18-year old Gino (Oliver Aquino) worked as a gigolo to support his grandmother (and his younger sister. 25-year old Marie (Angela Cortez) worked in the sex trade to support her kindergarten-age daughter as a single mother. One day, their common friend Emong conscripted them both to be the featured stars of a pornographic film. Forced by their life circumstances, the two accept the gig which promised a hefty P10,000 talent fee for each of them, even if it was the first time they would perform sex in front of a camera.
The very nature of the story alone dealing about prostitutes and pornography is guaranteed to catch attention. With the name of Joselito Altarejos attached as director, this film promises to be bold and daring. However, those viewers who watch this only for the sleazy scenes, they are in for a very long wait. These lurid scenes would only be seen in the final 30 minutes or so of this 1-1/2 hour long movie.
The first third of this was dedicated to introducing the poverty-stricken lives of Gino (in Quiapo slums) and Marie (in Marikina). During this part, there are only hints and fleeting images of Gino and Marie's anatomy. However, most disturbing was the gratuitous bath scene of Marie's cute daughter. Even if no private parts were exposed, I thought it was a most inappropriate and unnecessary show of skin for this poor little girl.
The second third of the film was the very long trip to get to the island where the porn shoot was going to take place. There was a 6-hour long bus trip to Lucena then Mauban in Quezon Province, plus a vertiginous ride on a motorized banca. Then when they reach Cagbalete island, Aling Sonia (Ruby Ruiz in a tapis) would take them on what seemed like an hour-long walk en route to the rest house of her boss (Perry Escano), where Japanese director Masato and crew was waiting for them.
During the bus leg of this very long road trip, the two get to know each other, and enumerate their limitations as to what they would or would not do in the line of work. The rest of this part was just an endless series of dry needless scenes of commuting and walking to the bus station, riding the bus, lunch at rest stop, finding the port, riding the banca, then another very long walk inland -- scenes whose only apparent use was to delay gratification.
When time came for the actual porn scenes, these were at first stylized shots in black and white, accompanied by classical music ("Ellen's Third Song" by Schubert, "The Flower Duet" by Delibes, etc...), without showing of organs, hence the MTRCB felt these deserved a mild rating of R-16. However later, more salacious scenes followed in full color, those frankly showing male erection, masturbation and ejaculation. Because of these obstrusively raunchy scenes, the wisdom of the lax R-16 rating is questionable. The film makes you feel dirty and guilty afterwards, as the director intends.
The orgy scenes which Gino and Marie were unwilling to do were really depraved and demeaning as they were really meant to be in the story. They had to throw all their limitations out the window, or else they were not going to get paid. Here, writer-director Altarejos rallied against exploitative Japanese pornographers reportedly at work in remote areas of the country, when he accompanied these offensive sex scenes with the radio report of the Japanese attacking the Philippines during World War II.
In those artistically-blocked, tightly shot, fearlessly-acted scenes in the intense climax, Altarejos sought to comment on how poverty can lead people to do anything, no matter how disgusting, perverted or unsavory, in this case practically accepting a rape scenario, just to earn enough money for their families. Their bodies and psyches do get traumatized by these rotten experiences, but they simply have no choice but to ride the wave as it comes crashing down on them. 5/10.
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