Sunday, April 18, 2021

VivaMax: Review of KUNG PWEDE LANG: Explosive Expletives

April 18, 2021


Writer-director Darryl Yap is riding a major wave of productivity and controversy this first half of 2021 with three consecutive new projects released on the Vivamax platform this year. After "Paglaki Ko, Gusto Kong Maging Pornstar" in January and "Tililing" in March, here he is back again with a new series this time, entitled "Kung Pwede Lang." This one would be a "rant" series, the very form of genre that Darryl Yap built his career on.

Yap started gaining a name for himself by creating Vincentiments, a continuing series of viral short videos (more than 300M views) which invariably featured someone ranting about something in the harshest, most profane, most abrasive language ever. One of his most popular rant videos was "Jowable," which Yap had already been adapted into a full-length feature film -- his mainstream debut which had since become a sleeper box-office hit.

"Kung Puwede Lang" is about the Panting family who lived in a subdivision in Olongapo City. Seaman and game cock afficionado Paquito (Dennis Padilla) and home gardening businesswoman Princess (Rosanna Roces) had three children: the hirsute and jobless Prince (Robert Jbeili), the smart and pragmatic Precious (Carlyn Ocampo) and the perky and pink-haired Penelope (Loren Marinas).

The series has 8 episodes in all, and so far the first 4 had been released. Each episode lasts around 30 minutes only. It starts with a tense moment where one of the members of the family will be provoked into launching a major invective-laden rant against the topic on hand. Only after the rant will the opening credits begin to roll with its perky theme music.The rest of the episode told about the comical events which led up to that rant.

The first episode "Biskwit" opened with the Panting family holding a wake for their departed grandfather, whose body just arrived home that day in a casket in a balikbayan box from the US along with "pasalubong" for everyone. The inaugural rant was delivered by no less Aling Baby (Dexter Doria), the wife of the departed, who was being pestered by an unpleasant insensitive neighbor (Jobelyn Manuel) who wanted a refill of her watermelon seeds. 

The second episode "Holy Wood" featured a rant by Princess about how unappreciated she felt by being a generally ignored housewife and mother. In the third episode "Role Model," it was Prince's turn to rant about being pressured to find work, but not being accepted because he lacked experience. In the fourth episode "Phoenix," the pattern changed somewhat -- no major rant, but Penelope was complaining how her dad loved his rooster more than her, then they had a protracted segment about how to cook tinola. 

Yap's rants are an acquired taste. While these rants do have their valid points, not everyone can stand or tolerate the shouty, over-the-top delivery of the impassioned monologue, with all those explosive expletives to further add shock value. Yap's monologues attract public attention precisely because they are delivered that way. They are meant to provoke thought and hopefully, action. Maybe it is a reflection of society's apathy to issues that exaggeration and hyperbole are needed to get basic social message across. 


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