Misteryo sa Tuwa

Misteryo sa Tuwa
The poster of the restored version, released in 2019.
Directed by	Abbo Q. Dela Cruz
Written by	Abbo Q. Dela Cruz Madeleine Gallaga
Produced by	Charo Santos-Concio Madeleine Gallaga Ching T. Dacuycuy
Starring	Tony Santos, Sr. Johnny Delgado Ronnie Lazaro Alicia Alonzo Amable Quiambao Maria Montes Vangie Labalan Lito Anzures
Cinematography	Rody Lacap
Edited by	Jess Navarro
Music by	Jaime Fabregas Nonong Buencamino
Production company	Experimental Cinema of the Philippines[a]
Release date	December 25, 1984 (1984-12-25)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	Philippines
Languages	Filipino English

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 is set in Lucban, Quezon, in the 1950s where three men stole a suitcase from a 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.

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.

Summary[]

In a peaceful village at the footsteps of Mt. Banahaw, the people were gathered to celebrate in a joyous occasion where the villagers and visitors 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 items worth of fortune in the area where they stole and retrieve it in order to escape their lives of being poor. On the other hand, the three men Ponsoy, Mesiong, and Jamin steal a suitcase belonged to a dead American passenger 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 as the contingent of soldiers would begin their final assault to kill the communist pillagers in the mountains as a revenge from their violent attack.

Cast[]

The director and its crew members also hired the townspeople of Lucban, Quezon and the Lucban Theatre Ensemble as extras of the film as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

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[]

Misteryo sa Tuwa was released by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines on December 25, 1984 as part of the 1984 Metro Manila Film Festival. In Japan, it was released on December 12, 1985 as one of the films exhibited for the 30th Asia-Pacific Film Festival and its literal Japanese title is also Joyful Mystery (Japanese: よろこびの神秘, Hepburn: Yorokobi no shinpi).

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.^[1][2]

To address the issue of the damaged parts of Reel 3, the restoration team contacted the film's cinematographer Rody Lacap for the approval of fixing the parts of the film. In the end, Lacap decided to make the damaged parts in sepia tones. According to Leo P. Katigbak, head of the archives division, said that they could spend ₱500,000 on the colorization of the damaged scenes but it was turned down due to Lacap's instructions. The whole restoration process of Misteryo sa Tuwa costed ₱5 million and the total duration of the film was 3,440 hours.^[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 (one of the film's surviving cast members), film editor Jess Navarro, and the representatives of the cast and crew members of the film who are deceased or unable to attend: Wanggo Gallaga (son of Peque and Madeleine Gallaga), Rose S. Alimon (daughter of Tony Santos Sr.), Teresita V. Dela Cruz (wife of the film's director), Esperanza "Espie" Dela Cruz-Salva (sister of the director and the film's wardrobe assistant), Juan Miguel Escudero (nephew of the film's production designer Don Escudero) and Eduardo R. Meñez, the head of the Office of Strategic Communications and Research - Department of Foreign Affairs.^[3]

Reception[]

According to a review by Panos Kotzathanasis for Asian Movie Pulse, the film is considered "a great film that manages to communicate the plethora of its comments with utter eloquence, while entertaining significantly in the process." He praised the film's storyline and settings, the cast members, Rody Lacap's cinematography, production designs by Rodell Cruz and Don Escudero.^[4]

Awards[]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Misteryo sa Tuwa at IMDb