Markova is a family picture - FUNFARE by Ricardo F. Lo

The family that sashays together.

That, in a sense, best describes RVQ Productions’ Markova: Comfort Gay, intended for the Metro Filmfest next month by its director, Gil M. Portes, whose other work, Crown-Seven Ventures, Inc.’s Gatas (launching vehicle for Mylene Dizon), might also make it to the filmfest’s Magic 6.

It is a fairy tale in the sense that it chronicles the colorful and dramatic — and, may I add, very sexual — episodes in the life of female impersonator Walter Dempster Jr. (a.k.a. Walterina Markova, his stage monicker) who’s now into his mid-’70s. It’s also a family picture in the sense that Walterina, gang-raped by Japanese soldiers (who also subjected him to all sorts of indignities) during World War II, is portrayed by the Quizon family in various stages of his life — by Dolphy as Walterina now, and by Dolphy’s sons Eric Quizon when he started working as a club impersonator and Jeffrey Quizon during his sexual awakening in his teenage years when he used to be roughed up by his older brother (portrayed by still another Quizon son, Freddie) who was irked by his sissy ways.

Funfare was at Raymund Isaac’s Makati studio when the Quizon family had a pictorial for the movie’s posters, ads and promo/publicity releases, and what a fun family they were! Dressed ala-mujer, father and two sons moved about as if it was the most natural thing in the world, not making fun of each other while enjoying each other’s company to the delight of onlookers. Made up like the original, Dolphy looked amazingly like Walterina with his outlandish make-up and wig, garbed in feathered gown that sparkled like cheap crystal in the spotlight.

How is the Markova role different from the dozen or so he has done before, including Facifica Falayfay, Fefita Fofonggay, Jack en Jill, (Lino Brocka’s) Ang Tatay Kong Nanay (one of Dolphy’s most memorable roles, if you ask me) and Omeng Satanasia for which he won a FAMAS Best Actor trophy for his multiple role?

Adjusting his false eyelashes during a break from the photo session that lasted the whole afternoon, Dolphy said, "A, iba ito. Before, sige lang kami nang sige even if we committed mistakes, which we later ‘cured,’ because most of my past gay roles were comic. This time, I’m playing a real-life character so every movement should be exact and accurate, from the gestures to the voice to the manner of walking. Direk Gil is meticulous, parang si Lino Brocka. He would make us rehearse before every take. I felt na gumagawa talaga kami ng pelikula and not just nagpapa-easy-easy like we did in most of my past gay roles."

Since Pusong Mamon where he played a tame gay and therefore didn’t wear women’s clothes, it’s Eric’s first time (and Jeffrey’s, too) to play a screaming gay character and Eric said that, that’s it, he felt right at home.

"If you remember," Eric recalled, "in Fefita Fofonggay, I played the little gay Dolphy."

According to direk Gil, for the first time in his decades-old career, Dolphy did a script-reading (along with Sen. Loren Legarda who plays herself — as the TV host who kicks off the movie with her feature on the life of Walterina Markova) to check where the dialogues needed some strengthening and what scenes had to be jazzed up.

"Dolphy and Eric, and also Jeffrey, were easy to direct," added direk Gil. "This is, I guess, the most fun movie I’ve ever done, more fun than Miguel/Michelle (with Romnick Sarmenta as a transsexual)."

The "fun-ness" of the project was very obvious during the pictorial where Dolphy and sons had a ball posing like women, moving like women, gesturing like women, and sashaying like women. It was such fun, in fact, that when Jeffrey finished with his last shot, he threw his hands in the air and screamed, "Gusto ko nang maging girl!"

He was only being "ilusyonada," of course.

List of oxymorons

Here’s yet another "educational" contribution from Funfare-friendly Paul R. Mortel of MBA Court, Malanday, Marikina City:

Here’s a list of oxymorons which will surely be of interest to your readers. In case the readers don’t know, an oxymoron is a common phrase made of two words that appear to be contradictory:

1. Open Secret
2. Inside Out
3. Upside Down
4. Death Benefits
5. Random Order
6. Original Copy
7. Irrational Logic
8. Friendly Takeover
9. Peacekeeping Missiles
10. Unofficial Record
11. Pretty Ugly
12. Military Intelligence
13. Drag Race
14. Criminal Justice
15. Genuine Imitation
16. Mandatory Option
17. Industrial Park
18. Eternal Life
19. Natural Additives
20. Nonworking Mother
21. Active Reserves
22. Limited Immunity
23. Protective Custody
24. Half-Dead

(Source: The Best of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader)