[PPP 2019] G!'s story of friendship and camaraderie stretches disbelief

With a teen-oriented premise (even with European-sounding school names!) the story of G! feels like well-intentioned fanfiction, or mid-tier Wattpad stuff. It's decent at the start, kind of like the strange lovechild of a 90's American teen movie and Y Tu Mama Tambien, but then it all spirals out of control thanks to a third act that feels ludicrous.

When star footballer Sam Corteza (McCoy De Leon) suddenly contracts a terminal illness (gallbladder cancer, which is exceedingly rare in people under 60 years old) he decides to make a bucket list, inviting his three best friends to go along for the ride. It's a very simple bucket list, which is typical of any horny 18 year old, but it would have been nice to be a little more ambitious.

The lead performances are decent. Jameson Blake in particular stands out as his character struggles with the fact that he's in love with the girl that Sam loves. The other two characters are just there and aren't given a lot of character development.

The real kicker is during the third act of the film, where things get ever more ridiculous. It's treated like "hey, this is a perfectly normal thing that could happen," and to be honest, it really doesn't fit in with the rest of the movie. Things get even more strange, straying even farther from the teen road trip thing, culminating in a complete shocker of a twist at the end that feels out of left field, if left field was a couple million light years away.

Now there are two things movies like this could do next: commit to its insanity or return to the tone of the Wattpadd-y, teen oriented first half. This film chooses the latter, and it feels like such a safe choice that it negatively affects the final product. G! is nice, until things get really weird, really fast. 

[PPP 2019] The Panti Sisters is a mainstream experiment with mixed results

Jun Lana's latest film, The Panti Sisters, feels like something straight out of the MMFF: a relatively entertaining, mainstream comedy for people of most ages. It's colorful, wacky and doesn't take itself too seriously, thanks to Ivan Payawal's script. Unfortunately, like many MMFF films, the humor can feel a bit stale, cliched and even stereotypical.

One wonders why such a film is even necessary, in the light of the fact that Lana's already directed a film about LGBTQ concerns, 2018's Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes. Viewing it in that light, this feels like a step back.

But look at it this way: this film is an experiment in delivering such issues in a mainstream package. If presented in a way that more audiences can see it (and as of this writing, the Panti Sisters is the highest grossing PPP 2019 film), maybe the accompanying message can get across to more people. And in a country that believes the LGBTQ community doesn't deserve equal rights, it's important to get that message across, somehow. If even one person out of the hundreds of thousands who have seen this film learn an important lesson by the end of the film, then it would have made a difference.

That said, the message of the film itself is partly the problem as well. While it does make a point that sometimes all the LGBTQ community wants is love and acceptance, it manages to inadvertently say a lot of other things too. In telling its jokes, the film often retreats into the stereotypes it should be escaping from, such as the idea that gay people are perpetually lustful. While Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes explores and teaches the experience of having a closeted lover, in this film the film struggles to explain these ideas of gender expression and identity. There's a character in the film that identifies as a demigirl, but this concept of gender identity is touched upon very lightly.

As a mainstream experiment, The Panti Sisters is fine as it is, but if the filmmakers really wanted to get the message across, there are a lot of better ways to go at it. At the very least they tried, and I hope they keep on trying.

[PPP 2019] Open examines a relationship torn apart by insecurities

Note: some spoilers for Open are present in this review.

Despite the title, Andoy Ranay's Open is not really about an open relationship; it exists as a framing device to depict a very dysfunctional relationship destroyed by the inside out. It's clear from the opening scenes of the film that there is an imbalance in the relationship between Ethan (JC Santos) and Rome (Arci Muñoz): Ethan is emotionally manipulative and controlling, taking advantage of Rome's willingness to bend over backwards for him. Rome fears losing Ethan because she doesn't want to waste the 14 years they have spent together, and she has sacrificed her own self and identity because of this.

The open relationship is offered as a way for the couple to mend and examine themselves. It works for another couple in the film, but it obviously doesn't work on everybody. Still, Ethan and Rome (with a little emotional manipulation from Ethan) gives it a go. Ethan breaks the rules of the relationship almost immediately and uses it as an excuse to cheat with his boss (Ina Raymundo) while Rome spends that time finding men who are way, way better prospects than Ethan, showing her that she has a choice.

