Another ambitious project by direk Tikoy

He seldom makes films, but Director Amable Aguiluz V (there are 11 men in their clan all named Amable Aguiluz), better known as Tikoy, is still regarded as one of local cinema’s better filmmakers. His works, like Boatman, Bagong Bayani, Segurista and Rizal sa Dapitan, all gained critical acclaim.

After obtaining a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of the Philippines, he studied filmmaking in the States and worked as a film editor in Los Angeles for three years before coming home to Manila to direct documentaries and TV commercials.

His acclaimed documentaries include Kagubatan, Kaligtasan (which is about the need to save our environment), Fr. Conrado Balweg (about the priest who turned rebel in the Cordilleras), and Mt. Pinatubo (about the eruption of the long-dormant volcano which was shown several times on the Discovery Channel).

His first full length film was Ang Bangkero (Boatman), which he himself produced in 1985. Made on a shoestring budget, he had a hard time releasing it, but it made a killing at the box office when shown uncut at the Manila Film Center by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. It later got nominated for awards, along with other fine films shown in that fine vintage year: Lino Brocka’s Kapit sa Patalim-Bayan Ko, Ismael Bernal’s Hinugot sa Langit, and Peque Gallaga’s Scorpio Nights.

The film is about a boatman, Felipe (Ronnie Lazaro), in Pagsanjan, Laguna, who goes to the big city and becomes a live sex show performer called Boy Toro. "Boatman made the rounds of various international film festivals and was received well even by foreign critics," says Tikoy. "I was able to sell it to Warner Bros. and it was shown on cable TV worldwide. After that, I got several offers to do co-production ventures, pero walang natuloy. I concentrated on doing TV commercials for a while. When the Flor Contemplacion case became controversial, I started shooting docu footage about her family. I was the first one to shoot inside their home in Laguna. But when Viva Films decided to do a movie about Flor, her husband, Efren, suddenly left me, so I did Bagong Bayani on my own. No film company would want to release it, but it won the Urian Best Actress award for Helen Gamboa as Flor."

His next project did better, Segurista, released by Viva.

"I started working on this even before Bagong Bayani, intended for Dawn Zulueta. But when Viva came in, they cast Michelle Aldana. It did well at the tills and won several Urian awards, including Best Film and Best Director. It was also our entry to the Oscars, ranking Number 12 in more than 40 entries in the Best Foreign Language Film category."

He had difficulty anew releasing his next project, Rizal sa Dapitan, which he produced for his own outfit, Movpix International. The film went on to win several awards in the 1997 Manila Film Festival and the Star Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Albert Martinez, who also bagged the Best Actor prize at the Brussels International Filmfest. After this, he made more commercial films like Tatsulok and Biyaheng Langit. Now, he comes up with another serious work, Tatarin, an entry in the Metro Manila Filmfest.

"The first attempt to film this work of Nick Joaquin was in 1994, with Elwood Perez as director. But Solar Films shelved it because of the huge expense in producing a period film. Viva Films then got the rights and first offered it to me in 1998. The first thing I did was ask Ricky Lee to rewrite the script, which was mostly in Spanish. We used Tagalog to make it more accessible to local viewers. Tatarin is originally a short story, Summer Solstice, set during Spanish times, then it was transformed into a play set in the 1920s and that’s where I based the movie. This is a big challenge for me because it’s no joke to make a film based on the work of a National Artist no less. It’s also very demanding how to integrate the various elements of theater and literature into film. Baka magalit sa akin si Nick if I don’t put them all together well. I kept thinking how I could best adapt the material to film. But Nick himself told me: ‘Magwala ka.’ And so I did. I’m also happy that Boss Vic del Rosario gave me complete artistic freedom on how to interpret the material. The only pressure I had was to finish the film before the filmfest deadline. I realized that the best way to film it was by using the Tatarin ritual, with all the chanting, as the recurring motif in the film. For this, Willy Cruz and the Pinikpikan did a great job of integrating original ethnic music into the score and I’m very happy with their work."

Unlike Rizal sa Dapitan on which he had to be very frugal, Tikoy is happy to be working this time on a period film on an unlimited budget. "One of the major characters in the story is the ancient balete tree in the yard of Lupe and Paeng Moreta, played by Dina Bonnevie and Edu Manzano. It’s where the tatarin ritual fertility dance is performed by the peasants for good harvest. And this is where Rica Peralejo and Chin Chin Gutierrez are shown dancing in wild abandon. Production designers Dez Bautista searched for several old houses with a balete tree in it in various locations, but when they couldn’t find any, we decided to build one in an old house in Malolos where we filmed the movie on location."

That tree alone already cost about P350,000. Add to that the expense for the period costumes and the vintage cars we used in the film. I’m lucky that Dez knows where to get all the right period props and costumes. We also shot some important scenes in Taal, Batangas, and in Intramuros, with cinematographer Ely Cruz capturing the beauty of the locations and providing the visual style I envisioned for the film."

Did he have a hand in the casting? "I wanted Dina from the start and I’m glad we got her because she’s perfectly cast as the repressed wife. She knows how to act for film and all throughout the film, you can sense this erotic undercurrent in her character. Edu is also perfect as the domineering husband and Nick approves of him. The rest came from Viva.

"It’s my first time to work with Rica Peralejo (as Amada, the housemaid possessed by the Tatarin spirit). Raymond Bagatsing as her husband, Patricia Javier as another housemaid who has an affair with Raymond, Carlos Morales as the balikbayan who encourages Lupe to open herself up, and Chin Chin as the mother of Edu who appears in flashback scenes.

"It’s actually my first time to work with all of them and I’m very happy with their work."

Tikoy also achieved success as the director of the CineManila International Filmfest, which was held recently in cooperation with Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay. No less than President Gloria Arroyo, a film buff herself, pledged to help finance three new local films, amounting to P50 million, to be included in next year’s festival. "The attendance in the recently concluded filmfest in Greenbelt definitely picked up compared to previous years. We’re very happy to get not only the support of Mayor Binay but the viewers themselves. Hopefully, next year’s festival will be even bigger."