Kevin Dayrit's Catnip - Rampage in Alternative Storytelling

Liv (Lauren Young) and Cieca (Maxene Magalona) are kindred souls, enjoying an affinity akin to blood relatives, or aren’t they? But the two girls are poles apart in manner or temperament. While Liv is volatile and socially dismissive, Cieca is calm and well put together.

But there’s more to that where Liv comes from. She eternally whimpers about her father (Rommel Luna) whose temperament is mercurial and whose deportment is violent. Breaking a 3 PM curfew, for example, inspires a slew of endless curses and the occasional gun point, “He actually pulled the trigger,” adds Liv. Cieca thinks that Liv exaggerates, but she endures Liv’s erratic demeanor with restraint. In fact, she doesn’t mind her midnight calls: “Hindi ako naiinis.” This is Cieca’s closest rendering of family life because her “Dad’s a refrigerator and mom is underground!” (Read: He’s cool. She’s dead.) 

Cieca’s father is constantly absent, but she’s well provided for. Liv’s dad, on the other hand, runs a despotic household, employing brute force at every opportunity he gets. The two girls find balance in their friendship. One day, Liv discovers that she actually shares more than just friendship with her best friend. They have the same father. This situation suddenly downspirals into rampage; one that Olivia is all too familiar with.

Director Kevin Dayrit’s “Catnip” takes an alternative approach to storytelling, sprucing his cinematic palette with a non-linear, albeit chimeral presentation. He frames his scenes with a visual cacophony that seems part documentary, part music video and part hallucination. Having said this, the film is not for everyone, thus Dayrit felt the need to point a disclaimer during one of the screenings: “You will find the film as either the simplest (sic) or most complicated. None of it is literal.” Then he goes further with, “If you don’t get it, maiinis kayo.” It isn’t amusing that someone would adumbrate his audience’s expected reaction and lace it with “you will hate it if you don’t get it”. The statement is self serving and indulgent at best. After all, whatever he says, the audience will experience the film in their own terms and no amount of repudiation can sway a thinking crowd. Unless he thinks he’s the only one with a brain, debah?

I was of course ready to hate it. No one’s gonna temper my viewing experience with contrary manipulation. When the narrative twist finally unravels, I realized there was more to the seemingly harmless banter and random aimlessness of Cieca and Liv (clowning around a busy overpass, entertaining an eager and excessively generous suitor played by Ramon Bautista, etc.) All these set the cinematic  tableau for a “thickening of the plot” that shall rankle with enough pathos to last you a month. "Catnip" turns out as one of the pleasant surprises of Cinema One 2012. Any disclaimer is unnecessary.

Lauren Young is luminous and whimsical as Liv. Maxene Magalona, who plays the less showy character, provides the perfect antidote to Young’s unpredictable volatility. I have always thought of Young as an insightful actress and it’s hard to dislike her even in godawful flicks like Krizzie Syfu’s “Tahanan”. There are cameos: Megan Young plays a geeky professor; Elmo Magalona also appears in a hilarious Skype scene where he serenades Liv who treats him with grave disinterest.

I am still trying to get through the title: “Catnip” is a flowering mint plant that attracts cats. It has volatile oils that cats react to: they get stimulated, anxious, relaxed or contemplative. There are “no known ill effects” from catnips which, if you consider the film’s eventual denouement, should be clearly contradictory. But then we were forewarned: none of it is literal. How convenient.

Lauren Young is Olivia

Maxene Magalona is Cieca.

Seemingly harmless movie marathon.

Rommel Luna is a mercurial father.

Cat's affiliation to the catnip aka catmint.

