off-frame. Plate #2 is the same, starting without chroma, without younger Lex but with Karen only. As the camera dolly hits the marker where younger Lex is already off-frame, the older Lex appears and moves to the last marker and finally racking the focus to older Lex (36). That two-shot interval took about two hours to shoot since we needed to change Seth’s haircut, make-up, and wardrobe. So we did all the solo scenes of Karen in between while waiting for Seth’s final make-up. In the end, in post-production, we stitched those two shots to look like a one-shot.”
“Ang Tunay na Birhen”, Isang Himala
Jay Lacanilao, SFFR: “I mentioned in my blog how the soundtrack of Isang Himala may not necessarily be moving enough and doesn’t consistently hit the highs of the film, but when it does, it sings! ‘Ang Tunay na Birhen’ stands out with its cheeky comparison of earthly desires to an apparition, delivered with flair by Kakki Teodoro. With lyrics like ‘Ang tunay na himala’y nasa gitna ng aking hita’, the scene cleverly adds depth and wit, transforming Nimia from a side note to a scene-stealing, multifaceted character. This number not only spices up the narrative but also enriches the film’s serious undertones with its playful choreography and steamy lighting. A highlight, it elevates the story’s complexity and, most importantly for me, its charm.”
Kakki Teodoro, actor: “‘Ang Tunay na Birhen’ was the last main sequence for that day, which was a long shooting day with all of Nimia’s scenes. We started filming this around 2am or 3am na ata. Sabi ko talaga sa sarili ko: bawal mapagod! Kailangan buong-buo ang enerhiya at focus ko dahil una, kanta ko ito. Pangalawa, sa akin kakapit ang mga kaeksena ko na mga antok at pagod na din. I really wanted to give them a good time, the cast & crew, bilang si Kakki at bilang si Nimia.
So the entire day we were thinking of the choreography and execution, led by our choreographer JM Cabling and ang mga main belyas ng kabaret. Sa gitna ng mga ibang eksena ko, (if hindi ako nagbibihis, at habang sine set-up pa ang camera), sisilip ako sa choreo rehearsal para makacontribute at mag-review.
This song kasi was performed very differently from the musical version nung 2018/2019. Noon, inuman at katuwaan lang ito, kinukwento lang ni Nimia sa pito o walong tao sa eksena, so intimate siya. Pero for Isang Himala isa na siyang ‘production number’ sa kabaret–maganda ang ilaw, may stage, may mikropono, may audience na mga suki ng kabaret—so we all worked together for this scene on that day mismo. Our directors gave us the lead to make it bigger, and we all choreographed the scene without having actual dance moves. Halimbawa, yung pag-gamit ng mic, yung pag-abot ng beer, pagsayaw sa table, pag-gamit ko ng balabal sa kanta.
So yung napanood niyo po sa pelikula ay gawa po naming lahat yun, and it’s unique for the film. Whenever I watch it, I feel very proud of what we created.”
Carlo Mendoza, cinematographer: “‘Ang Tunay na Birhen’ was one of the few simple musical numbers in Isang Himala and was also the most playful song in the film. It was about Nimia sharing and making her experience living and working as a prostitute in Manila sound like it was a walk in the park. Nimia was also mocking Elsa’s claim of having witnessed a miracle by comparing what they do as prostitutes to what Elsa was supposedly offering in the miracles that she was performing. In this scene, you could see how pragmatic Nimia was and how direct she could be.
Our movement director, JM Cabling asked for two hours to block, choreograph and rehearse the whole number before he presented it to Pepe and the whole team. We then would figure out how to shoot it, where to place the cameras and how I would light it. There were only two camera set-ups here. The two cameras were mounted on top of each other on a magnum dolly and we positioned the tracks first in the very middle of the cabaret. One camera was on a wider lens and the other one was on a more telephoto lens and my camera operators would basically just follow Nimia and getting as much of her actions and movements throughout the entire space as the magnum dolly tracked forward and backward while moving up and down. The second set-up of the cameras was the same except that the magnum dolly was placed laterally at the far back of the cabaret moving left to right and up and down making the camera sway with Nimia.
As for the lighting, I wanted to be as playful as the melody of the song. Mico Manalaysay (my lighting console programmer) and I aimed it to have a really warm look in the beginning using yellow, orange and red gels on the par cans which were period correct. In the original film, the cabaret was mostly red and I didn’t want to copy it but wanted to keep that warm intense feeling that felt sexy and seductive. However, I did put one Skpanel at the back of the stage that I had Mico turn into strong intense pink to keep that red feeling from the original film. I also wanted the strong back light with lots of smoke to mimic the apparition light of Elsa when she saw the Virgin Mary at the burol to mirror the lyrics of the song. Additionally, I had a cool spotlight that my gaffer, Banjo was moving in and out and was just following Nimia to separate her from the warm backlight and at the same time show that she was the center of attention in this place. At the end of the song, I had all the warm light fade away and wanted to wrap Nimia in blue tones to make her appear more like the Virgin Mary. And to be able to capture that playful, naughty danceable rhythm, I gave Mico free rein in the blinking and fading in and out of the backlight. I simply told him which lights I wanted to use to light Nimia depending where she was and he just made the lights dance like we were dancing behind the camera.”
