Aswang – Of Lazy Runners and Subterranean Monsters

When Gabriel and Anya’s (Albie Casino and Jillian Ward respectively) parents figure in a property dispute, the siblings suddenly find themselves orphans when their household is massacred by hired assassins Rodel, Queenie and the reluctant Daniel (Marc Abaya, Nina Jose and Paulo Avelino respectively). To escape their parents’ slayers, their getaway vehicle eventually takes them to far flung Pampanga, looking for a distant relative they couldn’t locate.

But amidst deceptively bucolic sugarcane fields and ramshackle dwellings, something sinister is gripping San Isidro. The rural folk speak in hushed whispers, goading them not to stay on. People are dying from a paroxysm of attacks brought about by blood-curdling, albeit ravenous creatures called “abwak” – humanoid forms that hybrid giant lizards and crows that travel by flight and subterranean inclination (think big “moles”). Suddenly, San Isidro becomes the unseemly setting of this life-and-death chase. Little did Gabriel, Anya and their assailants know that creatures more deleterious than the vagaries of human greed lurk at the fringes of the barrio.

While scampering for shelter, Gabriel and Anya, hopelessly aimless and wayward, are unaware that the baddies have traced their whereabouts.

Daniel and company arrive in Pampanga. Then comes the enigmatic Hasmin who seemingly glides into the place like a breath of fresh air. When Daniel finally meets the lass, he couldn’t shake her off his mind, but on his way to further seek her, he’s attacked by an abwak. How does he survive the attack? Will he find Gabriel and Anya? More importantly, would he be able to pull the trigger this time?

And why is a hitman like Daniel circumspect?

Director Jerrold Tarog weaves a tale that would, from the ground up, hold your attention as he takes advantage of cultural mores and rich local color of the Philippine countryside. The “abwak” hails from Tarog’s imagination, his new age version of the “aswang” afflicting the countryside. Sounds like a modern masterpiece, right?

Unfortunately, it isn't.

Tarog is able to realize the visual stipulation that concocts this monster. After all, a horror piece rests its raison d’etre on a feasible, convincing monster. The creature itself is a local version of the “graboids” from Ron Underwood’s 90’s flick “Tremors”. And let’s not forget “Dune’s” sandworms. What bothers me is its wavering nature. It’s a humanoid form that can transform itself into a crow-like creature; it can subsist underwater like a “bayawak”, then burrow itself underground like subterranean animals. (See example here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v427/n6973/images/427409a-i2.0.jpg) or here: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110629175747/multiverses/images/e/ec/Kobold.jpg

If an abwak is indeed as versatile as it’s supposed to be, why are their numbers dwindling? Isn’t such trait advantageous for natural selection and evolution? Flight allows them to explore other places and disperse their species. But they choose to stay in a sparsely populated barrio at the risk of eventually wiping out their kind. What gives?

“Aswang” fails to deliver a sense of urgency in several scenes that require heart-stopping pursuits. In one of its earlier scenes alone, when an abwak attacks a drunken JC Tiuseco on his way home, the monster throws his victim down and you don’t even see the victim parry the creature’s attack. He just looked at him, enamored by his prosthetics, with upper extremities flaccid and passive - and allowing the monster to take a huge bite. Thus begins our foray into some of the laziest victims this side of gorefest.

LAZY VICTIMS

While on the run, you hardly feel the immediacy of flight when Albie Casino and Jillian Ward drive away from the killers. Most of the film would have them in constant lackadaisical departure. Check out the scene when they were rescued by Hasmin from the abwaks’ cavern before they turn into food. Instead of running for safety and fleeing as fast as they could, you find these dingbats leisurely walking “in the park”. If you’re about to become part of the buffet, would you take your sweet time to leave?

The same laziness is found in scenes involving head henchman Rodel (Marc Abaya) who, after getting attacked by the same monsters, preferred staying on. You experience the incursion of monsters first hand and you choose to merely stand beside your vehicle and wait for your comrades? This doesn't make sense. When he eventually runs out of bullets in a later scene, he turns away – and walks! Yes, he walks away from the creatures! Haven’t people in Tarog’s world ever heard of that verb called “run”? This preposterous apathy among victims take the fun away in a movie that’s supposed to pump our adrenaline by laying on a good dose of thrill and urgency; the instinct of “fight or flight” has been disregarded in cinema’s most indolent thriller.

How do you – as an audience – relate to a scary movie when the characters plagued by monsters aren't even too concerned to flee – even when the creatures come charging by? This sense of apathy doesn't belong to such genre, i.e. “suspense thriller” but to a middling drama with a director whose vision is focused on his generation of atmosphere and visual effects than on character development, persuasive performance and viable staging of dread, of panic, of trepidation.