Both leads are capable, but Arci Muñoz really shines here. Her acting style may not be to everyone's taste, but she really nails it here, in what is one of her best ever performances. One particular scene near the end (also featured partly in the trailer) is so full of bubbling rage and repressed emotions that it's hard not to get carried away by her performance.

When Ethan finally gains some insight and starts to change for the better, it is far too late. The ending scene is treated like a hugot moment, but to be honest it felt liberating, even cathartic. In this sense, "Open" can mean something else: the openness that this relationship lacked, or the open-endedness of a future filled with possibilities.

[PPP 2019] Cuddle Weather is an unconventional love story about connection and intimacy

Cuddle Weather takes us into an underground industry, something that's technically illegal but still present, sometimes even in plain sight: sex work. With the advent of the internet, it's easier to hook up with a stranger for money, and people can earn tens of thousands of pesos on a good day. Although physical contact is virtually implied in this line of work, emotional intimacy is not. It's reflected in the neon colors of the film's production design and lighting, providing a false sense of sterility and artificiality that embodies the profession's lack of emotional attachment.

When an enterprising high class hooker (Sue Ramirez) meets a bumbling rookie (RK Bagatsing), they form a strange mentor-mentee relationship. The woman even recruits her new charge for cuddle services, in an attempt to reclaim the emotional intimacy that she has lost in the course of doing her job.

Ramirez gives her all in this particular performance. She doesn't shy away from doing things that her contemporaries would otherwise shy away from. It's a career best performance, but I hope it doesn't end there. It's going to be interesting to see where Ramirez takes it in the future.

In this film, names are important. They serve as labels for personas that can be created and thrown away. They signify old lives and new. What we call ourselves, a respected doctor or family man out in the streets, just another john in the sheets, is important.

But because the film decides to present itself in a relatively mainstream manner, it shies away from the more lurid aspects of sex work, which is still one of the most dangerous professions to go into. These dangers are mitigated by stringent rules and the ability of online based workers to pick and choose their clients (both of which are practiced by Ramirez's character), but it adds a strange layer of artificiality that (this time) doesn't fit in that well.

That said, the central romance does make the proceedings a little more than compelling, though the third act blurs the protagonists' motivations towards the end. It's still worth seeing, if only for Ramirez's outstanding performance.

[PPP 2019] Lola Igna is a poignant meditation on life and death

The concept and themes behind Eduardo Roy's Lola Igna reminds me of another film, Dwein Baltazar's 2012 film Mamay Umeng, in that both lead characters are very old people who seek death but somehow cannot find it. But beyond that, Lola Igna also talks about other things: the dwindling economic prospects of remote farming communities, the hold of celebrity culture, a tribute to midwives and givers of life, and a general cultural reverence of old age.

The prospect of having Lola Igna (Angie Ferro) become the oldest living grandmother has excited the residents of her hometown; as a farming community, there aren't a lot of financial opportunities and this would be a good boost to tourism (not to mention the fact that there's a hefty prize to whoever manages to snag the prize.) But this doesn't matter to Igna, a cantankerous 118 year old who is prepared for death. She's literally brought life to this community - as the town midwife, she's helped deliver most of the villagers  - but she misses all her dead friends and feels like the world has passed her by.

The tone is humorous but often wistful. Igna's desire to die stems from loneliness and the lack of something (or someone) to live for. Igna is ridiculously spry for a 118 year old that it stretches disbelief, but Angie Ferro's acting chops make us love the character anyway, making Igna a flesh and blood, likable, nuanced character.

This makes the ending to Lola Igna indelible: there is purpose found, yet uncertainty follows not far behind. There is joy in life still worth living, but now it's balanced with the fear of an inevitable death and things left undone. There is a sense of dread, but also undeniable hope for things to come. These are existential ruminations that both terrify and soothe us, and it's perfectly embodied by that moment.

[PPP 2019] Watch Me Kill delves into a killer's psyche

The artistic touches in Tyrone Acierto's Watch Me Kill are felt from the very start: the artifacts meant to make the movie look like it was shot on film, the dazzling array of wide, atmospheric shots, the deliberately slow pace. It all contributes to a solid noir aesthetic, one that feels unique in the landscape of contemporary Philippine cinema.

