Ipaglaban Mo's "Riding-in-Tandem" - Vetting Stories and Scraping the Narrative Bottom

I was waiting for Mang Ruben, my driver, who was unusually running late because of an earlier errand he had to run for my mom. I decided to kill time by scouring the television for any interesting show. The first that caught my attention was this beautiful cherubic face looking so forlorn - Albie Casino's.

THE ALBIE CONUNDRUM

Albie Casino's career resurgence is something of a miracle. The erstwhile baby-maker rascal turned out to be a convenient fall guy of a not-so-palatable situation sometime in the past. 

The itchy bitchy one was so confused with her bedtime frolics she couldn't tell who the real father was. Either that or she was just using someone so people would sympathize with her. That prematurely ended a flourishing career and destroyed Albie. Even I was so disgusted with him.  Why am I discussing this? Somehow there are lessons to be learned from his situation, particularly now that he's successfully staged a comeback. Perseverance pays off. He's in indies; in mainstream flicks, in teleseryes, in drama shows, in deodorant commercials. Heck he's even in the scandal sheet for flexing his wares and flashing his magic wand. Indeed, Milton and Mrs. S. Hall were right:"There's a silver lining to every cloud that sails about the heavens if we could only see it." These days, Albie is back with a vengeance.

in "Riding-in-Tandem", Albie plays the role of a reluctant petty thief Fredo (Casino) who's being coerced by the shady Domeng (Jao Mapa) to assist in his dubious deals, i.e. driving a tandem motorbike to snatch bags from unsuspecting pedestrians. 

The VOD (victim of the day) would be Hazel (Ingrid dela Paz), a hard-working girl who has a bratty sick mother to take care of. To cut the long story short, Hazel's bag gets snatched by Domeng who's in a bike driven by Fredo. A concerned taxi driver, Mang Conrado (Smokey Manaloto), who was himself a holdup victim, decides to pursue the tandem. The result was tragic for Fredo, but Domeng was apprehended by the cops. He was charged with "robbery with homicide", due to Fredo's death.

As legal proceedings go, this seemingly petty crime took faster to litigate than most. Domeng was eventually convicted, not of "robbery with homicide" as he didn't directly cause the death of Fredo who was, for all intents and purposes, accomplice to the crime. 

Domeng was eventually convicted of simple "robbery" that will get him imprisonment between 6 months to 4 years and 2 months depending on the judge's decision, circumstances considered.

The story is rather hackneyed and under-developed, but with an hour to tell its story, they have an excuse for its paltry character development. But think "Maalaala Mo Kaya"! They have almost similar running time, yet the series is usually braver and adept in expounding convoluted, albeit difficult stories. So you see, length shouldn't be an excuse. Another point of reference is King Palisoc's "Tandem" (2015) starring JM de Guzman and Nico Antonio. Now that was particularly stirring - with great turns from its more-than competent cast. 

Was Fredo really a victim himself? From the way the snatching was executed, this is highly unlikely. Check out a Youtube  trailer and you will observe that their motorbike was actually driving towards Hazel. Fredo was on the wheel. How can he not know? But that's just how this particular scene was set up. The story is based on real events so the film could have been tweaked for cinematic purposes.

ALBIE ENGAGES

Since "Ipaglaban Mo" is a legal drama that plunges into situations involving crime and punishment, it would sit well if they vet their crime stories more meticulously, instead of this narratively gaunt tale. On point of performance, Albie Casino was particularly engaging. I was going to channel-surf but ended up staying put, not the least of reasons included that gorgeous face. Dear Mr. Casino, if you ever decide to steer clear from doing tandem rides, mirror selfies and self-gratification videos, my house welcomes you for your eternal vacation. Love, Catherine. Tee hee. 

Jao Mapa is rather intense but I have this sneaking suspicion he was trying too hard to don the bad guy's hat. 

Such roles require a dash of subtlety to be truly street-smart credible. Jao on the other hand was loud and livid (see left photo). An insightful perspective isn't borne out of glaring eyes and loud barks.

