Vivamax: Review of KALIWAAN: Trading Torture

April 29, 2022

Working student Boogie Alcantara (Vince Rillon) lived with his parents and younger siblings in their small bakery. One night, he severely injured a guy Raji (Juami Gutierrez) whom he saw romancing his masseuse girlfriend Monica (AJ Raval). His frantic mother Belen (Irma Adlawan) immediately brought Boogie to her brother, policeman Marlon (Mark Anthony Fernandez), with the hope that he can help Boogie out in his present predicament. 

It turned out that Raji was the son of a Muslim family headed by Mohammed (Julio Diaz). The aggrieved father immediately sent his elder son Ahmed (Raion Sandoval) to go look for Boogie. Meanwhile, Boogie was hiding out in the house of Marlon's brutish right-hand man TJ (Felix Roco). Both camps went at each other's throats on a round robin of escalating threats and intimidation, eventually blowing up into an inevitable mess of bloody carnage. 

The very first scene right off showed a sadistic Mark Anthony Fernandez and his men inflicting brutal torture on a helpless naked woman (Cataleya Surio) who had her hands tied up over her head. From this opening scene alone, we are immediately warned that this film was not going to shirk from nudity and gore. And as promised, we will get exactly that gratuitously graphic display of sex and violence that Vivamax is known for.

Ever since his Vivamax debut in "Siklo" (2022), Vince Rillon is on a roll portraying regular guys who were thrust into various sexually-stimulating situations with various voluptuous women. This time Rillon gets to cavort with the original Vivamax princess, AJ Raval, who now has to step up her own game as the Vivamax stable of nymphets is now teeming with several other ladies who are just as willing to bare and more. 

One of these promising sirens is Denise Esteban who gets a top billing on the poster, despite having a role that is secondary at best, even not entirely necessary. She played the role of as TJ's illiterate younger sister who was apparently being abused without her full understanding, a pitiful character who was there to show Boogie's sense of compassion. That final scene of hers holding a white teddy bear was a haunting one. 

The name of Brillante Mendoza may be seen above the title, but he is the producer here, not the director. He handed the reins over to Daniel Palacio, who told Boogie's harrowing tale in a brisk engaging manner with interesting camera angles, only interrupted with extraneous sex scenes for that Vivamax branding. Its main distinguishing aspect was its extreme torture violence which is definitely not for the faint at heart. 5/10. 

Review of THE BAD GUYS: Correctional Caper

 April 28, 2022

In Los Angeles, anthropomorphic animals lived with the human population. The debonair thief Mr. Wolf led the gang called the Bad Guys, who terrorized the city with their crime sprees. His mates included his grumpy best friend Mr. Snake, the child-like disguise expert Mr. Shark, the crazy hothead Mr. Piranha and and tech hacker wiz Ms. Tarantula. They lived a life of crime because people all looked at them as villains anyway. 

One night, the Bad Guys gatecrashed an event with philanthropist and goodness advocate guinea pig Prof. Rupert Marmalade IV, planning to steal the Golden Dolphin trophy to be awarded him by governor fox Diane Foxington. Their plans miscarry, and they end up being arrested However, Marmalade interceded and offered to conduct an experiment to prove that he can convert the Bad Guys into good.

The artwork by the artists from Dreamworks Animation was very interesting to observe and study. The main animal figures were three-dimensional, how they still had that old-fashioned two-dimensional look with regards to the details. The hair and facial features of Wolf and his gang looked like they were hand-painted on, in contrast with Disney-Pixar which generally have animals with fluffy wavy fur. The action sequences were also frenetic and exciting.

The voice cast was very entertaining to listen to. Sam Rockwell (as Wolf) had a genuine rapport with Marc Maron (as Snake), as well as easy chemistry with Zazie Beetz (as Diane). Awkwafina's Ms. Tarantula was practically a stereotype of having the female member of the gang be the hacker. Anthony Reyes as the rambunctious Piranha gets to belt out the catchy theme song "Good Tonight" in a lively party scene.  

The protagonists of this animated film are literal "bad guys" as the title clearly says. However, the screenplay by Etan Cohen, based on the children's book series of the same title by Aaron Blabey, gave this bunch of crooks a story arc that promised path towards redemption which makes it appropriate for young viewers to watch with their parents. The twisty way the story unfolded and its biting sense of humor made it quite engaging for adults as well. 8/10.

