MANILA, philippines — The mixed media Pinoy film “Pinta*kasi” won the Best Full-Length Independent Film in last year’s MMFF. Thanks to a reconstructed story flow that practically saved it from becoming just another indie film with a weak plot loaded with weird scenes.
Last Tuesday, the film’s director Lee Meily pointed out to a pool of entertainment writers that after the then-unfinished project reached her, she and her group had to fix its story which they initially found indiscernible.
“The story back then was not flowing. Marami kaming tinapon nung pumasok kami to work on the project,” she said prior to a special screening of the film at Gateway Cinema 1 in Cubao.
Produced by Governor Imee Marcos, who many years ago bankrolled now-classics “Himala” and “Oro Plata Mata,” this movie that mixes live action and animation took three years to make. Meily went on board the second year. She admitted retaining some of the elements handed to her for cure in order to lessen the waste of money.
“We want to show here Filipino ingenuity in the field of mixed media,” Lee pointed out. “I believe if we’re to measure the craftsmanship of our animators, we’re about 80 to 85 percent in terms of global standards.”
“Pinta*kasi” tackles life at a community of informal settlers called Isla Pulo, which is based on a real-life site washed away by typhoon “Ondoy.” It stars John Wayne Sace, Erich Gonzales, and JM De Guzman who as villain Tikboy won Best Actor in the New Wave category of MMFF 2011.
The film showcases the struggle of a good-natured boy in adapting to the ways and means of poverty-stricken young, small-time thieves and other shattered characters.
Former matinee idol William Martinez plays a cop in a support role, along with Giselle Sanchez, who acts as his wife, and Boots-Anson Roa, cast as a sari-sari store owner with a dark secret.
How to make it appear chewable is arguably often the problem of directors disliking the mainstream approach of telling a story. Most of them deliver a simple idea in a rather complex, often dark treatment that confuse viewers instead of enlightening them. While the animation aspect of “Pinta*kasi” and its hip soundtrack assure audiences of its “indie feel,” its tight, believable story diverts attention to fanciful artistic twists. This quality should endear it more to mainstream audiences.
“Pinta*kasi,” a word play on cockfighting and painting (which is protagonist DJ’s creative passion and driving force), opens at selected SM Cinemas on February 8.