People who love musicals, raise your hands! I love musicals, I've loved them since I was a kid. There's something magical about being able to interpret a story through song. As someone who has a fascination with theater as well, I will always have soft spot for musical theater in my heart. This is why when news of the movie Ang Larawan came out, I was so excited to go and see it! Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I never got to see this in the cinema. I finally got my chance this year to catch it on Netflix, which is why I am now sharing my review here with everyone! If you are curious about Filipino musicals, learn more about Ang Larawan on this post now!
Background
The movie Ang Larawan (The Portrait) is based on the stage play Larawan. The stage play, in turn, was on the three-act play called A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino as its basis. The literary and stage play are by Nick Joaquin, who is a National Artist for Literature. The musical has a libretto by National Artist for Theater Rolando Tinio. The music is from Filipino composer Ryan Cayabyab. Loy Arcenas, an award-winning Broadway theatrical set designer and director, helmed the movie.
 |
| Photo Credit: Culturtain Musicat Productions |
This movie musical was part of the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival. It was one of ten films nominated for the Asian Future Film Award. In the Philippines, Ang Larawan was part of the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival. They pulled out the film from select cinemas during the festival, citing a limited market. They released it again in select cinemas on January 1, 2018. Despite this, the film won a total of five awards in the film festival, including Best Picture.
I remember learning about the play before when I was a student and I remember being curious about it. I felt that there was much more to the story than meets the eye. Seeing it as a movie gave the me chance to understand the story better than when I learned about it in school.
As with the play, the movie is set for the most part within the mansion of the Marasigans in Manila before World War II. Don Lorenzo Marasigan is a well-known artist. They mention in the film that his work has been on display in Museums in Spain and Italy. They also mention that he is a friend and rival of famous artist Juan Luna. In the film, he is a recluse, who has stayed in his room since an accident the year before.
Don Lorenzo’s daughters, Candida and Paula, are spinsters trying to make ends meet. They end up taking in a boarder at the mansion to help ease their financial troubles. This is a drastic difference from the days when their house was the center of parties of the well-off in society.
Candida and Paula have well-off siblings named Manolo and Pepang. Both want to sell off the house to earn money for themselves. To make matters worse, they get visits from various parties to get them to sell something else. This time, it is their father's self-portrait. A painting which has gotten critical acclaim after a review from a French critic.
The movie revolves around the various visitors of the mansion. Apart from visitors of their boarder Tony, they also get visits from people who want to see the painting. This includes their old friend Bitoy, who is now a reporter.
It is interesting that the painting is never seen in the film, only described. Called Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino, the painting was a gift of Don Manolo to Candida and Paula. It portrays an old man on a young man’s back as a city burned behind them. The pair is Anchises and his son Aeneas, who were leaving Troy as it burned. The common interpretation was that both the old and young man is a portrait of the artist. The painting is a representation of who he is and who he used to be.
The film is about the money troubles of the sisters and problems with their other siblings. The main problem being the dilemma about what to do with the painting. In the end, they reveal that Paula destroyed the painting. She says that it freed her and Candida from the pressures that it brought upon them.
The sisters then gather some of their father’s friends in an attempt to stop the sale of their house. The movie ends with Don Lorenzo coming out of seclusion to join his daughters at their gathering. A voice-over then says that the war happened and ended the story of the Marasigan family. The last scene shows the procession for the Virgin of La Naval passing the Marasigan house.
My Review
I have mixed feelings about the movie. I loved reading the literary play, and I remember seeing a staging of this when I was a student. I enjoyed this story both times. With the movie, everything felt too staged and unnatural in some moments. It felt a little disorienting for me at times. I also felt like I was still watching the play on stage and no on film. It seemed that they did not make the most use of the medium with the way they shot it. I’m not a film critic, but as a viewer, I felt that they could have done more with it. They could have made it feel less like a stage play filmed and turned it into a real movie.
The story is timeless and compelling. I loved how there was a discussion about how things change through time. How people replace their love for the arts and their principles for the want and need for power and money. How traditions are being forgotten and replaced. How good things from the old times are fading away. These are thoughts that can still apply to present times.
The way the Marasigan siblings felt about certain things was interesting. They all seemed to see them as a crutch or curse in their lives. For Candida and Paula, it was the painting. For Manolo and Pepang, it was the house. It made me curious about the kind of lives they led growing up that made them feel that way. They did not reveal much about it but the resentment they had several times in the film.
Joanna Ampil and Rachel Alejandro, who played the sisters, were excellent. Paulo Avelino, who played the boarder Tony, was perfect in his role. He couldn’t sing as well as everyone else, but he embodied Tony in the way I imagined him. If there’s anything this guy is good at, it’s being a bad guy in films. He is so effective; you can’t help but get annoyed with the things he says and does.
I also enjoyed seeing all the other actors who had cameo roles in the film. It shows how many people wanted to be part of something this special. Many of them had only a few minutes in the movie, but a lot of them were still noteworthy moments.
I thought it was sad that the story ended the way it did. The movie was set as the war was about to happen, so it was not surprising. But, it was still heartbreaking. I felt that everything that the sisters fought for ended up being for nothing. The war happened, and while it was not mentioned what exactly happened to them, it was for sure not a happy ending.
As much as I enjoyed watching this movie, I don’t think that it would be something that appeals to everyone. If I was not familiar with the play I most likely would not have made the effort to watch this. If I were to see this with no knowledge of the story, I would not have finished it either.
Regardless of how the film was for me, I still hope that local cinema can come up with movie musicals like this. Filipinos have so much talent not only as actors but as singers as well. It’s high time that we make use of that. There are so many local musicals in recent times that I would love to see interpreted on film. I hope that people can take a chance and make them.
“To save one’s life, one must die.”
My favorite part of the film was when I heard the line (as translated in English) “To save one’s life, one must die.” I thought that was a perfect way to describe the main story of the film. Candida and Paula had to die (metaphorically) by destroying the painting. They both needed to do that to save their lives and start anew. In the same way, their father had to give up his life and start anew. He gave up on his old life to make up for what seems to be a poor relationship he had with his daughters.
In a way, we all need to die within ourselves to save our lives. We need to let our old selves die and let that go to save our lives and become someone new.
If you love musicals, this is an interesting film to watch. I have never seen a movie musical in Filipino before, but I hope I get to see one again in the future. I felt that this film had its high and low points, but it showed the potential for more. Things can only get better for here, fingers crossed!
Let me know if you've seen this movie in the comments! I would love to know your interpretation of things! Can't wait to learn from other people who watched this!
No comments
Post a Comment