Cinemalaya 2023: Review of BULAWAN NGA USA: Elusive Enchantment

August 6, 2023

As a child, Makoy (CJ Agasita) would always hear his grandfather (Filemon Capanang) talk about the local legend of the enchantress of the mountain and her golden deer. Grandfather said, if anyone sees the magical animal, his wishes would come true. Makoy said that if he saw the golden deer, he'll wish for his mother Diane (Babbeth Fuentes Vargas) to come back home. She had remarried and left Makoy with grandfather to keep him company. 

When he became a young man (Ron Matthews Espinosa), he dreamed of his late grandfather inviting him to go back to the mountain to look for the golden deer, Makoy set off by himself to do the climb. Along the way up, he met and befriended a little boy Minggo (John Niel Paguntalan) who was gathering medicinal leaves for his mother. Later, Minggo brought Makoy to his home to meet his parents (Tara Rose Lozano Molina and GC Castro). 

This charming, unassuming Ilonggo film by Kenneth de la Cruz was one of the rare films which bravely goes against the usual down, dark and depressing road commonly taken by various Cinemalaya movies. Even if there are some serious issues of child abandonment along the way, most of the film had a light, childlike air about it as it followed Makoy's quest for an elusive enchanted element from his childhood. 

To further add a sense of wonder and delight to his story, de la Cruz integrated animated images to interact with the live actors and scenery, including the golden deer. During his sojourn in the mountain, Makoy discovered that he had a talent for storytelling which his young audiences enjoyed. His stories of the firefly without a light and the four mango seeds were likewise accompanied by animated images, akin to children book artwork come to life.  

There were no famous names in the cast, but the neophyte actors were all able to portray their roles as well as could be expected of them. Ron Matthews Espinosa and John Niel Paguntalan had an easy-going natural chemistry between them, through happy and bittersweet moments that friends like them typically have together. Makoy's fables also deliver some important life lessons to the audience, young and old alike.  6/10. 

Cinemalaya 2023: Review of AS IF IT'S TRUE: Vlogging Vanity

August 6, 2023

Gemma Stone (Ashley Ortega) was a vlogger whose popularity was dealt a harsh blow when her ex posted a video of her having a mental breakdown in a taxicab after being fired by her boss.  That harsh meme became instantly viral and led to Gemma being cancelled for having a toxic personality. Even her current boyfriend  Antony (Jan Silverio) suddenly dumped her for Cielo (Adrianna So), an actress whom Gemma introduced to him recently. 

While she was about to drown her hurt pride in liquor, Gemma met struggling musician James Alonso (Khalil Ramos), who just so happened to be wearing the same jacket as she was. After some drinks and dancing, they hit it off very well immediately and James actually declared his love for her.  Before the night ended, Gemma wanted James to prove to her how much he loved her, so she challenged him to do a most unexpected task. 

I had not known anything about Ashley Ortega before until I saw ads of her recent figure skating TV drama "Hearts on Ice." Gemma was a very flawed, plastic and toxic character, but Ortega managed to make her winsome enough so that we still wished her the best. However, it was Khalil Reyes and his raw, natural portrayal of James that drew our sympathy effortlessly. He was the real person here, and we felt his depression, vulnerability and hurt. 

Like several movies in the last decade, this film, written and directed by John Rogers, also dealt with a relationship where online social media played a very big part. This was a complicated affair with a very thin and tenuous line dividing their genuine emotions from things which they only manufactured for online content. We see one thing now, but later turned out to be something else. The audience is teased back and forth this way up to the end.

In the film's climax, we hear James describing their relationship, but his version had not been exactly what we saw and heard before we reached this point. So did this mean that what we saw all that time was only Gemma's sanitized version? Did the distorted musical score at the end represent the distortions to the real story? That confusing ambiguity of what's mere vlog content vs. what's actual reality may be a minus for some viewers. 7/10. 

Vivamax: Review of MANYAK: Secret Sicko

August 5, 2023

Desire (Christine Bermas) and her latest boyfriend Adam (Nico Locco) were getting along very well and were planning a trip together. However, her elder sister Myla (Sheree Bautista), with whom she had a problematic relationship, suddenly called to request her to come and watch over their house in Tanay. Myla was going on a five-day vacation to Tagaytay with her wealthy contractor husband Ken (Joko Diaz) and bratty son Leo (Yuna Theodore). 

