Yet another promo using the voice of the late legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, quoting his book, The Pale Blue Dot. I just wish this film would justify using Carl again for legitimacy.
The day starts like any other. From Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow comes A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE.
Starring Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke. In select theaters October 3 in the UK, globally October 10 and on Netflix October 24.
A famous movie once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” I would have preferred receiving a box of chocolates over this, but this drama from Java Indonesia, locally released as Traditional Kamasutra Teacher (International title: Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra), definitely served a mountain of surprises.
Don’t let the title fool you. One would immediately suspect a sticky show about sensuality education, or maybe a story about a book illustrator and a nude model. I was suspecting something of the former at the start of the press screening. Was I in for a wild ride.
In the beautiful province of Java, Indonesia, it was customary for the groom’s family to hire the services of a gowok to teach household and sexuality to the boy before marriage. It’s like an early bachelor’s party, but more religious ritual.
The family of Kamanjaya (the young Kamanjaya played by Devano Danendra, the older played by Reza Rahadian) arranges for the services of the local gowok Santi (Lola Amaria). On the morning of the presentation, the young Kamanjaya instantly takes note of the enchanting Ratri (Raihaanun) – Santi’s servant and gowok apprentice. A secret romance would bloom between noble and servant, despite Santi performing the ritual that bound her to the boy.
The first half hour was an endless exposition of rituals that I thought were going to bore me to death. To be fair, explaining where and how the gowok custom began, and the introduction to a few Javanese traditions were all interesting if slightly encyclopaedic. All the info dumps were welcome to a point.
Having completed his transition to adulthood, Kamanjaya is sent to the provincial capital and married off to the provincial princess, to Ratri’s devastation. Betrayed, Ratri throws her energy into becoming the best gowok successor to Santi, and at the same time, involves herself with the emerging women’s movement brought into Java by the communist Chinese. I didn’t know this film was about female empowerment, I told myself. Again, I was wrong. I should keep checking myself for giving things too much credit too soon.
Fast forward more than ten years, and the royal family descends into their little town to seek the services of the legendary gowok for the ritual manhood of the young prince, Bagas (Ali Fikry.) Out of spite for Kamanjaya, Ratri agrees to be the gowok of Kamanjaya’s son. In a private conversation, Ratri confronts Kamanjaya, but nothing is resolved between them. Worse, she casts a love spell on the young boy. The boy is smitten, to the point of violence. Thus, Santi says, the curse of the gowok continues.
It’s at this point that the film takes the mantle of Shakespearean opera away and goes full-blown Bollywood-meets-Greek-tragedy (minus song and dance). Before the screening, I was suspecting a less violent but equally sleazy Jan Dara (2001), but it turns out Gowok was as narratively violent but without the sleaze. So I was only off by half.
Like a roller coaster ride that has lost its brakes, Traditional Kamasutra Teacher made so many twists and turns that the audience in my screening began to laugh. More to its silliness and propensity towards the absurd, but after some time, the laughter was definitely because we were enjoying the ride, with all due respect to the filmmakers.
You see, the film was shot gorgeously – the tropical, lush Java landscape captured stunningly by cinematography and production design. The actors clearly gave it their all, especially Raihaanun. It’s a story that Filipinos can easily recognize: rich boy, poor girl, bad family karma. What was enjoyable was the melodrama that could have been a Pinoy film from the golden age of the 1980s – shouting matches, slaps and counter-slaps, adopted children, jealousy, revenge, over-the-top orchestral music, dictatorship, death and machetes – everything including the kitchen sink.
The film overpowers with its melodrama, that it was impossible not to succumb to its camp. I mean this as a compliment. It’s like a full season of twisted Pinoy teleserye in one movie sitting. I totally did not expect this to go batshit “reveal the missing diary stashed behind the ref” level (that’s a Pinoy soap reference). So crazy fun.
And so Traditional Kamasutra Teacher became an R-rated tropical Romeo and Juliet-turned full season of Days of Our-Lives set in the tumult of Martial Law Java. How’s that for a pitch?
Traditional Kamasutra Teacher shows exclusively in Ayala Malls Cinemas on September 3, 2025, as the first title under the new “A-REEL ASIA: Stories from the Heart of the East” program of Ayala Malls Cinemas.
Traditional Kamasutra Teacher (AKA Gowok) Exit reaction:
Don’t let the title fool you.
