March 18, 2023
Cholo (Ali Asistio) just moved to Manila to escape his controlling mother. He worked from his condominium as a call center agent. However, he was very bothered by the grunting noises of someone in pain coming from the room beside his. His neighbor was Raymond (Mark Anthony Fernandez), head chef of a fancy restaurant that served exotic dishes. At work, he was a strict boss over his staff, a perfectionist at his craft.
Raymond's frequent visitor was a mysterious woman named Estelle (Ava Mendez). Upon further investigation, Cholo learned that Estelle was a dominatrix who provided her masochistic clients sexual arousal by pain and humiliation. Tony (Marco Gomez) was Raymond's nephew. As his accountant, Tony noted that his uncle regularly transferred thousands of pesos to one account, Estelle's.
Ava Mendez had shown her acting talent in a number of her previous Vivamax outings, outdoing the lead actresses in films like "#DoYouThinkIAmSexy?" and "Laruan." She was inconsistent here as Estelle. She was still good in her quiet scenes, but there are scenes which came off as odd or unnatural, like that scene where she was banging on Cholo's door for the first time, or that spiteful spitting scene with Tony towards the end.
Ali Asistio toned down his usual over-the-top acting style to play nerdy Cholo, and it was a promising change of pace for him. Marco Gomez's Tony was a practically unnecessary side character whose gambling debt we don't care much about. Mark Anthony Fernandez's hammy, exaggerated delivery of lines was so lousy and amateurish for a veteran actor like him, totally devoid of the class required of his character -- his worst performance ever.
These deviant BDSM activities may be a curiosity for some, but are certainly not everyone's cup of tea, like that disgusting golden shower scene. Cult director Roman Perez Jr. seemed inspired by Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" here, even including operatic arias like Debiles' "Flower Duet" and Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" in the soundtrack. The story offered a final surprise twist, but its medical accuracy seems questionable. 3/10.
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