Smokey Manaloto does better, but this comedian has always been dependable, thanks to his years of experience in the business. As for newcomer Ingrid dela Paz, who plays Hazel, she seems promising. She even reminds me of Shaina Magdayao. Unfortunately, her character isn't particularly momentous,is it? Regardless, may her appearance jumpstart a successful career in the business.

Cathy writes, "Dear. Mr. Casino...

#IMtandem   #jaomapa   #albiecasino   #ingriddelapaz

     

Enzo Williams' "The Escort" - 10 Amusing Things To Watch Out For

Yasmine Gomez (Lovi Poe) leaves behind waitressing to work as a receptionist for an escort service company. Little did Yassi realize that her boss Cyrus de los Reyes (Derek Ramsey) has plans of turning her into one of his high class prostitutes. One day, Yassi receives a proposal for a date-only transaction with business tycoon Gary Montenilla (Christopher de Leon). The “clean date”, that took several convincing, will earn her P50,000. Besotted by the lovely lass, Gary wants to pursue her further. To her surprise, her bank account earns a whopping P100,000. Now where do I sign up? Cyrus couldn’t be happier. After all, the good looking pimp's finances are fast dwindling. 

What Yassi didn't realize, Cyrus also peddles his flesh to long-time investor Lucy (Jean Garcia), a former actress who’s married to a powerful mayor (Rommel Padilla), due out for release from prison. As fate would have it, Cyrus begins to fall for virginal Yassi, a virtual prey in a sea of predators. Wouldn't you be surprised if this attraction weren't mutual? 

So Cyrus opens his heart and reveals to Yassi that this “greedy, egotistic asshole” cannot resist the “fresh, innocent and pure” heroine.

As the movie comes to its third part, Cyrus has to run away from the vengeful mayor, who learns of his wife's indiscretion. Cyrus is as good as minced meat, right? But Yassi strikes a deal with Gary who has the power to save our loverboy from impending doom. In turn, she is offered three options as payback. One, marry Gary and be provided with all the riches she can only dream of. Two, surrender herself for a night of pleasure in Gary’s boudoir. Three, and the more interesting proposition, make love to Cyrus - with Gary in the audience. Are we trapped in some EL James, Anais Nin, Christina Lauren or Jackie Collins paradise? Nah, more like a diluted Xerex.   

10 Things Why Watching "The Escort" is Amusing:

1. The film falls victim of its own contrivance. Early on, a voice over asks, “Lahat ba tayo may presyo?” To make sure we all understand the earth-shattering question, we’re put through a wringer by getting asked again, this time in English, “Does everything and everyone have a price?” Translation class? Clear?

2. Brenda (played with wanton vulgarity by Dimples Romana) takes her fee and waves the bills in front of a party crowd. Don’t you just love how suddenly this discreet industry is depicted with utter imprudence?

3. Yassi (Lovi Poe) rejects Cyrus’s proposal to join the escorting business. She’s repelled by the idea that she ignores a first invitation for a strictly dinner-only date with filthy rich Mr. Gary Montenilla (Christopher de Leon) though it would have earned her a cool P10,000. Cyrus lecherously badgers to pimp her up. But no go. She feels dishonoured; so humiliated in fact that she has taken every opportunity to join Cyrus for lunch and dinner. Isn’t she the smartest?

4. Everytime she meets up with Cyrus, former actress Lucy (Jean Garcia), wife of an embattled mayor (Rommel Padilla), refuses to do the dastardly deed on the bed. “Ang kama, para sa mag asawa,” she reasons. So it’s all jacuzzi, floor, kitchen table, and pebbly beaches? Kinky.

5. Cyrus argues it isn’t money that fuels the world, but lust. I had to rethink my existence to validate this preporterous theorizing. Do I work and earn my keep to satisfy my lust? Does Duterte sanction his bloody drug war out of lust? Does Bimby star in his dreadful TV commercials for lust? Does Sharon Cuneta shed a hundred pounds of lard for lust? Do the manangs in the market sell their tulya, pinya and kangkong to make errr kangkang? Ooops! Sorry I couldn't resist the rhyme. Tee hee. But good try, smart guy.

