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Ang Pekeng LV (Louis Vuitton) ni Giselle Sanchez
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Fourteen years ago, I was also in the same place, but I was not smiling like this. The Spanish Steps is a very popular place, especially to tourists and Europe ’s Rich and Famous, because this is where all the designer shops are located. Fourteen years ago, I was also invited to hold
a comedy concert for the Filipinos in Rome through a group of Batangeño producers.
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Fourteen years ago, I was also in the same place, but I was not smiling like this. The Spanish Steps is a very popular place, especially to tourists and Europe ’s Rich and Famous, because this is where all the designer shops are located. Fourteen years ago, I was also invited to hold
a comedy concert for the Filipinos in Rome through a group of Batangeño producers. .
Pagkatapos ng concert ko, sumama ang sosyalita kong kaibigan na si Cutie del Mar sa akin para mag-bakpak at libutin ang buong Italya. Palibhasa, hindi ako sanay na isang bakpak lang ang dadalhin ko para sa isang linggong paglilibot. ‘Di ko yata kayang magsuot ng parehong Tshirt sa loob ng tatlong araw. YUCK! Ang baho na nun ng over! Kaya dinala ko ang isang Louis Vuitton na hand carry. Pero, ito ay isang Louis Vuitton na peke, japeyks, class triple-A, galing Greenhills.
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Alam ko na mali ang bumili at gumamit ng peke pero sana maintindihan ninyo ako. Fourteen years ago, nag-uumpisa pa lang ang career ko. Kapiranggot lang ang kinikita ko at nagandahan lang ako dun sa maleta kaya binili ko. Wala pa akong malay sa brands noon. Kaya ganito na lang ang pagkukutya ng kaibigan ko sa akin.
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Cutie: Oh my god! Is that a fake… I see!
Giselle: Sorry, hindi ako anak ng Congressman tulad mo!
Cutie: Giselle, ano ka ba! Giselle Sanchez ka na! You can’t be seen with a fake! You already perform for the rich and famous not only in the Philipp ine s but all over the world! When In Rome , do as the Romans do! Halika, punta tayo sa Louis Vuitton diyan sa Spanish Steps and buy yourself an original!
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Ang bilis lumakad ng sosyalera, wala ako choice kundi sumunod kahit wala akong planong bumili. Plano ko lang tumingin at bilhin yung usong model sa Greenhills uli. O.A. kaya ang presyo ng Louis Vuitton bags. The cheapest, smallest bag will cost you P25, 000. Regular bags range from P35, 000-90, 0000. And the big and real nice ones cost P125, 000-P180, 000. Sa pinakamurang bag, mapapakain ko na ang pamilya ko nang limang linggo. At sa pinakamahal na bag ay mapapa-aral ko na ang kapatid ko ng college! Ako pa naman ang breadwinner ng pamilya.. Why would I waste my money with such over priced bags?
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Eto na, pumasok na kami sa napakarangyang Louis Vuitton Shop. Siyempre, hindi ko naman maiwan yung peke kong maleta sa labas, so sama si japeyks sa loob. At pagkakita ng mahaderang manager sa bag ko, bigla akong nilapitan, inikutan at tinignan mula ulo hanggang paa.
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LV manager: Excuse me, but what is your Nationality? Giselle: I’m Fil…(hindi pa nga tapos)
LV manager: (whispering but loud enough for me and Cutie to hear) I knew it! You Filipina maids come in here to copy our designs. Get out of my store!
Giselle: Excuse me! I am not a maid! I am an actress and I came here in Italy to perform for these “maids” you were referring to. And don’t you ever call them that! They are called Overseas Filipino Workers. Do not look down on our OFWs because they have dignity in labor. Do you work on commission, what’s your most expensive here?
LV Manager: (Points to this type of a cabinet where the bags are displayed). This one! It cost ___ million lira. (Nakalimutan ko na yung value, basta million-million kasi lira yung currency. Basta halaga ng tatlong buhay ko.)
Giselle: Ganun! What’s your second most expensive?
LV Manager: (Points to a luggage na kapalit ang dalawang buhay ko)
Giselle: Forget it! You! (pointing to a cute salesman in the counter) I will not buy from you, Mr. Manager. I will buy from him so he can take the commission! I’ll buy this, that, this, that, and 
this! It’s too bad I’m not an overseas Filipino worker because they can buy more than what I can!
this! It’s too bad I’m not an overseas Filipino worker because they can buy more than what I can! .
So what is the price of dignity? P500, 000.00—maxed on my credit card; paid slowly for three years; with my mom screaming on my ears every now and then.
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In fairness to these overpriced bags, they are very durable. I started using them fourteen years ago and I still use them up to now! People think I’m so classy using coordinated Louis Vuitton handbags, make-up kit, and shoe bags. Little do they know that Giselle became classy because of her being crassy. Moral of the story, kung di niyo kaya, huwag mang gaya at baka mapahiya. I never realized that paying for your sins can be quite expensive! Di bale, basta mapagtanggol ang dangal ng minamahal kong Overseas Filipino Workers! Mabuhay kayo…kahit mamatay na ako sa utang!
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I can imagine ‘Mu Dan’, with its subversion, is hidden somewhere in the fantasies of any imaginative director. But Lincoln has taken it a step further to play it out, in good taste though. A middle-aged mother is driven on the brink of loneliness and starts getting cranky. It does not help that her mildly rebellious son brings home his object of affection, a blonde-wigged Chinese girlfriend, to her disliking. This is where Lincoln defies the rules of behaviour and explores what we really want deep down inside as humans. After having a wig hurled at her by the enraged girlfriend, the mother makes a 180 degree turn, delighting the audience.
Not all have the magnetism of Li Xie, a seasoned stage actress. Actually, there is only one Li Xie. Slithery and seductive, the mother unleashes a new persona to the outside world……in that blonde wig. While Li Xie’s been anchor for the plot before this, now she actually drives it. Every action counts, it seems. They are performed with such intensity (and it felt like every muscle was clenched) that it was easy to read the nuances. They have been many ways local directors have justified camp (read : Hock Hiap Leong by Royston Tan) and in this case, Li Xie justifies it single-handedly. This is not to discredit Lincoln the director. After all, we did move away from Li Xie to the son’e girlfriend who is actually a lingerie model. In a single flutter of her glitter-dusted eyelids, she looks up at something, drawing my attention to uncanny parallel with the born-again mother, widening the reference in the film’s title.
In ‘Respirator’, a child is on the brink of death and the only way to save him is a heart transplant. A doctor pressures his ex-wife (who is the real mother) into doing the operation for guaranteed financial sustenance for an indefinite period. Poor helpless mum, her seeming lack of education about things traps her into a grotesquely complicated looking ‘respirator’. Never mind if I spotted the look of silver paint on cardboard, the issues were riveting (pardon the pun) and the characters throbbing with life. Careful casting paid off well. The mother is a bag of anxiety and her untrained and frail voice is subtly affecting. Boon, the boorish brother redefines ad-libbing with his choppy and crude speech.
I also like Respirator for its brave attempt at a neo-scifi genre, something very much out of reach for many short filmmakers due to budget reaons. In fact, it is not just a brave attempt but a very shrewd and smart attempt. After all, the actual device, at its cheapest could be a composition of materials from your DIY store sprayed with lots of silver paint. But Michael’s clearly milked a fair amount of drama out of it.
