March Film Digest: Oras De Peligro, Kunwari Mahal Kita

 

Set on the cusp of the EDSA Revolution, Oras De Peligro follows a family as they deal with personal tragedy. Beatriz (Cherry Pie Picache) learns that her jeepney driver husband Dario (Allen Dizon) has been killed after a botched robbery. A number of corrupt cops pin the blame on Dario and forbid the family from taking the body home. 

Joel Lamangan's strengths, in my mind, have always been in theater and in acting - not in directing for film. However, perhaps spurred by current events (in the context of his late 2010s-early 2020s work, this is Lamangan at his most indignant) Oras de Peligro plays to his strengths. The result is still admittedly a mixed bag, but is a lot better than other recent films of his that seem too complacent. The story itself feels a bit didactic or stagey at some points (and the climax stretches disbelief a little too much) though I chalk that up to Lamangan's theater background working this time to the film's detriment. 

The film also segues into other side stories regarding other people related to Dario - all taking place in the background of EDSA, with each character's story depicting the various situations Filipinos faced during the Marcos regime (and even now), from farmers in the province to labor unions to middle class liberals. It is reminiscent of Jang Joon-hwan's 1987: When the Day Comes (2017), a film also about a democratic revolution whose nebulous, protean structure lacks a central protagonist as well. Both films capture the heady energy of a revolution slowly but surely taking shape. Lamangan takes care not to fictionalize or distort the actual events of the revolution, opting to show news clips and video from the actual event - the events of the movie acting as a sort of filmic metaphor to show how political indifference does not shield one from being a victim of an unjust system, or how standing up for what is right for everyone is the morally correct solution. 

This is, in my view, Lamangan's way of paying respect to history, a rebuttal to filmmakers who, given the many ways art and commerce clash, abandon their integrity and principles for money. The film represents a partial solution - granted, there are a lot more systemic problems at play today (some even stemming from the aftermath of this revolution and its lapses in seeking accountability from the people involved) though no single work of art can affect political change, if at all. The true "revolution" starts elsewhere, and from the ground up: in our schools, in our homes, in our conversations with other people, in how we view history and truth in a society where it's getting hard to parse it from falsehood. 

The main conceit of Roderick Lindayag's Kunwari... Mahal Kita really only kicks into gear in the final 30 minutes of the film. In the meantime, we are treated to an extended meet cute between Greg (Joseph Marco) and hotel worker Hayds (Ryza Cenon). See, Greg's currently separated from his wife Cindy (Nathalie Hart), who rejects him because of a clash in personalities and life goals. Cindy can't find what she wants in Greg, and she tries to flirt with other people. Despondent, Greg retreats to his cousin's resort in Bolinao, where he meets Hayds. The two seem to click immediately, but there's some hesitation on Greg's part since he's still technically married to his wife and he still holds some lingering feelings towards her.

I can forgive a certain level of meet cute in romantic films like this, though in this particular case it does so to the detriment of everything else - and the meet cute isn't that well done either. There is a lack of flow from one scene to the other, and while the film bumbles its way to make us invest in the two characters, it's not enough to offset the tonal shift that happens in the last third. There's still some fun to be had, to be fair: Nathalie Hart makes a nice villain once she enters into the picture, but Greg and Cindy's relationship feels tentative and sadly not one worth rooting for.

What's even more unfortunate is the fact that the film deals with its conflicts almost as an afterthought, relying on a time skip to magically resolve all of the problems established during the course of the film. Perhaps instead of having scenes that have little to no impact on the rest of the film (such as a scene in a beach at night that basically exists for the characters to ask each other why the hell they are there) they could concentrate more on having the audience invest in its characters.

March Horny Film Digest: Mang Kanor, Lagaslas

 

A little background: the original Mang Kanor was an old man (allegedly a cop) who recorded a video of himself having sex with a significantly younger (and busty) woman. (Again, allegedly) they had sex as a favor to finance the woman's education. This happened multiple times.

This movie fictionalization tries to add a little background to the old man. It's nothing particularly deep - a younger, uglier Kanor, whose face looks like someone stabbed it multiple times with a pentel pen, struggles with his self esteem and his interactions with women. He doesn't have the emotional maturity (or the stamina) to handle it.

