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Baby Tsina |
All the performances in Baby Tsina leave vivid portraits in the mind. Under Diaz-Abaya's direction, the actors and actresses do not seem to act, rather we seem to discover them as human beings whom the camera has espied. Vilma Santos projects a lusty but touching portrait of Baby, a victim who greedily looks forward to deliverance from the night-to-night struggle for customers, thrashing about wildly when her savior is killed initiating her into an even more debasing condition. Phillip Salvador weaves in and out of the story capturing the sinister charm of the grubby but good-looking creatures of Manila's underbelly. Dindo Fernando's Jorge engages our attention in a portrayal that is by turns comic, caustic and warm indicating an actor governed by intelligence and respect for the dignity of the character he is playing. As Baby's mother Nena, Caridad Sanchez radiates a tenseness that effectively projects her determination to keep her dignity against all odds. With Diaz-Abaya as the controlling intelligence behind Manolo Abaya's camera, Fiel Zabat's sharp eye for the authentic look and detail of the period, the shanties and apartments, the restaurants and the dives, the streets and the alleyways and the teeming crowds that come and go, these are familiar images in Philippine art and life that in Baby Tsina appear more real and feel more real.
Directed By: Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Screenplay: Ricardo Lee
Director Of Photography: Manolo R. Abaya
Musical Director: Willie Cruz
Film Editor: Ike Jarlego, Jr.
Production Design: Fiel Zabat
Produced By: Viva Films
Release Date: October 18, 1984