MMFF REVIEW: Sosy Problems

Title: Sosy Problems

Director: Andoy Ranay

Producer: GMA Films

Distribution: GMA Films

Date of premiere: December 25, 2012

Sosy Problems is almost impossible to sit through. It has a horrible story, an unlikable set of characters, and comes off insulting to viewers of all classes.

The intro says this much. Here, a monologue defines the different people in the country's social strata by using narrow and insensitive descriptors: the poor can't buy food, the working class struggles to eat at minimum wage, the middle class can eat three meals but can't buy a snack. Oh, and they all cannot buy cars--the upper middle class can buy cars but only second-hand.

If that monologue is not gratingly insulting, your skin must be too thick. Or you may be too apathetic.

Of course, the people behind Sosy Problems can put up the it-is-only-satire defense as an excuse to all this tripe. But what is it satirizing, exactly? The upper echelons of society, you say, those creatures who do nothing but shop for expensive luxuries and brag about those stuff.

But this movie does nothing of that.

Sosy Problems tells the story of four friends: Lizzie Consunji (Rhian Ramos) is an heir of a hotel franchise, Claudia Ortega (Heart Evangelista) is the daughter of a beauty queen, Margaux Bertrand (Solenn Heussaff) is the daughter of another beauty queen, and Danielle Alvarez (Bianca King), who is the daughter of a politician who has been charged with graft and corruption.

The narrative is all over the place. Lizzie is a disrespectful brat, so her father sends her to the province so she can wise up. Claudia and Margaux are best friends, but they are fighting for the affection of one valet boy. Danielle is aware of her disappearing riches, so she plots to attract a rich boy whom she could marry. 

There's also an overarching plot of the four girls trying to save a polo club from demolition. Of all the narrative threads, this one is the worst.

First off, the four girls initially try to save the polo club because it is the only place where they can hang out exclusively. Second, they show that they don't want the demolition to happen because they despise the new owner, a former yaya or caretaker who married a rich man.

The yaya (brilliantly played by Mylene Dizon) wants to demolish the polo club so she can create a mall for yayas like her, and the elite four is having none of it.

If that doesn't look like blatant classism to you, then you might want to have your heart checked.

The other narrative threads are just as icky, most of all Danielle's. The girl thinks the only way out of her predicament is to marry a rich guy. In the end, she snags one, who pledges to help her corrupt father to get out of jail.

Advocating using riches to get corrupt politicians out of culpability... does this still look like satire to you?

The main problem with this movie, then, is that the characters are just plain unlikable. They do get infused with a worthy cause at the end--that is, to save the polo club for its employees who are losing their jobs--but at that point it already feels artificial.

Watching Sosy Problems makes me remember the infamous line by social party animal Tim Yap, who is also in the movie. In 1997, he gave us this gem: 

"There is this mind-set, which I think is so passe, that says: `The country is in shambles and the country is having a hard time and you are out there partying.' But this generation is guiltless when it comes to that."

This quote best describes Sosy Problems. It encourages an uncaring attitude to the country's ills.

Sosy Problems could have been better if it gave a touch of realism. These are the apathetic sosyal, the people we gossiped about in Chikatime, so where are the juicy scandals and the drug use?

Perhaps GMA Films should have decided to distribute Gino Santos's The Animals instead of producing this crap.

RATING: 0.5 star out of 5
SUMMARY: Unrealistic and awful, insulting, and too apathetic. No wonder it lags at the box office.

REVIEW: Flames of Love

Title: Flames of Love

Director: Gigi Alfonso and Baby Nebrida

Producer: Gold Barn Media International

Distribution: Solar Films

Date of premiere: December 12, 2012

Flames of Love came like a thief in the night. This movie has a famous cast and a distinguished distributor, but we barely have heard any promotion for it. It's already showing, but there seems to be no effort to convince viewers that it is worth seeing.

But is it worth seeing? Perhaps. If you like watching daily dramas on local television, those terrible shows that trumpet the same plots again and again, then this may be for you. It's two-hour-and-30-minutes run is an indication of that.

This film exists to push an advocacy, namely for the pro-life side in the RH Bill debates. Included in the film are some snatches of dialogue that promote this view, like how the condom is absolutely not 100% effective, or how promiscuity is not a good trait.

But taking down this film just because of this agenda, when you don't agree with the message, is completely unfair. Similarly, overpraising a film and ignoring its faults just because you agree with its agenda is wrong, too.

I think a movie must be judged on its artistic merit alone.

For instance, I found The Human Centipede 2 to be absolutely disgusting. But director Tom Six claims it is his movie's agenda to be the most revolting horror film that he can ever do. And in the context of exploitation films, The Human Centipede 2 hits all the right notes. I give it a 3.5/5.

So how is Flames of Love, artistically?

Well, it is horrible.

Again, it imitates the awful daily drama shows on local television, and the stories presented seem all too familiar. 

Dina Bonnevie plays a single mother who raises two children away from her adulterous husband (Ricky Davao). Valerie Concepcion tries to lead a normal life despite working as a prostitute to Ricky Davao and Allen Dizon. Allen has a sickly wife who has a hard time bearing a child. Christopher de Leon and Lani Mercado have a happy marriage, until Lani thinks of reconnecting with her old sweetheart.

These many stories lead to the long running time. It's all unnecessary--since some of these stories are treated with less significance anyway, I don't see the point of it.

(One story that should have been chopped is Allen Dizon's family life. It was even given no resolution.)

Characters aren't also well-written. Many of them are supposedly godly, but pepper their dialogue with swear words. Dina Bonnevie had an adulterous husband, but then chooses to egg on her bestfriend (Lani Mercado) to betray her marriage. Valerie Concepcion's boyfriend boasts of being the ultimate playboy, but is really just a one-woman man.

All of these inconsistencies lead to a head-scratching ending: Lani Mercado chooses drive away with her old flame to Subic, while Christopher de Leon chases them. Suddenly, the usually-reserved Lani becomes a slut, saying slutty things to the guy she wants to go to bed with. And when the car goes off a cliff, Lani crawls up the cliff to beg Christopher for forgiveness. Then they kiss under the setting sun, completely forgetting that a guy is burning to death a few meters away from them.

If that isn't the year's most ridiculous car chase scene, I don't know what anything is anymore.

RATING: 2 star out of 5
SUMMARY: Over-long and inconsistent. It makes sense why the mainstream distributor does not seem to want to promote it.

NOTE:

1. I did not take notes so I don't know the character names.

EXPLAINER: CinemaOne. Cinemanila.

I missed every local movie in this year's CinemaOne and Cinemanila international film festivals, although I covered them for PEP.ph.*

My priorities have changed.

I am a completist. Given time, I would have watched the 13 entries in CinemaOne, and the other entries in Cinemanila, just like how I saw all the Cinemalaya 2012 entries by spending whole days in CCP.

But I chose to spend time elsewhere.

I returned to training at the gym last October. I go to Maic's in Marikina, and I have my own trainer, who is available in the afternoons.

I go to the gym because it makes me happy to see progress. Plus I live alone (and work alone most of the time) so the gym is the only place where I connect with other beings.

In short, my priority now is this:

WORK > GYM > FAMILY > MOVIES > EVERYTHING ELSE.

Anyway, this blog was created to review local mainstream movies, and I guess I haven't left anything out yet.

The next MMFF is also just around the corner, and I won't miss any of those films. They would run for two to three weeks, so there's plenty of time to see all of them.

My reviews of MMFF movies will be posted here as soon as I see them.

* I covered CinemaOne's awards night, and Cinemanila's press briefings, opening ceremony, and awards night.