The narrative has so much on its plate. It hobbles the cinematic focus. There’s Daniel’s back story (why he turns into a hunky vengeful dingbat who can’t pull the trigger, you’d suspect he has a degenerative muscular disease); there’s Hasmin and sisters Stella and Isabel’s (Precious Lara Quigaman and the promising Ana Vicente) morbid historical past; the impending wedding of Hasmin to their tribal leader Ipo Moises (Bembol Roco), a budding romance, etc.

Lovi Poe glides through her character like an arcane damsel filled with pathos and compunction. She is in fact the film’s single salvation, although Paulo Avelino doesn’t do so badly himself. But Avelino’s character teeters with brimming indecisiveness. Though he is introduced as someone with the conviction to avenge his slain father, he mostly comes off irresolute. Poe and Avelino’s chemistry is undeniable though. They look good together and they navigate the silver screen with a degree of tension and diversion.

Nina Jose as Queenie

Albie Casino, good looking as he is, is surprisingly droll - and stiff. He wasn’t this bad in “Mara Clara”, but in “Aswang”, he fills his character Gabriel with pussyfoot demeanor, you’re almost sure he isn’t capable of fathering a child from the get-go. But then appearances are deceiving. Casino, as Gabriel, navigates his surroundings with detachment, ironic in itself considering Gabriel just lost his parents in the most violent way. Doesn't Gabriel deserve an emotional girth the size of Araneta Coliseum? He might as well be enjoying a day out in a leisure park than eluding 1) assassins, 2) flesh-eating creatures. Why are the most beautiful faces the hammiest of actors? (Richard Gutierrez: check; Aljur Abrenica: check!) Jillian Ward’s “I’m a cute tyke” schtick doesn’t work either; her posturings are more annoying than “cute” since cuteness doesn’t make a horror movie.

Marc Abaya, playing the meaner-than-mean head assassin, once again takes his character with livid thespic strokes, you can’t help suspect he would eventually transmogrify into Beelzebub himself. This depiction is exactly similar to his role in Joaqui Valdez’s “Dagim” (about cannibals in the mountains). He could have hopped from that set to this, there wouldn’t be discernable contrariety. This has always been Abaya’s unfortunate inclination. When he portrays, he goes all out, with no heed for restraint. Sad.

Precious Lara Quigaman is decorative as Stella (Hasmin’s elder sister), and actually provides emphasis on the excesses of Tarog’s story. Tarog could have done away with the character and come out with a tighter story. Why does Ipo Moises (Bembol Roco) threaten Hasmin with Stella’s well being when he could have done it on Hasmin herself? Joem Bascon plays Kuya Efren, Stella’s beau, but isn't given much. In fact, Nina Jose registers better as Queenie, one of the assassins. She looks enthralling and menacing - like a James Bond belle; a more effective tack as a nemesis than all the ministrations of Nonie Buencamino (who plays the mastermind) and Marc Abaya combined.

The languid pace of the narrative could have worked well before the requisite escalation into cinematic fireworks. The creatures could have been powerful images that stick to our consciousness. A lot of things could have worked. But it takes me back to the apparent disinterest of the victims when being pursued by the subterranean creatures – and, of course, Albie Casino’s enthralling cluelessness. If they cared less about being eaten alive, why should I care?

Lovi Poe


Lovi Poe


Paulo Avelino


Paulo Avelino



Paulo Avelino comes to his own as a leading man.


Albie Casino



Albie Casino


Albie Casino


Jillian Ward


Marc Abaya in "Dagim"


Marc Abaya

Senior Year - When Too Much Stories Spoil The Narrative Broth

Jerrold Tarog's "Senior Year" follows the last 4 months in the lives of the graduating class of St. Frederick's Academy, a well-heeled Catholic high school in Alabang with a hundred stories to tell.

There's brainy and hefty Henry (Aaron Balana) who's expected to run away with the Valedictorian plum. He is, in fact, agonizing over his Valedictory Address even before the formal declaration of the honor roll. He harbors special feelings for Sofia, a pretty lass who's more concerned with her social status in school than saving her down-spiraling grades. She eventually turns to the sophisticated Solenn (Nikita Conwi) who moves like a queen and carries herself like the next royalty. Meanwhile, there's young love constantly teetering on the brink of breaking up - Bridget, a campus beauty, and Briggs (Daniel Lumain), the class lothario.

MORE STORIES

There are plenty more side stories that inhabit this cinematic platter, each one as interesting as the next: The female class toughie Bunda who is a constant witness to domestic violence; sports jock Carlo and his minions who terrorize their limp-wristed basketball team mate; the suffering Mitch who craves to join the in-crowd; the teacher who's enduring an abusive relationship; the seemingly harmless anonymous letters sent to Steph by someone who turned out to be a girl. Did you say "enough"?

