Full frontal at 62!
Published Jan 30, 2022 12:05 am
Heard It Through the GripeVine: Our New Abnormal
Two storylines coming out of the ongoing Sundance Film Festival caught my attention, and as they’re bigger than Entertainment or World Cinema stories, I thought it would be good to draw attention to them in this column. The festival comes to a close today, and I’m hoping these stories echo beyond, and resonate beyond the festival circuit.
The first story is, of course, a source of Pinoy Pride. It’s ‘Leonor Will Never Die’ (Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago), a meta-fantasy film that’s also a love letter to the cheesy Filipino action movies of yesteryear. Directed by Maritka Ramirez Escobar, produced by Coreen Jimenez and Mario Cornejo, and starring Sheila Francisco as Leonor, it’s been well-received and a critics’ and audience favorite. It’s competing in the World Cinema: Dramatic Competition of Sundance, only the second time a Filipino film has achieved this, and I’m hoping it calls attention to the great pool of talent we have here. After all, Asia can and should be more than about South Korea, right?
I’ve not had the chance to watch the film, but reading about it, I’m hoping we all soon get the chance to view it. Leonor is a retired film director and screenplay writer from the 1980’s, and in the present day, when she takes it upon herself to complete an unfinished screenplay, an accident and subsequent coma transport her to the fictional world of her screenplay, where she’s guided by a son who passed away. That’s some imaginative homage to the action heroes and films of that decade, and the potential for what the director can conjure up from that premise really excited me.
The Sundance announcement for Leonor Will Never Die (photo from Facebook).
The early reviews of the film lauded Escobar’s light but sure touch, calling the film a great entry to weird cinema, ‘packed with self-reflexive humor and a deep reverence for the art of film-making’ (rogerebert.com). Other reviews singled out Escobar, for her ‘often strange, but ultimately moving feature directorial debut’ (the playlist.net). And I love that a Filipino film is getting this kind of praise at an indie film festival that’s considered the mother of them all. Founded by Robert Redford, Sundance is still the one indie film festival that producers aspire to create a buzz in.
The second Sundance story has to do with a renowned 62-year old actress doing a nude full frontal for the first time in her film career. Screened for the first time at Sundance, ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ is directed by Sophie Hyde, and stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack (he plays Isaiah in Peaky Blinders). It’s a sensitive drama about a retired religion teacher and widow, who decides to experience the things she felt has eluded her in life. Among these sought after experiences, is to enjoy great sex and reach orgasm; and to achieve that, she hires a sex worker (McCormack).
Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Talking about her character in the film, Nancy Stokes, Emma intimated that, ‘It’s very challenging to be nude at 62. She stands in front of a mirror, and drops her robe.’ Director Sophie Hyde added that, ‘We aren’t used to seeing untreated bodies on-screen.’ To get comfortable for the scene, the director, Thompson and McCormack would rehearse and talk about what they would do to execute the scene, all in the nude. Director Hyde is in her mid-40’s.
Beyond the commitment to the project that an established star like Thompson is offering, what interested me were the discussion and quotes attributed to Thompson as the film was doing its rounds. Basically, as people were questioning her on doing a nude scene, she shot back by saying how ‘utterly unbalanced’ this Hollywood and movie-making system is. In one interview, she commented that, ‘It’s completely acceptable for say, George Clooney - who is delightful - to do a romantic love scene with someone who is 30 years younger than him. If I have someone playing opposite me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone.’ Yes, Emma, disarm them with humor; and yet, make your point.
On the set of one of her past films, she recounted how one of her female co-stars was body-shamed by being told she had to lose weight if she wanted to keep the role. Later that day, she sent a note to the director, firmly stating that she would leave the film set and never come back, if that kind of behavior was being condoned. As she reminded the production, were they hiring an actress, or a model?
Now again, I’ve not seen the Leo Grande film, which was praised as a charming film that tackles serious issues with subtle humor. But I found it admirable for Emma Thompson to point out how this double standard still exists. We may talk about the lasting effects of #MeToo, or about the cancel culture that permeates social media; but I loved that as mainstream a celebrity as Emma Thompson, could remind us of how many questionable standards and practices still thrive in the Entertainment industry.
I’m hoping that in time, I’ll get to watch these Sundance entries; but for now, I thought it would be nice to share what I’ve been hearing about them.
