This film review was made under the supervision of Prof. Kriztine Viray.Our class was asked to watch this movie, and critic its narrative side.Submitted at www.nicenet.org.This is what i have to say. Feelin like a pro. :))
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A drama mixed with sensuality.
Masahista brings us to the seedy world of gay massage parlors.
The story focuses on Iliac (Coco Martin), a 20-year old guy, who works in a massage house in Manila. As a masseur, he must satisfy the desires of his clients, which often include sexual favors. While the sex work is the most noticeable concept of the film, it intercuts with its inside story (as how Mr. Ricky Lee taught us) about his life on how he deals with his family, the death of his father, and his lady love.
It is really common for gay films to have sex work as its dramatic backdrop. I remember what I've learned from Ms. Kara David; she was discussing on how to make a good story, well what she was saying doesn't only apply to documentaries but as well to all types of stories. According to her, there's no more original story left. Every experience or concept was already made. The best thing left for you to do is to create a different approach.
Mr. Ricky Lee taught us that in making a story, it must be extraordinary. Masahista is a good example of it. Ordinary because the concept is very familiar; extra because there was something added which makes it unique or different.
Masahista 's concept is very conventional. Lame as it may seem. But what made its story nice is its characters. The story may be common but the characters have their own peerless dispositions.
The rest of the movie was great, but on my perception, the writer wasn't able to establish the reasons why Iliac decided to work in a massage house. It makes me wonder why he can't make money other than giving this extra service to his clients.
About his girlfriend, Tessa (Katherine Luna), it is not mentioned or shown why did Iliac chose a girl with a kind of living almost same as his. How did they meet? It is much better if they have shown or just even stated through narrations or dialogues how did this all happen, rather than adding some scenes which are not necessary. Example of these not-so-needed scenes is when one of the masseurs had an asthma attack. The point or reason of the director or writer for adding this in the film didn't help its narrative form for good.
There are a lot of nude scenes of other masseurs done artistically so none of it made the story compared to a porn one. They also gave an emphasis on the comparison (characters parallelism) between Iliac's father lying in the morgue in his underwear the same way we see Iliac massaging his underwear-clad client while massaging him.
On Iliac's relationship with his family, his mother Naty (Jackilyn Jose) seems to think he has a decent job in Manila but I didn't get enough information about the relationship he has with his mother and siblings. We just knew he had a fractured relationship with his father, with all the flashbacks and all that, which plays his shyness about being there and assisting for the funeral.
On the flip side, I like the way how he shared to Alfredo (Allan Paule) the story of who he so-called his neighbors but in point of fact are his parents. The intention and the emotions were shown. Allan Paule was very effective in this movie.
Considerations for minors were not that present because of the damaging words thrown with intensity. But on the realistic criteria, it was just enough; they have shown that these things really happen.
Complexity was not that high but with regard to originality and coherence, it gave its equilibrium. There were also a lot of gratified expectations except for the editing that made its ending also its beginning. No one expected that Iliac was lying when he said that he got his battery emptied or that he ran out of load that's why he wasn't able to reply with the text message sent to him about his fathers condition.
Because of its realistic approach, it made the movie garner international awards. This was heavily structured but with regard to execution, it was not obvious that it was scripted. That's what I like in it. While watching the movie I felt like I was also a part of it. They have the protagonist, the problem is very clear, the rising action, climax and its resolution. Its ending is a little vague. But this is not a big barrier to end the film. It has its alternative structure which is open-ended. This movie got my nod. :)
Original post: http://tidzey.multiply.com
Date: November 5, 2008
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