Vivamax: Review of ALAPAAP (2022): Frivolities of Filmmakers

November 19, 2022

Erik (Josef Elizalde) dropped out of med school to study filmmaking, now working on his thesis. His girlfriend Tonette (Katrina Dovey) was a fellow film student, still reeling from the suicide of her father. Their friend Orius (Ali Asistio) is a spoiled son of a anti-drug policeman. His bi girlfriend Cathy (Andrea Garcia) was also hooking up with lesbian Joyce (Chesca Paredes). His visiting cousin Adolf (Luke Selby) was a willing accomplice on their trips. 

One day, they took a trip to a remote area in Mindoro to shoot Erik's thesis, which was a documentary about an indigenous tribe called the Banyan.  When they reached their destination, they were brought to the Banyan village by  Manang Adela (Isadora) who introduced them to their elder Nana Azon (Erlinda Villalobos). The young people were disappointed when the tribal people there did not match their initial research. 

This film, not a remake of the Tata Esteban 1984 horror film of the same title, had the name of Brillante Mendoza as creator but the director was someone else, as it was with "Kaliwaan" and "Pusoy". This time the lucky protege to get his big break is Freidric Macapagal Cortez, who had been Mendoza's cinematographer and camera operator for several previous projects since 2017, now making his debut as a full-fledged feature film director. 

The film was about problematic millennials who had major issues with their parents, who were either too controlling, too negligent or too permissive with them. This led them to hang out with their friends and engage in high risk activities like illegal drugs or promiscuous sex. But to be fair, this film also tackled disturbing aspects of young filmmakers and their attitudes towards their craft, whether authenticity is important in their work or not.  

At the very beginning, there was scene set in the class of a film professor (Carlitos Siguion Reyna) where students were critiquing "Kinatay" (2009), poking fun at Brillante Mendoza himself for the film for which he won Best Director at Cannes. To further push the point that the main story was about filmmakers, the students were named after real directors (Matti, Jadaone, Solito, Garcia-Molina, Jimenez and Alix). 

Vivamax films had always pushed the envelope on decency, but this one must be raciest one of all. This one had multiple protracted scenes of graphic love making orgies that already bordered precariously on pornography. Like Mendoza himself did in his other Cannes entry "Serbis" (2008), Cortez did not bother to hide aroused members anymore, probably the only reason British actor Selby was even cast. This is as explicit as it gets (or maybe not). 4/10.