July 10, 2023
With his trusty mobile phone and notebook, Abraham (Raul Morit) managed the career of his 22-year old daughter Dolores (Alexa Ocampo) as an on-demand prostitute in their barrio. She had set her limits as to what she was willing to do and not, and her father made sure her tricks would toe the line. Their earnings supported the education of younger siblings Isaac (Clifford Pusing) and Gloria (Juharra Zhianne Asayo).
When tragedy struck, enterprising teenager Isaac had to take over from where their father left off. Isaac would soon discover that his father answered to a corrupt policeman only known as Ser (Jay Manalo). When Dolores became sickly, Ser was already targeting another nubile village lass Lydia (Ataska Mercado) to exploit. Unlike Dolores, Lydia was not going to be a willing participant in Ser's sordid schemes.
The topic of poor young women (or men for that matter) going into prostitution is very commonly done in Philippine cinema. The unique thing about this particular one was that Dolores (and later even Isaac) seemed to be a willing servant in her father's skin trading to fulfill her duty as a child to earn money for her family. If not for their prostitution business, Abraham's family was actually a model of respect and filial devotion.
Films about prostitutes are a popular choice among Vivamax filmmakers because with such a topic, any number of sex scenes can be inserted which are "essential to the plot." However, writer-director-cinematographer Yam Laranas was actually able to give this Vivamax film a touch of class despite its inherent sleaze. The writing and storytelling were above average, the overall look was slick, and its social commentary was on point.
Jay Manalo can deliver this despicable role of Ser with his eyes closed. What is more remarkable here was that Laranas was able to elicit respectable performances from his young neophyte actors who played the lead roles. Ocampo, Mercado and Pusing all have promising acting careers even without resorting to baring their bodies. Even MJ Cayabyab gave a scene-stealing turn as Dolores's closeted customer Jovie. 6/10.
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