Director's Notes and Reflections - Pa-Siyam
Erik Matti
November 5, 2004 (11:00 pm - 3:30 am)
Ortigas Center, Pasig City
OUR OWN SWEAT AND BLOOD
About selling the movie, I want it to go the "exploitative" route but in a more sincere and honest way. It's like "we are poor but passionate about movies" kinda thing. I want people to know that out of our own sweat and blood, we came up with this small movie. It's our response in the face of what they say is a "dying movie industry." The concept is fresh and original. It's not a rip-off of a Japanese horror movie or an American movie.
What keeps the Filipino movies in the theaters now is the group of working class people who, after work, want to watch a movie. It's not the masa who watches Filipino movies anymore.
HOW PA-SIYAM WAS BORNE
I'll tell you first how the story of Pa-Siyam was born.. After going through the international film festivals through Prosti and Gagamboy, I saw how people abroad like the festival programmers, the journalists, and the viewers.. I saw how they think about Filipino movies.
When you hear what journalists and critics have to say about Filipino movies, manliliit ka. They (programmers) are scared to get Filipino movies because we are famous for homosexual movies. All other Asian countries are getting noticed globally but the Philippines.
Serious Asian movie fanatics have this to say about Filipino movies: the reason why Filipino movies are strong in markets like Toronto is because they think of our films as novelty films. For example, if you want to see a house that doesn't look like a house, go see a Third World Filipino movie, if you want male dancers rubbing oil on their bodies, watch a Pinoy movie.
I was in Italy for the exhibition of Gagamboy. And after looking at the other movies there, I thought, "Siyet, i have to do something fresh and universal too!". Looking at the Korean or Chinese movies makes you get jealous of their work. Their movies are true to their cultures but with a very strong universal theme that holds their stories.
That's when I started cooking the idea about the story of two people separating in two weeks time. The lead actress, the wife, says to her husband, 'I'm leaving you. I'm just waiting for the closing of the school year..' So it's a study of how two people separate.
I asked Cherry Pie Picache and Joel Torre, if they would do it for free sa akin? I told them most of the scenes would be improvisational. And they agreed! They said, 'Sige!" I was supposed to do the movie out of my own money.
Naikuwento ko kay Dondon that I wanted to do this movie out of my own money. Nakalimutan ko rin because I got busy. I'm still finishing the outline of the movie actually.
And then Dondon asked me, 'Di ba gagawa tayo ng movie sa company natin?' That's when we started working..
At first, we wanted to do a movie about a hitman na may sex and violence. The story is a very Pinoy set-up of a hitman. The premise was it's difficult to catch these hitmen and the reason is because they're always hired from prison. After they're done with the job, they go back to prison. So you keep looking for them but you can't find them because they are already in prison.
We didn't pursue that concept because SM came up with the 'no R-18' policy. So we said, let's just do a horror movie.
I've always wanted to do a horror movie. Dondon and I even had a concept before entitled Feng Shui about the unluckiest house and presented that to Mother. We sat down with Roy Iglesias for the story. But Mother did not push through with the project. Sabi niya, 'Ayokong gawin ang movie about Feng Shui na horror. Magagalit ang mga Instik sa akin diyan!' So nawala iyong Feng Shui idea. And then we heard Star Cinema was doing a Feng Shui movie.
HORROR WITH CERTAIN LIMITATIONS
So we decided that the movie would be a horror movie. Before we started writing the script, we had to think of a story that would work around certain limitations. First was that the movie had to be shot within a short period of time. Second it would be shot on high-definition (HD) or digital video (DV) format. I really wanted the mini-DV format but HD was more accessible cost-wise. Third, we had to assemble actors and staff who would agree to be paid later on.
Noong nabanggit ko kay Don-don iyong project about the improvisational movie on a couple separating, akala niya that it would be done under our company, Reality Entertainment. I originally intended to produce the project myself because it is a very personal movie but then when I thought about it, it would really be wiser to produce the movie under Reality Entertainment and make a more commercial project. In that way, there would be less risk on my part financially. What I am saying is, if i do my personal movie, it's a concept that's harder to sell. But then if someone else - other than my self - is also in the project, then I would be forced to work hard to make it work commercially rather than come up with a personal movie like Lav Diaz' long masterpieces that even if not released theatrically, ok lang sa kanya as long as he was able to do it. And if the movie becomes successful, then we could go and do other projects under a similar set-up. Then, I can do the movies that I really want to do.
Back to the script.. we decided that the story should be universal but truly Pinoy. When I say universal, it's such that even if you're from Timbuktu, you would still know what the filmmakers are talking about.
TWISTS UPON TWISTS UPON TWISTS!
So the first premise we thought of was about a closely-knit family of which the mother dies. There's a belief that if you don't embalm the dead, the dead comes back. So because this family loves the mother so much, the surviving members didn't want to embalm her. And then she comes back and they were happy. Then bad things begin to happen. Yon pala, the father is also brought back from the grave..
We didn't pursue this first story because it sounded it was kinda forcing it through. It was difficult to complete the plotline without making it contrived.
And then we thought of the Pa-Siyam angle. It's partly inspired by the Da Vinci Code.. you think the story is this and then - boom! It's not what you thought it was! It's twists upon twists upon twists! The audience keeps guessing all the time what's going to happen. More than being a horror movie, there is a strong mystery angle to the story. A horror movie with a whodunnit angle.