The hired killer at the center of the story, Luciana (Jean Garcia) is an enigma at the start: she's a cold blooded and efficient killer who never fails to kill her target. This has led to various criminal bosses like Franco (Jay Manalo) to try to recruit her into his ranks, but Luciana is a lone wolf. When an assassination goes awry (to those who get the reference, it's like a Red Dead Redemption 2 free roam gone terribly wrong) Luciana comes across a girl (Junyka Santarin) who she spares, taking the girl under her wing.

From this point on, here's where things go a bit downhill. Although it's a character study, the film doesn't really have much more to say about Luciana's character other than the fact that her innocence was lost way too early. Her desire to live a life of normalcy keeps slinking back into her old ways, as she tries to take what she wants by force. But what was her life before that? Why was she chosen? Why did she eventually embrace the life of killing? There's a twist in this film, but it's telegraphed way too obviously. The ending leaves us with more questions. What exactly does Luciana want to be? A mother? A daughter? Or just someone without shackles?

Perhaps that's what the film tried to do at the end: make audiences wonder and talk about what the hell was going on, but one's mileage and patience may vary.

[PPP 2019] LSS is a bittersweet earworm about our relationship to art

Note: some minor spoilers in this review.

Jade Castro's LSS is touted as a musical, but there's an interesting quirk in the way these songs are sometimes presented. Some of the songs are sung by the characters, sometimes not in tune, their words drifting in and out of stanzas and phrases. They're singing along to themselves, or sharing this moment with others: these are personal moments that go against the grandiose showiness inherent in most musicals. In one particular scene, our protagonists both find themselves reeling from a major setback, music being their only comfort. They find each other in a crowded room, physically drawn together by elements of the frame. They are virtually strangers, but their connection to each through song is almost tangible, even if it is just in this moment.

And that connection of people with art isn't purely through song, either; the film also tries to look at the connections we make through other forms of art. In one scene, Zack (Khalil Ramos) and his mom browse through movies to watch. Zack tries to pick stories of familial reconciliation - a goal he is trying to achieve with his parents. His mom, on the other hand, picks a film that is very close to her personal experience. We relate to songs and movies because they represent something in our own lives - whether they be personal trauma, recollection of pleasant memories or one perfect moment shared with a stranger on a bus.

The film also touches on concepts that Castro has explored before in films like Endo (2007) - the emergence of the contractual worker and the gig economy. Most of the working characters in LSS either flit from one job to another, driven by economic need, or take side jobs to supplement their income. Yet the film does offer hope with its ending, in that in a world where chasing dreams in the face of harsh economic and personal realities is getting increasingly harder, it's far better to get through it with someone who at least understands you. In fact, empathy and connection is given emphasis over love, as most of the conflicts of the movie are resolved through empathy and understanding and not solely through the notion that love conquers all.

LSS is a wonderfully crafted crowdpleaser whose effusive charm will woo even non-fans of Ben&Ben.

[PPP 2019] I'm Ellenya L overcomes its flaws with charm

Note: very minor spoilers for this film are present.

Dante Gulapa, the internet phenom who has a small cameo in Boy2 Quizon's I'm Ellenya L, perfectly embodies the message the film is trying to get across: in a social media ecosystem where "content" is quickly becoming more staged and artificial, Gulapa feels genuine and unpretentious. He made his videos because he wanted to entertain people. In his own words, 'katuwaan lang.' In contrast with other films that look at the vapidity of influencer culture such as the twin documentaries Fyre and Fyre Fraud, I'm Ellenya L casts no judgement on its young protagonists or calls for the rejection of this culture. Instead, it concedes that the culture exists; we might as well be ourselves while we're living in it.

Wrapped around this message is a fairly light romantic comedy. Fans of the Inigo Pascual-Maris Racal loveteam will have much to like here.

The third act takes the story into a bizarre, yet also hilarious turn as it tries to squeeze the story into a more mainstream-oriented ending. It touches lightly on cyberbullying but doesn't go deeper into the consequences of the bullying, and offers a solution that works a little too well. Ultimately, despite the film's flaws, it manages to overcome them with a ton of charm.

