Our fave gal, FAMAS award-winning filmmaker, Dwein Baltazar has just launched a new project. Past, Present, Perfect? premiered on the online streaming platform iWantTV last May 31st is your post Hallmark-card inception of a forlorn love story of dreams, young love, and literature. And with this, we’re still hoping that Uniqlo finally gives her the representation as brand ambassador soon.
As EpicMedia co-produces, she collaborates with not just one but two cinematography mavens Neil Daza and Theo Lozada; with her Aileen, Iana Bernardez as both producer and castmate (because somehow you will also find Ms. Baltazar in some of the episodes); Anthony Falcon as the budding bestfriend, and many more. Carlo Vergara pens most of the dialogue of the first two episodes, who is most famously known as the creator and illustrator of Zsa Zsa Saturna: his experience as a playwright equips the series with some serious literary references and experiences.
Although it isn’t her first time to do series work (previously as stylist), Miss Baltazar is a master at binding each thought-pieces from her actors, colleagues, as well as outsider-insights from her soon-to-be audiences. Late last year she asked friends from her Facebook on memories about the early 2000s, and we’re all happy to oblige into the same time-travelling memento this ensemble seems to have pieced in a span of seven episodes. It sounds like a lot of pressure, but Miss Baltazar and her team seems like they can handle it like a piece of cake all the time.
So lo and behold are my reviews of the first two episodes of Past, Present, Perfect? Starring Loisa Andalio and Shaina Magdayao as Shantal Baltazar. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Past, Present, Perfect? Pilot episode: PAST TENSE AND PRESENT TENSE
It’s 2003, Shantal and the gang have just arrived their Grad Ball with heavy cake makeup and sparkly gown intact. In a school as small-scale as Cavite National High School, they celebrate the ball in the school’s gymnasium with a roof which we middle-class folk like to call “covered court” and since it’s also where the school’s basketball team spends time, I’m suspecting the basketball ring is hidden somewhere behind the Art Deco’ed backdrop. This episode positions us in the midst of a love affair gone awry —- Shantal confesses her admiration to Mr. Orenze (Vin Abrenica) who also happens to be her literary professor. Her friends play a vital role in this particular scene as the Grad Ball perpetuates a 5-year tradition where students get to dance with their teachers. It is in this episode where we find the young Shantal, commemorating the day she gets her heartbroken and sends her future self an email as a reminder to keep going.
Years later we find a nearly grown-up version of Shantal in 2018. I’m stressing on the “nearly grown-up” here as we find her sleeping in her apartment’s living-room, with clothes and beer bottles scattered everywhere. She wakes up alone and with a hangover, and minutes later she receives a phone call from her godmother who also happens to be her publisher. She’s been missing deadlines and dealing with responsibilities all in the comfort of her pajamas. She is reminded of her procrastination in the form of her two friends played by Iana Bernardez and Anthony Falcon.
The teenage Shantal would have wanted the mid-twenties Shantal to become a Palanca-awardee, fully accomplished and published author. But life bites back and leaves her with missed opportunities, and in terms of her writing career she’s gone as far as writing a cliffhanger of a pocketbook novel. She might sound like a published author, but the state of where she’s in right now it seems like going back in time is just the hurl she needs to get her life back on track.
Past Tense and Present Tense is a cute novella of how Ms. Baltazar’s team will take us back to the early 2000’s where to me, literature was at its finest. She and writer Carlo Vergara truly did their research (and perhaps depicted some of their own experiences as well) as some of the devils in the details were at present: flip phones were the main thing, everybody saw each other eye to eye and read literature like it was some fine piece of heirloom your grandmother handed over to you, and you had to protect it. Episode One is just the beginning of better things to come, and hey, for 27 minutes you get to relate to the pains of first love, and the pains of disappointment that sets in for late or early twenty-something’s out there who are yet to find what they truly want to do in their life. As for Shantal’s, it is in the form of an incurable writer’s block she’s been having for years.
Siledenafil citrate is a component which works efficiently and makes sure that men do not get dissatisfied or disappointed due viagra viagra sildenafil to it. Nevertheless, you should reach for the right erectile dysfunction treatment as the situation demands.Your partner’s preferences also check these guys out generic viagra might play a role. Beta-blockers dampen nerve tadalafil free impulses that lead to ED #6. A mixture of sesame and mustard oil is mainly used for doing penile massaging. viagra free consultation
*May I also commend Jopie Sanchez’s make up of Shantal’s Grad Ball look is just on-point. Kiss-me bangs and cake make-up with shimmer never looked good on anyone, (yes, I was among teenage girls fooled by both Candymag and Seventeen that that look is the key to getting the boy next-door, and surprising prom in full-swing!).
Episode Two: THE PAST IS THE PRESENT
Episode Two is not just a play on words of the show’s title, but it literally is a play on words as we get to see the beginnings of Shantal’s admiration towards Mr. Daniel Orenze (played by Vin Abrenica), and perhaps their shared admiration towards literature. Carlo Vergara’s script borrows a line from Jorges Luis Borges which showcases the two characters’ little meet-cute:
“Being with you, and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.”
I was thirteen when this Taiwanese pop-group called F4 suddenly hit the TV screens like a storm on a hot, summer vacation in 2003. It was seriously crazy: my new found friends in highschool and I went gaga over posters, magazines, stickers, laminated photo cards of the four guys which were the cause of our main expenditure of the week. And so I totally get the reference when Shantal and her friends would refer to Mr. Orenze to be as cute as Hua Ze Lei which would mean that he is the F4 guy of your dreams — a calm, mysterious gentleman who also has a bit of a bad boy feel to his demeanor. “The Past is the Present” is the perfect second episode companion, as it carefully introduces us to Shantal and her dreams, and towards Shantal and the boy of her dreams.
2003 was also accurately the birth of Friendster in the Philippines. Correct me on this one, but I clearly remember how everyone made every internet shop business succeed in 2003 through the success of this early Social Networking Site which has now turned into a social gaming site for some reasons. Everyone had to compose their “testimonials” or a form of message on your timeline for everyone else to see and understand the kind of person you are. We weren’t really much into zodiacs back then (although I hung around the Zodiac section of the newspaper back then), Friendster makes its come back in the series with accurate depiction and is used as a form of endearment among people, which proves my earlier point that people loved reading and writing in the early noughts.
Loisa Andalio’s portrayal of Shantal is a refreshing take on that cute nerd in class who writes poetry like its her mean business. In real life, she brazenly opens up about her personal life, which in turn makes us feel that she’s just one of us. Besides, she did start off as one of the teens in a reality TV show so there’s no point (I guess) for her to hide behind the limelight. Along with its pros and cons, to me she is still a marvel to watch onscreen. She easily transforms into Shantal, amidst not experiencing F4 or a Nokia smartphone in her highschool life (Ms. Andalio, feel free to correct me on this), she eloquently expresses her thoughts by falling into the minute trap of young love, blending in with the gang consisting of Awra Briguela, . Episode Two carefully brings us back to Shantal’s past to fully understand her early beginnings as a writer. This could mean a lot for anyone who’s dared to dream in highschool. Many would contest that High School was the best years of their lives, mine included. And isn’t it a fun ride to just go back and relinquish such memories, may it be embarrassing or important?
As soon as we go back to the present, in an uncanny way the episode ends with a familiar character but in the form of someone else. Jokes on us, I suppose, and the way present Shantal sees her visitor, she feels the jokes on her too, for the very first time.
Past, Present, Perfect? is now streaming on iWantTV. No need to pay for service as the show streams exclusively on the app for free.
Good