When their mother passed away in the lean season, Marlin (Gabbie Padilla) was forced to work for a supermarket in the city under her boss Dave (Nathan Sotto). Unfortunately, she had to leave her much younger brother Tata (JP Larroder) alone at home. Tata was very curious about Nay Pansay (Ruby Ruiz), their mysterious neighbor with a blind eye, scarred face and usually dressed in black, who was rumored to be a witch who ate kids up.
Among the people in Tata's neighborhood were: drunk pervert Poldo (Ian T. Laczi) who frequently abused his autistic son Pol (Jeffrey Jiruma), the obese homeless woman at the church nicknamed Diutay (Sunshine Teodoro), and young farmer Jordan (John Renz Javier) who had a crush on Marlin. Visitors from the city include the chatty genius Atty. Maya (Ruby Rosa Baldevarona) and her driver Nono (Ramjun Clemente Valasote).
Tara Illenberger wrote (in delightfully lilting Hiligaynon) and directed this film about provincial life through the eyes of its precocious child protagonist Tata (or Jose Domingo Jr. if his sister was angry). The first few times Tata found himself in Nay Pansay's house, Illenberger uses crazy camera angles and movements, enhanced by the dissonant music and sound effects, to put us all into exactly how scared and jumpy Tata was at those times.
The winsome natural performance of JP Larroder as Tata carried this film. He had an innate comic timing that made his funny lines land. Some humor was subtle, like how Tata suddenly dropped phrases like "cross my heart" and "this is it" from out of the blue. Larroder had the ability to cry on cue with a sincerity that makes you want to cry along. Deservedly, he is a cinch to win Best Child Performer, but kudos for also being a contender in Best Actor.
Surrounding Larroder was an ensemble of actors who clearly enjoyed working together. Ruby Ruiz relished doing scary Nay Pansay with her baleful stares and mad cackling laughter, but she also shone in her dramatic highlight, when she told her sad family history. Even if Marlin was a supporting role, Gabby Padilla continues her brand of subdued excellence. Veteran Sunshine Teodoro and neophytes Jeffrey Jiruma and Ian T. Laczi made the most of what is probably the meatiest role in their filmographies so far.
This film is really at its best when it focused on Tata and his unconditional desire to help other people and healing them with his efforts. However, it can be upsetting when Illenberger turned her attention to R-rated adult issues like adultery, prostitution, sexual assault, and violent retaliation. While these scenes may ground the film into realism, I felt these scenes were very jarring to the innocent childlike vibe the film started with. 7/10
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