Vivamax: Review of HABANGBUHAY: Interrupted by Illness

April 22, 2022

Bea (Ellise Joson) was a pretty, privileged social media influencer with her popular makeup vlogs. JR (McCoy de Leon) was their houseboy, an orphan who grew up with his grandmother and his pet dog. As per the formula these cinematic love stories usually follow, they started hating each others guts, but eventually, they do fall in love. However, as fate would have it, a serious health condition would make this relationship a very challenging one. 

Young adult love stories complicated by a disease suffered by one of the partners has been a familiar trope in films. From "Love Story" (1970) to "Dying Young" (1991), from "A Walk to Remember" (2002) to "The Fault in our Stars" (2014), audiences have wept over these sets of star-crossed lovers who found love in one person, only to realize that this love will end in sadness because one of them is suffering from an incurable illness.

Unlike the previously named film that dealt with cancer, the illness tackled in this film was CVID (Common Variant Immune Deficiency), a rare primary immunodeficiency disease with no known cure which makes the patient easily susceptible to various infectious diseases. So this film was somewhat more akin to "Five Feet Apart" (2019) which dealt with cystic fibrosis, a condition that also made patients prone to deadly lung infections.

Ellise Joson really went to town with this role of Bea, literally running the gamut of human emotions, from ecstatic joy to extreme depression, from being spunky and vibrant, to being wan and powerless. As JR, McCoy de Leon had a very easy chemistry with Joson, convincing us about the sincerity of their love story. However, that this pairing was between a rich spoiled princess and a shy illiterate houseboy was admittedly not too easy to swallow. 

Giving JR his own mental health issue and traumatic backstory in Act 2 was an interesting development, but this did not really matter anymore by the final act. The story arc of Yayo Aguila as Bea's overprotective mother Lily was just too predictable. Even if they tried complicating her story by having her be separated and at odds with her ex-husband Bernard (Lander Vera-Perez), this also did not really go anywhere significant.  

Running for almost two hours, director Real S. Florido took his time to tell a familiar story, with writers Jon Versoza and Paolo Valconcha including all the usual twists in their script. I liked those scenes when Bea and JR were seen together even though there were apart in reality. Cinematographer Lee Briones-Meily did some great work with those beautifully-shot scenes about their camping trip on Mt. Tala.  6/10. 

Review of THE LOST CITY: Rough and Risky Romance

April 21, 2022

Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) was an author of best-selling steamy romance-adventure novels featuring a dashing fictional hero with long flowing blond hair named Dash. To drum up sales for her latest book entitled "The Lost City of D," Loretta's publicist Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) organized a book tour together with the book's very popular cover model Alan (Channing Tatum), an activity the reclusive Loretta was very reluctant to do.

However, Loretta was abducted by an eccentric tycoon Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) who knew Loretta's academic background in archeology. He wanted her to translate an ancient piece of parchment that revealed the location of the legendary headdress called "Crown of Fire," which Loretta mentioned in her book. As the police were not helping, Alan sprung into hero mode, recruiting mercenary Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) to help him get her back.

Sandra Bullock really has magic in portraying roles like this, as she has done before in films like "Miss Congeniality" (2000) or "The Heat" (2013). For practically two thirds of this film, she was awkwardly dressed in a body-hugging, fuchsia, sparkly-sequined catsuit. She did not care that that outfit looked very silly on her, and that is what we love about her. Those frenetic chase scenes where Bullock was tied to a chair were simply hilarious.

Channing Tatum was a natural in this "himbo" role, even more so than he was in "Magic Mike" (2012). From his filmography, we know he can do rough and tumble action scenes, but the ones here in were flavored with physical comedy. He also got to display his seductive dancing skills here in a Latin-flavored number with Bullock. The start was not smooth, but the romantic chemistry between Tatum and Bullock actually became quite good and convincing. 

Daniel Radcliffe notches up yet another weirdo character in diverse his list of roles as the main villain Fairfax. Oscar Nunez was quite funny in his short role as the cargo plane pilot who was smitten with Beth. However, the best parts of this film were those few minutes when Brad Pitt dazzled the screen with his luminous star power as the action hero Jack Trainer. While Pitt was onscreen with Bullock, we even forget that Tatum was her real leading man. 7/10.  