Desire and Adam got to the house late, so Myla and her family had already gone ahead. The couple wasted no time to make themselves feel at home. That afternoon, Adam received a call from his manager that he had a major advertising photoshoot for a smart watch that very night. When Adam left, Desire was left all alone in the house. In the middle of the night, a dark shadowy figure attacked Desire and she was made unconscious.

Right after the final scene, we see that this film was "written, lit, shot, cut and directed" by Carlo Alvarez. The story about secret perversions could have been interesting. However, the whole scenario was made so contrived and suspicious by all the last minute things which were going on - sudden trip to Tagaytay, sudden trip to Cebu, sudden return trip, sudden photo shoot, etc. Then Alvarez turned back the clock to explain what had happened in between.

There were so many red flags along the way, you'd wonder why the people around this person were just so dense and never picked up on them. How could a businessman have a pre-planned trip by plane to a province since month ago supposedly to close a big deal with a client, yet still needed to buy the ticket at the airport in the morning? How could someone rushing to the airport because it was late can still ask to be dropped off midway? 

Christine Bermas is consistently doing well in Desire's dramatic moments. However, Desire's supposed third eye was such a major red herring, and that over-the-top confrontation between Desire and Myra at the dinner table can be unintentionally funny. Nico Locco is now able to speak more Filipino lines, and has improved in his acting skills. Joko Diaz played a very challenging role for him in this one,  but he should really try to improve his fitness. 4/10. 

  

CINEMALAYA 2023 OPENING FILM: Review of MARUPOK AF: Guile and Gullibility

August 4, 2023

Beanie (Maris Racal) was a popular director of fashion videos, with her BFF Dina (Gabby Padilla) as videographer. For her latest "project", she chose to target transwoman Janzen (EJ Jallorina) from Cebu as the target of one of her elaborate catfish schemes. Beanie created a fake account using the fictitious name of Theo on a dating app Sinder, using sexy photos of her employee Dennis (Royce Cabrera) to lure her prey. 

When Janzen wished to speak to Theo instead of mere texting, Beanie used her influence at the workplace to coerce Dennis, who was willing to do anything to hold on his job and earn cash, to portray Theo for real. After months of manipulative courting, "Theo" unceremoniously dumped Janzen with a heartless phone call. However, feeling sorry for her victim, Beanie felt she needed to reach out to make amends with Janzen. 

Since the dawn of the internet, the anonymity afforded by social media and virtual chat rooms has led to the proliferation of countless scams to be perpetrated on random unsuspecting vulnerable victims.  Catfishing is one such online con job wherein the cyber criminal would assume a false identity, or actually steal the identity of someone else, in order to fool someone and trap that person to do their bidding, for romantic or financial gain. 

To make the situation worse in this case, the catfishing was motivated by an undefined and irrational, hatred against transgender people. As the film also brought up, this misunderstood sector of society has been an easy target of aversion and discrimination, from rape-murder cases to restroom issues.  As sensitively portrayed by real-life trans actress EJ Jallorina, this sad plight of derision and rejection was also told from her point of view.

Maris Racal may be very cute here, but her character Beanie was truly despicable. She used her charm and power to get her way with the creatives under her employ, not only Dina and Dennis, but also her set designer and voice-over talent, to be accomplices in her evil schemes. Royce Cabrera was a comic riot as Beanie's unwilling partner-in-crime Dennis, but there were some unclear developments in his character towards the end.  

Despite the bright color schemes and comedic storytelling style of co-writer and director Quark Henares, this film told a very sick and disturbing story, earning a trigger warning right from the start. Making things sadder was that this was based on a true story. However, events do get repetitive and contrived at a certain point. It can even give flawed implications about how desperate and gullible trans people could be when it comes to romantic relationships. 7/10. 

