‘Personality’ acting weighs down OFW drama

Last June 20, Melai Cantiveros attempted to establish her “cred” as a good actress by playing an OFW on “Maala-ala Mo Kaya.”

Despite her best efforts, however, her portrayal fell short of the thespic mark due to her failure to understand and realize the difference between “personality” and “character” acting.

She pretty much just played herself, portraying the OFW with her own giveaway mannerisms intact, like her tendency to “humbly” pout when she wants to come across as “cutely self-effacing,” and to “make simangot” when she wants to communicate her being bothered or moved.

We suppose that the real OFW she was lazily portraying has her own set of characteristic mannerisms, but Melai didn’t attempt to study or assimilate them, not knowing that those mannerisms were actually keys to the real OFW Joanna’s character, not Melai’s own.

All good actors understand that portraying another person is the truly creative aspect of acting, so the “Melai as Joanna” performance left a lot to be desired.

On the other hand, we should credit the actress for coming up with believable emotions in depicting the ironic and bittersweet tale of the OFW mother who had to take care of other people’s children in Kuwait, at the expense of neglecting her own children here. Now, if she only learns character acting (that could be a tall order for some performers), she should do better.

Good job

We’re less equivocal about other key aspects of the “MMK” episode, especially its scripting. The anthology drama did a good job in establishing the ironic contrast between the happiness Joanna gave to her Kuwaiti wards, as opposed to the pain her own children felt, because she wasn’t around during their formative years.

In this telling regard, the natural performances turned in by the actors portraying the Kuwaiti characters were appreciated by viewers. On the other hand, the actors playing Joanna’s family here were less credible and empathetic—a real puzzlement, right?

In any case, the episode had other plus points to help make up for that lapse: Its subsidiary thematic focus on the two mothers in its story was well-limned, with Melai and the actress playing her Kuwaiti employer effectively “learning” from one another and helping each other become better parents to their respective children.

All told therefore, “MMK’s” “Camera” episode turned out to be a good viewing experience, despite its thespic lapses. It’s just too bad that its major flaw was the performance of its lead actress, who more than occasionally was content to pretty much play the character assigned to her as herself, rather than as a different person who deserved to be fully understood and depicted for her driving wants and needs, not the actress subjective and ultimately irrelevant own!