Born and raised in Manila, director Jeffrey Jeturian attended
the University of the Philippines, where he initially
enrolled in the architecture program, later shifting to mass
communications. His first job in films was as a production
assistant. He also worked as a script supervisor, art director,
and production designer before getting his first directorial
job on a TV soap opera.
After completing several made-for-TV movies, Jeturian
directed his first feature, Sana, Pag-ibig Na (Enter, Love)
in 1998. It was his first collaboration with screenwriter
Armando Lao, who also wrote his next two movies, Pila-
Balde (Fetch a Pail of Water, 1999 - FEFF 2001) and
Tuhog (Larger Than Life, 2000).
Sana, Pag-Ibig Na and Pila-Balde were pito-pito projects:
low-budget movies shot in seven to ten days, with no budget
for advertising. The advantage of doing these movies
was that the filmmaker had the freedom to do whatever he
wanted, without interference from the producer. Sana, Pagibig
Na was a coming-of-age drama about a teenage boy
who befriends his late father’s young mistress. Pila-Balde
told of a young girl who dreams of moving out of the
slums. Jeturian’s next film, Tuhog, was really two movies in
one: the story of a mother and daughter who are victims
of incest, and a “true-to-life” movie based on their lives. It
criticised filmmakers who pass-off their movies as art when
they are really exploitation. Tuhog was in competition at
the 2001 Venice Film Festival.
Bridal Shower is the first comedy from Jeturian. It is a witty
sex-comedy about the commodification of romance.
Appropriately, the female protagonists all work in an advertising
agency, a milieu writer Chris Martinez knows well,
being an advertising copywriter himself. What do these
modern, independent women want? Basically the same
thing all women are supposed to want: an enduring relationship.
The difference lies in the power structures within
their relationships. Tates (Dina Bonnevie) has financial
power over her feckless boyfriend Mickey (Christian
Vasquez), whose previous marriage she arranges to have
annulled. Sonia (Francine Prieto) manoeuvres her boyfriend
Juancho (Juancho Valentino) into marrying her. Katy
(Cherry Pie Picache), the fat girl, finds herself falling in
love with an unsuitable partner, a macho gay bar dancer
named Joebert (Alfred Vargas). In the universe of Bridal
Shower, no one gets to live happily every after, but everybody
gets exactly what they deserve.
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Philippines nickelodeon
At the premiere of his recent film Mano Po 2, Erik Matti
stirred up controversy when he declared that it was not
the movie he wanted to make. Later, in an interview, he
explained that despite being the director of the film, he
did not have control over the project: the producer, the
screenwriter, the actors, and even the booking agents all
interfered with the final cut. The actors constantly
demanded that their scenes be rewritten. At one point the
entire cast had to be changed because one of the leads
wanted another actor cast as her husband.
Gagamboy was a happier experience. This Filipino comicfantasy
take on Spider-Man (Gagamba means spider) was
written by Dwight Gaston, and stars dancer-comedian
Vhong Navarro in the title role. The other leads, Jay
Manalo and Aubrey Miles, starred in Matti’s previous film
Prosti (FEFF 2003). Matti succeeds in creating a comicbook
universe full of bright colours and eccentric characters.
Mano Po 2 and Gagamboy were both official entries
to the 2003 Metro Manila Film Festival.
(J.Z.)
Jessica Zafra