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| this is my drawing. it is not a very good drawing. |
(second of two parts)
In the second part of this piece about Heneral Luna, we talk about the movie's impact, its unexpected popularity and how we view movies both local and foreign.
The first cinematic release week of Heneral Luna, given its budget of around 70 million pesos, was quite underwhelming. I'd seen the film in its first week, and although theaters weren't empty, they weren't full either. It was on its way to being just another local film that sputtered and died in its first week of release.
Then, on the way to its second week of release, something strange happened. The film basically went viral. People started talking about the film. Social media posts started filling up with posts about this film, about Philippine history and politics, and so on. People started filling up theaters, so much so that operators had to add screens once again - from 39 screens at the end of the first week, the number steadily rose to 70, then 90, then 100. Even last full shows of the movie were sold out. As of this writing, the movie is in it fourth week in cinemas, and has garnered at least 200 million pesos, making it the highest grossing Filipino independent film of all time.
Even now, the film is still going strong in theaters. In some movie houses, attendance for the film equals or exceeds that of newer releases. Like its namesake, it simply refused to die. It's still in two theaters in my local mall. It opened four weeks ago in the same mall in only one theater.
My first question in this is, how the hell did this happen?
Getting Asses in these Seats
The factors involved in preventing Heneral Luna from dying a premature death are numerous and complex, but I can point out the following things I noticed that greatly helped the film's viral success.
Firstly, its themes and the questions it asks are relevant to today's society. Often I've heard talk about how the youth should watch the film because of its themes, how it opened their eyes to the state of things, and how it asks us tough questions regarding our national identity. For some reason, the film really got to a lot of people, taking to heart the film's central thesis.
Second, the film had an aggressive campaign determined to keep the film in theaters. People were told to contact their local theaters if they wanted to keep the film as it was. It's a tactic that has been done before, notably with Jerrold Tarog's own Senior Year, whose limited theatrical release was extended to a full week, almost unheard of with little known independent releases. I like this democratic style of film watching where the audience, and not just the theater owners, decide which films get released where. In the end, it's a win-win for everybody: people get to watch the movies they want, and theaters earn more money than they would have if they had released something inferior or unwanted in cinemas. In addition, there was the clever choice of getting a half price discount for students. It was a huge gamble, but it paid off: students had the most capable access to social media and had the means to spread the word quickly, and teachers could help support the film by getting their students to see it.
Third, word of mouth spread virally, thanks to social media and second hand accounts. People who talked about the film mostly praised it to high heaven, and curious people were drawn to find out what all the fuss was about. They would watch and in turn, they would praise the film as well. Even people who didn't like the film still talked about it, which spurred discussion and interest about the film.
Fourth, word of mouth succeeded in part because the film was genuinely good. It's really hard to get hyped about a film and then get disappointed afterwards. To many people, the quality of this film was a surprise, and the surprise enhanced their appreciation of the work. Many didn't expect this kind of quality in a local film after not having seen a local film for a long time, and this was a refreshing break.
And one other thing: I watched this movie with my senior citizen parents last week. They were entitled to a free or heavily discounted screening of the film, but my mother stopped me from getting the discount. She told me to buy the tickets at full price because, in her own words "these people deserve it. This is our way of helping them." To many people, this was a film they could get behind. This was a film they could fight for.
Fifth, the story of the film's run in cinemas is an underdog story. Many of us read the producers' heartfelt (and heartbreaking) thank you letter near the end of the first week, and that spurred on many of us to watch the film either again or for the first time. This was an underdog story, and Filipinos love underdogs. We love to make them win against all odds. And we did.
In the end, I think that Heneral Luna was the right movie at just the right time. Something in the film was a catalyst to start a fire within many of us. It was a perfect storm of circumstances that led to this unlikely but impressive run at the box office.
Oscars and Fame
Thanks in part to the hype, this film was chosen to be our country's submission to the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Film Category. While I must stress that I consider it to be a very good film, Heneral Luna would personally not have been my first choice to send over. Even so, had we submitted any of the other possible Philippine contenders this year, the very impressive lineup for the other countries for the next Oscar awards makes the chances for a Philippine nomination (much less a win) extremely slim. (I'm rooting for Son of Saul, by the by.)
But you know, I don't care if we're shortlisted or not this year. What truly gets me is that for once, we're sending over a film that Filipino audiences have seen and are proud to send. So for that alone, I support this film making it over there.
