Chris Martinez's "Working Beks" - Cinematic Preponderance and the Gay Men

Okay. Here's a premise that's almost too simplistic to share. But sometimes, people need reminding. Like other homo sapiens, gay men are human beings with their own burdens to carry. In Chris Martinez's "Working Beks", some of these specimen get fishbowl scrutiny. 

The film follows the lives of five gay men within a 24-hour period. Champ Reyno (Edgar Allan Guzman), a matinee idol, figures in a gay video scandal. He’s gone incommunicado and taping for his popular teleserye is put on hold for two weeks. 

After seeing his mother plead on television, Champ resurfaces. His handlers decide to face him off with a veteran investigative journalist (Leo Martinez) for a scripted revelation that would have him admit his romantic affair with perennial screen partner Joy Madriaga (Bela Padilla). But how do you smokescreen a viral video scandal?

Meanwhile, Tommy Sarmento (TJ Trinidad), a marketing executive for a liquor and beverage company, is on tenterhooks. Their company's number one product endorser is missing, but his extracurricular shenanigans might affect sales of their product. More than this, Tommy is gearing up for a well-earned promotion. But he soon discovers that he is being passed up for the position because he is gay. In fact, his homophobic boss detests Tommy’s flaunting of his “alternative lifestyle' - one that involves overachieving children and a supportive partner (Arnold Reyes).

Jet (Prince Stefan), a call center agent, learns that the random stranger he’s recently had unprotected sex with committed suicide upon learning that he’s HIV positive. To make matters worse, Jet has been feeling under the weather, with symptoms that include fever, coughing, malaise and night sweats. Does he? Could he?

Jet's lifestyle is an accident waiting to happen. His promiscuity has him cruising bars, hooking him up with strangers 7-8 days a week. His body is taking the brunt  of it all. He knows he needs to get himself tested. But he realizes that the journey to finding the truth is harder to accomplish.

Gorgeous aka Gregorio (John Lapuz), a cross-dressing food vendor, struggles to support his extended family who all depend on him. His mounting obligations don’t allow him to socialize so he keeps flirtations with a hunky security guard Gardo (Jeric Raval) at bay. Meanwhile, his no-good father (Rez Cortez) is harassing him for a dole out, something that he doesn’t have.  

Finally, Mandy (Joey Paras), a “reformed” gay man, is preparing to march down the aisle with sensitive bride Judith (Cai Cortez) who’s aware of his struggles. Unfortunately, Champ’s sex video provides an inconvenient bump on the road. This temptation is too potent to remind him of his real preferences. As a desperate measure, he enlists the help of his colleague Brother Benj (Atak) to cure him of his homosexual tendencies. In the process, they employ various methods of pseudoscience once believed to avert homosexuality. Would they work or should Mandy just walk away?

MORAL APATHY AND HEDONISM

Intermittently told in dramedic fashion, the cross-section of characters tackles concerns of the contemporary gay men, and there's considerable amusement to be had. Jet's story particularly rings like a discordant bell. In a society where even "killing" is sanctioned, endorsed and condoned by the authorities and its gutter-minded apologists, moral conventions become moot and academic. 

Killing loses its "illegality" (let's forget the moral grounds) because it is no longer regarded a social taboo. It's an everyday occurence. Weighed alongside these murders, Jet's nihilism seems inconsequential; a non-issue, in fact. What people don't realize is that this moral apathy is gradually rejecting even the very basic social conventions like manners and social grace.

In the movie, Jet finds meaning in his life by filling a vacuumn satisfied by his material desires, leading to an excessive hedonistic lifestyle of shallow sex and loud social events with even louder, if disposable, friends. He congratulates himself for his sexual catharsis that only provides temporary escapism. Unfortunately, Jet represents a steadily growing population of nihilists. 

DIGITAL VOYEURISM

Champ's dilemma, on the other hand, is a common scenario nowadays. This is a new world that fosters digital voyeurism, that even orgasm is one-click away. People's inherent nature to connect allows others to take advantage, employing the digital media to nefarious use. How many personalities have succumbed to the lure of the watchful and omnipresent video camera? These salacious videos, recorded and even traded for a bigger audience, have willing viewers because people are basically curious and wouldn't want to be left out of the bandwagon. Add into the fray, that dash of superiority of witnessing a person satisfying his most basic urges. 

This is why watching Champ tintinnabulate another guy's genitalia on video isn't too alien a concept. Not anymore. This leaves Mandy's story a bit stale, prosaic. Champ's proud member becomes part of a hundred others, nothing particularly special unless he has a gold-plated schlong the size of a molave branch. If I were Mandy, I'd go watch the video then move on. A mere sex video won't figure in any normal person's decisions - gay or straight. It baffles me why a silly video would make a dent on Mandy's marital plans, to be honest. The most that we should get from his story is its comic proclivities, a pampakwela more than a didactic exposition.  

