Painting Skies With Flames and Flies

I arrived at the CCP a good 2 hours ahead of screening time.

The buzz surrounding the movie was at an all-time high: a couple of days ago, one college kid had gone out of her way to heap praise upon the movie in the e-group, I surmise, the only way giggly college girls know how (?!!?!?).

Anyhow, my attitude shifted from sociopathic, demented Martian tourist to starry-eyed, gushing teenager/society page writer (HAHA! NOT!).

I mean, hey, this was premiere night and the band was there. So was actress MD who looked awfully buffed (thick?) in person. Even Lemon was there. (Dang, goo, you should've come nalang and traded your review books for some R N' R...)

'Tulad ng Dati' by Mike Sandejas is a fictional/semi-bio pic about the pioneering Pinoy Rock Band, The Dawn. It is one of eight entries in the 2nd Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

I wanted to see all the movies (if only to convince myself that there's still hope for Philippine cinema) but my schedule just wouldn't allow it.

I really wanted to see 'Mudraks' which was co-directed by Arah Jell Badayos (QueSci `96--->now ain't that something? :P) but I guess I'll just have to keep my fingers x-ed and hope it hits video soon enough.

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TND kicks off with the band playing the hit song of the same name (from `05's "Harapin").

It is 2006, and while the Dawn rock on, the band has fallen on hard times.

Jett is a bored suburban dad, the type who drives his teenage daughter to school and hangs around the house in between gigs. He is not happy with where the band is nor is he sure where it is going.

He has the rueful look of a man who has seen everything but has yet to find that one thing which he lost along the way.

One random night, he gets mugged and sustains a blow to the head. He wakes up with selective memory loss, remembering only everyhing in his life that happened up until 1988, in the band's heyday.

Lost in the haze of more recent events that he cannot comprehend much less recall, he pushes to change things to 'tulad ng dati', with mixed results. A couple of shouting matches and bruised egos later, he quits the band. Desperate, he takes a risk and joins in with the country's number 1 band, the crass and annoying, Ratbunitata.

Stop...Is this a shot at all the ugly-ass untalented hacks on the scene right now? Just asking :P

After his first and last gig with Ratbu, Jett has a moment of clarity (drug-induced) where he gets advice from his friend, the Dawn's legendary axeman, the late Teddy Diaz.

This goth dreamscape, replete with airy piano and eerie chimes in the background is the highlight of the movie.

Ping Medina's resemblance to Teddy Diaz is haunting. He takes on his older bro role pretty well, being alternately doting and firm and even kupal---which was just how Teddy was according to those who knew him.

The two talk of life and death, memory and loss, meaning and purpose.

A botched suicide attempt later, Jett is back with a vengeance, a man who found exactly what he was looking for---himself.

Midnight eyes/Chasing shadows throught the night/Dismal cries/Painting skies with flames and flies ---from "I Stand With You" by the Dawn

To be continued...