Frasco Mortiz's The Reunion - Lost in the Music

Ten years after their high school graduation, Lloyd, Joax, Boggs and Patrick are still finding their place in the sun. Lloyd (Enchong Dee), a graphic artist, works at a print shop churning out calendars and pasting faces in glass mugs. Joax (Xian Lim) drives other people’s cars at a valet parking. Boggs (Enrique Gil) does the harrowing grind of a real estate stand selling nothing. Pat (Kean Cipriano), a musician, still pursues his dream of making it big in an industry that has so far ignored him. Stuck with their dead end jobs, the barkada finds themselves in a class reunion where, once again, their level of success is under scrutiny. This somehow takes them back to their momentous past: Lloyd was besotted with shy but receptive Ara (Cristine Reyes); Joax flirted with student council rival Toyang (Megan Young); Boggs succeeded to get fellow athlete Ligaya’s attention – and affection, as did Pat with Shirley's (Bangs Garcia)! One fateful day, Pat and his friends got unwittingly involved in a scandal (involving Alodia Gosiengfiao’s missing jewellery piece inside the girl’s car) that nipped these romantic couplings in the bud.

Back to present time, they believe that their setbacks are somehow rooted on that specific incident, like a trajectory that went awry. The solution: to reconnect with the girls from their past. So with the help of Ali (Jessy Mendiola) and Jay (Matt Evans), the guys set themselves up for a wild goose chase to find their Juliets. Unfortunately, Lloyd’s opportunity to find the girl is closing in fast. Ara (Cristine Reyes) is rumoured to be getting hitched. And no one seems to know where to find her. In the age of google and one-click search boxes, phone directories, Facebook and twitter accounts, finding Ara becomes a quest for the Holy Grail – and she couldn’t be found! Go figure. The same goes for Shirley who has moved up the fame ladder by becoming a popular FHM model. (Another head scratching moment! She's gone so famous that she couldn't be found? LOL) What about Toyang? Where the heck is Carmen San Diego, err... I mean Toyang? O, Diyos ko, ano ba naman ito? Will the boys be able to correct the misplotted dots and “rectify” their misdirected lives this time?  

Director Frasco Mortiz’s movie runs on a premise that’s too ridiculous to believe. In fact, connecting the dots should be the least of their worries as logical groundwork in the narrative leaves much to be desired. Sure, Mortiz buoys his story with unbridled energy, delightful music and testosterone charm, but it’s a hurdle going through something as ludicrous as getting flak for helping a girl find her lost jewellery inside a car. If this incident became a scandal then, didn’t it warrant an investigation? A single paragraph of explanation would have easily cleared the air, wouldn’t it? Didn’t anyone – Lloyd, Joax, Boggs, Patrick - even try to explain the situation to Ara, Shirley, Toyang and Ligaya? Everyone believed they were guilty of sexual indiscretion though they were all fully clothed inside a car that isn’t even tinted? How have they become such idiots?

The sprightly music of Ely Buendia’s Eraserheads is turned into discordant chapters that help bestow cinematic vim to an otherwise droll, sitcom-inspired, albeit middling story. What’s worse, there’s hardly chemistry among this filmic brotherhood. You don’t discern sincere camaraderie. Despite their emerging problems, you end up not caring. In fact, many of the characters are downright forgettable. I had to refer to my notes to check who Boggs was or if Pat had a girlfriend. When your protagonists don’t make a lasting impression, you know you’re in trouble.

Among the guys, Enchong Dee ends up with a more sympathetic character. His Lloyd was written as a geek and he succeeds depicting him in some ways, deflecting an occasionally noticeable "softness". But he should thank the luminous Jessy Mendiola resilient in a half-baked character named Ali who eternally tags along with Lloyd like a fag hag, i.e. if Lloyd was a fag (get it?) Something about Xian Lim disconcerts me. He has a perfidious veneer that seems detached from real emotions. He towers over everyone which must be why empathy is hard to come by. Either that – or he needs more teleserye experience to finetune his craft. His “singing” scenes should have imbued a little more compassion, but this moment flittered like a lovely, piquant butterfly on its way to rainbowland. Many other talents are wasted here: Julia Montes (who’s always competent); Bangs Garcia (who’s back to being a mere boob-girl); Gina Pareno (as Aling Nena, was inconsequential); Janus del Prado in a politically incorrect and insensitive role.

I am thus baffled why this was given a B rating by the retards and dimwits of the Cinema Evaluations Board (CEB). How can anything with such incongruent narrative strains deserve such “quality-indicative”, tax-evading rating? But then, I’ve long accepted the fact that these CEB evaluators either have self-serving motives or possess the brain of cockroaches. “Pak! Pak! My Doctor Quack” was rated B. Need I say more?

