September 24, 2023
Kevin Pascual (Arron Villaflor) was a popular leading man in the Vivamax-like streaming site called Mabuhay. One night after a shoot in a remote location, Kevin was driving home but lost his way. As it had been raining lately, the dirt road was very water-logged, so the wheels of Kevin's car got stuck in the mud. When he went out of the car to check, Kevin slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rock, and he blacked out.
A man named Dune (Jeric Raval) saw the unconscious Kevin on the road, and decided to carry him to his house. His daughter Dian (Chloe Jenna) tended to Kevin, giving him herbal teas. His right leg was also injured badly, rendering him unable to walk properly. Dian never left their forest abode, content to be entertained by watching movies from DVDs her father brought home for her from the village.
This film is directed by Jeffrey Hidalgo, the former Smokey Mountain singer turned filmmaker, now on his third Vivamax project, after "Eva" (2021) and "Lampas Langit" (2022). The story is obviously inspired by Stephen King's novel turned film "Misery" (1990). Of course, this was given the usual Vivamax treatment, and the premise about a sexy film actor sure allowed multiple such scenes to be squeezed in without coming off too forced.
Hidalgo went meta at the start, taking us behind-the-scenes on a sexy film shoot. Here, Kevin had a frequent screen partner name Cassie (Sheila Snow), who was very much into Kevin, who was not into her. We meet Kevin's director (Rember Galera) and his agent (Angeli Bayani in a video call cameo). Too bad these scenes were there only to establish Kevin's job and snobbish personality. It would be interesting to expand this further in a future project.
There was also a subtle dig on people posting clips of "good bits" of Mabuhay sexy films online prior to the release of the film, ruefully acknowledging that piracy of streamed content is something film company's could not control at the moment. Dian's only source of ecstatic pleasure in her mountain existence was watching DVDs of pirated Mabuhay films. It wasn't clear though how electricity could reach their remote abode.
Sharp viewers will surely notice that Kevin sustained an injury to his head, but in the house, all we see is a leg injury (which would only be cleared up later in the film), but his head wound was never really mentioned again. There was nice info about medicinal plants tsaang gubat, sambong and lagundi for wound healing, but for this therapeutic effect, these leaves are used as local washes and poultice application, not as a tea to be drunk.
Chloe Jenna, who had been playing second fiddle to all the other Vivamax stars since she debuted in "Eva" (2021), finally gets to play the central female role. Her acting efforts here were largely inconsistent, Kathy Bates she is definitely not at this point. Arron Villaflor was pretty much just coasting along here, acting lazily for the quick paycheck. Sheila Snow is now on her 6th Vivamax film in small roles, but her enthusiasm may get her that lead role soon.
There were a few moments of deadpan humor in the film care of supporting characters. There were the two policemen (played by Dennis Marasigan and director Hidalgo himself) handling the case who have surnames of famous directors Bernal and Abaya. There was the attention-hound (Raul Morit) who called in about the abandoned car. The funniest bits involved Kevin's uber drama queen mother (Marissa Sanchez) who really poured on the hysterics. 3/10.
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