August 27, 2024
Director: Marc Misa
Writer: Marc Misa
Tristan (Ali Asistio) was a house painter who also had the talent to paint female nudes on canvas. After his potbellied uncle Paeng (Mark Dionisio) belittled his artistry, Tristan loudly wished for inspiration to keep on doing his art even when the whole world seemed against him. That night, a mysterious beauty appeared in his room introducing herself as Paraluman (Athena Red), the muse of art. If he accepts, Paraluman can stay and help him with his art, but the catch was, the two of them cannot touch each other.
Writer-director Marc Misa told an interesting supernatural story about inspiration and artistry, but the execution was problematic. To comply with the Vivamax quota of sex scenes, it insinuated that sexual favors could help artists get ahead with museum owners like Ms. Leoness (Yda Manzano) or art patrons like Ash (Skye Gonzaga). Ali Asistio delivered his lines as if he was in a slapstick comedy. Athena Red possessed a goddess's allure around her, fortunately compensating for her robotic acting and dry line deliveries. The nude paintings of Paraluman supposedly drawn by Tristan were actually very well-made. Too bad the name of the Art Director / Artist Ariel Lagman Cruz was buried in the end credits. 4/10.
Director: Rodante Y. Pajemna, Jr.
Writer: Rodante Y. Pajemna, Jr.
Alex (Clifford Pusing) was an ace IT student who knew how to hack his way around computers and phones. He lived in a condo left behind by his cousin who left for abroad. One day, he noted a pretty girl move in next door who introduced herself as Rose (Christine Bermas). Alex was immediately smitten with her beauty, and they seemed to have a lot of things in common, including a dream to migrate to Dubai. Unfortunately, Rose was the kept woman of a police officer she called General (Chester Grecia).
Rose should have been a multilayered character, but the director was not able to motivate Christine Bermas to properly portray her as a femme fatale. Clifford Pusing was very natural as Alex, just like any other idealistic boy next door. We understand his fascination with this beautiful neighbor and why he was willing to do anything for her. Chester Grecia was better with less dialogue. He looked imposing as the General, but his speaking voice in that last part sounded uncharacteristically squeaky. This was the first Vivamax film which had advertising integrated into the script, this one about supplements for fighting cocks. 4/10
Director: Ryan Evangelista
Writer: Randy Q Villanueva
To augment her income as a school teacher, Joy (Zsara Lacsamana) decided to accept jobs as a tutor. She was hired by Erica (Christy Imperial) who was having a hard time comprehending her trigonometry lessons. When Joy met Erica's father Gordon Santos (Mark Dionisio), she had a crush on him. When Joy caught her lousy boyfriend Vigo (VJ Vera) with another woman, she readily dumped him, and made her move on Gordon.
Zsara Lacsamana proved here again that she was one of the Vivamax most natural actresses. She was convincing as a good math teacher, and as the apple of contention between a father and his daughter. While Mark Dionisio's Gordon was too good to be true, VJ Vera's Vigo was a one-dimensional overall creep. This joins the list of Vivamax films where a sex video was used to ruin someone's reputation. Warning girls about boys surreptitiously filming trysts may be one of Vivamax's noble advocacies, but this may give naughty men wrong ideas. There was also an advertisement in this one, this time about an online gambling site, but this was not as smoothly integrated as that in the previous film. 4/10
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