Now that he's gotten older and has a little bit more money to throw around, various women form a transactional relationship with the dude for their own financial needs. There's a lot of depth to be plumbed here. For example the women willingly get into this relationship for their own (admittedly nebulous) sakes, knowing that horny men are horny and gaming the system in that regard (while some also do this to satisfy their own sexual needs.) Kanor, for his part, is still in some ways as emotionally immature as he was in the beginning of the film, the film framing him as someone who, in his own messed up way, genuinely wants a connection with someone and sees these transactional relationships as his way of achieving that. There's also a subtle level of social pressure pushing him to seek these relationships even if it is to the detriment of everyone involved. As we hear with his macho banter with other people and the workers under his employ, getting with a beautiful woman (sometimes multiple, sometimes at the same time, and not always to everyone's benefit) is a desirable social end goal.

Our titular protagonist isn't necessarily shamed for his sexual deeds; he is actually arrested for a different crime (perhaps shedding light on why legislation like R.A. 9995 became necessary) and accepts accountability for his actions, sexual or otherwise by apologizing to the women he hurt, whether directly or not. For a movie that's been horny on main for the past hour and a half, that's actually a surprising conclusion.

Unfortunately the movie is more interested in staging boring sex scenes so all the interesting stuff feels secondary to them. If you like Rez Cortez' rotund body gyrating on a woman like a creaky run down jalopy then have at it, boys (and girls??)

p.s. I find it hilarious/sad (?) that the filmmakers behind the film got in trouble after screening the film without an MTRCB permit. Those dudes are getting their sticky fingers everywhere

Establishing character moments are meant to reveal a little bit of what a character is about, at times helping set the tone for the rest of the film. Some clever filmmakers use this as misdirection in order to set up something funky later on, but that's usually the exception to the rule. The establishing character moment for the protagonist of Vivamax's Lagaslas is of him furiously masturbating to his imagination. Props to the film for not holding any pretentions to what it is, and what it likely will be used for: material for horny men to jack off to - men not unlike the film's protagonist - despite the ubiquity and access of, you know, normal porn. To those men who feel seen, hooray for representation, I guess.

Edmar (VR Velosa) is said horny protagonist, who spends his time either jacking off, peeping at his neighbor Karisma (Manang Medina) or being nagged at by his single mother Loleng (Rubi Rubi). When he gets caught by Karisma, instead of screaming for the authorities or her adoptive parent/sexual partner Vicencio (Julio Diaz, also ew), Edmar and Karisma start a secret sexual relationship.

The more interesting plot happens in the film's sidelines: Loleng is a part of a cooperative that sells their goods at the local market. But they've been scammed by unscrupulous individuals and need to pay a massive sum of money or they'll all be evicted. In its most interesting moments, Lagaslas takes us on a tour of this small ecosystem of vendors, selling, haggling and fucking their way and living hand-to-mouth (and for some of them, dick to mouth) in an existence that is rigged against them.

I'd be on board with the shenanigans that take place if not for the fact that both protagonists are ridiculously dumb. I know horror film protagonists are stereotyped as making braindead character decisions, but holy hell these two take the cake. They both have loud sex, which is itself not that bad but they do it a couple rooms away from a sleeping Vicencio, as if they're begging to be caught. There's a case to be made here that the both of them love the thrill of almost being caught (a stupid idea, but to be fair a lot of kinda sexy ideas are stupid) especially in one scene that's almost ripped from the late Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron, but sexy. Edmar also isn't above returning to Karisma's place for round two, even though they've already been almost caught before, nor is he above having sex with literally anyone else that isn't related to him, including his mother's manicurist.

There's also Karisma's twisted relationship with her adoptive parent Vicencio. The dude groomed the young girl as soon as her parents were out of the picture (there's a non-zero chance that he had a hand in the accident that claimed their lives, though the film doesn't imply either way) and she's developed Stockholm syndrome towards the guy - she knows she's being exploited, but she makes it clear that she accepts this arrangement. Edmar comments on the situation with the most cursed line of dialogue I've ever heard in one of these movies - "[If I were your adoptive parent], I'd [molest you too]" which, in all my years of writing this blog, I simply have no response. This film is a gold mine of mirth. Films don't necessarily have to reflect your morality, yes, but nothing's stopping me from reacting to the absurdity of it.

Lagaslas' ending works fine on paper, but lacks the narrative framework that makes it make sense in practice. It's ultimately about a woman who games the system to ostensibly gain the "freedom" that she desires, even if it's obvious that she'll be exploited anew.