Pa-Siyam is my first horror movie. I've always wanted to do a horror movie. I've done horror for television, Kagat ng Dilim which was even ahead of Nginig and Wag Kukurap by four years. And it's only now that they are starting to copy the format.
Making a horror movie is a risk. It needs careful manipulation of the audience. Careful in the sense that if you go overboard on the horror scenes in the wanting to scare your audience to death para sulit ang bayad nila, then you'll overdo the horror and leaves you open to resorting to cheap tricks. The risk is that, as filmmakers, we want it horrifying but we don’t also want any of the cheap tricks like strong music to jolt the audience or a hand grabs your protagonist 'yon pala kapatid niya. i want a classic horror movie that's based on a truly horror story and not just a bag of so many horror tricks that if you take those out and look into the story, you'll find out na hindi pala talaga siya horror. Complicated. It is a complicated genre to handle because you have to be constantly ahead of your audience but you shouldn't be fooling them too much to be condascending towards them thereby alienating them.
THE SCARIEST HORROR MOVIE
The scariest movie I ever saw was Rosemary's Baby. That's a horror movie that doesn't manipulate the audience with cheap tricks. It's about a childless young couple who meets an old couple and then suddenly their lives improve.. The wife becomes pregnant. The husband who's a struggling actor suddenly gets a big break. Good things suddenly happen to them, it's so eerie.
So the story of Pa-Siyam is about a mother who dies. Previously, she was left in the care of the caretakers - an old married couple and their daughter. One day, she was found dead by the caretakers. So the children were informed and they come back to the province to bury the mother. The eldest child, who is played by Roderick, returns from Saudi Arabia.
So the children bury their mother, after which most of them want to leave. Roderick tells his siblings, "No, I'm staying.. The least we could do is to pray for our mother.' Eventually, the others also decide to stay. They have the pa-siyam which is nine days of novena prayer for the soul of the departed.
And then strange things start to happen...
"SUNTOK SA BUWAN NA MAPAPAYAG NAMIN SI RODERICK…"
The cast was assembled when the story was already written. Suntok sa buwan na mapapayag namin si Roderick. We thought he wouldn't accept the project. But when I pitched to story to him over dinner, he said, "I'll do it." He particularly loved the family angle of the movie. It is famous in showbiz circles that Kuya Dick is very close to his mom.
Cherry Pie became part of Pa-Siyam because of the talk we had when I told her about the first project, the one about two people separating. But we also had to talk to her manager Ed Instrella; we pitched to him the entire movie.
Yul - I've always wanted to work with him. We sold the idea to Yul's manager Maryo J. delos Reyes who let Yul do the project for us.
Pa-Siyam is seen as an ensemble movie. There are no bigger roles. All the characters are equally important. They're working together for one goal.
IMPROVISATION ON THE SET
It's a very story-driven horror movie.
It's all improv sa set. Everyone helped each other develop the outcome of the scene. This movie could not have been done if we did not deal with good actors.
I've never done a movie in nine days. With the short shooting period, I had to device a way to fast track shooting so i can do a lot of scenes in a day. Since our HD camera comes with a steadicam package, I decided to shoot most of the scenes in one long shot. And on HD, dahil tape lang siya, I can shoot ten minute sequences with no cuts. Except of course on the horror sequences where it needed more camera coverages. That's why I wanted a cast na magaling. Walang tanga or bopol. Otherwise, if i shoot with an ensemble cast and there is one actor that's not good, I'll constantly be retaking long takes and that poses a problem with the tight shooting schedule. And somehow, inspired din ang mga actors namin sa set e kaya ang sarap ng shooting.
This movie is not unreal or fantastic. It's very grounded to real, human drama. The theme is very universal. It's about family, taking care of parents and uncovering family secrets. Walang horror for horror's sake; all the horror you see is tied up in the end to the horror story.
A MOVIE THAT IS CLOSE TO MY HEART
After Mano Po 2, I swore that I will never make a movie that is not close to my heart. Pa-Siyam is very meaningful to me because it's a story that I decided to work on. It may not be autobiographical but it is a genre I'd like to try my hand on.
I think the only way for the Filipino film industry to survive is to go global. There is no future if we continue to make films only for the Philippine market. Filipino filmmakers should be challenge to do movies without looking down on the audience which is what our major studios are constantly asking our filmmakers to do in their movies. They always presume that the audience will have to be spoon fed every information in the story. I love movies that interacts with the audience. That makes the audience think and feel alongside the movie as it unfolds in the movie screen. I really think that everybody should go global. If we're stuck in our own market, the market is simply too small and too Hollywood oriented for our stuff to make financially and critically.
We're not trying to come up with an experimental movie. I don't do art house movies. I want my movies to be enjoyed by as many people as possible. I don't want to do movies that only my mother can appreciate because she has to as a sensitive parent. With the million and 1 horror movies that has been done, we tried so much to come up with something fresh and original.
We are offering the audience our 'small' film. If the Filipino market embraces Pa-Siyam, it could be a start of a new wave of Filipino movies. In our own little way, we would like to bring the Filipino movies globally. Of course, if it appeals to everyone (which I am almost definite, it will)
We are pleading, we are making a call to the audience.
If you're sick and tired of seeing the same kind of Filipino movies, here is something new.
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