Cinemanila Diaries 4: Masahista

Okay, we're wrapping up now, and here's the last new film I saw at Cinemanila 2005:

Masahista (2005)

Brillante Mendoza's independent film Masahista caught my attention when it won a prize the Locarno International Film Festival, tying with another movie. Once I saw that it was screening at a nearby theater I went over to watch it.

The film might look like a gay film, but it isn't. The film might look like it consists of one raunchy scene after another, but it really doesn't. These facts turn out to be the greatest asset of the movie - we'll come back to this later.

The story of Masahista is shown to us in a fractured manner: Coco Martin plays Iliac, the titular 'masahista' of the title, giving massages and a 'little extra' to their clients. When Iliac learns that his father is very sick, he comes home to Pampanga, only to learn that he is too late. The movie cuts back and forth between the night before Iliac leaves as he serves his last and only client of the night and the days after his arrival at Pampanga where he copes with his father's death and prepares for his burial.

The movie is bilingual (trilingual if you count English) between Kapampangan and Tagalog, the first time I've seen another Filipino dialect in a movie since Panaghoy sa Suba. The film is quite well made, and I have no problems with anything regarding its production.

Okay, let's get back to that part I'd say I'd go back to. This film's strongest point is that it doesn't glorify or romanticize the sex going on in this movie. Instead, it portrays the act as something that takes something away from Iliac and his fellow Masahistas. One of the most striking set pieces in the film is the scene where scenes from a funeral are juxtaposed with scenes with the Masahistas doing their job. It kind of implies that this exacts some kind of death of the spirit in these young men.

This film is a very introspective character piece that surprised me quite a bit. Although it's not as good or thorough in portraying the main characters past and inner turmoil as, say, This Charming Girl, it still serves up a good dish of drama and social commentary. It's a great way to end my run.