DIRECTOR JOEL LAMANGAN, who’s turning 63 on September 21, has made some acclaimed hit sex dramas before like “Hubog” (for which Assunta de Rossi won a couple of best actress awards) and “Sidhi” (for which Glydel Mercado scored a grand slam as best supporting actress from all award-giving bodies). He now comes up with “Siphayo (Dismay)” for BG Productions which is very sexy and controversial as it’s about a farmer (Allan Paule) and two sons (Luis Alandy and Joem Bascon) who all have an affair with the same woman (Nathalie Hart.)
“This is my most amoral movie,” he says. “Hindi immoral ha, kundi amoral, magkaiba sila ng spelling. Amoral means not having a sense of what is right or wrong, unlike sa immoral na alam kung ano ang tama o mali but ginagawa pa rin. I missed doing movies like this kasi lately, puro rom-com na lang tayo. So hopefully, this will revive this kind of erotic drama para naman may alternative ang viewers natin. I did this movie right after ‘Felix Manalo’ at magkaibang-magkaiba sila dahil dito, walang Biblia.”
Didn’t he have a hard time convincing Nathalie Hart and her leading men to do the sexy scenes they did in “Siphayo”? “Siempre, noong una, hesitant siya so I had to remind her na nabasa niya ang script beforehand and she consented to do it. Noong una, nagtago pa sa CR so sabi ko, I’m not a porn director. But eventually, she did everything required of her and I was shocked kasi mahusay siya. She didn’t just show skin, she showed real acting talent. She’s a good actress, mahusay siya at may magandang pupuntahan ang career niya. Sa experience ko, pinakamahirap talaga sabihin sa isang artisa: ‘Maghubad ka na.’ Kapag ayaw, sinasabi ko lang, pag di natuloy ito, babayaran mo lahat ng gastos dito. Actually, mas mahirap paghubarin ang mga lalaki kasi may itinatago sila. Kapag di tama ang sukat, nakakahiyang ipakita. Di mo naman puedeng buhayin kasi, porno na yun. But ‘Siphayo’ is not porn. May malaking twist ito sa ending at doon mare-realize, ay, ganun pala. Actually, hindi lang siya sexual but also political. You’d see sa surprise sa ending. Kaya nga ang MTRCB, approved ito ng R 16 without cuts. They praised the acting, the cinematography and the film’s artistic merits. In terms of form and content, puede itong ilaban sa award-winning films na nagawa ko na before.”
After this, Direk Joel is back in doing a rom-com, “Never Been Touched, Never Been Kissed” with Tom Esguerra-Miho Nishida and Angeline Quinto-Jake Cuenca for Regal.