Review of FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE: Political Picks

April 16, 2022

This sequel opens with a scene where Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen taking over from Johnny Depp) met in a restaurant. In their intimate conversation, Dumbledore told Grindelwald "I was in love with you." This scene essentially confirmed and laid down as canon that Albus Dumbledore was indeed gay, something author J.K. Rowling already revealed back in 2007. I guess this was the biggest secret in the title.

The central story of this third installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise was Albus Dumbledore trying to prevent Grindelwald from being elected as the Supreme Wizard. This focus on political maneuverings were not too interesting for me, even boring to put it bluntly. If you did not watch any of the previous two films, you will not understand this film at all. However since this movie is being shown during a heated presidential election period, you will see metaphors about candidates as you interpret them. 

Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his brother and auror Theseus (Callum Turner), his No-Maj friend baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and Ilvermorny Charms professor Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) were basically relegated as side characters. Newt and Theseus jailbreak scene may have been funny at first, but simply took too long. Goldstein sisters Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Tina (Katherine Waterston) were barely there at all.

But since this is "Fantastic Beasts," there had to be one in there playing an important role in the story. Here it was a rare deer-like Chinese creature called a Qilin. In the wizarding world, a Qilin was used in the election process because it can see who among the candidates was pure of soul and would kneel and bow in front of him. Grindelwald's plot was to kill the baby Qilin and reanimate it by black magic in order for it to choose him to win the election.

At 142 minutes, the film was too long for a plot confused by multiple extra subplots, like those about Aberforth Dumbledore (Richard Coyle) and Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller).  Like the previous installments, it was the special effects that kept the movie afloat, except those parts where Grindelwald's nameless minions were easy cannon fodder. Mikkelsen matched Law's charisma as his nemesis, but I believe Johnny Depp could still have done Grindelwald better.  5/10. 

Vivamax: Review of 366: Resisting Recovery

April 16, 2022

June (Bela Padilla) and her boyfriend Pao (JC Santos) were traveling in Istanbul, together for the first time after several years of being apart in a long-distance relationship after he migrated to the US. One night, June wanted something to eat so Pao drove out to buy food for them. When June woke up the next morning, she found out that Pao was in a fatal car accident and realized she was going to have to face the future by herself. 

Their mutual friend, June's next-door neighbor, chef Marco (Zanjoe Marudo), had been their loyal go-between, helping Pao and June with various small favors. After Pao's death, Marco challenged the depressed June to break out from her grief and move on with life, heal and forget, giving her 365 days to do so. To help her do this, Marco graciously agreed to do the various things Pao and June never ever got to do together. 

Bela Padilla is one of the best young actresses around these days, consistently giving her audiences characters they can easily identify with and connect with. In two of these films, "10,000 Tula Para Kay Stella" (Jason Paul Laxamana, 2017) and "Vodka, Beers and Regrets" (Irene Villamor, 2020), Padilla was paired with JC Santos. Even if Santos was only in a few scenes here in "366," we clearly see their onscreen chemistry again. 

Padilla had also spread her wings to writing screenplays, and she had also been recognized for her excellence in this aspect of moviemaking as well. Her first screenplay was "Last Night" (Joyce Bernal, 2017, which told the story of two depressed people (Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga) who met while planning to commit suicide in adjoining hotel rooms. Death and romance also play major parts in this latest work of hers.

To complete her transition into a cinematic triple-threat, Padilla also makes her debut as a feature film director with this film. Her vision was very artistic and poetic, and, with the help of cinematographer Pao Orendain, she was able to execute some memorable scenes. The most remarkable one for me was that with the camera rotating around a static June in the foreground while the blurred background was moving in blurred fast-forward behind her.  

As the film was about someone who cannot move on from a major loss, it was inevitable that its pace was also very slow to burn. Scenes do get to feel repetitive and melodramatic as they spun around June's inability to forgive herself. This gloomy situation was saved by the sincere performances of Padilla (that breakdown scene after the mobile phone mishap was intense) and Marudo (who played a character too good to be true, yet still felt real). 6/10. 

Netflix: Review of THE IN BETWEEN: Afterlife Angst

 April 11, 2022

Tessa (Joey King) was recovering from a vehicular accident involving her and her boyfriend Skylar (Kyle Allen). Skylar did not make it alive, and this caused Tessa to be all messed up. One day, she began experiencing unusual paranormal phenomena involving her photography equipment, the mobile phones at the examination site, and the GPS system in her car. Tessa is convinced that Skylar was trying to get through to her from the "in-between".