"This is the Best Philippine Movie in Years"
This is one of the things I've often heard about this film. And to be honest, this is one of the sadder things I've heard about it - because it isn't completely true. While I consider Heneral Luna to be one of the best Filipino movies this year, I can name 5-10 movies from the past ten years that are either 1) just as good as or better than this film 2) tackle the same or similar issues as this film, or 3) just as technically proficient as this film. If you think this film was great, you ain't seen nothing yet. (pardon the double negative.)
And the problem with those 5-10 films are? Absolutely nothing. It's just that so few of us, and I bet, hardly anyone who made the claim above, ever got to see them...
Losing (and Regaining) Philippine Cinema
...And that's kind of the problem here. Year after year, we make movies of very high quality, with stories that can inspire, terrify, or shock us - and they never got to find their audience. Heneral Luna was one of the lucky ones, but movies like this end up being the exception rather than the rule. Over the past 20 to 30 years we've had a major paradigm shift in how we as a culture view movies. We've developed the sensibility that local movies are inferior, that local movies only pander to the lowest common denominator, that we cannot achieve the quality of our international counterparts.
Our mainstream cinematic and filmmaking culture has reached a point where filmmakers have underestimated our audiences and where audiences have underestimated our filmmakers' ability to make films, where formula and shallowness reign, a terribly shortsighted approach that helps no one.
On the other hand, our independent cinematic and filmmaking culture has reached a point where filmmakers are making Filipino movies that are not for Filipinos. Instead, these films reap awards abroad, and garner their makers acclaim. These are films about us and our culture, and these are films that Filipinos may never see in our own theaters.
Take Jun Lana's Anino Sa Likod Ng Buwan for example. It's rather well received by critics and ran in at least two overseas film festivals and won accolades abroad, but it has never been shown here yet - it will have its one (and probably only) Philippine showing at the QCinema Film Festival, a festival with a one week run in a small number of cinemas. Or, take Pepe Diokno's Above the Clouds, another great film. It ran the festival circuit before screening here in Cinemalaya (and that was one time) and a smattering of other times in other small locations. It has, to date, never had a mainstream release. Or, on the other hand, take Taklub - made by a Cannes award winning director, starring one of our greatest actresses - its mainstream theatrical run ended unceremoniously after one week, and there were reports of theaters having only one or two people watching.
Can anyone really put all of the blame on the filmmakers? Would they risk losing money again when their previous attempts at a theater run were mostly to empty cinemas? Wouldn't it be more logical to release it in a number of smaller venues, where at least someone could go and see it? Where were we during the theatrical releases of, for example, Thy Womb, Bwakaw or Barber's Tales? What were the theater managers thinking when they either shared the screening schedules of these films with foreign direct-to-video or Hollywood crap, or when they pulled out movies after three days, or when they scheduled the screenings for local films only during the daytime, when potential viewers are likely to be at work or school? I missed Barber's Tales during its run because my local cinema pulled it after three days, and for the one remaining nearby cinema that carried it (only half day at this point), I couldn't catch it during the one time I was free. By then, it was too late.
Just like Heneral Luna, the movie's themes are apropos to our film culture as well: the greatest enemy to the advancement of our cinema is not competition from abroad. Philippine Cinema's greatest enemy is ourselves.
With audiences that no longer care about local films, filmmakers, jaded by our ennui, who no longer choose to show their films to us, and theater operators that push local films aside to make way for foreign releases, is it any surprise that we have turned out this way? But I believe we can change this. We all have to do our part - we can support more local films that address a variety of topics, and not just those that are built on formula. We have to show studios that it is financially sound to produce films like these, and we can do so by our support. Filmmakers have to trust audiences again, so that they can make the decision to screen their films to a wider audience. For some filmmakers, hopefully they will want to make films not only about Filipinos, but also for Filipinos. Theater operators have to realize that films like this - though provoking, engaging, varied in scope - have an audience, and that we are willing to pay for it. And film lovers like myself have to realize that staying only within our circles, masturbating about movies that no one else may ever see - that closed minded line of thinking will only serve to destroy us. Spreading the word about movies like this and others, getting others to appreciate film instead of alienating them through condescension and 'film snobbery' - that's my own way of helping out. I'm sure many others who write about film feel the same way as well.
Whether you liked or hated Heneral Luna the movie, the fact that people are starting a conversation about film makes me shed manly tears, because a conversation is what we need. If by the showing of this film, one person changes his or her mind about Philippine Cinema, or is inspired to watch more local films, then this film would have triumphed. It would be a small victory, but small victories hopefully give birth to bigger ones, and hopefully by then, audiences will be ready for even more complex and engaging stories, and the full breadth of imagination and creativity our cinema can bring.
