Ha-ha, You’re Dead by Jansen Musico I-Libings...

Ha-ha, You’re Dead
by Jansen Musico

I-Libings (2011)
D: Rommel Sales
S: Glaiza de Castro, Earl Ignacio, Marc Abaya, Carlo Aquino

I’ve never been very fond of wakes. They’re always depressing. Moreover, they’re a bore. But I guess that’s the thing when you’re only the spectator, a friend or a distant relative, offering comfort to those who were directly left behind. Wakes are crucial. They give loved ones time to grieve, move on, and sometimes even laugh no matter how grim the occasion. Rommel Sales jumped on this absurdity and turned wakes into something morbidly funny in I-Libings.

Glaiza de Castro stars as Isabel, an intern in I-Libings, a videography outfit specializing in the video coverage of the wake and burial of the dead. It took a while for me to process and accept this kooky idea, for I’ve never really encountered a video service that offers such a thing. As the movie explains, I-Libings is the hi-tech way of letting loved ones living overseas to mourn their dead over the internet, making it seem as if they were there. Isabel ridicules this entire concept until she, herself, finally finds a personal need for it.

I-Libings has a lot of funny moments. If not served by De Castro, the laughs are brought about by several minor supporting characters that surround her. Although there was no real need for all these bit players to tell the story, they were necessary to fill up the several long and dragging voids used to depict mood in the film. The comedy was what ultimately saved the I-Libings from a slow and gruesome death by melodrama.

The “unedited wake rushes” with the weird, dirty vignette effect were unexpected gems. In one rush, for example, relatives, much like typical Pinoys, vie for the camera’s attention; in another, a mourner unintentionally smears snot all over her face. There is even a cameo or two by notable indie funnymen. Though at first these cutaways might seem trivial, the rushes eventually start making sense as they being to reflect Isabel’s own feelings on her job and death itself.

Casting De Castro was a good choice. She is the anti-pixie, the girl who’s as smooth as she is edgy. At the beginning of the film, I dreaded that the material would limit her range. Luckily, Sales let her break out midway, and allowed her to deliver a piece so dramatic that it let the audience and me roaring with applause during our screening. Earl Ignacio should also be recognized for his turn as Boss Erwin. His comedic timing is impeccable; it’s somehow a pity that he’s rarely seen on screen nowadays.

There is a beauty in I-Libings, one that can’t even be buried by its story’s predictability. This beauty lies in the way the film lets its audience slip into Isabel’s shoes, initially as spectators, then as people immersed in and moved by wakes, until we, too, finally come face to face with the inevitable. The traditions of death are often solemn, but as Isabel ultimately suggests, they don’t always have to be. Wakes can be a roaring fun, if we make them that way.