While the present storyline dealt on the ghostly manifestations of Skylar to Tessa, the evolution of their love story was told in flashbacks. It all began in a movie house featuring a double-feature of classic films per month. Tessa was watching a screening of French film "Betty Blue" (1986) but there were no English subtitles. Multilingual jock Skylar sat down beside her and offered to translate for her line by line. 

The best scenes of this film include the rowing competition scene, the driving scene (where their theme song "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS was first heard) and the rowboat scene at the lake. The romantic chemistry between Joey King (age 22) and Kyle Allen (age 27) were best felt during these carefree, happy moments. They may not really be the main points of the story, but their cinematography and musical score were very well-executed. 

On the other hand, the supernatural aspects of the story were awkwardly told. I guess we cannot really expect too much logic from paranormal story elements, but these were not that well-translated on the screen. These scenes were only saved by the sensitive performance of Joey King and the perky energy of Celeste O'Connor (who we first met in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" last year) as Tessa's best friend Shannon. 

There were some quotable meditations about love. Tessa's photography had artistic flair. Tessa's difficult childhood and her adoptive parents she never really connected with was another emotional pivot. The medical aspect about Tessa's literally broken heart was a bit too melodramatic and unconvincing towards the end. Tessa's climactic decision may be seem puzzling one given what she had gone through to get to that moment. 6/10. 

Vivamax: Review of GREED: Warped by a Windfall

April 8, 2022

It was a very bad time for farmers of a poor barrio as their crops were not thriving. People were so desperate for food, they even grabbed food scraps from dogs. Upon the coaxing of their friend Dadong (Epy Quizon), young couple Kichi (Nadine Lustre) and Tomi (Diego Loyzaga) agreed to spend some of their meager budget to buy a lottery ticket for a chance to win the big cash prize in order to get away from their pitiful state of impoverishment. 

Kichi and Tomi's lone ticket won the big jackpot prize. They decide to hold off for one month before claiming the money they won. They gave Dadong a made-up reason and then left to live in another village run by a religious cult led by Manong the Elder (Raul Morit) and his shy wife Nori (Krissha Viaje). When Dadong eventually figured out that his two best friends had deceived him, he swore that he would get his share of the money he felt he deserved. 

Winning a big windfall of money in a lottery is such a life-changing experience, it is bound to also be a bountiful well of drama for the people who win it and get rich overnight. While it could be very exciting to plan how one is going to spend the new-found cash, security becomes an inevitable concern as one becomes very paranoid about people around them who may all want to get a share of this unexpected treasure. 

There had already been a classic local film, "Misteryo sa Tuwa" (1984) by Abbo Q. dela Cruz, which tackled moral and social issues surrounding the sudden gain of money. Instead of winning in a lottery, a family gained access to a bag of money which literally fell out of the sky in the form of an airplane crash in the mountains of Lucban, Quezon in the 1950s, and all hell broke loose among the unscrupulous politicians and military men stationed in that area.

Yam Laranas scaled down the concept of "Misteryo sa Tuwa" to concentrate more on intimate interpersonal relationships. With its over-the-top climax and bizarre ending, it showed how even just the mere prospect of money can pit even the best of friends against each other, and transform the kindest and most religious of people into monsters. Lustre and Quizon can look forward to acting nominations for their impassioned performances. 6/10.

Amazon Prime: Review of DEEP WATER: Miserable Marriage

April 7, 2022

Engineer Vic Van Allen (Ben Affleck) was only middle-aged but he can already afford to retire because of the money he earned developing a microchip that had been used for combat drones. However, his marriage with his much-younger wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) was not smooth-sailing. To save the marriage, he allowed her to engage other men for sex in an open arrangement. However, before long, Vic began to feel jealous and insecure.

When Melinda engaged in an affair with a much younger guy Joel Dash (Brendan C. Miller), Vic just happened to mention that he had been responsible for the death of a previous boyfriend of Melinda's who had gone missing a week ago. When Joel took the hint and left town, Melinda turned her attention to pianist Charlie De Lisle (Jacob Elordi). One night, Melinda, Vic and Charlie were all together at one pool party, and tragedy was afoot.

This story was adapted from a 1957 novel by Patricia Highsmith, who was also responsible for other best-selling books which had also adapted into popular films, like "Strangers on a Train"  and "The Talented Mr. Ripley."  "Deep Water" had already been adapted into the French film "Eaux profondes" (2002) by director Michel Deville, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert. There had also been a 2-episode German TV movie about it  in 1983.

Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas play the Van Allen couple, always at odds with each other, pushing each other's buttons and limits. Both are not particularly likable, so there is no one you would root for to prevail. Affleck was a weird wooden sort, raising snails and threatening men for a hobby. De Armas was no doubt sexy, but her Melinda was stuck in a monotonous seduction mode. Terry Letts was annoying and predictable the nosy friend Don Wilson. 

The director is Adrian Lyne, a veteran director coming back from a 20-year hiatus. During his heyday, he came out with famous films like "9-1/2 Weeks" (1986), "Indecent Proposal" (1992), "Unfaithful" (2002) and "Fatal Attraction" (1987) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Directing. He is back in his erotic psychological thriller drama element here in "Deep Water," but this new one was heavy-handed and had no subtlety. 5/10. 

Review of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2: Carrey Carries

April 5, 2022

Following the events of the first film, Sonic the Hedgehog still lived in Green Hills, Montana with his adoptive family Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his veterinarian wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter). Wanting to be of help to other people, he would sometimes sneak out to fight crime in the city. However, Tom advised him that he was still too young for these activities and that time will come when his powers will be of great benefit.

While on the Mushroom Planet, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) encountered and teamed up with a strong alien Echidna named Knuckles who was in search of the powerful Master Emerald on Earth. Meanwhile, Sonic teamed up with a young alien fox named Tails to try to reach the Master Emerald first in its location in the snowy mountains of Siberia. Ultimately all of them crashed through the ring portal into the wedding of Maddie's sister Rachel in Hawaii.

The cute character designs, infectious energy and juvenile humor that made the first film a big hit in early 2020. This time around there are two more aliens whom Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) interacted with. The kind brainyTails (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) was a furry fox with two tails that helped it fly. The hot-headed Knuckles (impressively voiced by Idris Elba) was the last of the Echidnas, nemesis of the Owls who took care of Sonic. 

Fans of the SEGA game and its various adventures will recognize several details included or referred to in this sequel -- from the Robotnik's giant Death Egg monster to the Sonic's Tornado Plane, or references to the Mushroom Hill zone or the maze-like Labyrinth Zone. There were plenty of amusing and surprising references to both DC and Marvel comics, like Sonic's idol Batman, to a mention of the Winter Soldier and the Multiverse. 

With his maniacal, over-the-top performance, only one Jim Carrey can manage out-perform the adorable animated characters and actually carried the film on his shoulders. On top of his outlandish costumes and his crazy handlebar mustache, Dr. Robotnik had that his wry and wicked sense of humor which made us laugh out loud. Count on Carrey to get away with a few quick naughty zingers for the amusement of the parents in the audience. 6/10. 

Netflix: Review of THE BUBBLE: Queasy Quarantine

 April 4, 2022

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sixth installment of the popular "Cliff Beasts" film franchise, subtitled "Battle for Everest: Memories of a Requiem," was being shot in a "bubble" as the cast and crew were confined in a luxurious hotel in England. The director was indie filmmaker Darren Eigan (Fred Armisen), while the executive producer was Gavin (Peter Serafinowicz) who had to answer to ruthless studio executive Paula (Kate McKinnon). 

All the former actors were gathered for this sequel, including lead actor Dustin Mulray (David Duchovny), his ex-wife Lauren van Chance (Leslie Mann), inspirational author Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key), and Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan) who was making a comeback to the series after opting out of the 5th installment. The two new cast members were Oscar-winning actor Dieter Bravo (Pablo Pascal) and viral Tiktok sensation Krystal Kris (Iris Apatow). 

Judd Apatow is most known for comedies he wrote and directed like "The 40-Year Old Virgin" (2005), "Knocked Up" (2007) and most recently "The King of Staten Island" (2020). This latest one is a satire that poked fun at neurotic movie people observing the elaborate COVID-19 precautions at the height of the pandemic. The story was inspired by the real-life bubble situation under which "Jurassic World 3:World Dominion" was shot last year. 

The heavy-handed, dark, raunchy, drug-laced and even violent comedy can be hard to bear as it ran for a rather lengthy 126 minutes. Apatow gathered a dizzying cast of 20+ actors who had no qualms portraying exaggerated parodies of stereotypical showbiz tropes, the film crew who had to deal with their annoying diva behavior and the hotel employees who had to serve them hand and foot. The humor is mostly flat and tiresome, trying too hard to be funny.

