Dagitab grips a sort of strange premise at the start; this is basically about a struggling marriage between two college professors who eventually realized that they never got satisfied at the choices they made in the past. This particular story leads to a couple of unlikely moments which involves a scandal and an encounter of a supernatural being. While these sequences are meant to give a compelling shock, the film doesn't let them take over the overall story and sticks to the larger meat that takes place in their simple but gloomy lives. There are still some moments that are inevitably questionable, but then this is what these types of movies are supposed to be. The rest of it all, stellar performances and graceful direction is what makes it all engrossing.
The story focuses on a married couple who are living in a midlife crisis, in which their relationship weren't able to grow enough because one of them has been working on a long time research while the other was just waiting for it to be over. The movie doesn't only go straightly as a drama, in its first hour the plot goes through a sense that resembles to a morality tale and a mind-perplexing thriller, potentially tries to give some high concept weirdness in this small story. The sudden encounter with the research might expect something bigger and turn everything into a symbolism, but after those odd scenes, the film returns to the actual theme and makes sure it doesn't leave it. The scandal in the other hand is nothing more than another affair that adds more tension and consequence to the story. In the end, it was never about the scandal or the research, it is just about the couple who needs to continue living after creating a long journey milestone.
The film just lets the two be themselves, either expressing their regrets, or considering to stay together or finally give up. This wasn't probably what the intriguing opening scene indicates, but it was rather fulfilling anyway. The direction is obviously calm, letting every single scene breathe and express whatever they have to express. Lead actors of the film, Eula Valdes and Nonie Buencamino, remarkably gives the characters their modest connections, while hiding their inner insanity and often shows their brooding.
Although it begins with a maggot infested corpse or have a bizarre scene involving a ghost, it is still one quiet, almost a love story that comes really close to reality without any shouting, and pours more on what they honestly feel in their complicated situation. Dagitab perfectly lingers in whatever is happening and there it becomes even more thought-provoking and totally heartfelt. There are still some strange parts that has been left mysterious, but does it even matter, the film has already succeed in its much wonderful commitment.
