November 10, 2023
Ayu (Angela Morena) was working as a sexy dancer in Hokkaido in Japan. Her boyfriend Yuko (Ali Asistio) worked as a bartender in the same bar where she danced. After work, Ayu was obsessed in finding her Japanese father Tanaka (Tora Hara), who had abandoned her mother (Isadora) when she was still a baby. After she received a tip, she would ask around in a certain section of town, even at the risk of being reported as an illegal alien.
Aki (Denise Esteban) worked as a masseuse whose service would invariably lead to sexual favors. Her boyfriend Taka (Vince Rillon) was a hotel worker, and was very insecure with Aki's dalliances with her Japanese customers. The couple would often have arguments about this issue, which would invariably left unresolved every time. One day, while entertaining her favorite customer Taku (Takumei Kaneko) in the pool, Aki had an attack of vomiting.
Less than six months ago in June, Vivamax just released "Hosto," which was also a film about Filipino sex workers in Japan, shot in Japan. Since they both starred the same four lead actors Rillon, Esteban, Morena and Asistio, you'd have a feeling of uncanny deja vu while watching this new one. I guess it would be practical to film more than one film with the same cast and crew while they were already there in a remote foreign location.
Both films had the imprimatur of acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza, who took on the tasks of executive producer and production designer. "Hosto" was directed by DP Jao Elamparo, who was 2nd Cam in this new film. "Japino" was directed by DP Freidric Macapagal Cortez, who was 2nd Cam in the former film. Both films were written by Rocky Christopher Fajardo, edited by Peter Arian Vito and scored by Jake Abella.
While you can say positive things about the technical aspects of this film in terms of adventurous camera work, the main problem about this movie is the unimaginative stories and lackluster script. The conflict about a prostitute's jealous boyfriend is too unremarkable and commonplace already. That you'd feel like an incomplete person if you never met an absentee parent whom you did not grow up with sounds just too absurd.
No matter the efforts of Morena and Esteban to give a good dramatic performance, complete with convincing line deliveries in Nihonggo, the lameness of their stories and script made everything so boring and uninteresting to watch. Rillon's hotheaded boyfriend and Asistio's supportive boyfriend were such predictable tropes, they basically sleepwalk through them. Things only liven up a tad in the third acts of both stories, but by then it was too late. 4/10.
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