There behind-the-scenes with the mo-cap guys standing in for the flying dinosaur monsters were funny, but even these felt repetitive soon enough. The Tiktok dance number at the beginning was funny, but they did not really need to repeat it again towards the end. To salvage some smiles, there were celebrity cameos to perk up the mood, including Beck, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daisy Ridley, John Cena and John McAvoy. 3/10. 

HBO GO: Review of MOONSHOT: Missing the Magic

April 3, 2022

It is the year 2049. Walt (Cole Sprouse) was working as the assistant of Gary, the robot barista at the college cafeteria. His main ambition since he was a child had been to go to Mars, influenced by his admiration for pioneering astronaut Leon Kovi (Zach Braff). He had been applying for the Kovi Industries Student Mars Program for more than 30 times already, but his applications were repeatedly rejected. 

Sophie (Lana Condor) was currently working on her thesis which aimed to solve the world's waste disposal problem using plants. She was on a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Calvin (Mason Gooding) who was had been working on Mars for some time now. Walt convinced Sophie to buy a ticket to Mars despite her fear of flying, and then used her access to the departure area to stow away on her rocketship.

Despite the title, the Moon has nothing to do with this story, but maybe "Mars-shot" did not sound too good. The futuristic setting was quite interesting with all the pseudo-science jargon can be fun. However, these cannot really disguise the very familiar young-adult romance story that it stood on. The story of how two polar opposites were at odds with each other at first, then eventually end up caring for each other was formulaic and quite predictable. 

Cole Sprouse and Lana Condor were quite good in their portrayal of their respective characters. Sprouse was actually quite charming as the dorky loser type Walt who did not really care that he was being ignored by others as much as he wanted to go to Mars. Condor was credible as a brilliant young scientist Sophie who knew that she may need to sacrifice her own career ambition for love. 

However for a love story, the romantic chemistry between Walt and Sophie was not convincing at all. It felt like it would have been better if they just stayed friends at the end instead of lovers. Condor's Sophie actually had better chemistry with her long-time boyfriend Calvin, while Sprouse's Walt had better chemistry with the pretty Ginny (Emily Rudd) on whom he had a big crush and followed to Mars. 5/10. 

Vivamax: Review of ISLAND OF DESIRE: Erratic Execution

April 1, 2022

Martha de Jesus (Christine Bermas) had just given birth to a stillborn baby girl and was very depressed. Her husband Carlo (Rash Flores) had been cold to her and was fooling around with his mistress. Her mother Lourdes (Tabs Sumulong) had dementia, did not recognize her and kept on looking for her missing sister Aurora (Sheree Bautista). After consulting with her psychiatrist Dr. Rose Yulo (Andrea del Rosario), Martha and Carlo got into a car accident.

The scene shifted to a rural hospital in Nilapakan town. Martha was the new nurse assigned by the Regional Health Unit Office to bring a suitcase full of medicine for indigenous people to the health center of Isla Bato. She was brought to the island by boatman Rolly (Massimo Scofield). She hitched a ride on the motorcycle driven by Leloy (Sean de Guzman) to reach the clinic where she was met by the midwife Tess (Jela Cuenca).

This latest film by the prolific veteran director Joel Lamangan straddled the worlds of painful reality and nightmarish fantasy between life and death. Religion is very much part of the story. There was an ardent preacher (Rolly Innocencio) on the bus Martha rode on the way to Nilapakan. On Isla Bato itself, there was a fanatical cult practicing disturbing baptismal, healing and funeral rituals led by their crazed Ama (Jim Pebanco). 

The story was there but the execution did not deliver. It only ran 1-1/2 hours long, yet the pace felt plodding. The scenes were unnecessarily prolonged and were peppered with awkward lines of dialog . For example, Martha still had to ask the bus conductor where the hospital was when she was dropped off right in front of the hospital. Martha also had to ask Leloy if he was sure he brought her to the clinic when it was clearly written there above the clinic door. 

It was unfortunate that Bermas could not rise above the mire of this film, with all its problematic production design, costume and hairstyle choices, not to mention all the medical inaccuracies. Cuenca and de Guzman looked very bored. Flores was notably wooden.  The sex scenes here were unimaginatively shot and looked unflattering for the actors. These were not really necessary and felt forced into the story for the sake of the Vivamax brand. I only saw an island, but no desire. 2/10.