Moral marilou diaz abaya best

It is a loosely structured film tracing the lives of four friends. The four women are authentically portrayed as real people set against the social, political, and economic milieu of The Filipino woman is shown not as victim but as shaper of her own destiny. Joey bums around, with no particular place to call home. Warning: narrative and plot twists discussed in explicit detail.

Marilou Diaz-Abaya's Moral bends stereotypes from the start, beginning where most romantic comedies end, with a marriage. Maritess Anna Marin is in the process of being wedded to welded to? Dodo Ronald Bregendahl when Joey Lorna Tolentino stumbles late into the church, fumbles her way to a seat, giggles at inappropriate moments; Kathy Gina Alajar sings a heartfelt song but--isn't she off-key?

When the ceremonies end it's not bride and groom running out from under a shower of flung rice but bride and friend and friend and friend--Maritess and Joey and Kathy and Sylvia Sandy Andolong linked arm to arm, camera retreating before them as they march into the world. We follow Maritess as she settles into the role of wife and mother in a large house "it's over fifty years old!

We learn about her friends--Kathy is an aspiring singer whose ambition exceeds her ability; Sylvia is an education major turned teacher separated from her husband. Joey is the wild child that links the four; she can never tell where she'll spend the night: in one of her friends' spare bedrooms, at her mother's, or with one of the many men she has slept with throughout her life.

Maritess chides Joey for her lifestyle: "Women aren't supposed to be promiscuous, only men. Ironic twist: she does care for one man--political activist Jerry Michael Sandico who's near-unattainable, being committed to the idea of political commitment. Diaz-Abaya is director of this ensemble piece but it's impossible to discuss the film without mentioning the rest of her ensemble, not just the actors who are superb but writer Ricky Lee.

I've seen my share of Lee films, some which I've liked some which alas I haven't; this may be his best, and strong evidence to mark Lee a co-auteur. The writer-director team coming off of the success of Brutal one of Lee's several reworkings of Kurosawa's Rashomon wanted to team up again using the previous feature's two stars--Gina Alajar and Amy Austria--in a story involving two singers, one with talent one without.

But Austria left the production, and Lee reworked the script into a story of four friends instead. The film is structured to appear formless but you can see the thinking that went into the script: Kathy's story lampoons showbiz; Sylvia's explores changing definitions of femininity and homosexuality; Maritess' deals with the traditional role of women as selfless wife and mother.

Joey I suspect represents '80s Filipino feminism, a rebellion in search of a cause--she's just not sure what. That's why she's attracted to Jerry: he knows what he wants is working passionately to achieve it. That's the agenda, and Lee and Diaz-Abaya work to fudge the outlines of that agenda, distract us from looking too closely. She also sleeps with corporate executive Mr.

Suarez, who promises that he can make her famous, but only for a short time. Kathy asks Sylvia to tell her if she honestly thinks she is a good singer. When she says no, Kathy stops recording her album and starts to sing only for fun and to improve her skills. The film ends with the four friends laughing with each other in a car on the way to drop off Joey at the airport for a vacation with Maggie.

Moral is considered part of a loose trilogy of feminist films directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and written by Ricky Lee which directly discuss issues affecting women, along with Brutal and Karnal He stated that the film contains no inciting incidents and has no story; Professor Rommel Rodriguez of the University of the Philippines Diliman noted that the film, as it simply portrayed the lives of its four main characters, did not have a clear beginning, middle, or end, leaving viewers without certainty as to the ultimate fates of the characters.

Filmmaker and film historian Nick Deocampo noted that the major differences in the personalities of the four friends allowed the film to explore the different aspects of womanhood in the tumultuous s. Diaz-Abaya's film Brutalwhich was also written by Lee and produced by Jesse Ejercito, was not only a critical success but also achieved box-office success at the Metro Manila Film Festivalgrossing more than even Ang Panday featuring action star Fernando Poe Jr.

Following infighting between Ejercito and Austria, Austria was removed from the project. At this point, Lee moral marilou diaz abaya best had a finished script; its plot revolved around two singers, a talented one and an untalented one, as the less talented one found greater career success. Following the departure of Austria from the project, Diaz-Abaya and Lee decided to be more daring with the film and Lee rewrote the script to be about four friends while retaining the original story of an untalented singer who found career success.

Lee wrote the script for Moral simultaneously with the script for Ishmael Bernal 's Himalaand both films competed at the Metro Manila Film Festival. According to director Marilou Diaz-Abaya in the British documentary episode about the cinema of the Philippines, reported by Tony Rayns, Moral was hit by the censors due to the sequences that were deemed offensive to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The then- Board of Censors for Motion Pictures ordered 13 cuts to the film and the director submitted the master negative print of the film to the censor board. Moral was initially dismissed by most critics and the general public. A few notable critics had positive opinions of Moral on its initial release: National Artist Bienvenido Lumberafilm scholar Joel Davidand fellow directors Bernal and Eddie Romero.

Over time, the film's popularity among critics increased, due in part to repeated cable showings and retrospectives of works written by Lee. Initially, the project deemed it impossible to restore as there was no surviving copy of the film negatives that had not been heavily damaged. The copy found at the film archives of the Cultural Center of the Philippines had been severely damaged by flooding and a lack of air conditioning at the storage facility.

This film took place 20 years after the events of the original film, with only Laurice Guillen reprising her role as Joey's mother, Maggie.

Moral marilou diaz abaya best

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Public Private. New list… Clear. Where to watch Trailer. Moral Synopsis Somewhere in this movie you will find yourself.