Mutya ng Pasig (Muse of the Pasig River). 1950. Philippines. Directed by Richard Abelardo. With Jose Padilla Jr., Rebecca Gonzales, Delia Razon. DCP. In Filipino; English subtitles. 90 min.
Muse of the Pasig River is one of the few films to survive intact from the archives of LVN Pictures, the celebrated Filipino studio run by Mike De Leon’s grandmother Doña Sisang. Surprised by the film’s “uncanny resemblance” to his own debut feature, Itim, De Leon writes, “Like Itim, Mutya ng Pasig is a ghost story set in a provincial milieu; a father commits a horrible crime; a young woman is possessed by the vengeful spirit of her dead mother…. The story of Abelardo’s film has other magical elements. For instance, a story about a ghostly woman singing in the dead of night the melancholy strains of ‘Mutya ng Pasig’ (a kundiman, or traditional love song), pining for her lost love, seeking pity and justice, circulates in the town of Matangtubig (Water’s Eye—even the town’s name is magical). Nicanor Abelardo, the director’s cousin and one of our greatest composers, created this sublime kundiman while Deogracias Rosario wrote its lyrics.”
Please note, little survives of the film library of LVN studios, and what does survive is generally in poor condition. We nonetheless present these rare films so that New York audiences can experience them for the first time.