Who is Eiga Sai

12 July 2013

 The first time I went there was with Jello. It was during the invitationals where he introduced me to MCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art and Design) people. There was Ms. Lara who happened to reside in the same building as me; Ms. Patty whom Jello said always come to work looking the way she did that night, always freshly made up; Ms. Pernia, DAC (Department of Arts and Communications) professor at CAS (College of Arts and Sciences) and Ms. Cruz.

To keep myself from being late for the event, I left the office at 4pm, only to end up buying Sam’s goggles and denatured alcohol from Handyman as advised by Ms. Marianne and Ms. Ruby of DEOH (Department of Environmental and Occupational Health). I went there initially for Aids but since he was out, it was Ms. Marianne who told me where I could purchase those items from and the retail price of the denatured alcohol.

I still made it before the beginning of the program, 6:30 pm, but I wasn’t able to help Jello with his kite-material purchasing. Since we haven’t confirmed how we were to enter the set-up space for Eiga Sai’s opening, we decided to eat out first. I had a Wham! Burger. Sam and I were on a budget especially since I will be unemployed for a while and I won’t be earning anything. Well, I still had the burger. It wasn’t everyday that I would be spending that much and Jello assured me that the film would be shown for free.

By the time we got back, we were allowed to enter the cordoned space around the ground floor’s fountain. The simple opening rites involved the national anthem of the Philippines and Japan being played. We weren’t feeling at all about Japan’s national anthem. It was as if it was an unheard of song. It was pure sound, without any lyrics and nobody was really singing. Even the Japanese ambassador who gave his welcome speech shortly after didn’t sing. It was infuriating to see how people from the higher levels of the mall, though I’m sure they hear the anthem playing, didn’t pay the respects due to the Philippine anthem at least, discounting the raised flag on the rather short pole. Are we that selfish and stuck-up in our own little worlds? (Hearing me talk it wasn’t as if I’m hung-up on my previous employment. I made it my life. Then it kicked me away. Ugh. This emo me is nauseating.)

We lined up eventually at cinema 2. About Her Brother started with Aoi Yui’s narration of her life up to her marriage where her uncle is first shown. The customs of Japanese people are surprising for me and probably, normal for them. Marriage rites were in a closed door ceremony and all that happened there would only be retold to the visitors during the reception. It was way too formal. All the time before the uncle started the ruckus where he battered the usher’s head with the microphone, what he did was acceptable for me but was shameful and annoying for all the others there. That gave me the impression of how uptight they are. The brother, Tetsuro, was actually charming. It’s as if he can’t help acting the way he acted because that’s who he is.

How they managed to live day to day in way too cleaned-up houses, the systematic arrangement and undisrupted flow of systems, why couldn’t we Filipinos lead that life too? Is it a prevailing lack of discipline? Is it laziness? Maybe both. When I was still dragging myself to work, I wasn’t that tired, I knew that I had energy to spare if I really wanted to but I let Sam do the household chores because I knew she wasn’t doing anything else. And when I pushed myself to fix everything before resting, what I thought was, there’s still tomorrow to finish that which you’re doing. It reminded me of ate Grace too and how I thought it lazy of her not to tidy her house of dust when she’s practically got nothing else to do when she arrives home from work. Being tired is only in the mind. It only extends as much as you think you are in it.

Ginko, the older sister of Tetsuro, was an amazing character. She’s dependable, always calm, reliable and kind. She excelled at everything. She would do everything well and good. There were these shots where she was shown to take refresher courses for pharmacy, and calligraphy classes. She’s brilliant. I remember Tetsuro saying, “That’s for you to say when everything you work on comes easy for you.” Replete with the close-knit neighborhood congeniality, the story went on until the part where Tetsuro died. Occasionally, the director focused the camera on stills or objects before continuing on with the story line. It could be an empty hall, the pharmacy door, the wind chime. It brought a sense of calm and rest in the film. This was a recurrent style for Japanese films as I have observed this in all four I’ve watched so far.

It was as if the perfection and stability that came with Ginko whittled out Tetsuro’s futile attempts at life. Tetsuro was having difficulty with living just because he wasn’t able to keep up with society’s standards.

Watching other offerings at this year’s Eiga Sai, I thought that Japanese culture flourish because their people appreciate their art. See their movies and know that they were created not only for profit but more for art and expression. These same intentions make those films earn money. And as I hear the couple who were next to me in line, yes, the Philippine consulate in Japan could conduct parallel film showing sessions! Isn’t it the Japan-Philippines friendship month? Can’t we sponsor or at least arrange for paid views of Filipino films there and ask them as well if they are concerned about our lackadaisical but intriguing culture-influences as depicted in our films? Wouldn’t this be an efficient promotion of Philippine tourism?

The run and re-run of overused film storyline and the emergence of a generation of artists portraying films for the sake of art and expression should be spark enough to infuse in the consciousness of other nations that film and art in the Philippines exists. Aren’t we convinced? I don’t want to dismiss the surfeit of talent I’ve seen among the illustrators and animators in the recent Oh No! Manga Cosplay Camp 2. Don’t we have other outlets for our creative energies? We have our own brand of art–the lushness of music, dance, fashion, architecture and style. Shouldn’t we take ourselves a level up and not stop? But oh we do. We stop to catch our moments of happiness. We stop to refill our reservoir of inspiration as we are surrounded by truly depressing sights of dilapidation. We take time to motivate ourselves, contrary to what Japanese value as I’ve watched for hours through their films - success. We use our time instead to live.