Misteryo sa Tuwa
Misteryo sa Tuwa (English: Joyful Mystery) is a 1984 Philippine period drama and political thriller film written and directed by Abbo Q. Dela Cruz for the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. It sets in Lucban, Quezon in the 1950s where three men stole a suitcase from the plane crash site and never reported to the authorities and when the authorities approach to the town mayor to help find the suitcase, the latter made a vicious plan to steal the money for his greed.
| Misteryo sa Tuwa | |
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 The poster of the restored version, released in 2019. | |
| Directed by | Abbo Q. Dela Cruz |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by |
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| Cinematography | Rody Lacap |
| Edited by | Jess Navarro |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | Philippines |
| Language | Filipino English |
It stars Tony Santos Sr., Johnny Delgado, Ronnie Lazaro, Amable Quiambao, Alicia Alonzo, Maria Montes, and Vangie Labalan in the film that tackles greed, corruption, and hatred.
Plot
In a peaceful village at the footsteps of Mt. Banahaw, the people were gathered to celebrate in a joyous occasion where they have fun together. In that day, a plane crashes at the nearby area and many people were shocked in the incident. As they discover the remnants, many things and dead passengers were scattered all over the area but everyone saw a lot of fortune items in the area where they stole it where they escaped lives of being poor. Om the other hand, the three men Ponsoy, Mesiong, and Jamin steal a suitcase from the plane crash where they will not to report to the authorities.
By the time the authorities knew the knowledge of the suitcase being held by three men, the mayor and his men have made a lot of necessary measures to suppress the three men and take the suitcase full of money for their personal gains. As the film progresses, the motivations of the characters were exposed one by one as they were continued to be victimized by torture, abuse, and violence.
Cast
- Tony Santos Sr. as Ponsoy
- Johnny Delgado as Mesiong
- Ronnie Lazaro as Jamin
- Amable Quiambao as Ada
- Alicia Alonzo as Pinang
- Robert Antonio as Kapitan Salgado
- Lito Anzures as Castro
- Mario Taguiwalo as Alcalde Valle
- Maria Montes as Ising
- Ray Ventura as Santos
- Perry Fajardo as Marcial
- Susanna Faller as Inang Iska
- Romeo Igloria as Benito
- Mely Mallari as Marta
- Vangie Labalan as Marcela
- Benjamin Delina as Luis
- Wilfredo Saludares as Didong
- Filemon Faller as Julian
- Lorenza Nanong as Priscilla
- Kenneith Hutalla as Tiko
Production
Misteryo sa Tuwa was adapted from a winning entry from the scriptwriting contest of ECP in 1982.
The film was shot in the town of Lucban, Quezon, the hometown of the director Abbo Q. Dela Cruz and his brother Rosauro "Uro" Q. Dela Cruz who was served as the crowd director of the film.
Release
The film was released by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines on December 25, 1984 as part of the 1984 Metro Manila Film Festival.
Digital restoration
The film was restored by the ABS-CBN Film Restoration through the Kantana Post-Production (Thailand) Co. Ltd. and L'Immagine Ritrovata for its film prints and Wildsound Studios for its color grading and audio restoration. The film was scanned in 4K format resolution in L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy using the 35mm prints from the ABS-CBN Film Archives. The image comparison of the movie was carried out using the five (5) Positive Prints, the only existing film materials, which already showed mild to severe type of decay. All five (5) Positive Prints have critical problems on color decay and focus problems that heavily affected the image. The film elements have emulsion and base damages that have caused severe line scratches in the picture. Reconstruction for the best copies that were used for each reel was tediously performed to achieve the best quality for digital restoration. The most drastically affected reels are R3, being the only copy available and R5 due to the advanced chemical decay and focus problems. Digital output shows the maximum level of restoration it can achieve. The missing frames that could not be addressed in digital restoration, have also affected the motion of some shots. Other picture defects such as dust/dirt, patches, continuous patches, single frame scratches, flicker, stabilization, splice mark, bump, squeeze, gate hair, continuous dust, continuous line scratch, stains, mold, mis-light, vertical band, and color breathing were successfully fixed and removed by the restoration artists of Kantana Post-Production (Thailand) Co., Ltd. The 2K restoration took a total of 3,440 hours by more than 250 restoration artists. Color grading and audio restoration was handled by Wildsound Studios.[1][2]
The restored version was premiered on November 11, 2019 at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay as part of the Cinema One Originals film festival. The premiere was attended by Vangie Labalan, film editor Jess Navarro, and the representatives of the cast and crew members of the film including Wanggo Gallaga (son of Peque and Madeleine Gallaga), Rose S. Alimon (daughter of Tony Santos Sr.), Teresita V. Dela Cruz (wife of the director), and Eduardo R. Meñez, the head of the Office of Strategic Communications and Research - Department of Foreign Affairs.[3]
Awards
| Year | Award-Giving Body | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Gawad Urian Awards [4] | Best Cinematography | Rody Lacap | Won |
| Best Music | Jaime Fabregas | Nominated | ||
| Best Production Design | Rodell Cruz and Don Escudero | Won | ||
| Best Sound | Ramon Reyes | Nominated | ||
References
- "Misteryo sa Tuwa - Cinema One Originals Premiere". Facebook. November 11, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
- "This 1984 film took 3,600 hours and Php 5 million to restore — and we'll finally get to see it". ABS-CBN News Channel. November 4, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
- "Restored BULAKLAK SA CITY JAIL and MISTERYO SA TUWA Interviews". Facebook. November 16, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
- . IMDB. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
Notes
- The film's ownership rights is currently controlled by ABS-CBN Corporation.
