October 28, 2023
Aling Celing (Angie Castrence) lived in a small house with her elder son Pau (Vince Rillon) and his common-law wife Josie (Angeli Khang). She also had an adopted daughter Queenie (Cess Garcia), who experienced a trauma that left her mute. Celing ran a food stall in the market, with Queenie helping her. Pau was a veteran macho dancer and prostitute, whose career his employer Mama Chester (Roni Bertubin) described to be on its sunset.
One day, Celing's younger son JC (Victor Relosa) came back home to her, bringing along his girlfriend Maritess (Azi Acosta). JC was basically a good guy, but was a hothead who could not control his emotions. He had been living in with Maritess for three years, while working as a horse trainer at Wright Park. When he got involved in a friend's troubles with a local gang, he was forced to flee Baguio with his wife and seek shelter with his mother.
Vivamax queens Angeli Khang and Azi Acosta both played virtuous wives who patiently and steadfastly stood by their flawed husbands no matter what. Khang's Josie faced the dilemma of Pau's secret plans. Acosta's Maritess had to deal with the serious consequences borne out of JC's violent temper. Their best scene was that one where they were walking together while discussing their husbands, in lines only National Artist Ricky Lee can craft.
The unconditional kindness of Angie Castrence's Celing was the heart upon which her family gathered. The story of Rillon's Pau provided the film's more interesting conflict, involving his generous gay benefactor Allan (Gerald Madrid). However, the story of Relosa's JC ran very predictably, from his seduction by whore-next-door Liza (an effortlessly natural performance by Andrea Garcia) up to his encounter with heartless goon Natan (Vino Gonzales).
This latest collaboration between director Mac Alejandre and his esteemed writer Ricky Lee was in essence a family melodrama which was, as expected from Vivamax, spiced with gratuitous sex scenes. What set this apart was its unusually positive depiction of the dynamics of a poor Filipino family. All the members of Aling Celing's family were sincerely mutually supportive of one another. The way it ended opens up the possibility of a sequel. 6/10.
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