Mini-Reviews of COBWEB and SOFT & QUIET: Hateful and Heinous Horrors

August 3, 2023

COBWEB

Directed by Samuel Bodin

Written by Chris Thomas Devlin

Peter (Woody Norman) was a shy, withdrawn 12-year-old boy who can hear the hushed voice of a girl calling herself Sarah from behind his bedroom wall. His parents (Antony Starr and Lizzie Caplan) dismissed Peter's scary experiences as merely imaginary. At school, Peter was a loner and a target for bullies. After seeing a disturbing artwork drawn by Peter depicting a girl crying for help, teacher Miss Devine (Cleopatra Coleman) visited his house.

The most disturbing aspect for most of this film was not actually Sarah behind the wall, but it was the portrayal of Peter's parents as insanely unbalanced people. Kids lean on our parents for love and support, but with mad parents like this, poor Peter indeed. Yet it was not completely clear whether his parents are truly sociopaths, or were these horrible images of his parents merely "suggested" to Peter by the girl behind the wall, which made things more thought-provoking. 

Antony Starr had already shown us that he can play it pretty dark as superhero Homelander in Prime Video series "The Boys."   Pretty Lizzie Caplan may look like a typical housewife on the outside, but once she goes into crazy mode, she was very scary.  The build up in the first two acts may be slow, but all hell broke loose in the final act when Sadako-like Sarah got out of the wall.  The degree of violence, especially with kids, involved, will make you flinch. 7/10. 

SOFT & QUIET

Directed by Beth de Araújo

Written by Beth de Araújo

The "Daughters for Aryan Unity" was an organization of women who wanted a venue to freely air out their grievances against people of color. After their meeting, the leader, school teacher Emily (Stefanie Estes), invited members Leslie (Olivia Luccardi), Kim (Dana Millican) and Marjorie (Eleanor Pienta) over for a drink at her house. En route, they encounter Asian-American sisters Anne (Melissa Paulo) and Lily (Cissy Ly), and things turned ugly.

Being so loud and noisy, this ironically-titled film was so intensely uncomfortable to watch that it can be classified as horror, sort of like a lower-budget "Get Out" (Jordan Peele, 2017) which also tackled racism. Things started out so calmly, but when that swastika carved on Emily's cherry pie was onscreen, it was crystal clear what this film was going to be about.  Surprisingly for a film written and directed by and starring women, the white males were the voice of reason here.

For non-whites, it was definitely not easy to be immersed in that toxic, violent, white supremacist environment. The ambitious style of Beth de Araujo to execute the scenes of her debut film as one continuous shot in the style of "2017" (2019) or "Birdman" (2014), made the proceedings even rawer and more urgent.  The degree of chaos certainly went further than expected. But the ending, while thrilling, still left things pretty much hanging in the air.  7/10. 

Review of TALK TO ME: Handshake of Horror

July 31. 2023

It has been two years but Mia (Sophie Wilde) but she still had not moved on from the tragedy of the suicide of her mother Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen). Her relation with her father Max (Marcus Johnson) was strained since then, but MIa was very close with the family of her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), which included her younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) and her mother Sue (Miranda Otto).

One night, Mia, Jade and Riley went to attend a party held by their friends Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio). The main activity that night was to try out a curious artifact of a hand severed from the wrist, preserved in a handshake position. If someone says "Talk to me" when they hold the hand, a spirit will make itself felt. Once granted permission to enter, the spirit possessed him.

Australian film "Talk to Me" made its worldwide premier at the Sundance Film Festival at its Midnight section. It followed the footsteps of other notable horror films which debuted there like: "The Blair Witch Project" (1999), "Saw" (2004), "It Follows" (2015), "Hereditary" (2018) and "Relic" (2020).  A previous Australian horror film which debuted in Sundance Midnight was "The Babadook" (2014), which was also showered with good reviews. 

"Talk to Me" is a solid directorial debut effort by Australian YouTuber twins Danny and Michael Philippou. It had the A24 pedigree of arthouse horror, like "Midsommar" (2019), "The Witch" (2015) and "Under the Skin" (2013). For those only familiar with Hollywood style horror, it would be prudent to temper one's expectations. Like "The Babadook" before, the pacing of Australian horror film is more languid, and there was a lot of more talking than action. 

