This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 38, October 30-November 5,, 2005
REVIEW
Finding Neo-realism in the
Film Masahista (The Masseuse) I
don't think one earns respect as a film reviewer by appearing to be arrogantly
dismissive and irresponsible with assertions. I always thought that reviewing
films demands no less than production of knowledge.
BY TOMAS TALLEDO Masahista (The Masseuse) This is not a full-blown
film review, but simply a reaction to Jay Weissberg's views published in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct. 19, 2005, p. A30). After having seen the
film Masahista, I found Weissberg's opinion to be unsubstantiated,
whimsical and flippant. I don't think one earns
respect as a film reviewer by appearing to be arrogantly dismissive and
irresponsible with assertions. I always thought that reviewing films demands no
less than production of knowledge. My expectation was thwarted since Weissberg's
case proves to be otherwise (i.e., other than wise). I disagree with his
nitpicking because films should be evaluated as a final product. The passing of
judgment should not be on bits and parts per se, but on how they were
affectively assembled together by the filmmaker. Of Masahista, Weissberg
writes, "... constant time shifts are clumsily handled, and the dramatic arch,
meant to circle around itself, ends up going nowhere". Well, he has his opinions
and I have mine, but for purposes of analysis, I wonder if we saw the same film.
I cannot identify with his sweeping claims. Weissberg's "time shifts"
were to me the different threads of visual narrative interwoven by careful
editing to reach denouement. There were hardly any "time shifts" as flashbacks
or preludes, no telling of the story before the current narration. The
filmmaker simply employed conventional technique of interweaving two
contemporary events. This is no clumsiness but rather a reliance on the safe
side of story-telling on the part of the director, Brilliante Mendoza. Visually,
Mendoza was in fact standard rather then avant garde. Relationships appear as the
dominant theme of the film, though in varied textures, particularly the
masseur-patron and the son-father nexus within a dysfunctional family setting.
It is the latter however that is more poignant and therefore telling. The
strength and vulnerability of the central character, the young masseur Iliac
(Coco Martin), were slowly unfolded. And viewers are informed that Iliac grew up
and earned for his family as a whore-masseur after his father abandoned them. If
the film was not configured around this issue of abandonment, I doubt it
deserves serious consideration from award-giving bodies and discriminating
audience. Without this problematique, Masahista would have been just any
cheap “sexploitation” flick. The brothel where Iliac
works sells sex to homosexuals. Here the jaded and hardened masseurs are
extra-aggressive in hustling willing patrons. The negotiation between veteran
masseurs and patrons on the surface appears to be playful if not coquettish, but
really brutally commercial underneath. And the young Iliac, who is not naïve to
this reality, seduces his patron by employing the charm of his seeming
innocence. He skillfully uses innocence in his business proposition. He is
well-informed of the iron law of the flesh market. If lousy fathers and stingy
patrons are not trustworthy at all, what life choices do a whore-son has? Can
someone like Iliac still get on with his personal journey to self integration?
In a predicament like his, do notions of trajectory, destiny and entelechy make
sense? At least, the film showed Iliac breaking down when he discovered his
father's mementos – proof that his father originally loved them as a
family. With this touching scene, however, no definitive closure was offered
since the questions earlier posed loom in the horizon of the film's
much-deserved interpretation. Valiant and prescient reviewers seldom shirk in
proposing answers, though tentative they may be. There are many aspects to
reckon with in reviewing films, that is why the reviewer's keen selectivity is
always pivotal. The elements that constitute the film no doubt are indispensable
in fashioning respectable reviews. I submit, however, that awareness of the
hermeneutic tools is no less important. No self-respecting film reviewer can
simply be nonchalant in view of this knowledge. From what cinematic construct
his review of Masahista emanated from, Weissberg was not interested to
inform his readers. This to me is no mere lapse of judgment but an uncalled for
display of a writer's irresponsibility, whimsicality and flippancy. It would have been
insightful to locate Masahista within the compass of director Lino
Brocka's neo-realism in Philippine cinema because it has neo-realist marks. No
compromise was made just to subdue starking grit of the locale (i.e., the
surfacing of archaic norms, use of gut-level language and biting ironies of the
everyday life). Not merely narrating "what is," neo-realism accentuated "what
really is" in cinematic story-telling. The cinematic eye probes closely like a
microscope than a telescope, so to speak. The neo-realist eye captures life's
banalities but blows them up into shocking proportion. By revealing the
irrationality of the taken-for-granted world, neo-realism surprises as it
horrifies. Yet it is also capable of evoking understanding and compassion as any
established genre of art. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Contributed to Bulatlat
2005, Gee Entertainment and Centerstage
Director: Brilliante Mendoza
Cast: Jaclyn Jose, Alan Paule, Coco Martin