Sanggano, Sanggago't Sanggwapo, or the booby boobilicious boobations of three boobs

Sanggano watched as his girlfriend entered the room. The buxom woman's breasts bobbed and swayed like a heavyweight boxer, mounds of pudding-like soft sensual flesh with minds of their own. Against her t-shirt her nipples jutted out like the rivets of the HMS Titanic, beckoning him to have a taste. She was easily the age of his hot daughter/s, something that would have turned off a whole lot of people, but May December romances were a thing and he wanted to get in that action, so her age didn't bother him at all. Also he's not really into incest. 

His whole existence was an enigma. For a guy named "Sanggano," there was nothing remotely gangstery about him. He knew that it was a callback to an earlier film called Sanggano't Sanggago (2001) which doesn't have anything in common with this film except for the fact that they share the same director and a few cast members. Logic dictates that he should have at least a good personality, but that's not the case. Looks aren't always the end all be all in relationships, but his look was reminiscent of that one uncle you had who wore khaki shorts two sizes too small, wore a baseball cap backwards because he thought it made him look cool, and made crude jokes. In reality, Sanggano knew that he was punching way above his weight class. No self respecting woman would throw themselves at him unless he was loaded, but in this universe, Sanggano knew the gods were on his side. In fact, this babe warmed up on him after an awkward conversation where he compared her to a horse. Just like in porn, after that meaty exchange she was ready to fuck in 0.068 seconds.

Sanggano looked at his girlfriend in the eyes as she straddled him. Her voluptuous breasts jiggled in his face like a pair of pendulous grapefruits. She was totally stacked - stacked like a pile of Jengas, like a cheater's poker hand as he's betting 2 mil. "Let the slurping commence," he said.

*

Sanggago stared at the sky as the girl in front of him rode him like a cowboy, her vagina voraciously gorging on his dick like Takeru Kobayashi eating hotdogs at the World Eating Championships. Sure, the woman banging him had degrees and maybe even a distinguished academic career as a plant pathologist, but to him she was just a vagina with a body attached to it - he didn't really care. Besides, he'd already banged a veterinarian, so he was getting a health and science theme going. Her bubble-like ass bobbed up and down like the bubbles in milk tea, while her ample breasts breastily bounced like a Harlem Globetrotter's exhibition performance.

Unlike his other two friends, Sanggago is actually (kinda) loaded and he is at least handsome, so at least he had something going for him. He actually has the hots for this engineer chick, but she's been playing hard to get. Obviously her irritated attempts to rebuff him were only a front - he knew she REALLY wanted him deep inside, in more ways than one. Haha, he thought, that was a funny joke.

He'd scored this plant scientist chick and the veterinarian by just existing, which is perfectly reasonable in this universe. Even if he's pushing 50, it's a given that all the girls, regardless of intellectual level, want his rock hard cock, and that was how things went here. Maybe if he'd get a little more assertive with the engineer chick he'd get a taste of that hot sexy body too.

*

Sanggwapo stared in shock at the nude girl sleeping beside him. He'd agreed to be the kagemusha for Sanggago but he didn't expect women left and right would be trying to get in his pants. He didn't want beautiful women! After all, he's just a middle aged guy, a 4.5/10 at best, who made a hit single about how it's preferable to choose ugly girls. As a person with absolutely no legal authority to sign off the deed of the land of his friend, he was keen to sign it off anyway, because reasons. He didn't know either; after all, he was just a fictional character.

A woman will try to seduce him later, he knew, and he'd have to refuse her services. She'd no doubt be thankful that he, a man, gave her that validation. 

He knew that her character will be killed by the scriptwriter for asserting herself in such an unbecoming way later on, but that's how the cookie crumbles. Besides, there was no shortage of very young, sexy girls here that would dive at the chance to score his out of shape, beer bellied fifty year old body.