The main highlights of this film were of still the intense possession scenes. Unlike typical seance scenes, these handshake scenes occur in ordinary living rooms, with the participants all laughing and having fun. Most disturbing was how these young people cheered the ghost on while it was having its way inside their friend, posting videos on social media. The violent, painfully brutal possession of Riley was far and away the most shocking moment. 6/10.

Vivamax: Review of LITSONERAS: Ribaldry at the Rotisserie

July 28, 2023

Eloy (Joko Diaz) and his daughter Elria (Yen Durano) ran a popular lechon shop in Laloma called "Litsoneras". One day, his estranged wife Minerva (Jamilla Obispo) suddenly came home from working in Dubai for several years. She made it clear to Eloy that she was not about to forgive him for his past unfaithfulness, and their relationship was over. She wanted to reconnect with her daughter, but to no avail.

Minerva began exerting her influence around the shop, interfering with the way Eloy dealt with his employees. She accepted a new employee into their shop named Jonas (Victor Relosa), who quickly got into the good graces of his employers. Unexpectedly, Elria saw her mom's boarding pass in her bag and realized that her mother had already been in the country two weeks before the day she showed up at their shop. 

In the opening sequence, director Roman Perez Jr. immediately immersed his audience behind the scenes in the traditional process of lechon making in Laloma district in Quezon City, the hot and smoky setting which served as the backdrop for this sordid family drama. Behind the store front and roasting areas, there were makeshift bathrooms with hardly any privacy, as well as dark little rooms to accommodate quickie trysts. 

18-year old Elria, who was portrayed by new Vivamax siren Yen Durano. At first, it was not easy to see her as Diaz and Obispo's daughter because of her prominently almond eyes. Her ultra-sexy school uniform which she wore with black stockings felt contrived, and made her look more mature than her age. However, Durano would eventually overcome all that when her character reached the peak of her arc -- a promising debut as lead star. 

Perez's story was interesting and he told it well, channeling a "Brocka-esque" realism. Joko Diaz gave his Eloy a nuanced portrayal, down to that defective right hand, that made him a sympathetic character. Jamilla Obispo youthful looks worked against her being Elria's birth mother, but contributed to the disconnect between those two characters. Victor Relosa's Jonas was such a major jerk that his shocking comeuppance felt completely deserved. 6/10. 

 

Review of LITRATO: Deficient Dementia Drama

July 27, 2023

Lola Edna (Ai-Ai De las Alas) had been left by her relatives at the home for the aged called Tahanan ng Kalinga. She was already suffering from the symptoms of dementia, both intellectually and behaviorally. Easily irritated, she frequently quarreled with her caregivers and fellow residents, especially Lola Camilla (Liza Lorena). However, there was one cheerful man Lolo Charles (Bodjie Pascua) who tried to befriend her, to no avail. 

Whenever she talked with someone, Edna will ask for any photographs of any person, even complete strangers which she collected and posted on the wall beside her bed. She kept on holding on to the hope that one day she would see the photograph of her daughter and grand-daughter, whom she has not seen for a long time. One day, she had a feisty new caregiver named Angel (Quinn Carillo) with whom she seemed to get along better than any other.

This drama opened with a scene which may already turn off many viewers. It showed Lola Edna loudly bawling for help as she had been locked in the supply shed when she went in to find rope. The noise level of this contrived scene was sheer cacophony. Ai-ai de las Alas's caterwauling sound was irritatingly artificial and painful to the ears. To be completely honest, it was only the price I paid for admission kept me in my seat. 

Edna's cantankerous attitude in the home did not make it any easier to watch. I understand that this was about her dementia, but Edna's was not consistent. There were scenes when it seemed she was in complete command of her senses, yet she still behaved very badly on purpose. The worst instance was when her caregiver Janette (Weam Ronquillo Ahmed) was flunked for her OJT because Edna willfully lied that the poor girl strangled and pinched her, which really did not happen. 

The storytelling by director Louie Ignacio from the screenplay by Ralston Jover here felt disorganized, which worked against its climactic dramatic reveal. The scenes did not flow smoothly one after the other, with some scenes not quite related to the one before it.  There was even an extraneous scene of a woman (Lui Manansala) left by her daughter (Cristine Saquing) at the gate of the home, but we never see her again for the rest of the film.

