Vivamax: Review of SILAB: Toxic Triangle

July 9, 2021

Ana (Cloe Barreto) was a rich girl from the city who just married Emil (Jason Abalos), an OFW from a fishing island village, after waiting for him  raising their son for seven years while he worked abroad. In their wedding night, as Emil was fast asleep dead drunk, Ana saw and got attracted to Rod (Marco Gomez), Emil's friend from Qatar and best man at their wedding, walking out of the sea after his solo night swim.

And so starts the latest sex drama feature film from veteran director Joel Lamangan, telling the story of this dangerous love triangle which threatened to drive the three people involved into self-implosion. All three have their own rabid psychological demons that gnawed at their sanity and threatened interpersonal relationships. and terrible secrets from their past that they are desperately trying to escape from. 

Jason Abalos has had an auspicious breakthrough in the indie film "Endo" (Jade Castro, 2007). While he remained a staple in telenovelas, but it seemed he did not get more memorable film roles anymore. His role here in "Silab" probably did not exactly challenge his talents as an actor as he seemed to just be coasting along territory familiar to him. Being the veteran in the main cast, Abalos was still able to convey well the emotions required of his troubled character Emil, even if he was not really the main focus of the story. 

The other two angles in the triangle are newcomers Cloe Barreto and Marco Gomez. Ana and Rod were actually the meatier, more demanding roles to play compared to Emil. Unfortunately, Barreto and Gomez were still too raw to tackle them adequately. There were several scenes where the camera caught them with totally blank expressions on their faces even if the scene was asking for more emotional connection. They dared to bare their bodies, yes, but they need to work harder to hone their acting skills more if they want to last in the industry. 

The whole production had a distinct 80s-90s throwback feel when several sleazy bold and ST films, particularly those set in remote rural locations, ruled the box office. Lotlot de Leon and Chanda Romero do their best in their maternal roles. While the cinematography had artistic ambitions, because of the haphazard editing choices, viewers would have to do their own connecting the dots to figure out the sense of the illogical sequence of scenes, or the puzzling progression of the characters' psychiatric deterioration that led to that grisly finale. 2/10.