Network war tackled in Sapi

MANILA, Philippines - Though presented as a horror-thriller, the latest directorial work of Brilliante Mendoza is actually an in-depth showcase of a subject that appears more real than something paranormal like demonic possession.

Sapi uncannily treats the intriguing ratings game involving two fictional TV stations and their news personnel who are willing to sacrifice integrity just to keep their chances in the battlefield.

It stars Meryll Soriano, Baron Geisler, and Dennis Trillo (of My Husband’s Lover fame), all playing media practitioners battling for an unlikely scoop: A woman apparently possessed by a bad spirit.

“Panoorin na lang po natin kung ano ang mangyayari,” chorused the actors during the recent film screening at SM Megamall in Ortigas.

The movie, which opened last Nov. 6, is distributed by Solar Entertainment Corp. which also co-presented it with Centerstage Productions.

Upcoming TV producer Meryll Flores (Soriano) and reporter Dennis Marquez (Trillo) represent the Sarimanok Broadcasting Corporation and need to score the coverage to change their fortune in the corporate ladder. Cameraman Baron Valdez (Geisler), on the other hand, is a cameraman from rival Philippine Broadcasting Channel who happens to have exclusively obtained the footage of a possessed high school teacher.

A shock solution came into fore: SBN to illegally buy the cameraman’s worthy possession for the right to air it on their station and get the credit for it.
“It is an essay of a culture severely dependent on a decaying mass media,” stated the movie’s PR officer Emy Abuan.

Sapi is clearly meant for deeper understanding by spectators as it is loaded with symbolisms. Anyone expecting scores of in-your-face scare may just find themselves puzzled as it is more of metaphors to real-life horrors. As reflected on the press release handed to media: “What is more dreadful is we do not seem terrified of the horrors right in front of our eyes. Instead, we are preoccupied with frightening ourselves with what we cannot really see.”

Meanwhile, while Sapi ironically gives traditional media a bad publicity, the launching of a mobile application by blogger Laureen Uy somewhat provides stronger backbone to the burgeoning blogging community which for some reason is getting flak from the so-called “legits.”

Described as an influential blogger-actress, Uy recently launched her Break My Style app in order for her readers to view particular content from her blog site (www.breakmystyle.com) at the click of a button. The app offers her followers with categorized buttons like Blog (entire posts), Fashion, Looks (photo gallery), Giveaways (promos), Features (articles about her), and Reader of the Week(features on followers).

She said, “I always want to be close to the hearts of my readers and this app will definitely make it easier for them to have access to BMS all the time.”

Uy started blogging in October 2010 and became one of the firsts to create an app for Apple users. She added, “I believe this app will allow me to open up to bigger things. People are always on the go and on mobile almost 24/7 so this should make my readers still very much in touch with me.”