Fresh out of his stint at the Cinemalaya Institute, John Lapus' Pang-MMK is something like an application of all the things he's learned about filmmaking, and in that regard, it's actually decently made.
The film serves as the sequel to one of the most popular episodes of MMK, otherwise known as Maalaala Mo Kaya, one of the Philippines' premiere drama shows. In that episode, Origami, a young boy has to deal with his dad having (and eventually choosing) a second family. The film continues that story decades later with the death of the father; the son (Neil Coleta) is tasked with organizing the wake and funeral arrangements.
The film reunites the original cast of the MMK episode: even Alwyn Uytingco, who played the original boy, appears in a cameo. The film explores the fascination and appeal behind true to life stories and how some stories are stranger than fiction, though the treatment is well-meaning parody at best, surface level banality at worst. There are some elements of family drama in the mix, though it's mostly played for laughs.
To be fair, there is character development and self realization with the central character, though that's sometimes drowned out by the comedy (and again to its credit the film can be quite funny in parts.) Pang-MMK is a film I've highly underestimated; but it's actually just OK, and that's the problem. It's a little too OK to stand out compared to the rest of this year's entries.
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