Thank you, Direk Marilou

MANILA, Philippines – A retrospective of director and sometime scriptwriter Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s filmography could be inevitable given her recent passing at a relatively young age of 57.

Her nearly-3-hour Jose Rizal, the Titanic-like December 1998 epic deemed “the most expensive Filipino movie ever made” (my record says Php70-M; another writer lists Php120-M), could be on top of that rerun list, and might wind up not just aired on TV anew but could get newfound silverscreen time as well. 

The film had its share of flaws but did have a smattering of brilliance.

It deserves credit, too, not just for fine performances from the likes of Jaime Fabregas but also for eliciting acting cameos from 4 of Abaya’s directing colleagues: Fritz Ynfante, Cloyd Robinson, Peque Gallaga and Kidlat Tahimik — the latter in an eponymous non-speaking role. (Apparently, Abaya herself never had the urge to be in front of movie cameras.)

Jose Rizal was co-scripted (with Jun Lana) by the esteemed Ricky Lee, and it would be swell if Lee’s several collaborations with Abaya would end up shown to today’s combined audience of discriminating elders and eager young adults — including the duo’s gritty trio of “-al” films from the tail-end of the Marcos era: Brutal, Moral and Karnal. 

Viewers of various stripes would have their own picks from Abaya’s 21 or so films.

Mine would include Sa Pusod ng Dagat that I distinctly recall being enthralled by during its premiere at the SM Megamall that it felt fine watching its entirety standing up. The movie had its share of pointed criticism, but they escape me now.

All I remember instead is the purity of that moviegoing experience — the way that motion picture enveloped the senses with its vividly depicted and beautifully shot sea-of-life drama.

This would also be an opportune time to behold Abaya’s little-seen 1996 flick Madonna and Child, a tale of a woman searching for the offspring she had put up for adoption, that exceptional critic Noel Vera listed as one of the 100 Best Filipino Films. (Moral is likewise on Vera’s list.)

She was on TV

Interestingly, Abaya shifted to the small screen after the 1986 Edsa Revolution and devoted herself to TV work before reverting to cinema in the 1990s. 

Her two major telly gigs had the government-sequestered IBC 13 as home base.

First up was Public Forum, a current affairs talk show best remembered for the unassuming yet piercing intellect and Tagalog fluency of its host, sociologist-journalist Randy David (who later on served as a consultant for her Jose Rizal).

Abaya’s other Channel 13 show was Sic O’Clock News — not just one of the best comedies to ever receive local airtime but possibly one of the best Pinoy TV shows ever. (The title itself is arguably among the niftiest in television history.) 

Sic O’Clock News is a spawn of sorts of Not Necessarily the News, an American show during the ’80s which itself was based on Britain’s Not the Nine O’Clock News, which starred a pre-Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson.

‘News’ that really mattered

Sic O’Clock News — that ran from 1987 before getting, if memory serves, the government-sanctioned axe in 1992 — was far from a flat-out knockoff.

While Not Necessarily and Not the Nine were likewise satirical pseudo-news programs, they mined humor beyond the confines of the day’s top stories, opting to lampoon commercials and sundry trends. (Not Necessarily is also best remembered for co-star Rich Hall’s made-up words or “sniglets.”)

Sic O’Clock, on the other hand, largely delved into issues concerning the Cory Aquino administration, resulting in segments that were both biting as they were riotous. 

Abaya’s directorial acumen and the witty scripts of the late Amado Lacuesta were helped in large part by a cast that was the country’s closest thing to a Monty Python troupe: inclusive of Fabregas, Ces Quesada, Joji Isla, Manny Castañeda, Ching Arellano, Jon Achaval, Wilson Go, Khryss Adalia, Errol Dionisio and a pre-Starzan Rene Requiestas.

It is to the rather modest Abaya’s credit that Sic O’Clock viewers might not recall her being its director as they do segments of the show — ranging from skits that were thinly-veiled potshots at contemporary political mishaps and compelling commentary, such as via the wise, profanity-spewing magbobote deftly played by Requiestas.

In several other instances, the Sic O’Clock “newscasters” would report, say, a debate between senators, then cut to “footage” of the argument that would in fact be a scene from Sesame Street (e.g., an Ernie-and-Bert fight).

It was fun while it lasted, and while ABS-CBN’s Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata also dealt with political satire, there was simply nothing else like Sic O’Clock News, even up to now.

How splendid it would truly be if Channel 13 or any other station would be bold enough to re-air Abaya’s finest and funniest tele-effor t —Cory Aquino’s own son being the incumbent president and all the martial law redux conjured by the Cybercrime Prevention Act be damned.

(At the very least, can someone please post snippets on YouTube?)

On that note, as we condole with the loved ones she had left behind, a resounding thank you is in order to Marilou Diaz-Abaya, one of the most accomplished Filipino directors ever. The powers that be would do well to unearth her works from their respective archives and present these now to the nation’s grieving but grateful audience. – Rappler.com