What made you write the script?


The story is a product of one of my papers on the effects of globalization on the Filipino woman. The movie is a poetic and allegorical narrative on a womans will to survive in an oppressive environment. Fe represents the migrant woman constantly at the mercy of global factors and yet remarkably resilient as she survives whatever life throws along her way. Arturo, the young lover, is the man who cannot earn enough in the Philippine setup. Like the woman, he is always affected by global factors, thus disabling him to accomplish his traditional role as the breadwinner in a patriarchal society. He symbolizes the Philippines as it tries to move away from its agricultural past to become an industrialized nation. Dante is the barren husband who has always been rooted on his agricultural past. He is the Philippines as an agricultural nation, barren and unable to provide for his family. He is always under scrutiny as an impotent breadwinner in a patriarchal society and thus, seems powerless. Unable to face up to this, he resorts to violence against his wife to assert his lost power.

The movie tries to redefine panggagahasa as it comes in different forms for the Filipino woman. Whether emotionally, socially, psychologically or physically, rape strips away from the woman her dignity and her freedom. Rapture, on a another hand, deals with the ability of the woman to make choices that will lead to their survival, if not salvation. Here, that choice is offered by the mysterious suitor.


I want to do the film because of its fantasy element, the most overused and abused genre in television and film now. Hindi naja-justify ang use of the elements of underworld mythological characters. Hindi kasi rooted in local lore. Kulang sa research.


The underworld mythological character portrayed in our movie is far removed from the traditional depiction that has long been demonized by our Spanish-Christian colonizers. Here, he represents the alternative. His depiction is neither good nor bad. The paganistic has always been associated with the female imagination. It is in this light that the movie presents the creature as the womans salvation from her terrible ordeal.


Also, there are too many realistic films now. There are alternative ways of looking in cinema. Our movie is not just a fantasy film but an allegorical and poetic narration. Thats the strength of my first short film, Rolyo, its poetic narrative.

Fe, played by Irma Adlawan, mysteriously receives baskets of black fruits


The first time I saw Irma perform was during one of the Palanca Awards ceremonies I attended at the Manila Pen. In every ceremony, they perform a play. In this particular one, they played Floy Quintoss Fluid. Irma performed one of the monologues. I was so impressed by that performance. From then on, Irma got my attention. I go to ccp to watch her plays. Later on, I found out that she began accepting roles for TV and soaps. One of my dreams is to work with her. I want to write to a script to showcase her range as an actress. Thats why I wrote the script. May range kasi and pelikula, from the hysterical to the sublime.


Shes a favorite among indie directors and I now know why. Shes easy to work with. She really knows her craft as an actress. She studies her character. One thing I observed with her during the shoot is that she knows how to calibrate her emotions and her calibrations can be minute but that impressed me.


There was a particular incident when Fe witnessed a crisis in Arturos family involving his dad and brother. Fe looked at Meeyo (playing the younger brother) then TJ (playing Arturo) in a brisk manner. When I saw the register on the screen, that was not what I was looking for. I told her to do it slower. With that one direction, she was able to deliver it. Kuha agad. Na-deliver. She can deliver a line without a dialogue. She can deliver an emotion with the flick of her neck or just with her eyes.


And most of all, she trusts her director completely. And thats important for any director.



How was it then working with her?


She knows what shes doing. She takes care that each scene would not repeat the emotional register of the previous scene. Shes so careful to monitor the emotional continuity, the emotional history of a character. There was a point we could no longer figure out the direction her character would go with the fruits. But she was able to discern the uninevitable direction.


Hindi siya maarte. Grabe ang mga pinagawa namin sa kanya. Pinaghukay namin siya. Pinahiga sa ilalim ng punong may langgam. Pinaakyat at pinababa ng bundok. Pinagpasan ng ilang kilo ng rattan (habang umaakyat at bumababa ng bundok). Lahat yun ginawa niya.

I appreciated the fact that he consented to undergoing an acting workshop with me, the director, before the shoot. And there, during the workshop, we studied the direction, the tone hes going to use for each dialogue, what the character is thinking with each line. Not that hes looking for specific instructions from the director and he doesnt have his own mind. He also has his ideas. It became a dialogue and not just a workshop. With TJ, I really felt that we both were instrumental in forming his character. We experimented on his characters walk, posture, etc.


One of my critic friends who already saw his performance said that he effectively captured the boyishness of Arturos character. It was a subtle performance done consistently. But of course, subtle performances run the risk of going unnoticed. But its high time that people notice TJ for his craft rather than just his matinee looks.

With TJ: TJ was able to deliver all that we discussed at the workshop/dialogue and I was not expecting that he was nice to work withworking until sunrise with no rest. When he knows that his director is getting stressed, at no fault of his own, once he notices this, he tried to pull out a joke.

How was the transformation of the script to film? How was it like? Any changes made?


Ay naku!!! Ang dami!!! Actually Im going to tell the press and the audience at the start of each screening, To those who have read the script, dont expect to find it verbatimly translated to screen. There were a lot of considerations. First, budget. Then the schedule of the actors. I always find ourselves rewriting the script to accommodate these factors. Also, the weather. Entire scenes were scrapped. Major lines transfered to another character.


The accidents! When Irma falling. Im sure youd marvel at the realistic sound effects when she fell on the floor. Thats reality for you. We took the shot and worked with it. Even though it was a month after.


Then theres an extra almost getting asphyxiated. As one of our production designers said that it was the most horrific moment in his entire life. Thank God, we all survived the film.



Any difficulty in doing the film? Any regrets? Learnings?


Controlling the temper of everyone. Realization: to be a director, you also have to manage the personalities of the people you are working with. Make sure that they blend well.


And finding a common time for people its very hard.

Definitely no regrets.

Learnings: I need to be more meticulous now with my preprod. I know Im meticulous from the start, but of course, there is always something to improve.

Coming up with a realistic budget and working with it.

Was it deliberate that you got neophytes to work on your first feature film?


I really intend to work with neophytes from the start so they can improve and learn together with me.

Why trust them?


No biases from the start. No preconceptions about certain techniques, angles, camera motions. They can trust their director fully.

click the link for the detailed interview
http://www.theraptureoffe.com/?p=531

this is one movie that we can be proud of!!!let's all support tj in this movie!

"But its high time that people notice TJ for his craft rather than just his matinee looks. "


_ direk, i definitely agree with you!!! thank you for trusting TJ in this film!