This takes us to the elements surrounding Mandy's gay exorcism a.k.a. "conversion therapy". The design involves a series of "conditioning" meant to catechize or indoctrinate the mind into believing that homoerotic tendencies are distasteful and aberrant. It should averse the subject.

Thus "aversion therapy" is employed in the form of repetitive mantras ("I love the vagina", "Gay is not okay"); emesis therapy preconditions the subject to throw-up upon application of a visual stimulus, i.e. half-naked men. Then there's the more drastic and invasive electric shock therapy (ECT) employed similarly for schizophrenics and depressives unresponsive to medicine.

These treatments are, of course, considered archaic nowadays and have no scientific basis so it is rather odd that such ridiculous methods find their way in a modern, "educated" comic tale. But let's treat this as an artistic license to mine the comic possibilities. The result is a hit-and-miss affair. It would have been productive if they shortened these episodes in favor of a more grounded, albeit situational approach involving Mandy's surroundings and personal relationships. After all, it should be clear to every half-wit that no amount of rubber band punishment will change one's sexual preference. How do you combat an affliction too deeply ingrained in the genetic composition of a person? Immanuel Kant’s critique on metaphysics and conditioning doesn’t have a place in this diatribe. Surely, you don't psychoanalyze nature nor treat it as a pathological disease.

MOST SYMPATHETIC

Among the five characters, it is John Lapus' skillfully depicted and well-limned turn as Gorgeous we find most sympathetic, and for obvious reasons. Gorgeous doesn't deny his cross-dressing nature, and he acts and dresses like one, but this doesn't stop him from working hard for the people he loves. 

Neither does his homosexuality prevent him from becoming a decent person - and a productive member of society. In fact, it is his selflessness that defines him, not his being gay. It is in Gorgeous' story where we find the movie's cinematic worth and beating heart.

Like many Chris Martinez films, "Working Beks" bristles with wit and, in some way, cinematic urgency. Portions of it skid away carelessly, and stereotypical delineations sometimes get in the way of an insightful discourse. Nevertheless, it is a brave effort to showcase stories of the gender-benders otherwise relegated to comic support in mainstream films. While the arc of the narrative doesn't exactly allow it to soar, it is hard to dismiss the film as something less relevant. The stories fleetingly interconnect, but you get a decussatory feel among the characters; that there's a string that pulls them together to fuel cinematic preponderance.

     

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Jon Villarin's "Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Ina at Mga Anak" - Of Bad Propaganda and Why Some Deaths Are Well Deserved

“Baleleng” is a popular folk song in Mindanao and the Visayas that tells of a young man’s unrequited yearning for a damsel named Leleng. But Leleng’s in love with a guy named Tangkay who may travel far, and may not feel the same as she. (The language is believed to be Tausug, not Visayan, though some words are familiar.) Such romanticism resonates deeply in the hearts of southland folks. And why not? Nothing is more universal. Would this unabashed profession of affection have anything attributable to one of the country’s most notorious criminal syndicates? Highly unlikely. But many names and faces could be deceitful. Try “Deniece”.  

Let’s move three decades into the past. The 80’s reeked with tumult. The despotic Marcos regime took liberties beyond the realm of human rights. They looted personal freedoms, and made the lives of others disposable. Soon enough, communist rebels grew exponentially. They imposed their scurrilous rules among innocent folks who had to pay revolutionary taxes at gunpoint – unless they physically participate. What could have started with a noble ideology soon fostered an armed group that translated to nothing but hooliganism and harassment. NPA, MILF, MNLF, ASG, BIFF… name them differently but make no mistake, they are all bandits! Desperately caught in the middle were innocent civilians who bore the brunt of this obloquious state.

With the proddings of the government, Ongkoy Parojinog (Robin Padilla) was approached by the military to head a right-wing vigilante group called “Alsa Masa” drafted to fight the excesses of the oppressive communist rebels.

The military needed help, and grassroot force could provide solution to their dilemma. Ongkoy was the perfect leader. He left his rebel past in Lawis (Zamboanga del Norte) to start afresh with his wife Indah (Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla) and their three sons Aldong, Ardut and Nato (Matthew, RJ and Daniel Padilla respectively) in Ozamis, Negros Occidental.

With Robin Hood mentality (he’s shown warning the rebels against taking from the “masa”), Ongkoy gets the allegiance of the well-oppressed masa who soon grew to immense numbers (at some point, their population reached 20,000).