6. Derek Ramsay once again reveals his performing acumen in all its splendour. When Cyrus takes Yassi to Kandaya Resort in Daanbantay, Cebu for an overnight canoodling, he reveals to the blushing virgin that he is trying “hard” to resist her. He takes his eyeglasses off, then stares at Yassi. He gazes at her. Smoulder. Smoulder. Smoulder. And smoulder some more. Then I realized that all throughout the movie, Derek has been consistently smouldering. I was sure by the time credits were rolling, hot Derek would have been reduced into an ember.

7. The story reveals why Cyrus feels vulnerable inside a church, thus he avoids it. When he was 8 years old, his mother abandoned him inside. Then when he was about to get married, his bride left him for his best man. Sniff sniff. Cyrus’s voice cracks. “But I promise to change my life for you,” he says. Smoulder smoulder smoulder. Sniff sniff sniff. Yet everyone beside me in the cinema were struck with an unshakeable sensation of apathy. I am suddenly reminded of someone who can outsmoulder Derek Ramsay – Derek Zoolander! Hmmm. Check below if I am just fibbing.

Derek Zoolander and Derek Ramsay - Kings of Smoulder

8. Gary Montenilla takes Yassi home for the first time. He hasn’t even told her of his intentions, but he suddenly springs up a proposal… with a ring! Agad agad? Is it the end of the world na?

9. After Cyrus gets beaten up by the muscle men of Gold's Gym, errr, I mean those pesky, vengeful mayor’s thugs, he is seen on a hospital bed all contused and bloodied. A nurse auscultates his chest with a stethoscope. Then a doctor joins her and he blurts out, “Nurse, take him to the O.R.” No BP? No wound care? No intravenous fluid even to KVO? OR agad?

10. When Yassi goes to the cashier to pay P100,000, the girl tells her, “Ma’am, this is just for the professional fee .” Someone actually says that? No billing invoice itemizing service rendered? Just PF? Now which hospital is this?

If ten items weren’t enough, Enzo Williams' "The Escort" caps its droll sequence of events by following Cyrus sometime after the aforementioned incident (I remember 3 years but that can't be!) Cyrus has recuperated. He's been combing the metropolis looking for Yassi. But there’s no trace of her. To mend his broken heart, he decides to fly back to the Cebu resort where he once took Yassi. The night sea seemed quiet he could hear his own beating heart. He sits back, internalizes, and smoulders some more. Then something stirs from a nearby chair. Guess who?

#theescort   #lovipoe   #derekramsay

Gino Santos' The Animals - Youthful Verve, Contemporary Lives

It’s another day in the lives of Jake (Albie Casino), his girl friend Trina (Dawn Balagot), and her younger brother Alex (Patrick Sugui) who navigate the frenetic, upper middle class environment of their affluent school.  There’s a kinetic buzz among the youthful crowd, each one is looking forward to another after-school revelry; a night of loud music, dancing, booze, hook-ups and pill popping! Meanwhile, Jake is engrossed organizing the aforementioned gig; something that would earn him big bucks (since people pay an entrance of P250). While Trina is looking forward for the party, her brother Alex is having cold feet showing up in school. All morning, he’s been memorizing names and slogans of the fraternity he’s entering as a pledge. Today, he would endure being slapped, paddled, punched and humiliated. It doesn’t help that his immediate superior (Carlo Cruz of “Balang Araw”) is as nasty as they get. As the hours pass, his fellow pledge Marco (John Wayne Sace) gets ordered a random act of violence (by hitting someone with a bottle on the head). What’s out there for Alex?

Night time comes. Party swings into full gear. Someone is assigned to document the event – and to “delete nothing”. While Jake is preoccupied running the “show”, Dawn and company turn their attention to heavily inebriated friend Cara who’s puking all over the place. Pierre (Bryan Homecillo) passes a spiked drink to his crush Trina who subsequently passes the “e”-riddled liquor to the already-tanked Cara (why a concerned friend would further feed a drunk classmate with more liquor is beyond me). What becomes of Cara?

When Trina gets back to the dance floor, she finds Jake flirting with another girl. Quarrel erupts and Trina walks out of the party. She runs into Pierre who offers her a ride home, but eventually whips out his swollen penis. Trina runs out the door, not realizing that her brother Alex is also in a moral quandary. He was told to punch the bejesus out of another guy! Would he do it or would he cop out? Meanwhile, Trina hops in a taxi. “Alabang po,” she tells the craggy faced taxi driver who intermittently takes his eyes off the road to check out her legs! Would Trina find her way home?