The E-heads surely deserve homage the way ABBA got their “Mamma Mia”. After all, their music helped define a generation. But pinning their musical legacy on a mediocre story, wrapped in frothy, buoyant energy is nothing short of a disservice. Some heads need to roll.  

In her drunken stupor, Aling Nena (Gina Pareno) offers an unsolicited advice: "connect the dots" which reminds me of a recent horror flick.

Ali (Jessy Mendiola) pines for her best friend.

Toyang and Joax flirt around.

Pat (Kean Cipriano) and Shirley (Bangs Garcia) give each other their hearts.

Enchong Dee

Xian Lim

Enrique Gil

Kean Cipriano

Jessy Mendiola

Joel Lamangan's Sigwa – Raging Storms and Troubled Souls

It took Dolly (Dawn Zuleuta) 35 years to return to the Philippines. Back then, she was a wide eyed optimist visiting her parent’s motherland for the first time. She also believed that well meaning people like her could fight a feeble system and change the world. Several years later, she has returned for a more compelling reason; one that took her back to that tumultuous era. In the early seventies, she hurriedly escaped the clutches of Martial Law quite scathed and dazed, leaving a daughter under the care of Azon (Gina Alajar). In the crossfire of warring ideologies, many have perished. Including her child, or so she thought. But a common friend recently tells her that the child is alive.

At the height of an oppressive dictatorship, young idealist Dolly (Megan Young) – a junior correspondent of a US magazine - is welcomed by a group of student activists who ushered her into the ideals of their advocacy. She meets student leader Oliver (Marvin Agustin) and his girlfriend Cita (Pauleen Luna); the persevering Azon (Lovi Poe) and the dependable Rading (Jay Aquitania); then there’s the restrained Eddie (Allen Dizon) with whom Dolly gets into a relationship. With adequate fervor and high-mindedness, the group soon finds themselves joining the underground movement bent on toppling an oppressive government.

But each member is deliberately captured. The ladies are raped; the guys are subjected to hellish tortures until their souls have all been beaten to a pulp, providing names and whereabouts of their other comrades. Meanwhile, Dolly’s been recovered by the authorities who have been informed that she’s an American citizen, giving her the privilege to abandon her group’s cause and fly back to America while everyone else faces a bleak future.

But 35 years have changed people. Dolly has chosen to live a solitary life. Oliver (Tirso Cruz III) has joined the government, acting as the presidential spokes person, while Cita (Oliver’s former girl friend, this time played by Zsa Zsa Padilla) has risen in the ranks of the left-leaning revolutionary group. She has in fact become their supreme leader. Dolly has required the help of Oliver, now in the position of finding people, to locate Azon (Gina Alajar) who was left with Dolly’s child at the height of the insurgency. Dolly’s pursuit has unraveled strife anchored by their past. Is her daughter still alive? Will she ever find her?

Joel Lamangan’s “Sigwa” (Storm) is a harrowing journey that follows the lives of student activists with ponderous tenacity. On the foreground is a mother’s search for her child, but it’s merely a device used to introduce us to the characters. Though compelling and thematically clamorous, the focus wavers from too much detail. This isochronous storytelling tends to provide a less cohesive work, denying the material to soar. That’s always the plight of a material with a multitude of climaxes, thus the story eventually plateaus. This is not saying that Lamangan’s “Sigwa” is an insignificant material. It in fact deserves to be seen and remembered.

Megan Young and Dawn Zulueta competently link the past and the future with honest portrayals as Dolly. Marvin Agustin delivers one of the most emotionally distressing depiction of a torture victim. While his tears trickle down his cheeks and he pleads for his life, you are punched in the gut by the scene’s realism. Tirso Cruz III, who plays the older Oliver, is equally treacherous as the cabinet secretary who’s had a change of heart. Gina Alajar, brilliant as ever, mines her veteran instinct to show the emotional groundwork of a mother who’s afraid to lose a child she’s nurtured as her own. I do have certain misgivings in Zsa Zsa Padilla’s portrayal. Maybe I’m too much weaned on her being the sophisticated lady that she is that it doesn’t seem right to see her carry guns and don sneakers, and tough talking like a revolutionary honcho. But she works hard for her part and it shows. Allen Dizon seems misplaced and looks awkward and ill at ease in many of his scenes, and the age gap between Megan’s Dolly and Dizon’s Eddie (he was planted by the military to spy and infiltrate the leftists) is a lumbering fact.

The torture and rape scenes feel sanitized. The sense of dread is somehow watered down by its careful staging. In my mind, there’s a need to stage a brutal scene – allow it to be ruthless and ferocious - to underline the horrors of an amoral military rule gone mad. Torture victims are scarred for life, and they don’t experience savagery with cotton candy ministrations. Despite its busy narrative, fragmented storytelling and its tendency for maudlinism, “Sigwa” is better realized than the indulgent “Ka Oryang” (which won Best Picture at the recent Cinema One – a truly despicable year for the festival).

A favorite scene is Dolly and Azon’s meeting. In this scene, the camera frames a troubled Azon – with Alajar in tremendous control – while the light from outside is casting shadows against her face. It was a deliberate form of visual poetry concocting a singular emotional moment that highlights Azon’s chagrined soul. Are there limits to what a mother would do to keep a daughter? Boundless.

Frolic & Logic-Free Fun in "Won't Last A Day Without You"

Picture her staring beyond the horizon. She lives her days alone – with no one to call as her friend. Most times, she feels displaced wherever she goes. To make matters worse, everything she does fails. But there’s a silver lining on her cloudy horizon: her boyfriend. She dotes on him. And he’s her lone source of happiness. Now tell me, isn’t she pathetic?

That’s the girl in Paul Williams and Roger Nichols’ 1973 song, “I Won’t Last a Day Without You”. But with a melancholic melody, the words suddenly turn romantic. People gush hearing Karen Carpenter sing it. After all, there’s romance and poetry in loneliness, isn’t there? Now fast forward to 2011. Sarah Geronimo plays DJ Heidee dispensing advice for a radio show’s Heartbreak Hotline. When her spirited spiels catch the attention of the public, Heidee aka George becomes an overnight sensation. One day, she receives a call from a heartbroken Melissa (Megan Young) seeking Heidee’s advice about Andrew Escalon (Gerald Anderson), Melissa's boyfriend, who has wandering eyes. After Melissa’s rants, Heidee lambasts Andrew on air and prods Melissa to drop her wayward beau. She did.

But Andrew stages a rebuttal that would: 1. Get Melissa back, 2. Summon a public apology, 3. Put Heidee in her rightful place. Heidee has to help Andrew get Melissa back – or he would lodge a complaint at the KBP to get her suspended. This throws the odd couple together, devising ways to woo Melissa back while Heidee “tutors” Andrew the ABC’s of romancing a girl: be attentive, be sensitive to her needs, bring stuff for her, take her to a romantic place, etc. But the unexpected happens, Melissa and Andrew fall for each other. Jeepers creepers! What to do?

Does Paul Williams and Roger Nichols’ “girl” even vaguely resemble the famous radio jock Heidee? Maybe… if you’re on lithium or carbamazepene. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a stretch. What I’m driving at is, when you’re titling movies, the title has to be relatable to the story, lest you shall be accused of having the brain of a hydra for connecting dots that were never there in the first place, right?

Sure, Andrew Escalon is stuff straight out of Harlequin novels. He’s good looking and edgy, and admits his mistakes. He seems successful, though someone who fails the nursing board twice couldn’t appropriately be called “smart”. But what kind of man needs a complete stranger to resolve his own predicament? Obviously, it’s someone who can’t pass his board exams on two occasions. LOL

Like most Star Cinema films, the ensemble of performers do well, painting a narrative palette rich with quirky characters who surround our protagonists. Joey de Leon, who plays Sarah’s dad (an aging rocker), I have to say, delights. The screen lights up whenever he’s in a scene.

