Jaclyn and Andi, 2016 Cannes’ biggest winners

BUZZBLAST! ABS-CBN had introduced the Tatlong Bibe song-and dance routine even before The Running Man challenge dominated the Internet. The former was inspired by a scene in Be My Lady with actors Erich Gonzales and Daniel Matsunaga leading the routine. After It’s Showtime featured it in the show, the routine went viral. Who will win the unofficial faceoff?

MA’ ROSA WENT TO CANNES. Jaclyn Jose and Andi Eigenmann have come to terms with each other professionally for a long time now, but it took their participation at the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival to confirm that mother and daughter are stars in their own right.
Jaclyn was shocked the A1-list film festival picked her as Best Actress for her role in Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa. It was the Philippines’ first Best Actress win at Cannes and Jaclyn’s second time to walk the red carpet, the first time being Brillante’s Serbis in 2008.
Andi made it to Vanity Fair’s list of “Best-Dressed Celebrities” at the 2016 Cannes red carpet. It was very much a mother-and-daughter victory that Andi went up the stage with Brillante to share the victory with Jaclyn who received her Best Actress diploma and trophy.
“I’m at a loss for words! I am so surprised and moved. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the Jury members. I thank the director Brillante Mendoza, whose instructions I simply followed,” Jaclyn told members of the Jury and Brillante in her acceptance speech. “He’s a brilliant director, a genius. I am so happy you liked the film. I’d like to salute the Philippine people.”
Variety describes Jaclyn’s hotly-contested win as: “The best actress contest had therefore been viewed as a particularly competitive one this year. Indeed, the field was so deep this year that the jury managed to blindside virtually every punter with their choice of winner — a stunned Jaclyn Jose, the Filipino star of Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa.”
Jaclyn beat Charlize Theron for The Last Face, Marion Cotillard for Mal de Pierres (From the Land of the Moon), Sasha Lane for American Honey, Isabelle Huppert for Elle, Elle Fanning  for The Neon Demon and Ruth Negga for Loving.
Critics who covered the festival praised Jaclyn’s performance in Ma’ Rosa: Variety said she represented her character “with naturalistic grace.” Screen International pointed out that she “cuts an imposing figure … she (is) the heart of the (compelling) story.” Hollywood Reporter labeled her as “resilient yet understated.”
Aside from Andi and Brillante, Jaclyn was with cast members Neil Ryan Sese, Jomari Angeles, Luis Ruiz, Natileigh Sitoy and John Paul Duray with Maria isabel Lopez as guest attendee.
Julio Diaz, who plays Jaclyn’s husband July, was supposed to be with them, but was advised by his doctor to rest due to his recent brain attack. He is now resting in Baguio where the cold weather is conducive to his recovery.
Jaclyn didn’t do much research for the role of a typical Filipina mother in the metro’s depressed areas. She said, “The biggest challenge for me was not to act. Especially since I am coming from television shows where I play loud and campy characters.” She had to tone everything down. She was not even allowed by Brillante to put on makeup.

SHOWBIZ ROYALTY. Jaclyn’s daughter with award-winning actor Mark Gil, Andi is showbiz royalty all the way. She joined the likes of Hollywood stars Kirsten Stewart, Eva Longoria, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, Blake Lively, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts, Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry in the magazine’s list of names who “stopped the show at this year’s fest.”
Vanity Fair’s Lauren Le Vine highlighted Andi’s look for the opening photo call, where the actress donned a simple yet elegant white jumpsuit from the collection of Filipino fashion designer Patty Ang.
For the actual red carpet, Andi wore a figure-hugging sheath dress made by another local talent, designer Boom Samson.
When Jaclyn received her award, Andi wore a sexy blue gown with a low neckline and shoulder strap.

A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY CAUGHT IN THE METRO’S UGLINESS. Ma’ Rosa is Brillante’s neorealist indictment of police corruption. What sets the film apart from other competing films is its visual and thematic ugliness.
Ma’ Rosa is Rosa Reyes (Jaclyn), a slightly overweight but no-nonsense kind of woman, a beautiful woman with good-looking children living in squalor and poverty.
Shopping with her teenage son, Erwin (Jomari), she throws a fit at the checkout counter because they don’t have any change. Besides those noodles, she sells small quantities of drugs on the side with her husband July (Julio) from her Rosa Sari-Sari store.
The police raids the store and takes the couple and their drug stash to the station. Their choice is go to jail without bail, hand over P200,000 or to help them catch their supplier so he can cough up the same amount.  
Ma Rosa’s supplier (Kristofer King) is hauled in; he’s beaten up and then manages to come up with only a part of the desired sum. The Reyes’ offspring — Erwin, his older brother, Jackson (Felix Roco) and their sister, Raquel (Andi) — are then sent out into Manila to come up with the remainder. Raquel begs family members for donations, Jackson has a hard time trying to sell their TV and the delicately featured Erwin raises the biggest share by sleeping with an older businessman for money.
The film turns into a reflection of a decaying society in which the poor have no options and morals are a luxury in which few can indulge. It assumes children have the responsibility to bail out their parents from dire predicaments that only Filipinos will understand fully.
Ma’ Rosa continues Brillante’s expose of the Philippines’ underbelly that we have come to accept as reality and live through it without protest. It shows Jaclyn and Andi as the country’s most gifted performers.

ZSA ZSA AND CONRAD UP FOR A RECONCILIATION? Architect Conrad Onglao, ex-fiancee of Zsa Zsa Padilla, has finally broken his silence in a statement over their botched engagement. Expressing, “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, ever!” Conrad added: “I love and respect her a lot and whatever issues we have are between us and hopefully we can work it out and who knows maybe get back again.” Then are Zsa Zsa and Conrad up for a reconciliation? Most likely, but reconciliation will not be fast on Zsa Zsa’s part, the sensitive woman that she is, as she was terribly hurt.