MMFF 2015: Review of BUY NOW, DIE LATER: Paying the Price of Pride

January 5, 2016

Honestly, the title did not sound so promising at first. I did not get to read any pre-festival buzz about this film at all. I did not even know who the actors would be. However, come awards night, this film stepped out of obscurity when it won Second Best Picture (and Best Production Design). Add to that the favorable reviews I see online on social media. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the whole orchestra section when I went to watch it. This is sad, because I think people are missing a lot here. 

The film was divided into five episodes, one for each of the five senses. "Masid" was about Odie (Vhong Navarro), a frustrated photojournalist and blogger who yearned for the perfect camera to take his photos. "Dinig" was about Chloe (Alex Gonzaga), a showbiz wannabe who can't sing. "Sarap" was about Ato (Rayver Cruz), a chef who wanted his restaurant to succeed. "Halimuyak" was about Pippa (John Lapuz), a homely gay guy who desperately wanted to be noticed by men. "Kanti" was about Maita (Lotlot de Leon), a middle-aged woman who yearned for her youth interrupted by unexpected motherhood. 

At their most down and out moment, they all stumbled into an old curio shop in Malate and meet its mysterious owner. Santi seemed to have exactly what they needed to succeed. The five fall for his charismatic sales pitch and each of them buys the item which does make their wildest dreams come true. However, they will soon realize that their success came with a much higher, and diabolical, cost than the price tag.

The acting of the cast was not bad in general, with Lotlot de Leon once again proving her worth in films of this genre (like she did in the first "Feng Shui"). The episode that had the Addams Family reference (featuring guest star Jason Gainza) was really off-the-wall crazy with gruesome food images that gore fans would approve of. The voice of Alex Gonzaga though can be a bit too shrill for comfort, ironic for her episode. I wish they developed backstory of Santi and the girl in the portrait better. It was hinted about for a bit, but unfortunately set aside right away and never referred to again. 

I liked the way the stories five overlapped over each other in the course of the film. The story was strange and over-the-top in execution. The brilliant cinematography, meticulous set design, effective sound mixing and atmospheric musical score were all top notch. It was just too bad that the last act which combined all the five stories together turned sort of messy, thereby marring this with a rather unsatisfactory ending. Anyhow, the film looked great production-wise and the storytelling was really clever which made for a very entertaining horror-comedy. 7/10.