MA’ROSA PREMIER. (From left) Award-winning director Brillante Mendoza is joined by Cannes best actress, Jaclyn Jose and her daughter Andi Eigenmann during the Philippine premier of their movie Ma’ Rosa at the SM City Davao on Tuesday night, June 21. The movie will open on July 6 in cinemas nationwide.
Mendoza said they chose Davao as the first place to promote the film because the subject matter is very timely as Davao City’s former mayor, now President-elect, Rodrigo Duterte campaigns strongly against illegal drugs and criminality.
The film director said Davao’s local government is supportive of their advocacy to support independent films.
Mendoza said that the movie is based from a true story and was developed four years ago, “It shows a unique but also disturbing characteristic of a common Filipino family that when a family member is backed against the wall for the wrong doings that he or she made, you will do everything to keep them out of trouble even if it means violating basic virtuous,” he said.
Cannes best actress
Jose was the first Southeast Asian actress to win the 2016 Best actress award in Cannes Film Festival held in France on May 22.
During the press conference, Jose said the feeling of winning the award was “indescribable”.
The movie Ma’Rosa evolves from the character of Rosa who owns a small store in the slums of Manila. Together with her husband, Nestor, they use their store as front for selling illegal narcotic, methamphetamine.
Both were set up by their neighbor for a police raid leading to the couple’s arrest, a ploy for extortion. Backed against the wall, Rosa seeks help from her children, Jackson, Raquel, and Kerwin as they do the daunting task to buy their parent’s freedom.
“The movie gives us a slice of life in a community,” he said.
Mendoza said that the film was treated like a documentary film “with a strong feel of realism, using found objects and locations in production design.”
He said that for them to be able to capture the precision raw emotions, “they have to throw away everything that they have learned in their acting profession and just act plain and natural as their characters since they should blend with non-actors on screen.”
Jose said that she is already used to the film director’s style of working with no script “I let him do the rest, I’ll just follow and on the lines or go below instincts,”she said.
“I know what he is doing so I can deal with that,” she said.
No scripts
Eigenmann also shared that it was her first time to work with Mendoza. “I was bit nervous because it is also my first time to work without a proper script but that is also a challenge of any actor who aspire to do good and wants to excel on what they do.”
“The actors were never given a copy of the script and was only directed based on how I commute the script,” he said.
Mendoza, however, clarified that they have a “well-structured” script, but he doesn’t need the actors to follow the script and to be “very particular” with the lines.
“With us, there are take twos but you can explore and do something else that would have to repeat what you did the first time,”he said.
He said that the actors doesn’t have to see the “well-structured” script. “That is not how I work,” he said.
“The script is the bible of the production but not necessary in the actors,” Mendoza said.
The movie will be open for nationwide screening on July 6. (davaotoday.com)