*

John Tawasil sighed, like any pretentious self important movie watcher typing in the third person would. He'd been in the movie theater for a while, and the AC was broken. He adjusted his moobs, undulant lumps of flesh bouncing like leche flan during the 1990 Baguio earthquake, and wiped off some undermoob sweat. He wondered how it would feel like to lick his own boobs, but that wasn't the only thing he was wondering about. "How in the world could a 2001 film be LESS offensive towards women than its 2019 namesake?" he asked himself. "Why didn't the filmmakers use the comedic talents of Eddie Garcia instead?" He conceded that the film did make him chuckle in a few parts, but way better examples of irreverent humor exist out there. He didn't like the film, and this is coming from a guy who thinks that sometimes prudes should leave decent sex comedies alone.

But then he noticed something. Two things, in fact.

First, this is fantasy wish fulfillment for middle aged old men, that somehow their old, bloated, fat, rotting bodies are still desirable to younger women even though they do not have the money or charisma to attract them; that somehow they can hold their own in a martial arts fight with hardened thugs; that they are actually as charming and cool and suave and funny as they think they are. This is a film by dinosaurs for dinosaurs.

Second: the audience was laughing along with the jokes, and there were lots of people in attendance. And this, more than anything in this completely mediocre film, disturbed him the most. To all the people saying that "it's 2019, the existence of this film is no longer justified, times have changed," they HAVE changed, but not as much as one'd think. Makers of media may have moved on from crass, sexist humor, but apparently people's tastes haven't caught on, or they haven't realized exactly WHY the rest of the world has moved on. To many audience members around the country, this sort of humor is perfectly acceptable (even when it shouldn't be), and this film is just a function of supply meeting demand.

And to the people out there who know better, he wanted to say this: if you (and I) really want audiences to understand the reasoning behind paradigm shifts away from "problematic" concepts like the ones embodied by this film, perhaps take a more active role in enlightening people why these things are wrong, because sometimes people honestly don't understand why they should change their  way of thinking. It's not about the waking, it's all about the rising.

But then again, he was just one guy with an opinion and sweaty boobs.

Weathering with You

Makoto Shinkai's latest film, Weathering with You, looks like it is set to parrot the structure and themes of its predecessor, the blockbuster hit Your Name. But Weathering with You ultimately ends up being a completely different film compared to the former - in fact, in some ways it's thematically antithetical to Shinkai's other films.

When Hodaka Morishima runs away to Tokyo to escape his stifling, boring high school life, he's greeted with a harsh economic truth: for people like him who are too young and inexperienced to join a kaisha, employment opportunities are scarce (and illegal). It's a coming of age story where the protagonist/s is/are literally prevented from coming of age. He's not the only one having problems with work: all of the characters in this film have trouble with it in one form or another. Yet their economic situation is not their fault either; it's something they have to live by because of the generations that came before them.

And this generational conflict seeps into everything in this film. The youth are continually judged for their actions and not understood. An older woman tells her son in law that his "image" is unbecoming, even though he is legitimately trying to change. The youth are expected to pick up the slack for their older counterparts, as if these elders are owed something. They are forced to uphold a system designed by their ancestors, even though it may not be moral or right.

Shinkai blends that with a love story that is far more optimistic compared to his other, more pragmatic works. In the denouements of Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Garden of Words, love doesn't exactly conquer all; instead, it gives way to practicality and sometimes fades over time. Yet here, the bond that forms between Hodaka and Hina - Sky and Sunshine, depending on how you read their names - is a love that conquers all, tradition and fate be damned, powered by the exuberance and recklessness of youth. There are consequences to this notion - and the action that resolves the film can be perceived as foolhardy, even selfish. Yet there's a sense of acceptance by the end of the film, a sense that sometimes we should take as step back and entrust the future to the people who will actually be living in it. And in a world of your own making, the best thing you can do moving on is to live that life together with someone you trust.

The film is gorgeous and lush. Shinkai is one of the best documentarians of Tokyo as a living city, and any person who has stayed in the city will recognize places like Kabukicho, Sunshine City, the Shibuya crosswalk and even Odaiba. However, the film is not perfect; it stumbles in a few places as it tries to keep its secrets in for too long. The lore behind the fantasy is hazy, at best. It's paced awkwardly during the first half as it tries to establish its setting. And although Shinkai still knows his emotional cues, the film's overall emotional impact is blunted thanks to the way he structures this film. 

Weathering With You is a solid film, though only time will tell if it really stands up to Shinkai's body of work.