I believe this could have been an effective drama had Ai-ai de las Alas' attack on her role been more restrained. However, Ignacio chose to have de las Alas perform in a big, flashy manner.  Anyhow, Ignacio had guided de las Alas to her Best Actress awards before in indie film like "Area" (2016) and "School Service" (2018), so I guess he knows what he's doing. 

It was good to see Quinn Carillo out of Vivamax for a meatier role, and she did well to keep up with de las Alas, even with the dreadful costumes they made her Angel wear. Ara Mina played Divina, a 35 year-old street food vendor with a headstrong daughter, whose exact role only becomes apparent in the final act. Bodjie Pascua was very charming as Lolo Charles, which ultimately turned out to be a thankless role. 4 /10

Netflix: Mini-Reviews of THE OUT-LAWS, BIRDBOX BARCELONA, THEY CLONED TYRONE

 July 26, 2023

THE OUT-LAWS

Directed by: Tyler Spindel

Written by: Evan Turner, Ben Zazove

Owen Browning (Adam DeVine) is a bank manager who was about to marry yoga instructor Parker McDermott (Nina Dobrev). Parker's parents Billy (Pierce Brosnan) and Lilly (Ellen Barkin) were way too cool for Owen's nerdy line of activities. One day, Owen's bank was held up by a notorious pair of bank robbers who had long been the targets of FBI Special Agent Roger Oldham (Michael Rooker). However, the observant Owen picked up certain odd clues which made him suspect that his in-laws to-be were actually the thieves!

When the film tells us that Owen had never met Parker's parents every before, you knew very well that this was going to be another one of those "Meet the Parents" types of comedy films. However, they threw in a surprise twist midway when it seemed that Billy and Lilly may actually be involved in crime instead of anthropology. These comedy of errors parts were a lot of foolish stupid fun, with DeVine and Brosnan portraying the two hilariously clashing characters. Things just went a bit too farfetched in the final act. 5/10. 

BIRD BOX BARCELONA

Directed by Álex Pastor, David Pastor

Written by Álex Pastor, David Pastor

Barcelona, and apparently the rest of the world, was being terrorized by mysterious beings which can cause people who see them to commit suicide. Sebastian (Mario Casas) and his young daughter Anna (Alejandra Howard) were in hiding, trying to survive the threat outside. When they saw another group of survivors, Sebastian approached them and convinced them he was trustworthy
. However the next morning, Sebastian crashed a bus through the wall, catching everyone without their blindfolds, exposing them to the entities.

This film is a spin-off of "Bird Box" (2018) starring Sandra Bullock that dealt with alien creatures that cause people who see them to commit suicide. This new film introduced the concept of "seers," those who were not be affected by the compulsion caused by seeing the beings. However, these seers are emotionally manipulated to cause others to remove their blindfolds, promising them a glorious freedom. Playing one such seer haunted by his daughter, Mario Casas portrayed this intense moral dilemma very credibly.  6/10. 

THEY CLONED TYRONE

Directed by Juel Taylor

Written by Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor

One night, pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) saw drug dealer Fontaine (John Boyega) shot dead by rival. The next day, Fontaine surprised Slick by showing up to visit him again, despite what transpired the previous night.  Together with prostitute Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), they investigate a trap house into which Fontaine saw an injured man enter last night. There, they discovered a laboratory where sketchy experiments were being conducted. Fontaine was shocked to see his lifeless body lying on one of the tables, riddled with bullet wounds.

To be completely honest, if not for the subtitles provided by Netflix, I would not have been able to understand to the ghetto slang being spoken by the characters at all. The weird story may not have been easy to get into at first, but once Fontaine, Slick and Yo-yo discovers the lab, you will definitely stay on to the end see how it all goes down. The chemistry between the three leads was so funny, all of them Blaxploitation stereotypes but with a twist.  Being an over-the-top sci-fi comedy, plotholes are likely, but just ride along and enjoy the trip. 7/10. 

