It was late last year when the musical Katips premiered at Gateway Cinemas. At that time, the movie’s star, director, and producer Vince Tañada hoped his film could make it to the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival. Much to his disappointment, that didn’t happen.
Well, the film won a string of FAMAS awards in late July, just a week before it finally received a wide release in cinemas. It also happened to be the opening day of the movie about the Marcos family. Blame it on careful timing, or serendipity.
Since Katips has been trending on the net, we felt it warrants a second review. The word “katips” is short for Katipunero. It’s what the activists call themselves, especially those who often gathered in a halfway house owned by a woman played by Adele Ibarrientos . Among the perennial visitors are a journalist (Vince Tañada) and a University of the Philippines (UP) student leader (Jerome Ponce).
It’s amusing when the lady of the house sings about her romance with the journalist, which seems to be going nowhere. And there’s Jerome Ponce wooing the daughter (Nicole Laurel Asensio) of an older activist. Unlike his UP friends, the girl is a balikbayan from New York and her initial behavior is that of a haughty New Yorker in Tondo.
It’s been said that it takes a love story to get audiences to relate to the story, whether it be about the American civil war, the Titanic, or your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. As writer, Vince Tañada adhered to this principle. He made the younger couple the central focus. The movie’s first half dwells on the hopes and dreams of the leads.
When they’re captured and tortured, Tañada doesn’t hold back
The movie enters darker territory when the authorities begin a clampdown on the lead cast. The danger does lurk even at the start of the film. When they’re captured and tortured, Tañada doesn’t hold back— he says he’s been working as a lawyer for Martial Law victims. He recreated the atrocities based on testimonies of the victims, with as much accuracy as he could.
The problem is the movie is a musical. Realism doesn’t jive well in a movie that has the cast singing spontaneously as if they were in La La Land (to the accompaniment of an unseen band). Katips takes the torture scene to an even stranger, homoerotic level. The male victims must have worked out in the gym before their arrest. They get stripped naked, they flaunt their sweaty abs while being tortured, and at a certain moment one of them shows a tiny bit more.
Katips was originally a stage musical produced by Tañada’s theater company, Philstagers. He wrote the play himself and adapted it to the screen for him to star in and direct. He’s managed to eliminate the musical’s theater origins and produced a cinematic work. The film version also opened up opportunities to expand the play and make for a happy ending with the People Power Revolution as historic backdrop. (The stage version had a tragic finale.)
The new scenes did make the movie much longer, and what happens in one of them is beyond incredible. But the tribute to the victims is moving, and we’re suckers for feel-good endings. It’s just this movie has too many feel-good endings.
Even given the Edsa setting, no footage of the historical event is shown. If actual news footage had been used, it would show how the weather was perfect at that time. It would have been a sharp contrast to the rainy weather in the movie.
There is also no mention of the Marcoses or the Aquinos in the script. It’s about the protagonists, not the two families. The movie avoids shoving its political message down our throats, even if it was meant to be an introductory course on Martial Law. It’s admirable of Tañada to produce a film of this type even if it isn’t commercially viable. Yet by making it a rock musical, he gave the project universal appeal, not something that people might have been obliged to watch.
Who can forget Lou Veloso’s star turn with a chorus of Metro Aides?
Like, who can forget Lou Veloso’s star turn in a huge Busby Berkley-type production number with a chorus of Metro Aides strutting down the streets, brooms in hand? That number brought the house down. Now if only the other big production number was just as cute and imaginative.
In my earlier review, I raved about the songs by Pipo Cifra and the actors who performed them so well. The music is perfect for the ‘70s. This was the era of Hot Dog and the Apo Hiking Society. Cifra’s songs for Katips blend in with that era perfectly. He also wrote a couple of Broadway-type romantic ballads that come spiced with the kind of Pinoy humor that made bands like The Eraserheads resonate with the public.
Tañada also assembled a terrific cast, most of whom are part of his theater group, among them Johnrey Rivas and the lovely Vean Olmedo. They both play youth leaders. Olmedo deserves to be a star. She’s talented, and the camera loves her.
Leading man Jerome Ponce is engaging as the student leader. His part isn’t showy, but his nuanced performance helps every scene he’s in look real. He blends in well with the ensemble cast and has wonderful chemistry with Nicole Laurel-Asensio. His leading lady gives the right vibe as the sheltered coed who eventually sees the light. She’s pretty and sings beautifully.
As the journalist, Tañada acts and sings to the last row of the theater. He has the timing for comedy and the voice to play Sweeney Todd. The nuanced acting of Adele Ibarrientos as his love interest is a nice contrast to her leading man’s play-it-like-there’s-no-tomorrow performance.
Perennial villain Mon Confiado deserved a bigger role or a back story of his character. But he’s such a pro he made the stereotyped part so threatening and memorable. Dexter Doria is also on hand as a feisty, politically active nun. As always, she makes every scene she’s in count. Because she isn’t a trained singer, she has no solo number. That’s too bad, because as the two leading men escape to the mountains, I could imagine Sister Doria waving goodbye while singing Climb Every Mountain. The show’s not over until the plucky nun sings!
Credit: PHILSTAGERS FILMS/YouTube
