MAMMA MIA! c. meryl streep
s. from the stage musical based on ABBA's songs
who doesn't love abba? buang kayo if you don't. they're just one of the greatest pop acts to appear on this planet, so there better be some abba-worship of sorts in your life.
was in the middle of my working out mode at the gym when my mum texted if i wanna go with her and pop to watch mamma mia at the nearby mall. of course i said yes, and now you know where my priorities lie. pag sinabing sine, sine! dedma sa pagpapapayat at healthy lifestyle! bakit bah.
dapat lang sigurong family affair ang panonood ng pelikulang ito. my family loves music and each of my parents have their own set of favorites which i all got to hear--sometimes against my wishes--at home when i was growing up. abba was of course part of that collection, mostly my mum's, pero my pop, because he is a musikero (meron siyang "combo" dati dude! combo! hanep sa term!) appreciates the geniuses behind abba's timeless and iconic music. of course, namana ko ito, although a bit later. kasi i still have that teenager napahiya-sa-kamag-anak memory of me with my post-college age titas jumping and screaming at heartbeat mega disco in the late 80s when they heard "dancing queen" play, at iniwan kaming mga teens na china-chaperone nila para magsayaw ng kantang blast from their past sa dance floor. hm. but when i hit college, abba hit me, too, so okay na ko by then.
but abba is more than a blast from the past, kasi nga timeless siya, so kahit sa future, may importance siya. at nakakatuwang nakita ito ng tatlong babaeng lumikha ng original MAMMA MIA! THE MUSICAL sa uk in the late 90s. i have the original cast recording na at naghihintay lang na dalhin ito sa pinas, pero no such luck. i was actually planning to buy tickets for this and treat my parents to it, because i know they'll love it, especially my mum.
so of course, we all love the film. grabeh! dapat ang subtitle nito ay MAMMA MIA: MERYL STREEP WALANG KUPAS. grabeh lang ang lola mo dito! naakatuwa siya. dancing and prancing and hitting the notes right, plus plus plus giving a dose of that meryl academy award-winning acting, emoting and such! panalo lang yung eksena ng "the winner takes it all" while she was using the song to emotionally confront and withdraw from the ghost of her past romance with pierce brosnan's character. ang hirap nun a! i remember an exercise in acting class where we were made to emote or something pero using words that didn't make any sense, basta dapat ang emotion ang mas importanteng lumabas. parang ganun yung eksenang ito. emote galore sila sa side ng isang greek isle habang hine-helicopter shot ang song number. AWARD!!!! walang kupas si meryl. syempre nakatulong dito ang music ng abba. unang linya pa lang niya ng "i don't wanna talk..." potah parang pinana ang puso ko at KAPOW! sapok sa tama ang song sa emotion ng scene at sa meaning and all that. potah. only women who have love and lost and know the importance of both could think of trawling through tons of abba's songs and use that to tell a narrative that is also as timeless and as universal as the songs themselves. winner!!!
panalo rin ang pacing ng pelikula. minsan kasi, depende sa materyal, kung may sarili na itong buhay o wala, sometimes it takes a stupid ingot to mess it up on film. such was the case of RENT when handled by chris columbus. hay, but that's another review. oo magtutuos tayo chris columbus, humanda ka!
ito kasing mamma mia, klaro na musical siya. musical na klarong may montage of shots, may artistic lighting effect (another subtitle could be MAMMA MIA: THE VERY BACKLIT MOVIE kasi halos lahat ng eksena may backlight lalo na sa hair), may cool choreography at may emotions na dine-deliver ang mga eksena sa tulong ng kanta. YAN ANG MUSICAL, CHRIS COLUMBUS! hmp.
i liked it that the "dancing queen" portion became a sort of feminist woman-power song number, when donna and the dynamos walked along the villa and every woman trapped in their daily domestic roles suddenly got empowered to join the trail until they all made a parade of sorts and ended up near the shores, tapos talon sa tubig ang tatlong bida at some of the women, too. para bang at the end, the women had some self-cleansing done and all. i liked that symbolism. panalo sha.
iba talaga pag mga babaeng nakakaintindi ng mga babae ang kumakana ng ganitong kuwento, no? hindi exploitative, unapologetic (we see the characters as really human) and real. it also helps na they understand the potential of the visual language that cinema could offer, freeing them of the restrictions of the four walls of the stage. in fact, i couldn't even imagine this being staged! curious.
gusto ko rin yung character twist nung character ni colin firth hehe. happy. wala lang, nakahanap lang ako ng kakampi hehe.
my only beef with this movie is pierce brosnan. as dapper as he is, man, he should leave the singing and, uh, movement, to others. or gumawa siya ng support group ng "hollywood hunks who shouldn't touch the musical genre," with richard gere as their president. hindi keri, mga kuya, pramis.
nakakatawa lang when julie walters began singing "take a chance" hehehe. not only once did i use this song to woo some women. may hit, may miss, at may nag-regret na di niya pinatos hahaha. chozzzzzzzzzzzz.
see, abba not only is timeless but really useful din sa daily life. try it! di ba nga, sabi nila...
...without the song and dance,
what are we?
so i say thank you for the music
for giving it to me...
now you know what will be on heavy rotation in my mp3 player this week.
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