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Yeah, that pretty much says it all. I love watching films, devouring films, collecting films, teaching films, and talking about films. I watch all kinds of films, except horror - I am such a coward. I am a sucker for romantic comedies but am forced to watch action movies by my partner. But sadly, there are forgettable films, films that I do not even want to talk about. Moving on.
I have defining film moments in my life. These are unforgettable film moments –films, actors, experiences, memories, and scenes that have made lasting impressions in my life. One of the earliest memories I have is watching The Sound of Music in a cinema house in Kamuning with my Tita. Growing up, my sisters and I were banned from watching Tagalog movies because my father thought Tagalog movies were crap, korny, and baduy. It was Nora Aunor in this riveting scene in Tinik Sa Dibdib directed by Leroy Salvador that made me exclaim, “Wow ang galing pala ni Nora! (Wow, Nora is great!).” It also made me realize my father was wrong. I remember vividly - I was walking across our sala and my mother was watching the television, as I passed by I caught a glimpse of this scene. I was stuck. I sat down beside my mother (a Vilmanian) and watched the entire movie with her. I was, and still is, in awe of this woman on screen, Nora Aunor - the Superstar, Ate Guy. That’s my first Tagalog movie moment.
Throughout my college years in UP Diliman, as an Art Studies major in the late 1980s, I frequented the UP Film Center. I remember watching Scorpio Nights by Peque Gallaga and the Film Center was searing hot – no air-condition (just huge fans), jampacked SRO crowd, coupled with the intensity of the sex scenes in the film plus the raging hormones of the students in the audience all contributed to one unforgettable movie moment for me.
Watching Lino Brocka’s Orapronobis was an entirely different experience for me. Banned by the administration of then President Corazon Aquino, I watched the film inside a small classroom, Palma Hall 217, together with about five other classmates. My professor then, Dr. Alice Guillermo, one of the country’s preeminent art critics, made sure we got to watch the film even if it was illegal and underground. Until this very day, the rape-murder scene plays vividly in my mind’s silver screen. It was not just an unforgettable movie moment, but a film that transformed me.
I have had many film moments in my life, but I would like to end with this one, for now. Years ago, before asking my partner for a first date, I asked her first if she loves films. Thank God she said yes. I could not imagine living the rest of my life with someone who does not share the same passion and addiction for films as I do.
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