Jigz Recto's "Binatilyo" - A Caterwauling Fete (An Unpublished Post from 2012)

Vintage Blush? Well, this is an article we weren't able to publish for some reason, but this had an original post date of November 8, 2012 - 4 long years ago. It had Jao Mapa too. It was one of those pink films that flourished that time. I am sure some of the followers of this blog have missed the spunk and irreverence we've dedicated towards the exploitation and vapid film-making that proliferated back then. I didn't really care about the associated metrics, but when each post was being read by between 8,000 and 18,000 people, you realize that you must have done something right. After all, this is a text-heavy blogsite so I know that my readers aren't illiterates. They also have impeccable taste. Tee hee. So here goes.

STORY

TJ (Norris John) is infatuated with his classmate Karla (Lili Montelibano). But TJ isn't the school’s most popular student. In fact, he gets brickbats for his father Dading’s (Jao Mapa) effete ways: “malamya, malambot, kumekendeng”. A few days before Karla’s birthday, TJ gets a reprieve from Karla’s snootiness. If TJ can provide her with a new smart phone - as gift, of course - for her birthday, then he’s welcome to court her! Quite the opportunist, isn't she? So what’s a guy to do? His very own cell phone is ten years past its prime and held together by an adhesive.

At home, he badgers his impoverished, albeit hard-working parents for the fashionable gadget. Truth to tell, TJ’s foible is a vice his family can’t afford. But his attentive and persevering father works even harder and appropriates a good chunk of his earning, much to the consternation of TJ's mom  Elma (Angela Ruiz). The boy is getting impatient because Karla’s birthday is close by. TJ turns to his best friend (Winston de Dios, “Sulot“, “Rigodon”) who moonlights as an exotic dancer and hustler. Lulu (Lorraine Lopez), TJ’s classmate and overt admirer, is only too happy with this development. She wants a piece of TJ’s inches as much as she enjoys his best friend’s. Little did TJ realize that Lulu is a nefarious henchman’s girlfriend. This gets TJ into trouble.  

Karla’s birthday comes, but Dading’s hidden stash is confiscated by his wife. What’s a father to do? Will TJ ever find the acceptance from Karla? Will there be enough cellphones in the Philippines in time for the opportunist's birthday? I shiver.

TJ (Norris John) despises his father.

Director Jigz Recto once again weaves another unctuous and exceedingly mawkish mixbag of melodrama and Pink-leaning narrative. “Binatilyo” is, in fact, one of the most painful films to watch, reminiscent of the protracted scenes from “Dulas” and “Kasalo”, both directed by the same director.  These films stretch the dramatic scenes much longer than you can say "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis". 

Just when you thought the protracted aria has been delivered, the emotive gravity resumes again with another set of caterwauling that burrows deep inside your head. I have been sensitized to these cinematic punishments, but this flick has tested my patience. I was this close to walking out. 

Clueless directors believe that they could milk their dramatic tableau by expanding their dramatic scenes. This isn't a case of “the longer, the better”, or is it? Norris, who isn't a tall guy, would surely not agree either. The boyish actor works hard and though he succeeds to personify the spoiled rotten juvenile, his characterization is hobbled by the non-expository ethos of his cinematic persona. It’s hard to swallow how a once-loving son has transmogrified into this insensitive brat. 

Elma and son TJ (Angela Ruiz and Norris John)

DEUS EX MACHINA

It’s quite apparent that the ministrations fueling the narrative are meant as deus ex machina. The inclusion of Lulu’s gun-toting beau and TJ’s best friend is perplexing. When prodigal TJ comes home, he learns that his father died looking for him (TJ saw him in a gay bar and thought that his father has come out of the closet when, in fact, he was there to work as a waiter so he could earn more money to buy a new phone for his son). He further learns of his mother’s ornery past: When she got pregnant, his boyfriend ditched her. Kind-hearted Dading comes to the rescue and assumes the responsibility as husband and father. This he did despite being as queer as a three dollar bill, so to speak.

After Elma’s confession, TJ gets a 30-minute crying spell. It was night time. The next day, he visits his father’s grave and another lachrymose caterwauling arises. You wonder where prodigal TJ went that he didn't even catch the loooong wake – and the burial. Did he maybe peddle his flesh overseas? Like Okinawa or Antananarivo, maybe? But he was just enjoying a staycation with his classmate. Why wasn't he told? But the most blatant antagony is the crux that fuels the story: What guy in his right mind would purchase a smart phone for a pompous girl who isn't even his girl friend yet? The story is riddled with holes the size of the supermoon.

The Pink element appears when, one night, a drunk TJ gives Winston’s a visit who then “attends” to his friend's drunken stupor, undressing him and giving him a diligent, thorough, and refreshing sponge bath. Ayayay pag-ibig, coos Ara Mina. What are friends for, debah? By sunrise, TJ finds himself glisteningly speckless and exfoliated. 

