The material was good but
Asintado just missed the bull's eye.
The first thing that
attracted me to this film is its inclusion of the Taong Putik Festival held in
Nueva Ecija. The last time I saw this was in the film "Sukob" where
it was used to jump scare moviegoers. It made me happy that alas, it would be
used in a different approach, but it turned out to be disappointing.
The story gave a lot of
promise since it attached a beautiful synopsis. However, as it developed, I have
counted five yawns from my seatmate before the real score began. It tried to
capture the beautiful preparation for a fiesta and included many elements that
would solidify the backstory. Sadly, some of them were too much and could have
been edited out. A perfect example is the opening scene which presented the “courtship”
of Jake Vargas, the male protagonist, and Rita de Guzman. It felt very teenybopper-romance
that did not contribute excellence to the film. Another one is when Vargas’ best
friend (Jak Roberto) performed in the fiesta’s amateur competition. He sang a
few lines but the film did not even give the audience a montage nor other scenes
intensifying the development of the plot. Instead, it gave us a cute boy
performing all smiles (the only consolation is the scene where his grandfather
(the former barangay) kept on looking at the villain).
The narrative became lame as
the dilemma of Vargas was not brought realistically. (I don’t want to spill the
beans, just watch it at your own risk to find out). I was on the verge
of liking the build-up as Vargas fulfills his job as a runner but everything went
kaput. There were also anticlimactic moments such as when the conflict has arisen
but the in-and-out of the characters in the frame were not quintessential.
Moving forward, when the
cameras started to roll, it caught me off to hear Vargas trying so hard to
sound like Nueva Ecijan. It was very apparent that it came to a point when he
was not able to sustain the accent. However, he has decent skills in acting.
Aiko Melendez’s comeback is the
real deal. Her defining moment was her tight shot that is currently being shown
in the film’s teaser. Also sharing the limelight with her is the very talented
Miggs Cuaderno as he portrays a mentally-challenged kid who has excellent
skills in using a slingshot. I couldn’t believe that this kid was featured in
two Cinemalaya films yet he was able to bring different characters. I heard some murmurs at the back as I watched the film (which is irritating, comments can be done after the film, duh. Dinig kaya kayo.) arguing whether he is also the kid in Children’s Show. It just
demonstrates how good he is at his craft (at his young age, malupit!).
More, Gabby Eigenmann was
obviously good in portraying the antagonist. Isn’t that his forte? On the other
hand, Rochelle Pangilinan’s unimportant character was a waste of talent. Again,
it did not put any seasoning in the movie’s stale taste.
The good thing about the film
is that the musical scoring was superb (Well, it should be. The director is a
musical genius.) It surely intensified the emotions that the characters would
like to convey. The closing song was my LSS for that day. Cinematography was just
good, nothing special.
I would no longer bother
fitting in a rerun of this film in my schedule. #sorrynotsorry
Rating: 5/10
Photo credits: Cinemalaya
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