To Ongkoy’s credit, he’s made deals with Misamis’ rebels, issuing veiled warnings to drive them away. His rendezvous with Ka Romeo (Christopher de Leon), “ang tuta” ni Joma", was particularly prophetic. “Sa inyo na ang Surigao Norte at Sur, sa akin ang Misamis,” he proposed before each left with a “mapayapang araw”. Whoever trespasses his territory or hurts his people, as when his childhood friend Erning (Pen Medina) gets assassinated, deserves his vengeful wrath. He even takes his children out to war. Protecting his territory becomes serious matter. And Ongkoy is fearless. An amulet, in fact, keeps him safe. “Di siya mamamatay pero magiging kahoy siya,” so goes the urban legend. Huh?  

For two years, since its 1986 inception, Ongkoy’s group was invincible. The movement became so popular that splinter groups mushroomed all over Mindanao. Even the New York Times reported the 1987 gunning down of a notorious Communist hit man in Agdao, Davao. It was an apocryphal event that further boosted the counter-insurgency movement spreading across southern Philippines. It also inspired the founding of other groups like the Nakasaka of Davao del Sur.

But war is a vicious cycle. Whoever lives by the rule of the gun dies by it. When tragedy struck in the Parojinog household, Ongkoy’s boys were sent to Manila to join the urban arm of “Alsa Masa” which, at this time (1990), had to officially disband due to the Human Rights checks of the Aquino government. Little did the boys realize that their counter-insurgent group has morphed into an organized criminal syndicate called “Kuratong Baleleng” (accordingly renamed to keep the spotlight away from its noble beginnings).

With the guidance of Damian (Bela Padilla, who did convincingly well), the boys were ushered into a motley of bank robberies, smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, drug trade and illegal gambling. They eventually found themselves behind bars, but not for long. Weren't they set up due to their resistance? (That is, if this cinematic thread were to be believed.) Meanwhile, Kuratong Baleleng flourished. One fateful day, on the 18^th of May (1995), 11 members of the crime syndicate perished in the hands of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, led by Panfilo Lacson, in what could be one of the most controversial encounters between a criminal group and the authorities.

Director Jon Villarin weaves a provocative tale that follows the rise and fall (and rise) of the invincible Parojinogs of Misamis. His sprawling narrative vista is a compelling, if a tad disjointed, series of events that seem to herald the sugarcoated heroics of a character (Ongkoy Parojinog) too caricaturish to be believed. Villarin employs broad narrative strokes that ultimately comes off like a propaganda for a political clan that to this day continues to rule over Misamis (In the epilogue, the Parojinog boys became victorious Mayors and provincial board members in Misamis). Remember, this was a guy who moved underground with the rebels of Zamboanga before he migrated to Misamis (and got cajoled by the men of “the President” herself – “nakikiusap ang Pangulo”). This was a man who namedropped “kapayapaan” every chance he got, but whose family carried heavy artillery every where they went. That Parojinog wasn’t privy to the criminal activities of “Kuratong Baleleng” that operated in Manila is highly dubious. After all, why organize another group far from his Misamis base after “Alsa Masa” got essentially dissolved?

A smattering of flashbacks ties up Ongcoy, Indah and best friend Erning’s back story, but the time line was confusing. I had to watch the movie twice to get comfortable with its chronology. It didn't help that the script was riddled with adventitious tales that only made the narrative broth more convoluted than necessary. Nato’s teenage romance could be stricken out, but Daniel Padilla’s current stature required that he gets his anecdote as well. Kylie Padilla (Anna, the military operative planted within the rebel group) required her own apologue with Aljur Abrenica, her lover in the kilusan (movement).

MISGUIDED LEADER

There’s something misguided about a leader who wishes the “masa” well, but wouldn't think twice if the irreproachable Taipans get aggrieved or bastardized. There are people who strive hard to get to where they are. Why do people scoff at the successful few? This mind set stinks of medieval justice because such financial triumph should rightfully inspire others to strive harder. A good man is one who treats everyone, regardless of financial standing, with due decency and fairness. The Parojinogs lived well. Why should they be excluded from the harassment that befell the Taipans and other rich families?

Robin Padilla returns to his 90’s brand of posturing that I suffered a thousand saccadic eye movements every time he postured on screen. Did the ridiculously billed Nino Muhlach – as acting coach - envision this zombified personality? Looking as youthful as ever, Padilla lurched into his tough-guy stance from scene one to his morbid comeuppance at the sabungan. Whether at home or blasting enemies in the field, Padilla sported a robotic deportment: slicked back hair, piercing gaze, furrowed forehead, pouting lips, flaring nostrils, heaving chest, and the masquerading cowboy walk that reminded me of E.R. Ejercito’s Asiong Salonga.

The check-point scene is a notable study. Their family convoy stops at a check point. "Maganda gabi po, sir," the man greets Robin. "Mukhang ang dami nating kargamento ah. Military po ba kayo?" Instead of being congenial like the peace-loving man that he supposedly is, Padilla postures with fierce gaze and equally caustic response. If I were the guard, I wouldn't take his arrogant demeanor sitting down. Angas eh. He was just being asked. It was after all dark and authorities were right to interrogate the nature of travel at that time of night.