At some point, the film overpowers with its melodrama that it is impossible not to succumb to its camp. I mean this as a compliment. It’s like a full season of twisted pinoy teleserye in one movie sitting. I totally did not expect this to go batshit “ilabas ang nawawalang diary sa likod ng ref” level. So crazy fun.
Exclusively screening in Ayala Malls cinemas beginning Sept 3.
Darren Aronofsky’s attempt at being unserious is just fun enough for a bloody wild misadventure, but leaves a mildly dour aftertaste. Thank goodness it has all Austin Butler super beefcake power.
Review next week, closer to the local release date.
In cinemas Sept 10 from Columbia Pictures Philippines
Further thoughts on Kpop Demon Hunters, once more.
I’m more interested in the eventual deal between Sony Animation and Netflix for the expected sequel and other content. Neither of them thought this would spawn a huge IP, and so Sony sold it to Netflix for a pittance just to get something after developing it for almost a decade. Now that Netflix is forced to hire the same team (unless they want to risk backlash), which will now ask for higher pay and maybe a sign-up bonus to compensate for the measly amount they got in the first place.
Netflix will need that sing-along box office cash to pay for the eventual sequel with Sony Animation.
As for the awards season – again, not sure if Netflix is paying attention. KDH is already a lock for the Oscar, against Demon Slayer (Japan), NeZha 2 (China) and Zootopia 2. (Elio? Will Disney dare?) But if you ask me, KDH has a shot for original screenplay.
If the Globes will nominate Sinners in Drama, KDH should join Wicked 2 in Comedy & Musical. If that happens, KDH should then appear as the 10th BP nominee (or maybe under the best boxoffice category) at the Oscars.
I hope Netflix grabs the opportunity to flex its content. Can anyone please take it seriously now?
Reviewing “Starfleet” the documentary, as a film in the 24th century (AKA Strange New Worlds S3E7):
Media crewman Beto Ortegas (Mynor Luken) presents an in-universe documentary that seeks to define what Starfleet is from the point of view of the main officers of the crew of Starfleet’s flagship, the Enterprise.
Narratively uneven, dishonest, and obsessed with form. After going about following officers in their stations and quarters and interrogating them, the docu makes this haphazard definition of what Starfleet is about. No portion from the regular ensigns, the brutes in the lower decks, the admins from HQ who send commands from shareholder boardrooms.
I mean, its coverage is amazing, that it has a camera angle for every line of dialogue. I wondered, as a filmmaker, how the documentarist was able to have his ONE drone instantly fly and find an angle for cut-to-cut multiple conversations. Also hate it when the documentarist tries to take center of attention.
AS AN EPISODE, I hate the excessive cutting for the effect.
That said, Strange New Worlds S3E7 is relevant to the times, and is symbolic that it is told from the POV of youth.
The Life of Chuck unravels the ghosts of a life past as the dying brain cells of a man blast off the remaining shells of his memories. It’s a feel-good version of Scrooge – but I wasn’t totally buying it.
Director Mike Flanagan adapts a Stephen King short story of everyday man Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), whose cancer-ridden brain revisits his life and the people that populated his universe in three chapters in the last moments of his terminal illness.
The first chapter is at the end of Chuck’s life, shown as the people from his town grapple with the sudden collapse of the universe. Marty Anderson’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) literature class is interrupted by news that a mega quake has broken off California. As Marty goes about his mundane business to regain a level of normalcy, he encounters a range of random people from the town who are also trying to come to terms with the end of the world, all the while reminded by advertisements and signs everywhere to “thank Chuck for 39 wonderful years.” At the end of this chapter, the universe, therefore Chuck’s brain, blinks.
The second chapter is nine months before his end, revisiting that time when accountant Charles Krantz (Hiddleston) spontaneously danced in the middle of a town square with Janice Halliday (Annalise Basso) as a busking drummer (The Pocket Queen) banged on her drums one random afternoon. The dance is freewheeling, unremarkable but effervescent, earning the applause of the small crowd that had gathered around them. In fairness to the choreography, the dance looks natural and unrehearsed, even though Hiddleston doesn’t look natural at dancing at all. The busker invites the two for another gig afterwards, but Chuck declines. He still has another panel at the bank convention to attend to the following day. But Chuck will remember the brief, quiet walk with Janice before they parted ways.
