In 2017, then 18 year old Brooklyn Beckham released a photography book titled What I See. The son of David and Victoria Beckham, Beckham studied photography in 2017, dropping out in his first year. The teenage photographer's book is hilariously inept, filled with amateurish pictures and even more amateurish captions. Perhaps the most memed about picture in the collection is a picture of an elephant, or at least that's what Beckham labels it as: the picture itself, thanks to him taking the picture in suboptimal conditions, looks like the shadows of a disembodied erect penis and testicles. That's all fine and good, to be honest: amateur photographers make mistakes like these all the time. The thing is, all these pictures are featured in an actual professionally published book that costs money. "Nepo babies," as the current discourse calls them, refer to people who probably would not have gained the popularity and opportunities that they have if not for their rich and/or influential parents.
Adolfo Alix Jr.'s That Boy in the Dark is touted as a showcase of the acting talents of Joaquin Domagoso, son of former mayor Isko Moreno (and star of such films as Tukso, Layuan Mo Ako 2.) The younger Domagoso doesn't have a lot of film credits - this is only his second feature film appearance, the first being a semi-supporting role in Perry Escaño's Caught in the Act, where he isn't even the most interesting among the teen cast. Yet somehow here he is in his first lead role. I wonder how that happened?
Domagoso plays Knight, a teenage boy who has been progressively losing his sight since a tragic car accident. Over the rest of the movie, we find out that he has been seeing (and hearing) strange apparitions from out of sight, which hints at a dark past between his family and a mysterious figure.
For a film meant to be an acting showcase for one particular actor, it's kind of telling that the actor in question is literally outacted by everyone else in the cast. Domagoso has the on-screen charisma of a wet blanket that vaguely smells like cheap cologne, whose acting range oscillates from "irritating screaming teenager who TALKS. LIKE. THIS. ALL. THE. TIME." to "whiny teenager who calls for the househelp for every minor thing." He's also not the most likeable of characters either, as the accident that causes his blindness is mostly his fault, and his lashing out at his father and grandfather doesn't exactly endear him to the audience. Acting as a visually impaired person is a challenge even for seasoned actors, and Domagoso's acting is not very convincing (the script doesn't exactly help the kid either.)
And even if we discount the idea that this is some sort of misguided vanity project, within the Adolfo Alix Jr. filmography spectrum this is more Kiko and Lala than Isda: unfinished, rushed and seemingly made as an afterthought. At a cachectic 64 minutes, there isn't much material to be had, and certain aspects of the film are obviously not done - there are two phone conversations near the end of the film where we don't hear the dubbed voice of the person on the other end of the line, instead, we hear the voice of a crew member nearby speaking the lines in question, presumably for the sound guys to dub it over later in post. Spoiler alert: the sound guys never did. It's baffling how this film made it into cinemas in its current state.
While giving the film a little leeway storywise, its made up of a lot of strange decisions. Does Knight seriously not notice that his friend mysteriously shows up at his grandpa's house, in his room, at the weirdest of times? While its understandable that some visually impaired people don't need to use walking sticks or aids in familiar places, won't Knight have difficulty in a house he has just moved into (and is presumably not used to as a blind person?) He moves around without bumping into anything like a sighted person would.
Perhaps I'm being too mean. Every actor has their own flop era - heck, it took John Lloyd Cruz a couple of movies to improve his craft. Perhaps the same can be said for the star of this film. But then again, for every kid who gets an acting showcase like this, there are a dozen other, more talented actors who probably will never get their chance to shine. The world is unfair like that sometimes.
The dark secret of That Boy in the Dark is one that is carried by Knight's family (if we're to believe the film's antagonist), yet in the end, certain members of his family are not held accountable for their actions.
Vivamax Corner: Panibugho
Iar Arondaing is a director whose visual style has never failed to captivate me. His two Cinemalaya films both display purposefulness and an intimate understanding of the filmic visual space that helps communicate his stories (that, unfortunately, do not always match the craft put into its visuals).
I was surprised to hear that he made a Vivamax film of all things: the streaming platform seems to be attracting all sorts of directors because despite its restrictions for content - Vivamax films allegedly have to have a number of guidelines in terms of turnaround time and content in order to make a profit - the service is a breeding ground (no pun intended) for strange and imaginative works that transcend and surpass genre conventions.
Because of that notion, I've decided to do a regular Vivamax review feature in this blog in order to showcase all the films coming out on the streaming service. This will hopefully be the first of many.
On paper, Panibugho ("Jealousy") sounds like an interesting premise: the three nubile daughters of a wealthy landowner come across an injured man and nurse him to recovery. However, this man is actually a rebel who lost his land and family to the sister's scheming dad (played by Soliman Cruz, no less) and vows to break the family apart. There's an interesting dynamic going on there about how stolen land and dignity is repaid with bodies, but things are not that simple. Unfortunately (?) the man does not Visitor Q everyone in the house and regain his land and family via act of congress (a.k.a. sexual congress wink wink).
Panibugho's marketing points at its casting, where the three sisters are played by real life sisters Angela Morena, Stephanie Raz and Micaella Raz. Bad news for the super pervs out there: aside from a very short dream sequence at the very beginning, there's no incest sex scenes to be had. That is the least of the film's problems.
The film looks gorgeously shot, and it's evident a lot of work was done to make the film look cinematic. Say what you want, but this film does not look like a cheap production, and it's on brand with Arondaing, who with his previous films managed to create really gorgeous frames with limited resources (one of his earlier Cinemalaya productions had to make do with its original 750k peso budget, which is absolutely microscopic in terms of local filmmaking.) The problem lies with everything else. The acting in this film is below average; out of the three sisters Angela Morena is the only one with a half decent performance; her two sisters kind of struggle to keep up with her in their scenes together. And while Kiko Estrada (horribly fake facial hair notwithstanding) is okay, his counterpart Benz Sangalang has the screamy non-charisma of a counterfeit action figure.
Panibugho isn't as bad as I thought it would be but nice visuals can only take a film so far.
Out of Context Lines:
"mas masarap kung may pampadulas"
"parang amoy mani!"
Hilarious Sex Stuff:
1. one of the Raz sisters fucks Kiko Estrada to the tune of Lyca Gairanod's Malapit na Akong Mahulog Sa Iyo, which to me is as dissonant as a scene can get (though not to hilarious Breathe Again Levels)
2. tip: if you are to use a fruit during foreplay (especially something you rub on skin), don't use bananas. Use something with juice in it, like a papaya or a citrus fruit! And for Cthulhu's sake, do not insert a half-eaten banana inside a vagina, that shit will break up inside! Cucumbers or ampalaya are better.
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