New Wave, new lives ready for 2014

Agot Isidro and TJ Trinidad give their best performances ever in the New Wave Metro Manila entry Mga Anino ng Kahapon which doesn’t surprise us. The big surprise is Agot in a multi-leveled performance that never once suggests that this is a movie. It comes across as real life, with Agot as a friend and neighbor going through tumultuous mental disturbances that only love and extreme understanding can cure.

As we watch entranced by this slice of domestic drama that encompasses suspense, horror and mental illness, we commend TJ for his quiet portrayal as Agot’s husband who gives up his work in Dubai to take care of his schizophrenic wife, when most others would have given up. Director Alvin Yapan and Alemberg Ang have clearly done their homework in studying the disease and behavior of victims, and how one should behave in their presence. 

The family members try everything to cure Agot who refuses to take her medication and is on the brink of giving up. They go to the doctor and are told that the disorder has no known cure. They try a healer who tries incantations, anything that might help. In the long run, we find that love is the answer, and this, Agot’s husband and family give with all their hearts. Agot and TJ’s performances are worthy of awards and praises they should be getting in droves.               

Agot, 49, studied Interior Design in Manila, then went to New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology for a course in Fashion and Merchandising. Back in Manila, she was among the back-up singers for Sharon Cuneta at ABS-CBN, then joined the popular Sa Linggo NAPO Sila and the hit television series Tayong Dalawa. She married Manu Sandejas in 2000, separated after 10 years, and rejoined show business.

In 2012, she moved to the GMA Network with the series One True Love but returned to ABS in 2013 and did Muling Buksan Ang Puso, starring Julia Montes, Enrique Gil and Enchong Dee. Her showbiz career has been slow but sure with each film or teleserye exhibiting an improvement in her. We got to watch Tulad ng Dati, the first directorial assignment of Mike Sandejas in 2006, an interesting bio-tribute to the rock group The Dawn where Agot played the role of Jett Pangan’s wife. 

Huling Pasada in 2008, written by Paul Sta. Ana and directed by Alvin, tells of a novelist Agot who struggles from a recent divorce. Agot got a nomination from the Manunuri for Best Supporting Actress.

Then in 2012, director Joey Reyes fielded his story of four friends and their secrets in Mga Mumunting Lihim to the Director’s Showcase category at the Cinemalaya 2012. In a surprise decision, the Cinemalaya jury awarded both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress to the ensemble of Judy Ann Santos, Iza Calzado, Agot Isidro and Janice de Belen. Agot had clearly joined the company of the best and most respected actors in the business.

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