COMING FULL CIRCLE WITH DIREK EMMANUEL PALO'S "A MOMENT IN TIME"

By GEORGE VAIL KABRISTANTE

PMPC (Phil. Movie Press Club)   

Farmed out in different versions to www:pmpcstarnews.com, Pilipino Mirror, Remate Online, Iskandal, CMT (Columnists Monitoring Team) Update, etc.

Don’t get confused by the name of Director Emmanuel Q. Palo and/or Manny Q. Palo. Iisang tao lang iyon.  Vicariously through his past works kilala namin siya bilang mainstream screenwriter, assistant director hanggang sa siya’y pumaimbulog sa larangan ng telebisyon on the same capacities mostly as director/scriptwriter for ABS-CBN’s top-rated teleseryes and reality shows as well.

      To give you an idea naging First Asst.Director si Direk Manny sa “Bulaklak Ng Maynila,”  “Sidhi” ni La Aunor, etc.  aside from doing screenplays   on the side.

      

Director Emmanuel Q. (for Quindo) has been around ‘ika nga. His latest ouevre “A Moment In Time” with the hottest loveteam of the hour Coco Martin and Julia Montes is a certified box-office and a monster hit at that sa first day pa lamang nito.

Which brings me to write-in my habitual ringside view of the loveteam at their last guesting at “The Buzz” last Sunday with the King Of Talk Boy Abunda who ingenuously  pinned down Julia Montes to admitting that Coco Martin   has the “9” chance of getting to her heart  in the scale of 1 to 10 which made Boy to almost gamely cut-off saying, “Well the interview is over…” Such patented wit of Boy A.

JULIA MONTES & COCO MARTIN

When it rains, it pours indeed. “A Moment In Time” is a testimony to Director Palo’s coming full circle bilang mainstream box-office movie director as well as a testimony to Coco Martin and Julia Montes as successful box-office loveteam to beat yet. Samantalang pinataub naman ni Coco Martin ang mga kasabayan niya sa primetime TV ratings bilang “Juan Dela Cruz.”

KING OF TALK BOY ABUNDA

      Director Manny Palo can be as kilig in his material tulad ng “A Moment In Time” and can be as serious as his past & critically-acclaimed Cinemalaya entry  “Sta. Nina” last year  with Coco Martin bilang bida  at prodyuser na rin.  Nasundan naman ito ng isa pang politically-relevant film na entry ni Direk Manny this year for Cinemalaya billed  “David F,” a period movie about the Afro-American solider who sided with the Filipinos during the war.

It's a deeply moving 3-stories-in-one film about Afro-American blacks sa panulat ng kasamahan namin at award-winning  na si Liza Magtoto ng Writers Bloc (if you allow a write-in), a group of established and  emerging playwrights that regularly meets every other Sunday mentored by the multi-awarded as in multi-talented PETA stalwart Rody Vera sa bahay (pro bono pa ha?)  ng equally multi- award-winning musical director (including  PMPC Star Awards too boot) na si  Vince De Jesus of PETA.

Being a looker kung di mo siya kilala Director Emmanuel Q. Palo in his recent press briefs at ABS-CBN’s Dolphy’s Theater could have passed for as actor himself habang nakahilera siya sa kanyang mga lead stars breezily parrying the Q & A portion which included the brilliant Gabby Concepcion and Cherie Gil no less.

Direk Manny is highly grateful for the monstrous success of “A Moment In Time” which is his first outing into  mainstream moviemaking. Saan ka pa? Kabog sila!