Threesome, Your Mother’s Son
Robert Cerda, SFFR: “I’ve not seen Mike Nichols’ The Graduate yet. It’s strange, though, that one of that film’s images, of the character of a young Dustin Hoffman framed by Mrs. Robinson’s legs, is what I remembered after watching that final sex scene in Jun Lana’s Your Mother’s Son. The sex scene involves Sarah (Sue Prado), Oliver (Miggy Jimenez), and Emman (Kokoy De Santos).
Sarah could be in her forties, and Emman and Oliver in their early twenties. She and Emman live in a rural town. With their neighbors having little knowledge of who they are or where they come from, she presents herself as Emman’s mother. The truth though is that they are lovers. Somewhat midway, Oliver joins the couple’s house as Sarah’s ‘rescued’ tutee.
Aside from my awareness of the parallels in age of the characters in the two movies, I might’ve made that association because that one frame in The Graduate and the sex scene frames in Your Mother’s Son look obviously designed and constructed.
In Lana’s feature, the threesome is opened by Sarah. She comes out of the shower, dries herself, faces a mirror, half naked and wearing only her underwear. That frame crossfades to a clip where the back profiles of Emman and Oliver are balanced equally at each frame’s corner while Sarah is at the center, lit by soft slivers and splashes of orange. She starts to rub her left breast while her left hand feels her kitty. Then she orders each of her ‘sons’ to undress until the butt profiles of the boys, similar to how Kokoy De Santos in a scene from his Cinemalaya film-starrer Fuccbois, are in full view.
The scene cuts to the faces and bodies of Kokoy and Miggy. One looks disconcerted. The other appears innocent and hypnotized by the cunning orange-and-white-streaked-haired ‘leopardess’. At Sarah’s command, Oliver slowly moves down to ‘chow’ his keeper’s triangle. As he goes down, Miggy Jimenez’s side profile resembles that of a lamb’s, with a pink tongue that dart in anticipation to slurp her sex.
Emman follows, looks either a little hesitant or mildly repugnant, but eventually trails, with Kokoy’s Shih Tzu face, that side of Sarah’s lifted legs backlit by a red-orange glow, until Kokoy is beside Miggy.
It is succeeded by a one-point perspective shot of the boy’s busy heads, like hungry newborn cubs sucking the ‘grace’ at the intersection-fulcrum of Sarah’s spread and lifted legs. Her eyes flicker, she’s having mini convulsions, her mouth confusedly gapes. Her delirious face’s reflection is also captured by the table mirror beside a graduation photograph of her and Emman, looking unsuspectingly like mother and son. Finally, as Sarah’s moans intensify then plateau, so are the sparse ambient tones that are a mix of wind instruments, which are preceded by broken chords and a variation of notes and short streams of different flatline sounds.
All in all, this is a stylized, ritualistic sex scene that will continue to shock conservative viewers like me, no matter how many times we watch it. It is brilliantly orchestrated by Jun Lana, with a bold and commanding actor like Sue Prado at the center. They conjure this scene as the movie segment that succinctly hints and captures most of the film’s themes: age and gender power dynamics, carnal desires, lies and violence, and parasitic relationships.
Sue Prado, actor: “While Jun was giving us our blocking on the bed for the cunnilingus scene, Miggy Jimenez and Kokoy de Santos were trying to find their space between my legs when Kokoy suddenly exclaimed: ‘Pa’no ako magmu-mukbang n’yan?!’ And everybody burst into wild laughter.
The threesome scene with those gentlemen is one of the most comfortable sensitive scenes I have done in my career. Jun Robles Lana’s clarity of vision and clear communication with his actors made the job quite a breeze.
I was quite fortunate to have worked with Miggy and Kokoy, who have deep respect for the craft. They moved with such professionalism that it built solid trust and confidence that I am in a safe space not only in this particular scene, but all throughout the filming process.
Respect and trust for each other enabled us to have fun, in all nakedness.”
Jun Robles Lana, writer-director: “Directing Your Mother’s Son during the height of the pandemic presented unprecedented challenges. Filming intimate scenes among the three leads required a delicate balance of capturing vulnerability and ensuring everyone’s safety. This was a constant concern, but I remained committed to navigating these complexities.
Strict safety protocols were implemented, including regular swab tests for the cast and crew. While this added logistical challenges, the well-being of the team was non-negotiable. Beyond physical safety, it was crucial to foster a secure and supportive environment for the actors. Extensive discussions were held regarding character motivations, the significance of each scene, and the overall narrative arc. This allowed the actors to fully comprehend the context and delve into their roles with confidence.
To further build trust and familiarity, we began with a Zoom reading session, followed by on-site rehearsals where we even used an iPhone to pre-visualize scenes. This process ensured that everyone was comfortable with the physical space and the intended camera angles.
By the time filming commenced, the combination of meticulous storyboarding, on-site rehearsals, and clear communication ensured that every frame of the intimate scenes was intentional. The actors had a comprehensive understanding of each scene’s trajectory, fostering a sense of security and control. Obtaining their consent for every shot further reinforced their trust and agency.
The mounting and choreography of the threesome itself were inspired by the brutality of the anti-narcotics campaign. Many were seduced by Duterte’s promise of ending our drug problem in six months. In my mind, if Duterte’s war on drugs was a sex scene, this is how it would look – at once tantric, intoxicating, gruesome, macabre. It’s a scene designed to unsettle, to force viewers to confront the horrific consequences of our choices. It’s a stark reminder of the cyclical nature of abuse and the nation’s tendency to elevate its abusers to positions of power.”