The first cinematic release week of Heneral Luna, given its budget of around 70 million pesos, was quite underwhelming. I'd seen the film in its first week, and although theaters weren't empty, they weren't full either. It was on its way to being just another local film that sputtered and died in its first week of release.
Then, on the way to its second week of release, something strange happened. The film basically went viral. People started talking about the film. Social media posts started filling up with posts about this film, about Philippine history and politics, and so on. People started filling up theaters, so much so that operators had to add screens once again - from 39 screens at the end of the first week, the number steadily rose to 70, then 90, then 100. Even last full shows of the movie were sold out. As of this writing, the movie is in it fourth week in cinemas, and has garnered at least 200 million pesos, making it the highest grossing Filipino independent film of all time.
Even now, the film is still going strong in theaters. In some movie houses, attendance for the film equals or exceeds that of newer releases. Like its namesake, it simply refused to die. It's still in two theaters in my local mall. It opened four weeks ago in the same mall in only one theater.
My first question in this is, how the hell did this happen?
Getting Asses in these Seats
The factors involved in preventing Heneral Luna from dying a premature death are numerous and complex, but I can point out the following things I noticed that greatly helped the film's viral success.
Firstly, its themes and the questions it asks are relevant to today's society. Often I've heard talk about how the youth should watch the film because of its themes, how it opened their eyes to the state of things, and how it asks us tough questions regarding our national identity. For some reason, the film really got to a lot of people, taking to heart the film's central thesis.
Second, the film had an aggressive campaign determined to keep the film in theaters. People were told to contact their local theaters if they wanted to keep the film as it was. It's a tactic that has been done before, notably with Jerrold Tarog's own Senior Year, whose limited theatrical release was extended to a full week, almost unheard of with little known independent releases. I like this democratic style of film watching where the audience, and not just the theater owners, decide which films get released where. In the end, it's a win-win for everybody: people get to watch the movies they want, and theaters earn more money than they would have if they had released something inferior or unwanted in cinemas. In addition, there was the clever choice of getting a half price discount for students. It was a huge gamble, but it paid off: students had the most capable access to social media and had the means to spread the word quickly, and teachers could help support the film by getting their students to see it.
Third, word of mouth spread virally, thanks to social media and second hand accounts. People who talked about the film mostly praised it to high heaven, and curious people were drawn to find out what all the fuss was about. They would watch and in turn, they would praise the film as well. Even people who didn't like the film still talked about it, which spurred discussion and interest about the film.
Fourth, word of mouth succeeded in part because the film was genuinely good. It's really hard to get hyped about a film and then get disappointed afterwards. To many people, the quality of this film was a surprise, and the surprise enhanced their appreciation of the work. Many didn't expect this kind of quality in a local film after not having seen a local film for a long time, and this was a refreshing break.
And one other thing: I watched this movie with my senior citizen parents last week. They were entitled to a free or heavily discounted screening of the film, but my mother stopped me from getting the discount. She told me to buy the tickets at full price because, in her own words "these people deserve it. This is our way of helping them." To many people, this was a film they could get behind. This was a film they could fight for.
Fifth, the story of the film's run in cinemas is an underdog story. Many of us read the producers' heartfelt (and heartbreaking) thank you letter near the end of the first week, and that spurred on many of us to watch the film either again or for the first time. This was an underdog story, and Filipinos love underdogs. We love to make them win against all odds. And we did.
In the end, I think that Heneral Luna was the right movie at just the right time. Something in the film was a catalyst to start a fire within many of us. It was a perfect storm of circumstances that led to this unlikely but impressive run at the box office.
Oscars and Fame
Thanks in part to the hype, this film was chosen to be our country's submission to the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Film Category. While I must stress that I consider it to be a very good film, Heneral Luna would personally not have been my first choice to send over. Even so, had we submitted any of the other possible Philippine contenders this year, the very impressive lineup for the other countries for the next Oscar awards makes the chances for a Philippine nomination (much less a win) extremely slim. (I'm rooting for Son of Saul, by the by.)
But you know, I don't care if we're shortlisted or not this year. What truly gets me is that for once, we're sending over a film that Filipino audiences have seen and are proud to send. So for that alone, I support this film making it over there.
