Small is beautiful

DICAPRIO AND DEPP. Together in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”

As we watch TV drama series from day to day, we get assaulted by big, brassy performances and scenes designed to stun us into rapt attention. More often than not, however, those big-bang moments are too similarly strong and stunning, so they end up pretty much—canceling each other out!

Dizzy from the big-bang onslaught, we look for smaller but more telling and meaningful moments, scenes that are resolutely quiet and ungimmicky, but are full of love and life.

Luckily for us, we were able to experience such a precious moment last month on “Be My Lady.”

In the well-conceptualized and -performed scene, Erich Gonzales’ parents, played by Janice de Belen and Al Tantay, were taking a little time off from their multifarious duties and problems, just sharing a snack outdoors and reminiscing about their many years as spouses and parents.

What made the long, involving moment special was the astute directorial choice to “frame” it in the context of other people in the park—specifically, a young family at one side and, in front of Janice and Al, an old couple in the twilight of their years together.

One false move from anybody in the group scene would have diminished its emotional impact, but we were blessed because anything worked.

The thing for other TV people to do is to figure out how and why it worked and made such a deep impression on viewers—something that big-bang melodramatic “highlights” are incapable of achieving. —More of the same, please!

Lose one, win one

Our recent “predictions” article got a range of comments from readers. Some huffily told us to hang up our prognosticating cap, because we didn’t get the winning “AlDub” song on “Eat Bulaga” right. We still submit, however, that our choice, “Ta Pa” (Tamang Panahon), was a perky “young love” anthem, and its original interpreter, surnamed Zabala, is a standout discovery.

In any case, we got Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar victory right. —So, lose one, win one?

However, even our DiCaprio comments were rapped by some film-buff friends for getting some facts wrong

—like, it turns out that Leo and Johnny Depp have already acted together on the big screen—as far back as “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”—in 1993!

Our recent list of 10 best Nora Aunor film portrayals similarly got flak for some of our choices—and for movies we didn’t single out. For some reason, we got fewer objections to our earlier list of Vilma Santos’ standout screen portrayals. Go figure.

In all of these instances, pro or con, our motivation is simple—not to pass ourselves off as  astute and unimpeachable, but to interest readers and film buffs in regarding our film artists more appreciatively and seriously—not just focusing on their private lives and scandals, but on their professional output, and objectively citing them for their best contributions.

‘Sleeper’ winner

Big names ruled the major categories of the recent Oscar awards, but the unexpected surprise was the slew of victories that George Miller’s “Mad Max: The Fury Road” chalked up—in six categories!

Thus, Miller’s film ended up as a big, “sleeper” (unexpected) winner in its own right. It won Oscars for best editing, production design, costume design, sound editing, sound mixing and makeup and styling!

Yes, some of those categories were relatively “minor” and “technical,” but filmmakers would be the first to tell us that, in the extremely complex art and craft of movie-making, there are no “small” categories or jobs.

One small mistake in sound or an incorrect period hairstyle can adversely affect the totality of a film, which should be absolutely seamless.

For that reason, even as film fans may effusively honor the big, beautiful stars and powerful producers, the movie industry makes sure to equally focus on its “smallest” workers—provided they do excellent work!

The latest “Mad Max” film won many Oscars, because its futuristic setting and conflict required its makers, paced by director Miller, to create an entire “universe”—and to make it believably and cohesively come alive on the movie screen.

The fact that the production “harvested” so many awards means that it was eminently successful and even triumphant in that difficult regard!