November 14, 2020
Blade Auto Center first ventured into making films with Roderick Lindayag's nostalgic romantic drama "Dito Lang Ako" which premiered in movie houses in 2018. However, they decided to make their next two films streaming for free on demand on their YouTube page. These were the rom-com "12 Days to Destiny" posted last year (now with 3.5M views) and its sequel "The Next 12 Days" posted just five months ago (now with 1.5M views).
Their first three films tackled very light love story themes, easily accessible for mainstream audiences, and starred actors who had already established a name for themselves in the industry. For their newest feature film, Blade invested in 4K technology (3840 x 2160 pixels), which has a considerably higher resolution than the typical 1080P HD videos. However, with this investment, they also took a very big risk -- a debuting director Ara Baldonado, an all-newbie cast and an experimental story and story-telling style.
Janus Paraiso (Jal Galang) lost the suitcase of his mother. Jill dela Rosa (Hasna Cabral) lost the tool box of her father. The two of them cross paths and decide to join forces to look for the thief Spanky whom they suspect was responsible for stealing both of their respective items. However, because of various misfortunes, like getting drunk, or car trouble, they kept on missing their quarry. Will the two ever be able to catch the thief and recover their lost items?
You have to admire the dedication of the two main actors. They were made to do some outright weird and repetitive scenes which looked very exhausting to do. Their inexperience can quite evident with their awkwardness in front of the camera in certain scenes. As for the actor who played Spanky, it was not clear if he was intentionally being funny or just naturally being annoying. The "12 Days" films were referenced here, not only with the red Mini Cooper, but also the return of Akihiro Blanco as Blade salesman Daniel, but honestly I did not know what the heck he was doing here at all.
The plot (written by Sarrah Vilar) was actually seemed simple and straightforward. However, Baldonado (who was also the editor) peppered and padded the story with the big bang theory, on top of red herrings and meandering subplots to complicate and confuse matters. What could have been a short film turned into an hour-long puzzling maze which may or may not make sense to viewers. This was really as indie as indie could get, definitely not for everyone.
This film ended with many unanswered questions. What does the title mean with respect to the story told? What did the stolen items mean, especially given those unclear, incomplete flashbacks about their respective parents? What do the peripheral references to the "12 Days" films mean? Will there be a future film to connect everything together? I guess will have to wait for Blade's next movie project to find out.
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