MANILA, Philippines - Once in a while, music lovers get lucky when filmmakers dare do films on music and musicians, a subject too often considered nonviable by the local film industry.

The memorable ones from mainstream cinema are “The Pianist” which merited several Oscars for Best Actor (Adrien Brody) and Best Director (Roman Polanski); and “Shine,” which also won the Oscar Best Actor for Geoffrey Rush and Best Director trophy for Scott Hicks.

Many years ago, a Filipino prize-winning director ventured to film a life of Filipino pianists and operatic singers, but had to discontinue the landmark project because the producer, for one, found tepid support for classical music on the market.

Indie film

Last week, we got invited by the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center (MDAIAC) in Antipolo to a special screening of Mo Zee’s independent film, “Elegie,” which stars Marc Abaya as a piano prodigy whose life isn’t the same again after he figures in a car accident.

In the film’s opening, we get to see a very supportive family doting on their budding pianist (the young Marc Abaya is played by Gorio Buencamino, son of Nonie and Sharmaine Buencamino) and cheering him in his first recitals.

You can sense the family fixation on music because the other son (the pop guitarist played by Jourdan Sebastian) is named Johann and the piano prodigy played by Abaya is named Sebastian.

The film shifts from recital halls to piano bars, where the prodigy ends up trying to eke out a living after the car accident, which causes his manic depression. But his kind of music is just too much for bar and resto customers, whose idea of gigs can’t possibly come from sounds that resemble Bartok and Stravinsky.

How does the film end? You have to watch it to find out.

The film uses Bach and Chopin music in the prodigy phase of the pianist and shifts to pop in the latter part of the film when the pianist turns obsessed composer.

The music being hummed by Sebastian’s girlfriend (played by Monica Llamas) in the bathroom shower scene and heard by the prodigy metamorphoses into a poignant piano piece in the hands of film scorer Nonong Buencamino, who has added his own outstanding original piano music in the film.

Sensitive

Abaya as Sebastian gives a consistently sensitive performance, and Sebastian as his brother matches Abaya’s quiet pathos. Llamas is a welcome foil, and hers is a kind of natural acting that doesn’t call attention to itself.

The script by Christian Vallez (co-written with the director) matches the director’s creativity, and the superb musical scoring is another big reason to celebrate this well-made independent film.

The film is produced, directed and co-written (with Vallez) by Mo Zee, who also does the excellent sound design and the brilliant cinematography.

Mo Zee’s “Elegie” can be viewed as a composite portrait of the Filipino artist—the eternal outsider in a milieu which has very little use for classical musicians.

Mo Zee is a noteworthy addition to the present crop of emerging young filmmakers who can tackle the subject of the arts in film with dazzling brilliance.

In the open forum that followed the screening, director Zee and scriptwriter Vallez admitted there was a large chunk of the music lover in them in this film.

Initially, the film was supposed to focus on a trumpet player, but their subsequent exposures to the Cecile Licad concerts in Manila made them decide in favor of a pianist. The director, took up both violin and piano lessons even before he ventured into film.

Director Abaya sums up the vision of her film school thus: “Consistent with our advocacy for quality film education, and, in particular, from an Asian perspective, the new institute is established to empower new filmmakers to meet the demands of new times. That cinema is better learned and taught in the greater context of the arts and humanities is the concept upon which we anchor our core curriculum. Thus, we offer a well-rounded program to obtain for our students a deeper understanding of the dynamic rapport between cinema and life. ”

Dena Fernandez in concert

MCO Foundation, Inc. and BDO, in cooperation with St. Paul University Manila College of Music and the Performing Arts, will present Dena P. Fernandez in a solo marimba recital tomorrow, May 27, 7:30 p.m., at Francisco Santiago Hall, BDO College South Tower, Makati Ave. cor. H.V. de la Costa St., Makati.

She will perform works by Bach, Haydn, Chopin, Buencamino, De los Reyes Jr., Sarasate, Sibelius, Soto and Liszt. Assisting artist is Peter Porticos.