(SPOT.ph) The first thing that came to mind after seeing Leonor Will Never Die is that it’s a mix of Stranger than Fiction (2006) and Science of Sleep (2006) with a heavy dose of Fernando Poe Jr.’s repertoire of action films. It isn’t often recommended to compare a movie with others, but for a piece that celebrates the joy of filmmaking, the long history of reflexive cinema or metacinema, and the beauty of genre-bending—such comparison is almost warranted if only to present it as an elevator pitch. Leonor Will Never Die, which is Martika Ramirez Escobar’s first feature film, is an ars poetica that’s 99-minute long on the big screen.
Leonor Will Never Die had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Spirit of Innovation. It was also shown at the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, where it received Special Jury Mention; the Center for Asian American Media Festival, where it bagged the Centerpiece Narrative Award; the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where it got Special Jury Mention for a Narrative Feature; and Istanbul Film Festival, where it's a finalist for the Main Competition. Locally, Leonor Will Never Die was the opening film for the 2022 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.
Leonor Will Never Die: A Film Within a Film Within a Film
The movie starts with Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco), once a big-time screenplay writer for action films. She lives with her son Rudie (Bong Cabrera), who often fumbles to connect with his aged mother. Their mother-and-son relationship is made even more complicated by the fact that her other son, Ronwaldo (Anthony Falcon), is a ghost that the other characters actually see in a non-horror-movie kind of way. This half-realistic storyline happens alongside Leonor's unfinished script that's brought to life by a fictional (or, in this sense, a meta-fictional) Ronwaldo (Rocky Salumbides) who's out to avenge his brother's murder in true '80s action movie fashion. The brilliance happens when these two worlds collide, and Leonor drops from the sky. If the last couple of sentences baffles you, wait until you catch the film and let the story take you through the surrealism of it all.
Eventually, Escobar herself becomes a meta-character of a meta-character in her film, and there seems to be no better way to conclude the piece. Her cameo appearance as a filmmaker thinking about the ending of the film within a film becomes an invitation for viewers to be part of the process—an apt punctuation for a film that took eight years (and a whole village of filmmakers and film enthusiasts) to complete.
This storytelling, while seemingly a big "huh" when told in sentences, is made even more effective through the visuals. You can see the differences in color grading, screen resolution, and even film grains as the world go from reality to fantasy, from present-day (the 2000s to be exact) to the ‘80s, from drama to action, from humor to drama, and vice versa. There is also great attention to detail as you can see flip-phones to represent a decade or bootleg pants and a pair of Chucks to represent another.
The bulk of Leonor Will Never Die is an homage to Pinoy action movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s, which according to Escobar, she grew up watching through reruns inside commuter buses and local channels. Ronwaldo, who follows the hero trope, is often seen in a stance only an action star of those decades has. Even the way he talks, his lines, and the leading-lady element are followed to a T. The camera work, from the zooming in during lines of vengeance to wide shots as the hero runs down the road, are reminiscent of the FPJ films we grew up with. Incidentally, this genre is also applied to Leonor herself, who becomes an action-star lola that the crowd roots for.
Bringing the Weirdness Behind the Camera
Such a weird movie (for the lack of a better and more on-point term) wouldn’t be possible without the high-caliber performance of—interestingly—a cast of primarily theater artists. Leonor Will Never Die does a lot of blurring the lines and getting out of boxes, and what better way to do it than bringing stage performers in front of the camera?
This is Francisco's first-ever lead role in a movie, and you've probably seen her in the Filipino hit musical Ang Huling El Bimbo as Tiya Dely. She's the first Filipina to have performed at the prestigious Royal National Theater of London, where she earned rave reviews; and she brings this level of acting to the many facets of the film's lead.
Cabrera, while no stranger to independent films such as The Guerilla is a Poet (2013), Sa Ilalim ng Tulay (2011), and The Sun Behind You (2017), is also known for his performances in the theater. He frequently graces the stage of the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Virgin Labfest; and teaches theater classes at the College of Saint Benilde and the Philippine High School for the Arts. His natural talent for humor mixed with Rudie's sulkiness makes for a great character foil for Leonor.
According to Escobar, it was important for her that the whole cast was having fun during the shoot. And you can easily see this in the film’s ending: a full cast production number, which is prominent in ‘90s films—minus the dancing by the beach. If anything, that’s the movie’s biggest takeaway; the art of filmmaking is a long and arduous journey, but—in the end—it’s also all about having fun.
Rating: 5 out of 5 spots
While Leonor Will Never Die doesn't have a commercial screening (as of writing), you can send a message on Facebook or leonorwillneverdie@gmail.com to arrange for a private screening with your community or an event screening for fundraisers.