Instead of celebrating the Day of Hearts (what’s there to celebrate, anyway?), Angel spent the day taping for her GMA show Click and, up to now, she and her Kuya co-stars (Richard Gutierrez, Chynna Ortaleza, Oyo Boy Sotto, Cogie Domingo, James Blanco, etc.) are busy with the promo of the Regal youth flick which opens in Metro Manila tomorrow.
"Miko and I never had any Valentine date because we went steady for only six months," Angel, going on 19, confided to Funfare. "Hindi kami umabot ng Valentine’s Day."
Last Feb. 8, Angel joined Miko’s family (led by his mom, Ali Sotto) in commemorating the 40th day after Miko’s death. Every now and then, said Angel, some "weird things" happen to her, presumed to be "feelers" from Miko, but Angel dismisses them with a shrug and a smile and a silent prayer for the repose of Miko’s soul.
"I have to move on," added Angel. "I have to. I had to let go no matter how hard and painful it was. They told me that if you grieve and grieve for a dear departed, if you don’t let go, nalulungkot siya wherever he may be; it can burden his journey to eternal life. I have to go on living so Miko will go on living with The Lord, so he’ll be happy."
But Angel almost broke down when she taped for an episode of GMA’s Magpakailanman which dramatized the story of Jonalyn dela Peña, one of the two recipients of Miko’s eyes ("One of his assets," said mom Ali) which were donated to the Eye Bank.
"Jonalyn was at the taping and I looked straight at her eye everytime I talked to her. It was as if I was looking and talking to Miko," recalled Angel who still has to meet the other recipient. "The first time I met Jonalyn, ang gaan kaagad ng loob ko sa kanya. I couldn’t stop looking at her eye."
Asked what lesson the tragedy has taught her, Angel said, "A lot."
She mused, "It made me realize how short life is, that we’re all living a borrowed life. That’s why we should do what God wants us to do; we should not mess up our lives by making enemies or harboring ill feelings. Also, if you love someone, show him while he’s still alive because you might wake up one morning and realize that it’s too late. Enjoy life. You’ll never know when God will call you."
Kuya is actually Angel’s first movie although the second one, Mano Po 2 (also from Regal), was shown ahead in last December’s Metro Filmfest. Angel’s role was brief but markado – as the sweet girlfriend of Richard Gutierrez, sneered at by Richard’s other, bitchy girlfriend at the protracted wake scene.
In Kuya, Angel plays a wild girl, the exact opposite of her real self.
"When I read the script," said Angel, a sporty type who wants to take up Criminology next schoolyear, "I almost fell off my seat. I asked myself, ‘Kaya mo ba ‘to? Tatanggapin mo ba ‘to?’ I didn’t regret accepting the role. The character is my exact opposite so it was quite a challenge to portray it."
These days, Angel wears a bracelet Miko had given her; one of the souvenirs from Miko which Angel keeps like bars of gold.
"I never take it off," insisted Angel. "During tapings, I request my director not to let me take it off. I feel secure wearing that bracelet, parang bang Miko is protecting me."
She’s bothered by the rumor linking her to Oyo Boy, Miko’s cousin who is still in the process of recovering from that traumatic incident which he himself witnessed.
"Please naman," Angel begged the rumor-mongers, "please don’t put malice between Oyo Boy and me. Oyo Boy and I became even closer after Miko’s death. Pareho kami ng nararamdaman; pareho kaming nawalan ng mahal sa buhay."
Producer Tony Gloria answers the question by sending Funfare the following press bulletin issued by Bazan Entertainment Marketing:
Unitel Pictures, the producing company behind the acclaimed success American Adobo, is set to roll out its Metro Filmfest winner Crying Ladies in theaters across America starting Feb. 20.
A box-office hit as well as the winner of five Metro Filmfest awards – including Best Picture, Best Director (Mark Meily), Best Actor (Eric Quizon), Best Supporting Actress (Hilda Koronel) and Best Child Performer (Julio Pacheco) – Crying Ladies is slated to open on Feb. 20 in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and San Diego.
In New York, it will play in Manhattan’s Village East Cinema (on 12 St. and Second Avenue), the same Manhattan arthouse theater where American Adobo played to packed houses for six straight weeks. In San Francisco, it is booked at the UA Galaxy (1285 Sutter Street), right in the heart of the city. (For theater updates and showtime, Pinoys and other film buffs in New York are invited to visit www.cryingladies.com or www.americanadobo.com.)
Says Richard Abramowitz, executive consultant of Unitel Pictures and a veteran of the US indie film business, "Crying Ladies is the kind of comedy that will be embraced not just by Filipinos but also by American moviegoers. Like American Adobo, it transcends race or ethnicity because its emotional concerns are universal. And it gives off such a warm, crowd-pleasing vibe. That’s what the theater exhibitors are also telling me. We all agree it’s well-crafted, but more than that, we think it’s a likeable and accessible foreign film."
Unitel Pictures is being repped in the US by Vincent Nebrida, the writer of American Adobo and former executive director of marketing at Fine Line Features, New Line Cinema’s arthouse division. The film’s publicity is being handled by Bazan Entertainment, which oversaw such hits last year as Bringing Down The House, Underworld and Kill Bill Volume 1.
Tony is attending the American Film Market in Los Angeles (Feb. 25 to March 3) where Crying Ladies will be part of the exhibit. The film market is a non-profit trade association registered in the state of California.
The Unitel Pictures producer says that one of the theaters where Crying Ladies is showing is Century 20, the biggest mall in Daly City.
Tony notes that the exhibition of Crying Ladies in the US is an unprecedented event, the very first time that a Filipino film will be shown simultaneously in 10 cinemas across America.
He announces that the next project of Unitel Pictures are the drama Santa Santita, directed by Laurice Guillen, and the comedy Republic of Penitence, written and directed by Mark Meily. Principal photography will start April and May. The casts of the two films are being completed.
Incidentally, Sharon Cuneta, currently infanticipating, told Funfare that the movie she plans to line-produce for Unitel Pictures might topbill Dolphy but she will not be in the cast.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)