**The second screening of Jay runs Wednesday, October 8th at 3:00pm in Theatre 5 at Empire on Granville – don’t miss out on this great film**
Before we get to the hotness, I went and saw my final film as a reviewer at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival and was surprised by the quality and depth of the film. Despite the terrible sound and visual difficulties (this is the second screening I’ve been to this festival with movie-long technical difficulties), it’s worth your time.
Directed and produced by Francis Xavier E. Pasion, Jay follows the story of a gay Filipino TV producer/reporter (played by Baron
Geisler) who covers and exposes the murder of a young gay English teacher to his family. He then creates a news by documenting the life of a Pampanga family in the days following the murder. This is a slamming condemnation of sensationalist newsmakers told from a non-North American perspective. The cinematography is sharp and the film within a film construct works in Jay’s favour.
Baron
Geisler and Coco Martin (who plays the deceased’s ex-boyfriend) deliver award worthy performances and this film works best when we are allowed to see their characters real lives unfold outside the context of the television show. Watching Geisler manipulate the grieving family is stomach turning at some points, but there is a counterpoint in the family’s – particularly the mother’s – foray into professional acting. Because of the reality TV guise, some of the scenes with “real” emotional outbursts caused snickers from tonight’s audience, but that’s to be expected. I was disappointed when the couple behind me laughed at an scene featuring an interview of a teenage boy wearing make-up – a scene where neither the dialogue nor context was funny. Tolerance still has a long way to go, people…
Coco stole the show for me. Here’s a blurb from Wikipedia:
Coco Martin is an actor from the Philippines. He has appeared in several TV commercials before breaking into showbiz with his debut film Masahista (Masseur) which won him the Young Critics Circle Best Actor Award in 2006. He is also a member of the boy-group The Studs.
The Studs, eh? I salute any man who is comfortable enough to use a jockstrap shot as his primary promotional picture…in fact, I’m getting ideas…
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