On Location

I rarely go to cinema nowadays. With whole days devoted to full-time child caring and squeezing a little work in between, evenings and weekends are usually spent catching up on other chores and rest, capped by a short late night movie on TV or some reading, at best. It is always a treat when I go out for some social function; extra special when it involves a movie house. Last week, the universe smiled at me (and my husband) and sent a babysitter (our) way. My excitement was such that even though I didn’t get to watch my first movie choice, I happily poised myself for two hours of bliss from another film, “Lucy” (starring Scarlett Johanssen). It became doubly exhilarating when during the opening scenes, I immediately recognised familiar landmarks from a recent overseas trip. “Taipei!” I whispered to my date and could barely contain my excitement. I got even more pumped up upon seeing that crucial parts of the movie were shot in the same hotel I stayed in during that trip! 

That led me to thinking how when we visit or see a place that was used as a movie location, it somehow holds a different meaning to us other than just being one of our travel itineraries. Suddenly a place is not just a charming, old town anymore; for us, it is also where a charming, old movie was filmed. There’s an added attraction that we identify with. We feel more connection. Maybe because when we step into such place, a world of make-believe from movies becomes physically real, or we sense the opposite—we see an actual, real place that at one point was cinematically transformed into something else.  We sort of transcend the line between fantasy and reality, and feel an odd belongingness to both. 

Travelling to these places breathes life into an otherwise two-dimensional movie backdrop. What we’ve only seen before in the wide screen as a row of houses turns out to be a real community of real people in real life. Actually walking on a film’s street locations, dining in some of its featured restaurants, and talking to people who live there humanise these places and tell stories that enrich our journeys even more.

Meanwhile, on the occasions that we have gone to a place prior to seeing the movie, we painstakingly scrutinise the setting (as I am sure what most Filipinos did when they watched Jeremy Renner’s “Bourne Legacy” that filmed in large part in Manila and Palawan, Philippines) and feel comfort and ownership, pride even, for every familiar landmark that we see. We’ve been there, we say. Or even if we have not seen the movie and only knew that it was shot in a place we are visiting, it is still a nice trivia to add to our travel memories. 

Either way, it helps us to be more observant and grounded when we are travelling. We see a place in a different light by looking deeper into every nook and comparing notes between fact and fiction. We get to know the place a little more; if we are quite familiar with them prior to its inclusion in a movie, we develop a whole new appreciation for the place. And everytime we see the movie’s reruns, we relive our experience of going there again and again, making our travels to movie locations, whether by choice or fate, quite special. 

I fondly recalled some of my own travels on movie locations here. Would love to see the movie locations you've been to! :-)

Movie locations build up on a place’s history (above: Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex where Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movie was filmed) or natural features (below: Halong Bay in Vietnam, a water maze for the action scenes in one of Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond films).

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A movie shot in one’s town becomes a local pride. I remember when I first set foot in Aurora (northerrn Philippines), my then boyfriend and now husband’s home province, one of the places he pointed to me when he was showing me around was the bridge and the breakpoint (the spot where inland water meets the sea) where Francis Ford Coppola shot some of the Vietnam War scenes for his masterpiece “Apocalypse Now” in the late 70’s. This was way before the province underwent massive tourism upgrade and started capitalising on its water sports like surfing to attract tourists. The local movie “Baler” was also filmed in the province and featured the scenic cove of Baler Bay (shown here) on its title credits.

While shooting rapids in Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna, Philippines, Ronnie Lazaro’s breakthrough film, “Boatman,” where he played the titular role who later became a sex worker in the city, comes to mind.

Little Hollywood. Locals will tell you that their town of Magdalena, Laguna was a favourite of Philippine movies' Da King, Fernando Poe, Jr. Several of his movies were filmed there. When you visit this town, you would know why. The place, particularly its old church, speaks of a thousand and one stories, not unlike in movies. 

Movie locations can be tourist magnets that’s why cities abroad offer tax breaks and other incentives to entice producers to film in their areas. The town of Pila, Laguna in the Philippines, dotted with old houses and a picturesque plaza, was the location of a handful of local movies and television shows. Pity I lost all my photos taken in Pila when I went there a few years ago. Well, that gives me a good reason to return someday. (Photo from the internet)

A visit to the Sampaguita Gardens (San Juan City, Metro Manila), erstwhile home of local movie pioneer Sampaguita Pictures and the family behind it, the Vera Perez clan, gives a glimpse of the old glamour of Philippine movies. The sprawling compound, the family's ancestral home, and its famed staircase, were sites of many of the productions’ classic black and white films during its heydays in the 1950’s to 1960’s, as studio shooting over location filming was the norm at the time. During filming, the stars were housed in the Vera Perez’s mansion, where they were groomed and taught social etiquette, among other lessons, by the Sampaguita Pictures’ matriarch herself. The place is now an events venue and is being rented out. Nora Aunor, the garden manager said, was among the last celebrities to sashay on this grand staircase for her debut party.