June 12, 2021
Anastasia "Tasha" Quingquing (Kim Molina) had CIP or Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, a rare neurological condition that made her not feel any physical pain nor pleasure. On top of that, because of her mother's aversion to tears and drama, Tasha secondarily developed an incapability for any form of emotional expression since she was a child. She now worked as an employee at a pharmaceutical company selling pain killers.
At her office party, she won tickets for two to experience three extreme tourist destinations around the country. Knowing how she was no fun as a companion, her friends all did not want to go with her. So, Tasha just invited a random stranger she met that night -- Ngongo (Jerald Napoles) a man with a bad case of hypernasal speech due to his cleft lip and palate, who needed money to go visit his sick sister in Bohol, one of the destinations in her ticket.
Because of the condition of her character, Kim Molina impressively went through practically this whole movie without a single expression on her face. Even if she did the nerve-wracking Drop Tower at Enchanted Kingdom in Laguna, jumped the scary Plunge (said to be the highest bungee jump in Southeast Asia) at the Danao Adventure Park in Bohol and rode the exhilarating Ultralight Plane at the Angeles City Flying Club in Pampanga, her stoic blank face did not move a bit, showing impressive focus and commitment to character.
Jerald Napoles had the uneviable task of having to deliver all his lines in a barely intelligible hypernasal voice. Admittedly the film did make his nickname and disability a device to elicit laughs, which will be offensive for sensitive viewers. However, it also took up the cudgels for everyone who had to go through a childhood of bullying and abuse because of their congenital deformity and speech impediment, and vent their lifelong frustrations. Napoles had some pretty serious lines to say and the way he stayed true to his character was remarkable.
Tetchie Agbayani played Tasha's strong-willed mother. Cai Cortez played the neurologist who had to talk tough to make Tasha recognize the danger of her condition. The child actresses who played the young Tasha and the Ngongo's ailing sister both gave heartwarming performances. However, Petite and Chad Kinis (as Tasha's two brutally frank frenemies at work) and Candy Pangilinan (as the gossipy owner of a neighborhood store) had annoying noisy scenes that went on a bit too long for my comfort.
Writer-director Darryl Yap continues his prolific 2021 streak with Viva Films after "Pornstar," "Tililing," and "Kung Pwede Lang," coming up with another thought-provoking topic for his latest movie. The inability to experience pain may sound like a good thing, but pain actually serves to warn us of further injury. Emotional numbness, Yap's own hyperbole for Tasha's affliction, was over-the-top, but it works in this one because of the chemistry of the Kim-Je loveteam. For Kim Molina, the sleeper success of "Jowable" (2019) was no fluke. 6/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment