Masahista

this movie really impressed me, there's a lot going on here. the structure is extremely cunning, the manipulation of time is not pointless as with so many contemporary art films, there is a real payoff, in fact the disruption of temporal unity is here a very subtle instrument with very definite and easily understood and appreciated reasons for the film playing out this way. there are a number of unforgettable scenes and sequences, very touching ones, very clever ones, very meaningful. the basic idea of the movie is so ... daring and deep . . . the filmmakers almost revel in the poverty of budget the image quality is tenuous at times to great effect. this is not just another lurid Filipino/gay melodrama, it's not terribly titillating for that matter. it's in a higher class than the wonderful lino brocka movies, and like him the essence here is . .. a sort of dark tenderness, a sad love. fantastic film.

The movie was interesting, the filming and such really offers great entertainment. Great for family get together movie. Totally recommend watching this. And also coco martin masarap

Magnificent movie! It's great to watch it together with your family and friends. I watched while i was holding my you know.

There is a reason this film from the Philippines has garnered so much attention and audience approval at festivals around the world. Yes, it is a very low budget film (and technically that shows), but the message is a sound one. Not just another film about the massage parlor antics created to titillate the viewer, THE MASSEUR (MASAHISTA) as conceived and written for the screen by Boots Agbayani Pastor is a close examination of the old conflict between father and son, expectations and disappointments, needs and failures to fulfill, and in the end the mourning for a relationship that never succeeded. Director Brillante Mendoza has found the balance between sensual imagery and social comment that makes this little film work very well indeed.

Illiac (Coco Martin) is a handsome young lad who, because his alcoholic and carousing absentee father cannot support his family, has left his home to work as a masseur in Manila, assuming the financial responsibility of his family. Illiac works in a massage parlor - rooms like closets so close that conversations are easily heard - where he has his regular clients as well as newcomers, each of whom pays for massage an tips for all the 'extras' the boys are more than willing to offer for a price. The film moves back and forth between Illiac's home and his work in Manila and after his father dies, Illiac must return home and be the one who must assist the mortician in preparing his father's body for burial. This tradition becomes an analogy for the work Illiac performs on the massage table and the conversations and physical involvements between Illiac and client mirror the ministrations at the funeral parlor in a powerful and deeply moving way. Illiac is able to cope with both sides of his lot until he discovers some secrets left in his deceased father's belongings. At this point the concept of the film becomes touchingly apparent.

Though the cast is well known in the Philippines, only a few of the faces will be familiar to most viewers. What Mendoza is able to achieve with his cast is a feeling of honesty and ensemble work that allows both sides of Illiac's life to be credible. The film is in Tagalog with English subtitles and though the DVD cover would suggest this is a gay film, in reality it is a study of family life and the consequences of distance between father and son. It is worth viewing. Grady Harp

It's a great victory for Filipinos to have won in the Locarno film festival. Low budget digital film is the saving grace for the dying Philippine film industry. And with the surge of interest in producing this kind of films, young brilliant Filipino film makers are given a chance to shine.

Masahista is a very engaging film even if it's done with a shoestring budget. It gives you a very realistic view of the life of a young man trying to survive poverty by offering massage and sexual services.

Filmed documentary style with occasional graininess and shaky camera angles, the film never the less engages you to the life of the "masahista" (masseur) and those people around him.

I particularly like the way Brillantes weave his story. There's this scene where he moves from the the protagonist life as a masseur, doing his thing in the massage parlor then intertwining to his life as a dutiful son consoling his mother and helping in preparing his father for burial then intertwining it again to the massage scene.

Try to catch this one if ever it's shown in your area.