January 25, 2024
Xia Vigor (Tintin) loved her father Teteng (Janno Gibbs), but she was very annoyed that he was a big coward. He was very meek in front of their landlady Aling Bebang (Juliana Parizcova Segovia) and the drunks at the corner store. He could not defend her against her bully at school Ethan (Robbie Wachtel) and his macho dad (Prince de Guzman). He could not even tell her Teacher Mylene (Louise delos Reyes) that he had a crush on her.
Teteng worked as the personal assistant of an abusive movie director (Ronnie Henares) who worked him to the bone, but was not paying him right. He took out his frustrations at a local nightclub where the bartender was his best friend Tikboy (Anjo Yllana). Because he was having severe headaches, Teteng went to consult a neurologist Doc Thor (James Lomahan), discovering things that made him reconsider the way he had been living his life.
This film was the feature film directorial debut of Janno Gibbs, and he also co-wrote it and starred in it. Gibbs performed the two contrasting aspects of lead character Teteng channeling both Dolphy and Fernando Poe Jr. You can see Dolphy in Gibbs' slapstick routines and comic facial expressions. FPJ clearly inspired Gibbs' action star outfits, manner of speaking, fighting techniques, and appeal with the ladies (delos Reyes and Vivamax siren Robb Guinto).
The flow of the story was rather predictable. In fact the first half of the film was practically a repetitive loop of Teteng being harassed by his landlady, the drunks, his school bully, his boss. Then add to that those annoying incidents at the coffee shop, with the guy who kept cutting in line and the cashier who kept misspelling his name. Okay, we get it, he's a doormat, but we do we really need to see him being stepped on over and over in the name of "comedy"?
It was not really surprising that there would be flashbacks to see child and teen Teteng and his relationship with his father Totoy (Mark Anthony Fernandez). However, Gibbs did surprise us by suddenly breaking the fourth wall occasionally. Even delos Reyes got to do this. Gibbs also reminded us that he was a very good singer, with his acoustic rendition of "Pangako" as a duet with Xia Vigor. Again, delos Reyes had a funny comic moment after this song number.
Only 13, pretty Xia Vigor is still at that awkward early teen phase. She's got the drama parts down pat, but her comic timing and delivery still needs improvement. The appearance of the late Ronaldo Valdez in the third act gave this film a deeper emotional value that Gibbs never would have foreseen while making this film. Telling a story about fatherhood, Gibbs's dedication of his first film to the memory of his father was bittersweet serendipity. 6/10.
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