Of Sinners and Saints

I came across this film on Amazon and since I travel yearly to the Philippines I decided to start watching. 100 minutes of my time well spent. Well shot by the good eyes of the director, this film is quite engaging even for those who are neither religious nor catholic. Faith is one of the major "character" of this film. Faith with its issues and difficulties. This film has a great deal of depth and social issues are dealt with great sensitivity. All the actors gave justice to their roles, mostly the lead actor who is the director himself. Good cinematography and production design, great music. I recommend it.

Yes. Finally. After watching Brillante's Mendoza films ( I liked a couple of them though) and the tedious work of Lav Diaz i bumped into this little gem on TubiTv. It was free and I gave it a try. After the first 15 minutes I was tempted to pass but I told myself to just wait 10 minutes more. And I did the right thing. It turned out to be, in my opinion, a well crafted and well directed film with good acting and a great interpretation of the lead actor which is also the director of this film. I can say that he has a great eye and can frame the scenes in a very engaging way. It's a religious film. I don't really watch that sort of film but I was attracted by the art work. A priest with a gun? Let's check it out. It's a surprising film with a surprising end, something you don't really expect and makes your blood freeze. I watch a few more film from this director Soriquez but this, is by far, his best work. Great musical score. If you are interested in the dilemma between human and celestial, this is a film not to be missed.

This film is a very rare example of a Filipino Independent film done with less than 200,000 USD but with an International appeal and standard of execution. The plot is well engineered and fills the gaps of a screenplay that could have been better. There is great acting in this film, starting from the actor/director Ruben Maria Soriquez that delivers a very good performance and ending with Raymond Bagatsing that gives prove of an uncommon intensity portraying Father Carlos, the head priest of a poor area in Manila. The music is superb, composed by the talented Italian musician Franco Eco as well as the cinematography by the upcoming cinematographer Apollo Anao. The film is full of pathos but not the cheap one found in tons of soap opera in the Philippine TV. It's not declared with tears and screams but subtle and whispered. Thumbs up for this film.

Well crafted independent film. Usually in the Philippines low budget indie are shaky camera, bad photography, not enough character development. This film is different. The camera is steady, sometimes almost too steady where I could have appreciated a good hand held one. The music is exceptional even though sometimes is too "Hans Zimmer like". I would have appreciated a much more minimalist score in some introspective scenes. As far as the content is concerned, I was really touched, as a woman, by how it deals with violence against women. It really makes you hate the"contrabida" (the tagalog word for "antagonist") Polo Ravales for how he treats women. Usually he plays macho and gwapo roles in pinoy movies and TV and I was really impressed seeing him as the bad guy. Regarding Soriquez, director and lead actor, what to say...good job! But if he wants to direct and act as a lead he has to make sure he has really good camera operator and DOP backing him. Just my thoughts....

This movie was made on a low budget in Mandaluyong which is a very poor area in Manila. So the filming cost was low. The acting was very good with great shots. However Raymond Bagatsing was very hard to understand . It was like he was mumbling his lines. To bad as he is a very good actor and speaks American English. Ruben Maria Soriquez directed and stared in this which is not east to do, but he pulled off a great performance. The one thing that was excellent was the music! In general in the Philippines they skimp on the music, but not on this film. Great job!