MMFF 2017 | Ang Larawan

Today marks the start of MMFF 2017. I've said what I wanted to say about this "festival," but I did say I was going to cover the four entries that got in fair and square. Let's talk a bit about Loy Arcenas' Ang Larawan.

The Portrait of the Artist as Filipino by Nick Joaquin is one of the most celebrated plays in Filipino literature; it has been adapted into numerous theatrical plays and musicals, as well as a classic 1965 film by Lamberto Avellana, the very first National Artist for Film. It tells the story of the Marasigan sisters Paula and Candida and their father Don Lorenzo, a renowned painter. The ancestral house has fallen into hard times, in part due to a lack of output from Don Lorenzo. He has entrusted his two daughters with one final painting, the titular larawan, that is coveted by foreigners and social elites. But Candida and Paula steadfastly refuse to sell the painting despite the fact that it will improve their lives.

Ang Larawan takes place during a peculiar time in our history - just after the Filipino-American War, but before the Japanese occupation. Thus, we see a different Manila in this movie - one that is still steeped in Hispano-Filipino traditions - before the war and the subsequent bombing of Manila burned it all away. The film and play serve both as tribute and elegy to a Manila now lost, the Marasigan sisters being the embodiment of the Filipino spirit at the time.

Arcenas' earlier films share similar themes with this latest work: one remembers the faded glory of the ancestral house in Nino (2011) and its fascination on the past and nostalgia, and family squabbles form the center of that film and his later Requieme! (2012). He seems like the perfect director for this film, considering what he's worked on before. His direction is competent, if a little safe, opting for the most part to use the camera in conventional ways.

And yet, in the context of the MMFF, Ang Larawan is a brave, bold film. It's rare to see a musical in a "festival" used to horror films, romcoms and comedies. In essence and in theme, it's the perfect contrast to the safe family friendly schlock we get almost every year from this festival of mediocrity. Consider the notion that the film is not just about nostalgia and fading traditions, but the relationship of artist and art itself. Candida and Paula's refusal to sell their father's precious work of art for money reflects a rejection of art as commerce, that its greatest value lies not in its market price, but in the emotions it invokes in people. Throughout the film, we see different interpretations of Don Lorenzo's titular painting, and how different people react to it. The richness of those experiences are worth more than any price tag. We see what happens when an artist compromises his art in the character of Don Perico, who has achieved so much but still longs for the art he abandoned.  

In that regard, for a "film festival" that has sold itself out to greed, Ang Larawan is the kind of film it needs right now. Go see it.