March 26, 2026
One rainy night, a completely naked Brenda (Robb Guinto) was walking in the cemetery until she sat down in exhaustion among the graves. The next morning, Brenda was found by Miriam (Sue Pardo) who took pity on her. Miriam helped her up and brought her home. It turned out that Mother Miriam and her partner Sister Carol (Mercedes Cabral) ran a place offering food and shelter to various vagrants that they rescue off the streets.
Among the mentally-disturbed residents (or "angels" as they called them) in their home were shy simpleton Hesus (Mhack Morales), lusty prostitute Gigi (Julliane Richards), traumatized teacher Mila (Marife Necesito), cheerful mother Melody (Adda Musni) and her young son, and silent old guy Romy (Maestro Po). Later on, the group would be joined by Brenda's old friend, drug addict Lucio (Yasser Mata), then the pretty boy Paolo (Jorge Guda).
This film was directed by Louie Ignacio, from a story and screenplay by Dennis Evangelista. Ignacio is known for several indie films that dealt with issues of the urban poor, notably "Area" (2016), "School Service" (2018), "Broken Blooms" (2022), and "AbeNida" (2023). This new one of his is along the same lines -- people living on hemlines of society, abandoned by their kin because of their problematic mental health.
Evangelista's idea of Mother Miriam's halfway house to gather these various characters together is a good one. However, aside from Brenda and probably Teacher Mila, we never really got to hear the stories of the other "angels" at all, which may have been edited out because the film was getting too long. I thought it was even more unfortunate was that we never got to know Mother Miriam's past life in more detail. Why she took it upon herself to foster such an unselfish advocacy? Did she have a medical background to administer sedatives?
I wish Ignacio would have told those dramatically-impactful stories, instead of inserting random sex scenes. I know Robb Guinto came from Vivamax, but was it really necessary for her Brenda to be totally naked in her first scene, or have a threesome with two guys named Lucio and Hesus? I am sure Guinto would rather prove her improving mettle as an actress, which she did in Brenda's reunion scene with her mother Anita (Tabs Sumulong), or her confrontation scene with her abusive father Dado (Rayjune Pana Bunggo). 2.5/5
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