“Binatilyo” is one of the most excruciating flicks I’ve seen this year. It’s a “buwis buhay” experience. Someone deserves to be tied on a tree teeming with fire ants. Either that - or he deserves to be shipped somewhere where transport only comes once every 50 years. No... make it 70!

TJ daydreams of Karla (above) then rollings in the hay with Lulu.

Gay husband Dading and wife Elma.

Lulu

Winston de Dios and Norris John

Norris John

Norris John

Note:

Read our feature Cinema Bravo and Web Criticism? :
- http://makemeblush2.blogspot.com/2016/10/cinema-bravo-film-criticisms-execrable.html


#pinkfilm   #binatilyo  #norrisjohn   #jaomapa

"eXsena" Lures Jeff Luna, Charles Delgado and the Pink Boys

There was a time when guys were mere afterthoughts in skin flicks. These days, with the economic viability of pink-flavored flicks, guys have become centers of attraction, while baring ladies are treated as disposable decoratives. I think times have dictated the showcasing of guys as "objects of desire" instead of the fairer sex. This trend is evident in the current crop of exploitation films being churned out by 2nd rate production companies like Leo Films who's producing male-oriented films week after week. One such flick is the fly-by-night indie called "eXsena".

Darry dela Cruz’s “eXsena” gathers some of the country’s most in-demand pink cinema boytoys - Paolo Rivero, Kristoffer King, Charles Delgado, Jeff Luna and Rob da Silva (of "Lagpas") - apparently, to knock some sense into viewers’ libidinous heads as the gay indie cautions them about the hazards of poverty and male prostitution! Sounds noble, doesn’t it? But “nobility” should only be attributed to something (or someone) illustrious - like the British Queen perhaps, who’s born into it.

While the movie isn't as bad as Cris Pablo’s schlongs-and-gutterfests nor as brain-dead as Adolf Alix’s self-indulgent "Temptation Island" parody he labelled “D’Survivors,” Darry dela Cruz's film isn't that much different from other perfidious gay flicks that use every conceivable tricks in the Exploitation 101 Handbook to eke out scenes that “artistically” display their actors’ assets (or liabilities, depending on how you look at it) in flagrante delicto. And which “actors” can do this daunting task of displaying phallic cartilages better than King (“Serbis”, "Indie Boys") and Delgado (“S.R.O.", "Pagnanasa", "Junior,” “Senior”)?

Luna, Rivero, King, Delgado and Da Silva - Pink Film boytoys in "eXsena"!

The movie follows Ron (Kristoffer King), a perpetually cash-strapped cameraman who witnesses how the stories of the film’s other protagonists play out. Charles Delgado is 18-year-old Ferdie Romero, a provinciano bit player who relocates to Manila after a gay director-pimp, Leonard Villarama, convinces him he’s got what it takes to be a sexy star (wasn't he another provinciano lured into the big city in "Pagnanasa"?) - this occurs during an excruciatingly vomit-inducing moment they share on the casting couch (a similar scene with Delgado opened "Pagnanasa" produced by the same film outfit!) When Ferdie gets to Manila, however, he realizes that the megman is dirt-poor, and there’s really not much (film) work to be had from the director, who then peddles Ferdie’s sexual services to other gay men.

Meanwhile, Ron is having a difficult time making ends meet, as he is being constantly nagged by his wife (Lorraine Lopez). Worse, he’s unaware that his disconsolate wife is having a scorching affair with a strapping Cebuano hunk (Jeff Luna) who wants to elope to Nueva Ecija with her. Ron manages to steal a colleague’s assignment by dropping his pants in front of his arrogant gay producer (Rob da Silva, who once again bottoms as he did in "Lagpas").

Ron’s ability to “find” work amazes another financially needy cameraman (Paolo Rivero), who eventually shoves his crotch on Da Silva’s face to earn much-needed money he desperately needs to pay off his debts.

Another opportunity presents itself to Ron when he gets to the location shoot of the porn-flick racket he stole from his cameraman friend—darn it, the film’s hunky lead is nowhere to be found! So, he convinces the gay director that he’s more than able to pull off the “challenging” task of performing sex scenes in front of the camera.

Leo Films can't seem to go beyond caricatures. After all, it's obvious that "art" isn't its primary objective, is it? This reduces every actor in this film looking like walking penises, instead of sympathetic characters. As always, King and Delgado are more than willing to strip and shake their chunky nakedness in front of the camera. Rivero at least displays an affecting vulnerability in a role that he’s done ad nauseum. 

But what bothered me most was the expendability of the lone female lead, Lorraine Lopez ("Pipo", "Big Night"). When are females suddenly second-class citizens in sex flicks? When Lorraine finally gets to disrobe, I shivered at witnessing unsightly adiposal excrescences. I suddenly understood why she's just a side show.