Director Gino M. Santos chronicles the stories (with co-writer Jeff Stelton) he’s compiled in his head. He’s lived similar scenes from his not-so-distant past, i.e. as a rabid party goer among the conios of La Salle. What transpires is a film that bristles with frenetic energy, youthful verve, and unscrewed momentum. He gets the pivotal atmosphere down pat. It was also wise that Santos and Skelton decided to focus on three characters instead of ambitiously apprising a hundred and one souls (a common blunder among neophyte directors) for his narrative. Santos occasionally delves into gimmicky strains (a truly offensive bathroom soaked with vomit, a stuporous girl dipping her hand in the toilet bowl, a scene showing a surely-prosthetized engorged penis of the crafty Pierre/Bryan Homecillo). New directors always try the “let’s-shock-em” tack to help move a narrative but this isn’t an absolute necessity. Of course it’s easy to argue that, as a film maker, one is compelled to show “authenticity” which easily translates into anything that flabbergasts or overwhelms. When you have a valid story, you actually don’t have to resort – or linger- on such narrative ruse. But I am merely nitpicking.

Fact is, though Santos is rough around the edges, he has an enviable cinematic intuition that isn’t exactly taught by a New York Film Academy workshop. You have it or you don’t. Film school doesn’t exactly teach you how to be a good film maker. Otherwise, Krizzie Syfu (“Tahanan”) would be a superlative film maker. Same goes to names like Crisaldo Pablo, Seymour Barros-Sanchez (“Handumanan”, who I heard is a film professor in a Makati college – that should make students shiver in their knickers) and his brother Sigfried Barros Sanchez (“Tsardyer”), et.al. Santos runs a visual pulse that, in midscreening, grips you with a sense of urgency. What’s better, his technicals are as delightful.

Now let’s meander into the individual performances. Albie Casino captures the contemporary teener who thinks of nothing more than the indulgences that a narcotic whiff may bring; the kiss of a besotted girlfriend; the exhilaration of flirtation and the empowerment of fast buck. He may have been a disappointment in “Aswang”, but Casino redeems himself in “The Animals”. While “good looks” is imperative in show business, it is the emotive ability that tides one over to his next project. Casino palpably thrives in his youthful environment.

While Albie more than passes muster, Patrick Sugui (former PBB Teen housemate) is a revelation. Sugui mopes like the cantankerous, albeit moody teenager. He inhabits Alex with decadent demeanor, deceptive in his tame facies; a predicament within himself. He saunters around with adequate gravitas even beside competent actors like John Wayne Sace and Bryan Homecillo. Dawn Balagot, on the other hand, graces the screen with a luminous presence. I don’t particularly like the narrative strain alluding to her kleptomania. It seems like a misplaced entity and hovers like a sore thumb where characterization is concerned. In fact, I’d say it’s mostly a dissolute idea because it disallows consistency of character. Having said that, Balagot is a charmer; she deserves to be on the big screen.

CANCELLED SCREENINGS

On a disturbing note, crowds have been turned away in Ayala’s Greenbelt 3 screenings. Several consecutive screenings (in both Greenbelt3 Cinema 3 and 5) ended with films that stalled 15 to 20 minutes into the film.  To have to brave the floods of the metropolis, disregard bed weather, and end up with a Saturday filled with screenings that don’t quite push through is a major hassle. Go elsewhere. A cinema that doesn't prepare well for their paying audience doesn’t deserve patronage.

Patrick Suguii plays Alex

Albie Casino plays Jake, the "party-maker".

The girls are out to party (above). Bryan Homecillo (who plays Pierre) has his eyes on Trina.

Carlo Cruz plays the mean frat man

John Wayne Sace is neophyte Marco.

Dancing like there's no tomorrow.

Albie Casino is Jake.

Patrick Sugui is Alex.

Dawn Balagot

Dawn Balagot

Young veterans John Wayne Sace and Bryan Homecillo

Director Gino M. Santos, the boy next door. Err, I mean director next door. :)