Two storylines coming out of the ongoing Sundance Film Festival caught my attention, and as they’re bigger than Entertainment or World Cinema stories, I thought it would be good to draw attention to them in this column. The festival comes to a close today, and I’m hoping these stories echo beyond, and resonate beyond the festival circuit.
The first story is, of course, a source of Pinoy Pride. It’s ‘Leonor Will Never Die’ (Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago), a meta-fantasy film that’s also a love letter to the cheesy Filipino action movies of yesteryear. Directed by Maritka Ramirez Escobar, produced by Coreen Jimenez and Mario Cornejo, and starring Sheila Francisco as Leonor, it’s been well-received and a critics’ and audience favorite. It’s competing in the World Cinema: Dramatic Competition of Sundance, only the second time a Filipino film has achieved this, and I’m hoping it calls attention to the great pool of talent we have here. After all, Asia can and should be more than about South Korea, right?
I’ve not had the chance to watch the film, but reading about it, I’m hoping we all soon get the chance to view it. Leonor is a retired film director and screenplay writer from the 1980’s, and in the present day, when she takes it upon herself to complete an unfinished screenplay, an accident and subsequent coma transport her to the fictional world of her screenplay, where she’s guided by a son who passed away. That’s some imaginative homage to the action heroes and films of that decade, and the potential for what the director can conjure up from that premise really excited me.
The Sundance announcement for Leonor Will Never Die (photo from Facebook).
The early reviews of the film lauded Escobar’s light but sure touch, calling the film a great entry to weird cinema, ‘packed with self-reflexive humor and a deep reverence for the art of film-making’ (rogerebert.com). Other reviews singled out Escobar, for her ‘often strange, but ultimately moving feature directorial debut’ (the playlist.net). And I love that a Filipino film is getting this kind of praise at an indie film festival that’s considered the mother of them all. Founded by Robert Redford, Sundance is still the one indie film festival that producers aspire to create a buzz in.
The second Sundance story has to do with a renowned 62-year old actress doing a nude full frontal for the first time in her film career. Screened for the first time at Sundance, ‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ is directed by Sophie Hyde, and stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack (he plays Isaiah in Peaky Blinders). It’s a sensitive drama about a retired religion teacher and widow, who decides to experience the things she felt has eluded her in life. Among these sought after experiences, is to enjoy great sex and reach orgasm; and to achieve that, she hires a sex worker (McCormack).
Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Talking about her character in the film, Nancy Stokes, Emma intimated that, ‘It’s very challenging to be nude at 62. She stands in front of a mirror, and drops her robe.’ Director Sophie Hyde added that, ‘We aren’t used to seeing untreated bodies on-screen.’ To get comfortable for the scene, the director, Thompson and McCormack would rehearse and talk about what they would do to execute the scene, all in the nude. Director Hyde is in her mid-40’s.
Beyond the commitment to the project that an established star like Thompson is offering, what interested me were the discussion and quotes attributed to Thompson as the film was doing its rounds. Basically, as people were questioning her on doing a nude scene, she shot back by saying how ‘utterly unbalanced’ this Hollywood and movie-making system is. In one interview, she commented that, ‘It’s completely acceptable for say, George Clooney - who is delightful - to do a romantic love scene with someone who is 30 years younger than him. If I have someone playing opposite me in a romantic way, they have to exhume someone.’ Yes, Emma, disarm them with humor; and yet, make your point.
On the set of one of her past films, she recounted how one of her female co-stars was body-shamed by being told she had to lose weight if she wanted to keep the role. Later that day, she sent a note to the director, firmly stating that she would leave the film set and never come back, if that kind of behavior was being condoned. As she reminded the production, were they hiring an actress, or a model?
Now again, I’ve not seen the Leo Grande film, which was praised as a charming film that tackles serious issues with subtle humor. But I found it admirable for Emma Thompson to point out how this double standard still exists. We may talk about the lasting effects of #MeToo, or about the cancel culture that permeates social media; but I loved that as mainstream a celebrity as Emma Thompson, could remind us of how many questionable standards and practices still thrive in the Entertainment industry.
I’m hoping that in time, I’ll get to watch these Sundance entries; but for now, I thought it would be nice to share what I’ve been hearing about them.