Lorraine Lopez: flawless beauty, artistic pose that hide unflattering flabs. Nothing that a few hours of treadmill a week won't remedy.

Note:

Please read our featured post on how Web Criticism is at times populated by wanna-be writers who can't even write yet they posture like critics!! Example - Cinema Bravo!

- http://makemeblush2.blogspot.com/2016/10/cinema-bravo-film-criticisms-execrable.html

Jeff Luna Plows The Barren Field in "Araro"

I refuse to be director Alejandro Bong Ramos' trumpet-blower. He doesn't get points from me for admitting the obvious - that all he intends to deliver are "skin flicks" which he still outdated calls "bold" as though we're still in the 80's. These days, we appropriately call them sex exploitation movies which has gotten synonymous with "indie movies" or "gay movies". These terms jubilantly interchange.

In "Araro" (Plow), a farming couple Andoy (Paolo Rivero) and Elena (hopelessly homely Lorraine Lopez) comes home to find a stranger resting inside their shanty. Steve (Jeff Luna) shakes their seemingly harmonious marital existence. Though initially suspicious of the new kid in town, they soon invite him to stay over after Andoy injures himself while farming his rice fields. "Dumito ka muna at tumulong; babayaran kita," offers Andoy, despite his wife's objections. Something in the soft spoken young man intrigues the couple. His presence will eventually rock the boat, what with Steve seductively taking skinny dips by the river. But just when you thought he would run away with Elena, we suddenly find him locking lips with Andoy! How convenient, right?

Well, this ends into a menage a trois that's too unseductive to watch, it was like reading a by-the-number tutorial on sexual orgy sans the requisite passion. Fine, they can then live happily ever after. But then there's that silly subplot about Steve's past (spoilers ahead: he escapes a defensive murder drama from the city) which is bound to catch up with our strapping hunk of a man!

The narrative is rather derivative we don't even have to look far for reference. Jeff Luna's recent release, the straight-to-video "Darang" also tells of an almost similar tale. But this film teeters into legitimacy - but not quite. First, camera work is sparklingly crystal, much like Ramos' other work, "Butas". He has the eye for such visuals which is sad as he has basically surrendered into being a skin flick director. A local palayan (rice field) has never looked this scenic and lovely in the green plains of Laur, Nueva Ecija. Some scenes were just too pretty they looked like gentle brush strokes. Another plus point is the way the narrative is moved by dialogue-free scenes. This is not a "talkative" movie, and it actually works for the story. It has successfully done away with too complicated "explanations" by being "silent". Paolo Rivero carries the performance grade here. His naturally calm presence reeks of an underlying pathos that when he cries for fear of being abandoned, his uhog drips and his heart breaks into tiny little pieces.

Jeff Luna, this season's it-man oozes with enough testosterone charm, it sometimes suffices that he just stands without opening his mouth. When he does, all possibilities of lewd fantasizing drop down exponentially. Much like his earlier movies, - "Libido", "Darang", "Chub Chaser", his straight-to-video sex flicks ("Summer Boys", a walk-on in "Here Comes the Bride", etc.) - he speaks with a doze-inviting, emotionally-hollow monotone, delivering his lines like he was reading from the page of a script. His face is a blank, which only changes when he closes his eyes to depict the emotions of a self-pleasuring gentleman - which he seems to do in every movie he does! Yet, even his masturbation scenes are hardly believable. Someone has to teach Jeff how to deliver emotions on screen fast! Half a dozen movies after and you're still a ham, Jeff? What gives? Otherwise, what becomes of his strong presence but being reduced to a mere phallic symbol! As for the only lady in the film, Lorraine Lopez, you somehow wonder what the makers see in her! Her mere presence is a mystery - and we refuse to further talk about her!

The director is fond of shots that inspire a voyeur; his camera floats on ceiling walls, doors ajar, holes in the wall. He isn't quite over "Butas". And it is obvious that he loves to highlight his actors in their several states of undress, Jeff Luna especially (check out his swimming scenes as he floats and flips over river waters, you'd notice a mushroom - LOL).

A lot of the arrogant indie film directors should learn Visuals 101 from Mr. Ramos. Chances are, it's really a matter of economics and how Mr. Ramos can afford to use a high definition video camera, while the others are content with their visual mediocrity. As for his ambition to wallow in skin flick heavens, what a waste! An admission of his story-telling limitation.

Isn't that sad?

Jeff Luna's testosterone charm and emotionally-hollow monotones.

Note:

Please read our featured post on Cinema Bravo and why Web Criticism isn't always about good and reliable writing:
- http://makemeblush2.blogspot.com/2016/10/cinema-bravo-film-criticisms-execrable.html