At some point in the movie, we had to close our eyes to catch our thoughts. It was a demanding exercise following this parade of little stories because just when you're starting to warm up to a character, a new set is introduced. It is difficult to emotionally invest complete empathy when these stories are just superficially grazed through in slap dash fashion. As far as I am concerned, story telling has to have focus. And it's just mentally impossible to aim your attention on 2 dozens of characters laid out in a 2-hour cinematic palette. It's easy to rationalize that this indeed is a story about high school, thus it is peppered with a hundred-and-one characters, but still there has to be ample character definition set on major characters. Having pointed that: "Senior Year" is nevertheless a good movie. It is entertaining, if a bit muddled - and at times confusing.

RJ Ledesma takes on the role of the adult Henry, the class valedictorian. His wistful concerns - while he waits in the car - as his indecision mounts to a fervid dilemma is palpable: would he find the nerve to meet his former classmates at their 10th year anniversary? After all, he didn't become the physician that he was meant to be, but another call center agent. Dimples Romana, as the adult Sofia, provides warmth and a sense of denouement to the iffy tale of Sofia (deftly played by Roxanne de Boda).

Most of the young cast does well: energetic, charming, effusive in expression, but aren't most "kids"? De Boda, Nikita Conwi and Daniel Lumawin register very well, possessing the natural instincts that make actors effective chameleons, they could grace our screens in the coming years and I won't complain.

We have a problem, once again, with Ina Feleo who plays the adult Mitch, and Arnold Reyes as the adult Carlo. They appear at the Homecoming scenes with such smug demeanor, you could swear they devoured something absolutely piquant. Whatever it was, they didn't let us in on that. Kalila Aguilos makes a delectable cameo as the adult Solenn, we almost had to clap for the all-too-similar bearing of the two actresses who both played Solenn.

As to the little stories, isn't it a little too presumptuous to trouble oneself with a Valedictory speech 4 months before graduation? Four months is sometime November, which means there's a lot more exams, quizzes, preliminaries, finals. There's even the tallying of the extra-curricular activities to consider which Henry never seemed to bother with. Most of the time, he stares longingly at Sofia - or worry about his speech. Take my word for it, the speech is the last of your worries when you're running Valedictorian.

We have always admired Jerrold Tarog's story telling acumen. He is such a prolific litterateur that even his peanut gallery pleaser like "Shake, Rattle and Roll's Punerarya" is still a cut above mainstream clutter. Even his music is insightfully appropriate. He is yet to disappoint me as I am such a big fan of his "Confessional" as well as "Mangatyanan". Tarog is a major talent that we shall keep our eyes on in the coming years.

Daniel Lumawin aka Joseph Lumawin: photographs well.

WHERE'S THE MOVIE CROWD?

Now, I shall digress on this issue of patronage of Filipino Films.

Time and again, we have read from online threads and discussion boards the sensible thoughts of seemingly intelligent movie goers who, like myself, continuously complain about mainstream movies churned out by the likes of Star Cinema, Regal Films, Viva Films and GMA Films. But as God is my witness, where are these high and mighty intellectuals? In the first quarter of 2011, very few Tagalog films opened for commercial exhibition, 90% of them vomit-inducing crap! Finally, last week, two good films opened. They weren't Pink Films. Neither were they produced by the aforementioned mainstream film productions. They boasted of a good cast as well, since many people complain about amateur actors. So what is the excuse?

WHERE ARE THE WHINERS?

I watched "Mayohan" (starring Lovi Poe) at the Galleria with my friend Kyle. Aside from us, there were 2 lonely souls watching it with us! Four people came to watch "Mayohan" on a Thursday night! I watched "Senior Year" in Megamall on a Wednesday evening with my mom. Aside from us, there were 4 people watching with us. Six people came to watch "Senior Year" on a Wednesday evening! So I ask again. Where's the darn crowd? Where are these intellectuals who, like me, keep whining about the absence of great Pinoy films? By Friday, the execrable Catherine Hardwicke film, "Red Riding Hood" opened, and both good Pinoy movies were sent to oblivion. So without much fanfare, I say, "Shame on you, Pinoy moviegoers!" You all deserve the cinematic stool that's being fed to you!

Kainis!

Ina Feleo and Arnold Reyes: Embraced by utter smugness!

Dimples Romana is the grown up Sofia.

Ledesma, Romana, Feleo and Reyes, plus Che Ramos who plays the concerned teacher Miss Joan.

"Senior Year", like "Mayohan", had a two-day run at Robinson's Galleria and SM Megamall.