Masahista

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.

Award-winning movie from highly-acclaimed Philippine director Brillante Mendoza. This movie steeled my perception of what indie films look like:a low-budget film with superb acting and a story that touches on some moral and social issues(sometimes controversial). One thing this movie boasts of is the acting even from newcomer Coco Martin. Now on to the story...Although standing-alone it is an eye-opener movie that depicts the plight of masseurs, I thought that some scenes are too overt and sexually explicit yet unnecessary. For the benefit of anyone who has no idea of what I'm talking about, the story's about a masseur(Iliac) who caters to gay clientele. Just some incentive and you'll get something more than a massage. The film only centers on two parts of his life:when his estranged father died and his client for the night.. someone who called himself as Marina. He is a bread-winner therefore he has to strive harder and because money is faster in this field, he succumbed to it. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie and its depth. The movie is beyond the shaky cam or the amount of sensual scenes of this movie. I'm not someone to judge these masseurs but I thought that this movie realistically portrayed them and their situation. What I find as a letdown on this movie as what I mentioned is some scenes that are in my opinion unnecessary and just drags the movie longer without touching on the story and bringing it forward to another level. The movie could do well with lessening some sensual parts that are repetitive and just depicts one point anyway, so might as well just cut some of them and then probably do some other story(a sneak at another masseur's life to get a better glimpse of their situation as a whole, perhaps). Also, there were some scenes that seem very long..like walking that will take around 3 minutes of the movie, or just staring at another one's face that will eat 5 minutes of the movie. Something of that sort. But judging the movie in its entirety, I can say that this film certainly deserved the citations it got.

'The Masseur' draws its power from its composed imagery and simple treatment, but loses some touch with them at some point. The presentation could have been tighter and more cohesive to further promote its own portrait of contradictions and social and political statements. The acting is not too compelling, especially by the supporting cast, likely due to an inexperienced director - it's Brillante Mendoza's debut as a director - not really knowing how to direct talent.

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.

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