My Father, My Mother

Ang Tatay Kong Nanay

Philippines

1978

108 Min

Color

1.37:1

Tagalog

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

|

CAST Dolphy, Niño Muhlach, Phillip Salvador, Marissa Delgado, Lorli Villanueva, Soxy Topacio

Lino Brocka’s “Ang Tatay Kong Nanay” (My Father, My Mother, roughly, 1978) is the master filmmaker’s one collaboration with the near-universally acknowledged King of Philippine Comedy, Dolphy (Rodolfo Vera Quizon). Screen legends working with famed filmmakers rarely if ever create sure bets; it’s something of a surprise, then that the resulting picture from these two is so straightforwardly poignant, laced with just enough humor to wriggle past one’s defenses.

It’s a simple premise: Dioscoro Derecho, a.k.a. Coring (Dolphy) has nurtured a crush for his handsome young friend Dennis (Philip Salvador, Brocka’s then newfound protégé). When Dennis appears at Coring’s door with a baby and a need to disappear for a while, Coring has no choice but to take in the child, and raise him as best he can.

If there’s any comedy in the picture, unlike with most of Dolphy’s movies, the humor arises from character rather than situation, and Dolphy here reveals himself as a superb character actor. Witness his discomfort at dealing with Dennis (the physical attraction he feels so intense he almost feels faint); witness too the growing sense of maternal love he feels for Nonoy, Dennis’ child (played by Nino Mulach (if, as W.C. Fields warns us, we should never act opposite dogs and children, Dolphy had his hands full trying not to be upstaged by this indescribably cute, frighteningly precocious young actor)).

More, there’s the handling of homosexuality, which is startlingly deft, considering the times when this was made. Coring doesn’t believe in gay empowerment—when Nonoy catches him in drag, he makes excuses; when the boy puts on lipstick (in an attempt to play an American Indian), Coring, misunderstanding, reprimands the boy. Brocka shows us a gay man who fails to transcend his times (Coring believes homosexuality is a flaw—or worse, a sin), who nevertheless does his level best to be a parent to the child; watching Coring bumble along in desperate befuddlement, often against the dictates of his own heart, creates a complex knot of feelings in the viewer. You feel your heart quietly breaking in sympathy for the man, the same time you find yourself (despite the film’s overall serious tone) chuckling in amusement.—www.cinefilipino.com

Director

Lino Brocka

Lino Brocka was born in Pilar, Sorsogon. He directed his first film, Wanted: Perfect Mother, based on The Sound of Music and a local comic serial, in 1970. It won an award for best screenplay at the 1970 Manila Film Festival. Later that year he also won the Citizen’s Council for Mass Media’s best-director award for the film Santiago!.

In 1974 Brocka directed Weighed But Found Wanting, which told the story of a teenager growing up in a small town amid its petty and gross injustices. It was a box-office hit, and earned Brocka another best-director award, this time from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS).

The following year he directed The Claws of Light, which is considered by many critics to be the greatest Philippine film ever made – including British film critic and historian Derek Malcolm 1. The film tells the allegorical tale of a young provincial named Julio Madiaga who goes to Manila looking for his lost love, Ligaya Paraiso. The episodic plot… read more

Lino Brocka was born in Pilar, Sorsogon. He directed his first film, Wanted: Perfect Mother, based on The Sound of Music and a local comic serial, in 1970. It won an award for best screenplay at the 1970 Manila Film Festival. Later that year he also won the Citizen’s Council for Mass Media’s best-director award for the film Santiago!.

In 1974 Brocka directed Weighed But Found Wanting, which told the story of a teenager growing up in a small town amid its petty and gross injustices. It was a box-office hit, and earned Brocka another best-director award, this time from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS).

The following year he directed The Claws of Light, which is considered by many critics to be the greatest Philippine film ever made – including British film critic and historian Derek Malcolm 1. The film tells the allegorical tale of a young provincial named Julio Madiaga who goes to Manila looking for his lost love, Ligaya Paraiso. The episodic plot has him careering from one adventure to another until he finally finds Ligaya. Much of the film’s greatness can be traced to the excellent cinematography by Mike de Leon, who would become a great Filipino filmmaker himself.

In 1976, The Claws of Light won the FAMAS awards for best picture, best director, best actor, and best supporting actor.

Insiang (1978) was the first Philippine film ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival. It is considered to be one of Brocka’s best films — some say his masterpiece. The film centers on a young woman named Insiang who lives in the infamous Manila slum area, Tondo. It is a Shakespearean tragedy that deals with Insiang’s rape by her mother’s lover, and her subsequent revenge.

The film Jaguar (1979) was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. It won best picture and best director at the 1980 FAMAS Awards. It also won five Gawad Urian Awards, including best picture and best direction.

In 1981, Brocka was back at Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight with his third entry, Bona, a film about obsession.

In 1983 Brocka created the organization Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), which he led for two years. His stand was that artists were first and foremost citizens and, as such, must address the issues confronting the country. His group became active in anti-government rallies after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr., eventually becoming one of the progressive organizations representing artists and cultural workers in the country.

The following year, This Is My Country was deemed subversive by the government of Ferdinand Marcos, and underwent a legal battle to be shown in its uncut form. At the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, however, it was nominated for the Palme d’Or. It garnered four honors at the 1986 Gawad Urian Awards, including best picture.

Brocka directed over forty films. Some of his other notable works are Macho Dancer (1988), Fight for Us (1989), and Gumapang Ka sa Lusak (1990).

In 1987 a documentary entitled Signed: Lino Brocka was directed by Christian Blackwood. It won the 1988 Peace Film Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

On May 21, 1991 Brocka met an untimely death in a car accident in Quezon City, Metro Manila. In 1997 he was given the posthumous distinction of National Artist for Film. —wikipedia

read less