AJ Perez shines in ‘farewell’ portrayal

PEREZ. Unique artistic leavetaking.

MANILA, Philippines—It was most fortuitous that, shortly before he died in a car crash last month, teen star AJ Perez was able to tape a “Maala-ala Mo Kaya” drama, which was telecast last April 30. Symbolically, the episode was a unique artistic leavetaking or farewell, so we made sure we caught the special telecast to honor AJ in our own small way.

The good news is that, thespically speaking, both AJ and child actor, Bugoy Cariño, acquitted themselves well in the drama, in which they played extremely impoverished siblings who, after some traumatic experiences, decided to do the impossible: Walk hundreds of kilometers back to their hometown in Catbalogan, Samar!

While AJ and Bugoy were patently too goodlooking and well-fed to be implicitly credible as extremely impoverished youths, they were still able to make some of their characters’ experiences and emotions believable, through sheer dint and rigor of artistic empathy.

Arduous journey

On the whole, however, the episode failed to live up to its promise as a memorable dramatic experience. While we must believe that the arduous journey did happen (the show bases its scripts on ostensibly real-life experiences contributed by viewers), its presentation on the show lacked sufficient dramatic detail and unction.

The incidents depicted were definitely stressful and even traumatic, especially because the protagonists were so young and penniless—but, they unfolded in a rather “packaged” way, thus ending up being deficient in texture and visceral believability.

While the young actors did their best to make their empathetic emotions real, the drama still came off as a performance, rather than a real experience happening in front of viewers’ eyes.

There were also too few dramatically insightful events and subsidiary characters in the storytelling, as the episode focused too exclusively on the two protagonists, resulting in a relative paucity of insights and dramatic rising action.

Telling moments

There were a few telling moments, like the scene in which the youths momentarily forgot their weariness and woes when they played in a park; the inordinately great importance that Bugoy’s character placed on a lost toy, and best of all, the illuminating plot twist that had the two brothers engaging in role-reversal, after AJ’s character was injured and Bugoy had to take care of him.

But, these perceptive touches, while appreciated, didn’t galvanize the drama sufficiently for it to become the memorable viewing experience it should have been. The people who worked on the episode should have realized that “road” productions are difficult to execute, so that their thematic point is communicated, and viewers’ involvement is sustained.

Be that as it may, the drama did show that AJ was a promising and “giving” young actor, so his abrupt exit from the performing scene is a real loss.

As for Bugoy, he’s still very much around, so we hope that his own thespic development proceeds apace, and that his mentors and handlers won’t limit his performances to the slick, porma, sassy or overly lugubrious shticks that many local child actors are made to push and play, for shallow “entertainment’s” sake.