The finest performances of 2002

( First of four parts )

The members of the three major award-giving bodies for film have already distributed their trophies to outstanding works in cinema for last year and the Gawad Urian nominations were released several weeks ago. (The Urian will be staged on May 17 at the AFP Theater with APT Enterprise producing the awards ceremonies for TV.)

While I abhor and detest the results of some of these award-giving bodies, there were also winners whom I believe really deserved the honors bestowed on them. However, since I got to watch all the important films released last year anyway, I decided to come up with my own list of fine performances for 2002. Here they are starting with Best Supporting Actor. Incidentally, my list also includes names that didn’t necessarily make it to the Urian nominations. As I said, this is just my own personal list.

Tirso Cruz III – He may have started out as a matinee idol who did nothing but play it cute in movies opposite Nora Aunor and, later, even Vilma Santos, Aurora Salve, Maritess Revilla and other teen stars of the early ’70s, but starting in the late ’80s, he began maturing as an actor. His first really impressive performance was in Elwood Perez’s Bilangin ang Bituin sa Langit where he aged from a senior high school student all the way to a bitter old man. Why, he even played the son of his character in the movie later in the story.

In the early ’90s, Tirso began doing bad guy roles to action heroes in big-budgeted bang-bang films. He was so good at it that he even won the Best Supporting Actor trophy in the 1992 Gawad Urian for Kahit Buhay Ko.

This year, Tirso Cruz III shone in two important films – Diskarte, where he played a corrupt military man that must have been patterned after... never mind. It is actually a complex role because the character looks so saintly on the outside (he’s an ideal father to his young daughter), but rotten to the core inside. But the fine actor that he is, Tirso was able to flesh out the character extremely well. On screen, he is so hateful in spite of the Mr Clean look that he projects outwardly.

Another memorable performance he did last year was in Mano Po, where he played the conservative father of Maricel Soriano, Kris Aquino and Ara Mina. This is another difficult role because while he is a loving father to his daughters, he has to show a cold facade toward them. Fortunately, he has become so versatile an actor that he breezes through the role almost effortlessly.

Johnny Delgado – Winner of several acting awards including the Urian (Kakabakaba Ka Ba, 1980), Delgado excelled last year in the Aga Muhlach-Claudine Barretto movie, Kailangan Kita. He is effective as the cold and distant father of Claudine and her siblings. His memorable scenes are those in the dinner table where – in spite of the presence of chili pepper and other hot Bicol dishes laid out all over – you still feel the frostiness on the big screen because of his cold attitude toward his kids.

Joonee Gamboa – Like Tirso Cruz III and Johnny Delgado, Gamboa is also an Urian winner (Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak, 1978). Last year, he was impressive in Diskarte where he plays "guardian angel" to fugitive Rudy Fernandez. The role isn’t really all that long and important, but a talented actor like Joonee Gamboa always leaves his imprint in any role he plays – whether on film, in theater (does he still do it now?) and on TV.

Jay Manalo – Given the fact that he practically grew up in the streets selling cigarettes (a facet of his life he never hid from the public), you will marvel at the way he convincingly played a sophisticated, highly educated Lance Gokongwei type of character in Mano Po. This is strong proof of his growth as an actor. Jay Manalo, incidentally, also does well as the lead character in Prosti, but I’ll be talking more about that in the third installment of this series.

Piolo Pascual – Impressive in his launching movie, Lagarista (by Mel Chionglo), where he earned acting nominations from practically all the award-giving bodies, it is not surprising at all that he does very well as the son (of Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon) who goes underground in Dekada ’70.

Jeffrey Quizon – He wowed everyone when he played the young Walter Dempster Jr. in Markova for which he won Best Supporting Actor awards from Urian, Star and FAMAS Awards. In Utang ni Tatang, it’s his performance that you remember in the film. He is so good in this movie that you’d think he’s playing the lead when in truth, his is just a secondary role.

(Next: My list of actresses who excelled in supporting roles.)