A Writer from Manila

A still from “Delia & Sammy”, a feature length finalist in CineFilipino 2018

Okay, indulge me please.

Sometime last year, my friend Sher approached me excitedly about this film they were producing. She sent me the script over e-mail, and I read through it with such enthusiasm I was able to finish it in around an hour.

Of course, I may have lost some nuances in the dialogue because of my speed reading, but I knew the script had potential. At turns, the story written by Therese Cayaba (who also directed the movie) is funny, sad, and heart-wrenching. It reminded me of “1st ko si Third” & “Bwakaw” because of its sensitive portrayal of people in their twilight years.

Sher asked me if I could join the cast, to fill in (in her words) one of the “smaller roles of annoyed neighbors and family members”. Maybe it was the early morning daze that got to me (we were sharing ideas about the script close to 1 a.m., after all) when I immediately said yes.

I’m glad I did. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Little did I know that I would be acting alongside heavyweights such as Jaime Fabregas, Rosemarie Gil, Dido Dela Paz (whose performance in the critically-acclaimed 2017 movie “Respeto” was amazing), Lui Manansala, and Anthony Falcon–and with a speaking role, at that.
The two main characters–the eponymous has-been actor Delia and her husband Sammy–are both very unloveable and flawed. They struggle to live through a time that no longer remembers them, while still grasping at the privilege they once possessed and had already lost. They are difficult people: both to each other and to everybody else.

Despite this, you can’t help but empathize. You sense their desperate struggle to be relevant. They claw for attention, as much as they acknowledge how the world that once adored them has already moved past them.

I don’t want to spoil the movie for you, or give away the little part I had in the movie (I encourage you to watch it: see the screening schedules here.) Frankly, I don’t have delusions of fame out of this (if anything, I might end up like Hilda Koronel’s character in “Crying Ladies“, who can’t help but remind people of her bit part in Darna & The Giants).

But go see it. With your parents and grandparents, if you can. Especially if they’ve made your life extra difficult.

It’s a memento mori of sorts. 😉