Review of HAUNTED MANSION (2023): Spirit Shrieks and Snickers

July 26, 2023

A single mother, Dr. Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son (Chase W. Dillon) just moved into an old mansion in the outskirts of New Orleans. On their very first night, they realized this mansion was haunted and were able to immediately drive off. However, no matter where they went, the house and its multiple spirits still compelled them to come back. They contact exorcist Fr. Kent (Owen Wilson) to help them with their big problem. 

Kent in turn contacted Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), a cynical tour guide who had invented a camera that can take photographs of ghosts. They then invited Ms. Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), a psychic medium to communicate with the spirits. They also called in Bruce (Danny de Vito), a professor familiar with the history of that locality. They make contact with a spirit of Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis), a previous medium who has been trapped in her crystal ball. 

This is a reboot of "The Haunted Mansion" which Disney released in 2003, based on their popular theme park attraction. It starred Eddie Murphy as a real estate agent whose family was trapped inside the haunted Gracey mansion one stormy night. The only hold-overs from the original film were Mr. Gracey and Madame Leota (still inside her crystal ball), all the other characters and the whole story is totally different. 

One of the biggest differences between the original and this reboot is the over-reliance on computer-generated special effects for the ghostly appearances and events in this new one, while the first movie had more practical stunts and effects.  One of the highlights of first movie was the mausoleum scene which had Murphy and his kids being attacked by skeletal zombies, all designed by no less than Academy-award-winning makeup artist Rick Baker. 

While the comedy of the first movie mainly relied on Eddie Murphy and his facial expressions, the comedy of this new film was an ensemble effort, with Wilson, Haddish, De Vito and Curtis taking the lead. Stanfield was not obviously not a natural comic, but his dramatic scenes certainly connected.  While Dillon was excellent in "Underground Railroad," but here, he, at 13, looked and felt too mature to be 9 years old child. 

Overall, this film was a lot more fun and entertaining than I was expecting. It feels like a theme park ride at times with the ghostly voice-overs and all the dimensional shifting involved, and that is just how one should watch this. It was also able to give the characters some closure with the issues in their lives. One would wonder why a movie like this is being released in summer instead of Halloween when its theme seemed more appropriate. 7/10. 

Vivamax: Review of BISYO!: Snuffed Sneaker Sense

July 22, 2023

While campaigning for his reelection, Vice Mayor Rodrigo "ViceRod" Garcia (Mark Anthony Fernandez) says he only has two vices -- his constituency and his shoes. He did not mention his fondness for threesomes with his girlfriends Orange (Jenn Rosa) and Maiko (Maiko Ortaliz). ViceRod was also a very corrupt politician who has his dirty fingers dipped into all sorts of illegal businesses -- guns, alcohol and drugs. 

James (Gold Aceron) was a young man who worked in the shoe warehouse of ViceRod, but was also his drug courier on the side. However, James seriously wanted to quit his dangerous job in order to establish his own sneaker store called Legit. His girlfriend Lisa (Ataska), ViceRod's son Zach (Aerol Carmelo) and Zach's girlfriend and James's ex Tin (Angelica Hart) are all out in support of James' dream store. 

I just recently learned about how exciting the community of sneakerheads is in this country, so the topic should have been a great idea.  There was even a mystery character introduced from the very first scene -- a hooded guy who sold unique and expensive sneakers on his website calling himself OG Supremo. It would have been interesting if we knew more about his shoes, his sources and his rise to online popularity - but there was none of that.

However, since this was a Vivamax film, the main story had to give way to a very old-hat story of political corruption and sexual infidelity, practically the content of each and every feature film on this streaming app. Having a VICE mayor as the main antagonist was because the film was about vices (groan). The exploitative sex scenes here were too long, tiresome, and devoid of class, with the guys seemingly drugged out of their minds. 

Gold Aceron should really be given a more substantial material than this one. His role as James could have been better developed, but pity that it was just rushed carelessly.  Ataska is being built up to be the next Vivamax It-girl, and she was even given a chance to sing an original song here. Meanwhile, isn't Mark Anthony Fernandez getting tired playing a lecherous dirty old man in all his Vivamax films? Typecast but with fringe benefits, I guess. 1/10.