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.
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| Patrick Suguii plays Alex |
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| Albie Casino plays Jake, the "party-maker". |
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| The girls are out to party (above). Bryan Homecillo (who plays Pierre) has his eyes on Trina. |
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| Carlo Cruz plays the mean frat man |
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| John Wayne Sace is neophyte Marco. |
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| Dancing like there's no tomorrow. |
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| Albie Casino is Jake. |
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| Patrick Sugui is Alex. |
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| Dawn Balagot |
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| Dawn Balagot |
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| Young veterans John Wayne Sace and Bryan Homecillo |
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| Director Gino M. Santos, the boy next door. Err, I mean director next door. :) |
