Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin

The definition of the word ‘satire’ has evolved from being a legitimate genre of literature to a now undervalued niche category in our Thought Catalog-driven world. At one point, the word meant “calling somebody an asshole.” That is, if Urban Dictionary is to be trusted.

Bob Ong is a good satirist. His(/her?) identity is as yet unknown, but his body of work outlines a frivolous yet impassioned fabulist. He’s both an inquirer and a commentator, posing questions that are mostly geared toward social awareness: where can one find a banana blossom? Why do Filipinos read upside down? In Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin, his ninth book, Ong talks yet again about Filipinos–this time through films. In the book, written in screenplay form, Ong enlightens on how films are astute reflections of Filipino consumerism, misguided politics, and our obsession of the celebrity.

A film adaptation of the book feels inevitable. Mark Meily, Andoy Ranay, and Chris Martinez are tasked to do their own iterations, individually assigned with the book’s three novellas (edit: screenplays) each dealing with different tropes and conventions that riddle local cinema.

Meily’s episode, titled “Bala Sa Bala, Kamao Sa Kamao, Satsat Sa Satsat”, plays on comedy and action films  from the 80’s, an era in which experimentation is prevalent yet in many of such films is ironically scarce. Ranay’s “Shake, Shaker, Shakest” is a rather explicit reply to the Shake, Rattle & Roll films, a franchise whose insanity is mocked when it’s insanity itself that’s clearly the very essence of the work (at least of the very first ones from the franchise). And finally, Martinez’s “Asawa ni Marie” is an obvious commentary on Filipino soap operas, particularly “Marimar”.

Meily and Ranay’s episodes toil the satire out of their materials, reducing their efforts to ultimately deplorable parodies of the films they are satirizing. Martinez, on the other hand, is quite acquainted with satire–it’s a beat that his audience and he himself are accustomed to (Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank; I Do Bidoo Bidoo; and Kimmy Dora: Ang Kiyemeng Prequel, to cite only a few examples). There’s respect to the work itself, having the story slightly removed from its all-too self-conscious narrative; and, unlike the first two episodes, it actively declines to reference itself every five minutes. “Asawa ni Marie”, therefore, views more like a lowbrow short film satirizing teleseryes, which is far ahead from the loud, scattershot, and frankly insipid parodicals it succeeds.

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The two episodes prior Martinez’s are punishingly tedious. Both have no characters defined enough that feel like actual characters; instead they feel like mere talking heads that blabber about local films in the most dimwitted ways imaginable. In the whole, these short films feel like the very piece of Philippine cinema they mock—drab, uninspired, and begrudgingly compromising of quality. In short, sellouts. 

At one point, someone in the film notes the need to move onward to the story, clearly thinking about the audience. The audience is getting bored, he exclaims. What a strange and ironic thing to say, I thought. I’m currently at an impasse deciding if he’s pulling a joke or being serious.

Indeed, the true sense of the word ‘satire’ is lost on Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYGgi998P4