What ‘immersive’ role in award-winning cemetery drama taught Joem Bascon

Joem Bascon

Actor Joem Bascon said he had to live inside the cemetery for over a week and actually dig out a decaying corpse for Daniel Palacio’s Sinag Maynila best picture winner, “Pailalim.”

This film proved to be truly challenging for the 32-year-old actor. “We shot it for 10 straight days. In between, we would go home for a while to get some personal stuff, then return shortly thereafter. We really lived with the people staying there. We stayed there even when the cemetery had already closed for the night,” Joem told the Inquirer.

Joem said his “immersion” allowed him to “live with them, eat with them, and know how it feels to live without a toilet.” Later in the interview, he revealed that he actually participated in the digging of a decaying corpse.

“I learned that the stench is similar to that of a decaying tooth,” he recalled. “To the people living there, it’s just normal. We ate in a karinderya right after the digging. People kept saying, ‘Amoy patay kayo,’ but we didn’t mind.”

Joem’s character, Bangis, is based on an actual person living in a cemetery. “My character has a child who is gravely ill. He needs to earn money so he can pay for the kid’s hospitalization. Bangis isn’t really a bad person, but he needs to be cunning to provide for his family,” Joem explained.

The film will be screened in selected cinemas in Metro Manila until April 17. “We worked on this film a long time ago, but I can still clearly remember the effect it had on me,” the actor said. “Shortly after shooting, I had to go to a look-test for a new teleserye. I guess it was culture shock that I felt. I was suddenly afraid to be in front of the camera. I didn’t know how to react while facing it. Even though I bathed, I felt as if I was still smelly. The stench got stuck in my mind.”

He added: “I also became antisocial. I had wanted to go back to my old life. I got used to people not minding me. I was already comfortable sleeping on top of tombs or using coffins as chairs. I got used to the smell of decaying flesh. I didn’t care about my looks.”

What made filming “Pailalim” even more challenging was the fact that its director didn’t provide his actors with the complete script.

“Direk Dante (Brillante Ma Mendoza) is our mentor. Like him, Direk Daniel simply placed us, his actors, on the set and left us to ‘create’ the scenes. When you see the movie, you will ask, ‘Did this happen for real?’” Joem recalled. “We went inside an actual hospital, and the people believed that the child I was carrying was really sick. They really helped us—from the security guards to the doctors and nurses.”

Joem added: “Thinking about it now, that was actually dangerous. They could’ve gotten angry with us for taking them away from their work. All in all, it was a fun experience. Everything was role-play, but it felt real. Direk was there to assist us the whole time.”

The actor said the whole experience has made him realize that “we have brothers who are ‘isang kahig, isang tuka.’ Most of us are too sheltered that we’re unaware that outside our comfort zone exists people in desperate need of help—those who will do anything just to survive. I’m happy that they are given a voice through this movie.”