Got to interview National Artist Eddie Romero for a magazine yesterday. I was so starstruck I was falling all over myself, stuttering and misplacing things. Thankfully, he was really nice and jolly about everything. He was fun to talk to and had humorous things to say.
Me:
It's rare that I make people watch movies with me. It's usually people asking me to watch movies with them. And of the few times I've asked (cajoled, threatened, prodded) people to watch a film with me, only two of those movies have been Filipino. One was Pare Ko, the Gwapings starrer that was supposed to be the Bagets of the 90's and Romero's Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?, which starred a very cute, very young, very innocent-looking Cristopher de Leon and Gloria Diaz, who portrayed the ultimate Filipino dream girl with her sensual yet unnerving mix of sexual eroticism paired with a face so angelic she could give Maria Clara a run for her money. Maui and Katya have nothing on her.
Thinking about it, Ganito is sort of like Forrest Gump, with provincial innocence replacing mental illness and self-discovery instead of death by AIDS. And Ganito came first. And as much as I love Tom Hanks (who is not bad looking), Christopher de Leon is much, much easier on the eyes. What I would have given to be a young lass when he still looked like that and I could call him fafa. I'd feel dirty calling him that now, and somehow, calling an elder crush tito is Just Wrong. Imagine this: Tito Sean. Tito Patrick. Tito Pierce. Eeeew.
Nowadays, Romero is known for his numerous B-movies that have influenced some of today's most popular filmmakers, one of which is Quentin Tarantino. This, I think, is a legacy just as important as his “serious” films, except that most of the Philippines think that genre has no place in history or culture.
So. Starstruck me. Amused him. I'm so overwhelmed I'm starting to speak lolcat. I can has interview! I can has picture! I can has memories! Whee!
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