KTX: Review of YORME: A Scavenger's Success Story

February 5, 2022

Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, also known by his screen name Isko Moreno, had also been called by the monicker of "Yorme," flipping the syllables of the word "Mayor" around as he was wont to do to make catchy slang words of his own. With an impeccable sense of timing, director Joven Tan had crafted this new movie musical to tell about his life in songs. Yorme is, after all, one of the top 5 aspirants running for the Presidency of the Philippines in the upcoming May 2022 national elections. 

The film is divided into three parts based on his age: child, teenager and adult, with a different actor playing Mr. Domagoso at each age. Scenes of the honorable Mayor telling his life story himself in his distinctively colorful language style were interspersed within  the scenes of the film which depicted the highlights of his dramatic rags to riches coming of age, from a scavenger in the garbage piles of Tondo, to a teeny-bopper screen idol on TV and films, all the way to being a popular man-of-the-masses politician. 

Called "Scott" by his parents, child Isko (Raikko Mateo) began scavenging in garbage at age 10. While his mother (Tina Paner) disapproved, his father (Ramon Christopher) admired his son's "diskarte" (or streetwiseness). He also had risky capers sneakily collecting empty bottles of mineral water left by passengers on provincial ships that were docked on the pier. An amusing anecdote the mayor shared in this part was his experience with Mang Baldo (Keempee de Leon), the fearsome "mantutuli" (traditional circumciser) of Moriones. 

Teenage Isko (McCoy de Leon) had the bright idea of washing leftover chicken parts he would pick up in the garbage and frying them into his own culinary creation called "batsoy" which he was able to sell among his neighbors in the slum. He also experienced bullying among his classmates. Because he was a scavenger, they teasingly called him "Mayor" after Mayor Lopez's garbage project. He was discovered by a talent scout (Jestoni Alarcon) who brought him to audition for "That's Entertainment" TV show of German Moreno (Janno Gibbs).

Adult Isko (Xian Lim) eventually graduated from teen romance movies to the more daring ST films which was all the rage in Solar Films where he was signed. Later on, he married a supportive wife (Mary Jane Lastimosa) and decided to enter the world of politics. From the start, he was criticized for being a mere high school graduate who cannot speak English. He used his first-hand experience of poverty as proof of his sincerity that he was one with the masses, rising from being a councilman to a vice mayor, and eventually, mayor. 

Aside from the script, director Joven Tan also wrote the music and lyrics of 15 songs telling Yorme's story, from his scavenging days, his gold medal at school, his batsoy business, his J-S prom, "That's Entertainment" days, to his political advocacies. There were three inspirational songs about trusting the Lord for a better tomorrow. This musical biopic put Yorme in an ever-positive light. It was quite entertaining overall (and fun to see several former "That's" actors in cameo roles), but it can be a tad too saccharine and over-idealistic at times. 6/10.