There is some fun to be had in Heidee and Andrew’s bickerings. But with a hokey premise, director Raz de la Torre’s narrative hangs like an overbearing shadow. Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson work well as a pair. They satisfy the requirements of a dramatic heroine and her romantic consort. But despite Geronimo’s beguiling giggles, we fail to see growth in her emotionality as an actress. Doesn’t heart break enveigle emotional heft? I’ve read another review that points to her “full control over a repertoire of emotions” – I ask what control and which emotions? Sarah tackles her character with dutiful demeanor, but it was merely perfunctory and desultory. Sure, she renders her character with “cuteness”, but cute isn’t a realist’s realm. In the real world, people would merely apologize instead of going the extra mile to do the legwork to court a girl for someone else. Why did she have to set up dinner for Andrew and Melissa again? That wasn't necessary. Wasn’t it enough that she went to Melissa’s house to try to convince the girl of her former beau’s intentions?

Gerald Anderson has fallen into a methodical system that conjures a character not quite dissimilar from his Powie in Jose Javier Reyes’ “Till My Heartaches End”. If Sarah steals hearts with her giggles, Gerald does so with his intermittent spurts of Visayan: "Hala!", "Grabe ka man gyud uy!", "Sexy ka man diay". Gerald has also learned to be comfortable with his on-screen emotions. He is consistent with characterization. Moreover, he has done away with excessive theatricality abundantly displayed in his teleserye “Budoy”. He is at once captivating and sympathetic. Anderson may just emerge as one of the best actors of his generation. Who would have thought?

10 Horrific Truths About Topel Lee's "White House"

A horror flick with smiling faces and a sexy pose. Go figure!

1. That the honeymoon period for comebacking actor Gabby Concepcion is over. In this movie, Gabby plays spirit expert Jet Castillo who inadvertently exposes his daughter Sien and wife Issa (Angel Jacob) to the nasty spirits that roam the hall ways of Baguio City’s “White House”. Mr. Concepcion’s performance ranges from the frowning Latin-spewing spiritist to the cinematic sycophant who grovels in front of the screen to please his “fans”.

Indeed, at times, we felt like he was performing to the peanut gallery crowd who would sigh at his every line. He was insincerely taking us for a ride the way he did his several ex-wives. No, Mr. Concepcion, you’re playing the character of a desperate father out to retrieve the sequestered soul of his daughter Sien, shanghaied inside the White House. You’re not performing before an adoring “The Buzz” audience who would giggle at your every grin. How could a charming actor evolve into middle-age blandness?

2. That Mo Twister, aka Mohan Gumatay (whose mother is of Indian descent) needs to spend more time in acting workshops than writing his idle thoughts on twitter, speculating whether he should watch a movie or just stay home and masturbate.

I’d have to admit I once had a huge crush on him, and I love his TV interviews (remember that classic tete-a-tete with a spaced out and clueless Ara Mina). Mo has a fast wit and a loud, sexy voice. His boyish grin lights up the screen. However, the same demeanor doesn’t translate well into a believable character. It was Mo Twister pretending to be, er… Mo Twister. His delivery appeared to be all hot-air with no hint of redemption – a 2-D cartoon character that belongs to a different medium. When he finally gets his comeuppance, it was such a relief to have finally gotten rid of him.

Mo Twister & Sarah Labahti

3. That Megan Young has such an arresting presence on screen. She plays a heartbroken writer whose boyfriend (the horribly self-conscious Chris Cayzer) proposes a cool off period so he could date her friend. This took her to audition for a slot in a reality-TV program called “Pinoy Horror House” where 8 persons will vie for P1 million. Whoever is left inside the house after 5 days of being sequestered inside shall win the prize.

4. Joem Bascon spoofs a habitual male pageant contestant, Dom Romero, whose rhetorics and trite replies during interviews (“Thank you very much for that question.”) provided some of the film’s few pleasurable moments. However, as the narrative strain progresses, his character stagnates into someone who’s disdainful and annoying. We somehow knew he was gonna start the eventual pile up of body count.

