#eddie garcia

Tubog Sa Ginto (1970)

The short film was titled "The Compound" and it was pretty disturbing for high schoolers, but I don't remember our teachers handling the aftermath. So the film started with a bunch of big stars in a dark room, and they were being yelled, "Hubad! Hubad!" by a bunch of people from all corners. They were all in fear as they took off their clothes, completely nude! Only small rays from the flashlights are there, and sometimes, they were pointed at their faces. One unknown girl showed Glaiza de Castro a twenty pesos and shouted "Eto lang ang halaga mo sa compound!"

The filmmaker cut it to that, and proudly told us that they woke up those big stars at 4-5am in the morning. They were disoriented as the whole crew and the other unknown actors shouted "Hubad! Hubad!" at them, their expressions of fear were real! They stripped because they were scared. He went on to blab about the artistry, about invoking raw emotions from the actors, about cinema!

And I was there, a high schooler, sitting while not fully processing the short film for my young mind was too disturbingly absorbent. I was still pretentious about being an artist, pretending I appreciate the artistry of dark indie films, but that... that put a stop to it. It wasn't even a compelling film. Cinematography sucks. It looks like a budget film made by pretentious college kids who just wanna see naked people. Imagine being one of those big big stars who were traumatized by that filming, and for what? For a trashy end product?? And you cannot complain because The Director is King and you might be branded as someone 'who does not appreciate art'? And you have to keep it to your heart because you don't want people to actually see that film, it's just a short film anyway, not on cinemas. If you whistleblow, people might deliberately search for it. But no! A stupid director goes around schools showing it to high school students!

‘Bad 25′ (2012), dir. Spike Lee

watched february 23, 2022

this movie touches on a topic we don't talk about often and that is queer people's complex relationship with aging. for us younger ones, we're sometimes crippled with fear (or perhaps, cynicism) that we might not make it to rene's age because we know not many of our "kind" do. or in my personal case, i rarely ever hear about queer people who actually made it that far, and the lack of role model riddles me with anxiety. when we do hear stories or acquaint ourselves with older queer folks, they're often seen as someone incomplete, someone plagued with loneliness - just like rene. even for the non-queer majority there is a high value placed on youth. imagine how it is for a lot of us who missed it. napaglipasan ng panahon, ika nga ni rene. sexuality plays a big role in our becoming and to only realize that in such a "late" age... i can only imagine how heartbreaking it initially feels. i'm only 20 but realizing my gender orientation at this age makes me feel like i was robbed of a lot of time. of opportunity. none of us should be robbed of our "prime", but neither should we feel like our youth is the only thing that matters. realizing my sexuality and gender identity is rebirth for me. at hindi naman tayo nabuhay (muli) upang mag-intay lang na mamatay.

Ang Hintayan ng Langit is a comedy drama about two ex-lovers Lisang and Manolo becoming roommates waiting in purgatory until they are allowed to go up in heaven. Showing them both their past and also the people they left behind on earth. It also shows their regrets and no matter how many years have past and even they’ve both married different people that they still love each other. 

In the film, purgatory is shown as an airport where people will either go the a fight where they will go up in heaven or just remain in purgatory. Even the so called guardians there are dressed as flight attendants. It also shown that there is a list that goes up whether or not a person will be able to go up in heaven or not, kind of like a list of people who passed the board exams. 

Since the start I can tell that Lisang wanted to go back to earth and experience earthly things again and be back together with Manolo, just like when they were young. Just with the opening shot when she watches the tape of both her and Manolo by the river. (which actually not everyone knows it yet at first since it is showed in the latter parts of the film, that is actually Manolo in the tape) 

Lisang also reminds her guardian when she is able to get the keys to different rooms. These keys allows a soul to 3 different rooms, and as Lisang described it, it’s rooms where a soul can experience to be human again. First room they visited was a bar and restaurant, where they drank with the souls they were with in purgatory and talked about how their life was before they died and drank until they were drunk, since they didn’t have to worry about their health since they were dead already. Second room they visited was where the guardians keep the archives of tapes of the souls they had in purgatory. The tapes where clips of the souls when they were still alive and still on earth. Third and last was the previous room of Lisang and was being renovated. Manolo had to go inside alone, since Lisang was getting ready for her trip to Heaven, Manolo discovered that the room had holes like someone broke it and when soul looks through the holes of the room, they can experience being with the people they left on earth and be with them, but this is against the rules of the purgatory and since Lisang being in purgatory for two years learned and broke the rules, she was delayed to go to heaven. 

But the reason of Lisang’s defiance against the rules of the purgatory was checking up on Manolo when he was on the verge of his death. She “visited” Manolo by looking through the holes. This is where she revealed that only reason why she keeps getting delayed to going up in heaven was because she keeps on getting herself in trouble so she was able to wait for Manolo there in purgatory. Which reveals that she really loves Manolo until the end. 

Don't forget, Eddie Garcia will be in London on September 29 for a dance class and at Kingvention​ on September 30!