Topic: Crying Ladies

[rse]

Ano ba? di ba''t wagi si ate Shawie sa International Film festival?  Ibig sabihin ba if you are mahirap dapat ba ay nanlilimahid ka sa libag? at madumi ang balat mo na mistulang may pugad ka ng Buni at tinea flava? at kulot ang buhok mo na parang Ita?
Most of us still cannot face the truth  na Shawie  is now one of our finest actors in the Philippines di nga ba't  mas lumutang ang performace nya kesa kina Angel at Hilda at yan ay ayon na rin sa mga critics sa ibang bansa .

I’m not arguing that Sharon is a fine actress especially given the right role.  My problem with her in Crying Ladies is technical.  Her character owns a living by making paper houses for Chinese funerals; she can’t even pay for a jeepney ride.  I don’t think her character can afford to go to the salon for her “beauty rituals”.   You can’t achieve that complexion and hair with plain soap and shampoo.  What I saw in Crying Ladies is Sharon acting as Stella Mate.  I want to see Stella Mate.  This is my personal opinion; I don’t care what the critics say may it be local or international. 

[masterbaker]

I know  some people na they don't really care much about their looks, but still have great skin and buhok.  Meron talagang likas na maga-ganda ang balat at hair like Stella's character in Crying Ladies. So kung yong lang ang batayan mo about the movie ay napakababaw naman dont  you think?  And also those critics local man or international does really matters, lalo na yong sa Hollywood Variety at L.A times, mas bias sila kasi they don't know kung sino ang mga actors na ito, mas fair ang bininigay nilang reviews di ba?

[Reuven Malter]

Stella Mate may have been patterned after Stella Dallas (the martyr mother from Hollywood essayed by Barbra Stanwyck and Bette Midler). She was more a swindler than an impoverished mom. More like the gypsies in Europe or akin to trailer moms/white trash women (e.g. Kim Basinger in 8 Mile). If I may vouch for some misperceived squatters, some of them do have fair complexion and as vain as the matrons of high society.

[Noel_Vera]

It's decently done; some of it was actually funny. Yes, Sharon works as an icon 'satirizing' her own onscreen persona, yes you see her doing the same plugs of products that she does in real life, but that's satire in quotes: Joe Dante and Alfred Hitchcock knew how to really bite the hand that fed them.

And it seems to be pulled in two directions at once: on one hand you have the plight of women scrabbling for a living (Tanging Ina redux), on the other you have this solemn National Geographic doc about Filipino Chinese funerals, with maybe five jokes thrown in.

As for Sharon herself--she didn't embarass herself, but I liked her better when Joyce Bernal handled her (then the fat jokes really flew), but I don't think she qualifies as 'finest actress in the Philippines' just yet. Let me put a whole host of actresses plus Irma Adlawan on the line before her.

Incidentally, Hilda Koronel's character, a comic variation of Anita Linda's character actress in Babae sa Bubungang Lata (a superior multiple-story, multiple-character film, I think), is the best thing in the movie--she gets the funniest lines, the best story resolution, and she's moving to boot, under all her faded illusions.

It's decently done, it's fitfully funny, but it doesn't have much teeth. Fine and good for Philippine cinema that it made a little money and garnered a few reviews abroad. Now let's go on and watch something else.

[torque]

Sharon also bares her heart & soul
FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo
The Philippine Star 10/12/2005

...
On her movie role closest to the real Sharon Cuneta: Crying Ladies is one of them. According to my friends, my real-life mannerisms came out in that movie. Another is Kung Ako Na Lang Sana (with Aga Muhlach). A lot of my character was me – workaholic, etc. The only difference between my character and me is that, because she’s busy, hindi na siya na-in love after her first relationship ended.