Iza Calzado

5. That director Topel Lee has finally used up all the straws I’ve reserved for him as a promising film maker. If you’ve seen “Imahe-Nasyon” (2006), an omnibus project featuring 20 of the country’s most prolific indie film makers, addressing the issue on national identity 20 years after the Edsa Revolution, then you would agree with me that Topel Lee’s work there (“Ang Manunulat”) was one of the few visually-arresting original ideas. He went on to direct Judy Anne Santos and Jolina Magdangal in the serviceable horror film, “Ouija“ as well as the earlier “Dilim” (a ground breaking vigilante movie with a twist). Lee is, no doubt, a visual director. Unfortunately, that alone doesn’t constitute a great movie.

In “White House”, he litters his moods with loud dissonant music and a hundred-and-one distracting drones that half-way into the film, his audience’s capacity for fright has but run out. In fact, despite those ashen faced children creeping inside refrigerators and cabinets, crawling under the beds, you end up with a sinking feeling that Mr. Lee has been watching too much generic kwaidans and those Thai horror movies, he’s actually run out of fresh ideas of his own.

6. When all the spirits pile out of Gabby’s body, it felt like a bad version of “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” instead of a troubling horror film. The only thing scary in this film was when a character actually remarked, ”This is better than your soap opera!” You wish! I’d say, this was more annoying that Simon Cowell. In White House’s TV ads, KC Concepcion is caught saying, “Come watch it. Kayo ay matutuwa!” What a smart girl! Then she suddenly realized this was an inappropriate phrase to describe a horror movie. She then corrects herself: “nakakatakot”! But hey, we’ve already got her real thoughts about her father’s movie. Atta girl, KC! We appreciate pretty girls who speak their minds. ;->

7. That after the abominable “Wapakman” and this banal “White House”, director Topel Lee should hibernate or revisit his indie roots where he thrived under less resources. In the mainstream world, Lee loses his inventiveness and ends up like the rest of GMA Film directors who are worse than mediocre.

Joem Bascon: ad model and male pageant contestant

8. That Sarah Labahti and Lovi Poe display their glaring limitations in “White House”. Enough of that gum-chewing persona, Miss Poe. That’s been done with great success in “Walang Hanggang Paalam”. Redundancy of characterization only shows how lost Lovi was in “White House”. Not enough time to conjure a significant persona so she resorted to one that worked before.

I’ve known of call center agents, none of whom chewed gums like there’s no tomorrow. None of whom acted like Calamine-requiring sluts. Of course I am aware of studies showing how such call center agents have become exponents of the effective dissemination and propagation of the HIV virus, but let’s not be too obvious, Ms. Poe. As for Ms. Labahti, the only thing she imparted was the impression that she could be perfectly forgettable. Jeez, these GMA talents are in desperate need of coaching from rival ABS CBN whose actors are proficient performers many times over. Wala bang budget sa GMA to get better acting coaches? Remember Angel Locsin’s blandness before she jumped to the other yard?

Megan Young & Lovi Poe: writer and call center agent

9. That “White House” has succeeded in giving Iza Calzado her worst performance in her enviable career.

Not even that nauseating Indie flick Jowee Morel’s “Mona: Singapore Escort” was she this bad! (Do you remember how Iza allegedly walked out during the preview screening of “Mona”, which was about a Pinay who worked as an escort girl in Singapore?) The lovely Iza – one of my all-time favorite actresses – just looked out of place within the exposition. This was funny because Iza was the film’s major nemesis! She was the “Black Lady”. Why she wore black was never explained. Baka she was fashionably conscious as a ghost? LOL

I would then venture on the obvious. For making Ms. Calzado look bad, the film’s writers are a bunch of sniveling idiots.

10. That their idea of “spirit attachment” is suspiciously similar to flu-like symptoms that eventually progressed into meningitis. The child suddenly developed fever, was vomiting, became weak, then got stuporous and unconscious! Didn’t I say meningitis? And Gabby had to travel all the way to Baguio for this misdiagnosis! Makes me wonder who their medical consultant was for this film. Baka si Dr. Vicky Belo. Then it would be such a relief to come out from their shooting looking all thermaged and botoxed out! Dang!

Gabby Concepcion: middle-age blandness takes the form of a spirit expert (huh?)

Iza Calzado and Jesse Bradford: two of my favorite artists in the world!