Ian Veneracion: Death of Pinoy action genre was good for the industry

Beofre Ian Veneracion was “rediscovered” as a matinee idol in popular TV series like “Pangako Sa ’Yo” and screen rom-coms like “All You Need is Pag-ibig” and the currently showing “The Achy Breaky Hearts,” he was first noticed as a child actor and, later, a teen star. But the dashing actor is also no stranger to action films, having topbilled movies like “Zaldong Tisoy,” “Alyas Baby Face” and “Kanto Boy 2: Anak ni Totoy Guapo.”

So when the Inquirer asked the 41-year-old actor what he thought the reason was for the eventual demise of the once-popular Pinoy action genre in the ’90s, he was quick to share his thoughts: “It was the sheer repetition of it all. I acted in more than 20 action movies, pero paulit-ulit lang sila (they were repetitive). They simply changed the characters’ names—but everything else was the same: A nice guy gets bullied, and his girlfriend is kidnapped. He trades blows and insults with the kontrabida, shoots his underlings, and saves the day. And piracy didn’t help.”

“By then, people started appreciating how dynamic the storytelling was in Hollywood films. The death of action films couldn’t have come at a better time, because it ushered in the era of the indies—which signalled a rebirth of sorts for Filipino cinema.”

“The indie film movement introduced younger writers and directors with fresh ideas. Now, we have better stories that don’t require distractions and gimmicks. Dati kasi, ’pag may pasabog, puwede na (explosions were enough). But now that there’s no budget for them, we’re forced to come up with stories that can stand on their own.”  Rito P. Asilo