20 YEARS WORTH OF TANTRUM

There is stark contrariety from Padilla’s performance in Joyce Bernal’s “10,000 Hours”. You’d have thought that, after his many years in the business, Padilla would learn how to relax as an actor, right? He’s stuck in his action-star past, twaddling with memories of Alega Gang, Delima Gang, Grease Gun Gang, Barumbado, Anak ni Baby Ama, and even Maging Sino Ka Man’s Carding. Sixteen years hence and the swagger and attitude are similar. If there was a posturing contest somewhere, he’d win hands down for his mechanized depiction of Octavio Parojinog, Jr. The sad truth is, Padilla’s performance is the movie’s biggest drawback, which is a pity. His “laging galit” stance repels any form of empathy from his audience. I never rooted for him because he looked like he’s had 20 years worth of tantrum.  

Now this wooden portrayal has rubbed off on the younger generation of Padillas. Arjay is particularly prone to this preposterous posturing. When he’s mad, his nostrils come alive; he grimaces as though a beetle bit him, and his handsome face turns demonic, seemingly possessed by what he conjures as superlative acting. Less is more, even in action films. While Bela Padilla does better, hers was a similar characterization from her role in "10,000 Hours". Remember the journalist who carried guns around Amsterdam, shot a Dutch police investigator and got away without getting arrested? 

Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla’s role as Indah is mostly ornamental so you wonder why she shares titular role with Robin, aside from the fact that she has producing credits. A scene where she was holding a rifle was too awkward to wash down.

When Ongkoy’s story ceases, Indah likewise disappears from the frame without much fanfare. She closes the door on her sons – and drives them away to Manila for a life of crime. That is some mother. In another scene, she chastises the noisy children playing on her balcony then she walks to the front. Close up shot. Then you see her grin. Huh? Galit nga tapos nakangiti. Cinema verite indeed. But she does well when, in one scene, she gets out of bed fully naked and walks towards her equally naked husband. You see, wrinkled backsides are always a plus in action films, debah?  

Queenie Padilla and Royette Padilla were supposed to be in the cast, but I couldn't find them. Royette, supreme commander of "H-World", could be one of the henchmen who got blasted during one of the hundred encounters. BB Gandanghari could have been the perfect forest amazona, swinging from baging to baging, debah? (Besides, didn't he play the same in TV5's Alex Gonzaga teleserye, "Enchanted Garden"?) Kathryn Bernardo was supposed to play a girl named Sarah, but negotiations apparently fell through. Karla Estrada, Daniel’s mother, plays Erning’s wife. Other stars doing walk-on parts include Dina Bonnevie as the elder Indah, Rommel Padilla, Joko Diaz, Dennis Padilla, Jao Mapa, Christian Vasquez, Sylvia Sanchez, Lito Pimentel, Mike Flores, Bugoy Carino, Chacha Canete and Ronnie Lazaro (as Amado Buang, the leader of “Batang Cebu” gang).

There are beautifully shot scenes. A jeep cruises into the dirt road while the green Malindang mountain range stands majestically in the background. That scene alone spoke of a hundred stories. The Parojinog's arrival in their new home in Ozamis was another note-worthy moment. My favorite would be the revenge scene involving Erning's killers. A jeep of armed henchmen saunters into town as night time falls, then each household starts beating their bamboo. The rhythmic sound creates an atmosphere of foreboding, providing an eerie overture to an impending battle.

MISRATINGS

The film has been Rated B by the Cinema Evaluations Board, but this is no surprise. When has this patronizing group of mostly jobless movie folks ever delivered a truthful, albeit appropriate rating? Unless they're really a bunch of imbeciles, they seem to have forgotten that rating movies should be based on quality, not friendship nor association. Cesar Apolinario's awkward "Dance of the Steelbars" got an "A" but it was cinematic hogwash draped in sulky melodramatic clutter. Didn't Mark Reyes' horrendous "Tween Academy" get a "B" a few years back? And that fantatrash called "Mulawin" got a stupendous "A" as well. Remind me again why the government hasn't scrapped this purposeless industry arm? Probably to provide work for Jackie Aquino? We could save a sizable chunk of taxpayer's money if we do away with this white elephant. Or we could donate the CEB evaluators' salaries to the Yolanda victims. Now that's how you put money to good use.  

There were several points that, prior to watching the film, made "Sa Ngalan..." interesting. The movie star allure of the Padillas, the cinematography, the richly saturated cinematic canvas, and the scenic Malindang mountain range made me want to rush to the cinema to watch Villarin’s directorial debut. Clearly, these weren't enough. But if there’s one thing that “Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Ina at Mga Anak” succeeded in doing, it’s the stentorian reminder of why Pinoy action films died a natural death long time ago. May it rest in peace.