"This is the Best Philippine Movie in Years"
This is one of the things I've often heard about this film. And to be honest, this is one of the sadder things I've heard about it - because it isn't completely true. While I consider Heneral Luna to be one of the best Filipino movies this year, I can name 5-10 movies from the past ten years that are either 1) just as good as or better than this film 2) tackle the same or similar issues as this film, or 3) just as technically proficient as this film. If you think this film was great, you ain't seen nothing yet. (pardon the double negative.)
And the problem with those 5-10 films are? Absolutely nothing. It's just that so few of us, and I bet, hardly anyone who made the claim above, ever got to see them...
Losing (and Regaining) Philippine Cinema
...And that's kind of the problem here. Year after year, we make movies of very high quality, with stories that can inspire, terrify, or shock us - and they never got to find their audience. Heneral Luna was one of the lucky ones, but movies like this end up being the exception rather than the rule. Over the past 20 to 30 years we've had a major paradigm shift in how we as a culture view movies. We've developed the sensibility that local movies are inferior, that local movies only pander to the lowest common denominator, that we cannot achieve the quality of our international counterparts.
Our mainstream cinematic and filmmaking culture has reached a point where filmmakers have underestimated our audiences and where audiences have underestimated our filmmakers' ability to make films, where formula and shallowness reign, a terribly shortsighted approach that helps no one.
On the other hand, our independent cinematic and filmmaking culture has reached a point where filmmakers are making Filipino movies that are not for Filipinos. Instead, these films reap awards abroad, and garner their makers acclaim. These are films about us and our culture, and these are films that Filipinos may never see in our own theaters.
Take Jun Lana's Anino Sa Likod Ng Buwan for example. It's rather well received by critics and ran in at least two overseas film festivals and won accolades abroad, but it has never been shown here yet - it will have its one (and probably only) Philippine showing at the QCinema Film Festival, a festival with a one week run in a small number of cinemas. Or, take Pepe Diokno's Above the Clouds, another great film. It ran the festival circuit before screening here in Cinemalaya (and that was one time) and a smattering of other times in other small locations. It has, to date, never had a mainstream release. Or, on the other hand, take Taklub - made by a Cannes award winning director, starring one of our greatest actresses - its mainstream theatrical run ended unceremoniously after one week, and there were reports of theaters having only one or two people watching.
Can anyone really put all of the blame on the filmmakers? Would they risk losing money again when their previous attempts at a theater run were mostly to empty cinemas? Wouldn't it be more logical to release it in a number of smaller venues, where at least someone could go and see it? Where were we during the theatrical releases of, for example, Thy Womb, Bwakaw or Barber's Tales? What were the theater managers thinking when they either shared the screening schedules of these films with foreign direct-to-video or Hollywood crap, or when they pulled out movies after three days, or when they scheduled the screenings for local films only during the daytime, when potential viewers are likely to be at work or school? I missed Barber's Tales during its run because my local cinema pulled it after three days, and for the one remaining nearby cinema that carried it (only half day at this point), I couldn't catch it during the one time I was free. By then, it was too late.
Just like Heneral Luna, the movie's themes are apropos to our film culture as well: the greatest enemy to the advancement of our cinema is not competition from abroad. Philippine Cinema's greatest enemy is ourselves.
With audiences that no longer care about local films, filmmakers, jaded by our ennui, who no longer choose to show their films to us, and theater operators that push local films aside to make way for foreign releases, is it any surprise that we have turned out this way? But I believe we can change this. We all have to do our part - we can support more local films that address a variety of topics, and not just those that are built on formula. We have to show studios that it is financially sound to produce films like these, and we can do so by our support. Filmmakers have to trust audiences again, so that they can make the decision to screen their films to a wider audience. For some filmmakers, hopefully they will want to make films not only about Filipinos, but also for Filipinos. Theater operators have to realize that films like this - though provoking, engaging, varied in scope - have an audience, and that we are willing to pay for it. And film lovers like myself have to realize that staying only within our circles, masturbating about movies that no one else may ever see - that closed minded line of thinking will only serve to destroy us. Spreading the word about movies like this and others, getting others to appreciate film instead of alienating them through condescension and 'film snobbery' - that's my own way of helping out. I'm sure many others who write about film feel the same way as well.
Whether you liked or hated Heneral Luna the movie, the fact that people are starting a conversation about film makes me shed manly tears, because a conversation is what we need. If by the showing of this film, one person changes his or her mind about Philippine Cinema, or is inspired to watch more local films, then this film would have triumphed. It would be a small victory, but small victories hopefully give birth to bigger ones, and hopefully by then, audiences will be ready for even more complex and engaging stories, and the full breadth of imagination and creativity our cinema can bring.
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