October 4, 2025
Atty. Alex Roman (Alden Richards) practiced law in the rural town of Santa Blanca. He was down on his luck as his clients were generally unable to pay him enough, so his office was small, with a broken-down air conditioner. His staff consisted of one loyal assistant named Tolits (Nicco Manalo) whom he helped out of a legal scrape before. He just recently hired a receptionist, a film school dropout goth girl named Gabbie (Joyce Ching).
One day, he received a phone call from his estranged father, celebrity lawyer Atty. David Roman (Nonie Buencamino). He had been arrested on the suspicion of murdering a young trans-woman named Nadja Galang (Francine Garcia) inside a seedy motel. Despite being a partner of a big-time law firm, he specifically wanted Alex to represent him because he needed a lawyer he could trust. Alex accepted, for the sake of his late mother, and P500,000.
This film produced by Viva Films was notable because it was the directorial debut of star Alden Richards, who also came up with the story. The screenplay was written by Randy Q. Villanueva and Atty. Karen Lustica, likely for the legal aspects of the story. The best parts of this movie were the courtroom scenes presided over by Judge Wilhelmina Corpuz-Piedad (played by GMA executive and real-life lawyer Atty. Annette Gozon-Valdez).
The film started as if it were a slapstick comedy. Alex was flirting with a waitress of a roadside eatery while eating noodles, then was chased down by a jealous ex-boyfriend with a bolo. It made a sudden turn into rom-com territory, as Alex confessed about a TOTGA over a round of beer, a pretty law school classmate who chewed the ends of her ballpens, who turned out to be the opposing counsel in his case, Atty. Jennifer Templo (Heaven Peralejo).
Richards tried a number of imaginative camera shots, like taking his reflection in the sideview mirror while he was talking to his staff in the car. However, some scenes had questionable choices in directorial style and execution. Why were the crime scene photographs taken with a red filter? Why was Gigi's not a higher class nightclub? I see Richards' intention to just colorize the red in the black and white flashback scene, but it was not cleanly done. Richards still has room for improvement as director but then again, he has just taken his first step. 4/10
No comments:
Post a Comment