September 5, 2024
Teenager Mateo (Jansen Magpusao) worked in a slaughterhouse for pigs by night, while attending high school by day. A bully at school Gerald (Jofranz Ambubuyog) got Mateo so irked that he challenged him to a swimming match at the river. However, an impulsive act of violence between the boys led to tragedy. Wracked by guilt, Mateo left his house and tagged along with his godfather Berto (Ronnie Lazaro) when he went out of town.
It turns out that Berto was the leader of a gang of killers-for-hire. Mateo was shocked when he first saw how they killed people and disposed of them by wrapping them up and throwing them into the creek. The other older guys in the gang did not like him much, but Mateo did get along with another young man like him, Gudo (John Renz Javier). One day, Mateo found the gold necklace of his long-missing father among his Uncle Berto's things.
This latest feature film by Sheron R. Dayoc comes after two critically-acclaimed ones -- "Halaw" (2010) and "Women of the Weeping River" (2016). It had made the rounds of international film festivals since last year, and was the opening film of Cinemalaya 2024. It had already been nominated for five awards in the recent URIAN Awards including for Best Film and Director, winning for Best Editing and Best Supporting Acting for Ronnie Lazaro, whose insidiously sinister performance as Berto was no surprise. .
Jansen Magpusao makes a big screen comeback after his electric film debut as the title character in "John Denver Trending" (2019). His Mateo was sweet to his two younger siblings, and was fond of pet animals ranging from fish to his dog Naruto. He may not talk too much, but he was easily provoked to violent reactions. Magpusao was able to convey Mateo's contradictory personalities, and his unpredictability made the film extremely tense.
Dayoc enveloped the whole film with blood and violence from the very first scenes at the slaughterhouse. These dead pigs would be replaced by dead humans by the second act, so this is definitely not for the queasy. The cinematography, editing, production design, sound and musical score here made sure that there was no let up of the tension of uncertainty and sense of danger surrounding Mateo's entire baptism of fire. By the end, we don't know what kind of future Fate has in store for this prematurely corrupted young man. 8/10
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