The final chapter is about Chuck’s youth, being raised by his grandparents, Albie (Mark Hamill) and Sarah (Mia Sara), after young Chuck’s (Cody Flanagan) parents died from an accident. Sarah introduced Chuck to music and dancing (which eventually became his obsession) while Albie introduced the young man to the magic of numbers. And to avoid the ghosts in the attic (or more precisely, the top floor cupola). The dance would eventually introduce Chuck to his first crush, while Ms. Richards (Kate Siegel) would introduce him to “I contain multitudes” from poet Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself.
Throughout these chapters, The Life of Chuck quotes legendary astronomer Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar, which explained that if the universe had been a calendar, humans would have appeared in the last minute of the last hour of December 31st. The film takes this profundity seriously, as it is repeated several times through characters, through the background, or through the deep, grounded voice narration of Nick Offerman. The movie says that this poetry in the mathematics of the universe is an astounding irony of the rarity of human beings in the cosmos, and by extension, how precious our time together in this tiny blip in space. But several times (bordering on a multitude) is literally overstating it.
For the most part, the film is heartfelt and earnest, with the final act traversing Chuck’s emotional journey in a nutshell. Indeed, the best part of the film is the last, featuring young Flanagan. The middle part feels superfluous and forgettable, but of course, it could not have been the story of a 39-year-old had the film skipped showing some of Chuck’s multitudes from that age milestone. I’m not sure if it would have been better with or without Hiddleston’s dancing. Flanagan’s eye for horror imagery can be seen in moments when he isolates his characters in darkness. Overall, everything is warm and colorful.
Stephen King isn’t new to telling stories that affirm the goodness in life. The Shawshank Redemption is one of his most popular shorts and is also one of the most popular films that Hollywood has ever made. In fact, some of the most highly regarded films of all time have similar or related philosophies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Boyhood, Big Fish, and The Bucket List. The all celebrate life long or short, no matter the circumstance. In a way, seeing the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Optimism as Hollywood can ever present it. Thematically, it is the opposite of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which suggests that true fulfilment comes with embracing the realities of life.
You see, The Life of Chuck left me confused about how the movie wanted me to feel – whether it was supposed to evoke happiness, inspiration, or fear – themes similarly present in Stephen King’s works. But it’s a cheat. The movie cheats the audience into thinking that it’s life-affirming, but the actual ending is quite cynical. The movie ends just as Chuck’s life is beginning. But it starts within the fantasy of Chuck’s end – an uneventful end for the short life that Chuck should be thankful for.
Maybe I see the world half-empty, and Mike Flanagan (and Stephen King, and by further extension Hollywood) would like audiences to see a world half-full. But I can’t tell the starving children of Gaza or Sudan to be thankful for the very short lives that others have taken from them. The film and its message could have been good at a different time. But at this point in history, it is a privilege to be able to cuddle in a cold, dark cinema and take life lessons from Chuck to count the multitudes in our lives.
Again, maybe you see the world half-full, so you do you.
The Life of Chuck was adapted from a short story in Stephen King’s “If It Bleeds” collection. Mike Flanagan directs.
The Life of Chuck is now in theaters, exclusively screening at Ayala Malls Cinemas starting August 20 in the Philippines.
Not bad for a stubborn old fool. Old IP gets resurrected for the woke-era audience, and the result is a hilarious slapstick that can reshape an action icon into a lead comedic actor. Well, maybe if there’s a sequel.
Action legend Liam Neeson, the actor taken to (get it, Taken? Lol) beating up bad guys with the butt of his gun, and who is also remembered as the Schindler who made The List stars as the new version of police detective Frank Drebin in the 2025 revival of the 1988 slapstick classic The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Frank Drebin isn’t a household name, let’s be real. He isn’t today and hasn’t been one since the late 80s – early 1990s. But that’s okay, because it looks like Frank Drebin Junior can make a name for himself today, and papa Drebin can be proud of him.
Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
After single-handedly busting a bank robbery in a schoolgirl’s uniform, detective Frank Drebin (Neeson) and his partner Ed Hocken Jr (Paul Walter Hauser) of the Los Angeles Police Squad investigate the mysterious death of an IT professional. Initially pinning the death as a suicide, the victim’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), visits Drebin at the police station to claim that the death is not a suicide.
Paul Walter Hauser plays Ed Hocken Jr. and Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. in the Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.Pamela Anderson plays Beth Davenport in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
Beth suggests that her brother’s death is linked to his work for tech billionaire Richard Cane (Danny Huston), who is shown to be the mastermind behind the bank robbery earlier in the film. Sparks don’t fly but there’s a defnite tension between the two. Wait, is this a rom-com?
As the investigation progresses, Frank and Beth uncover a sinister plot by Cane and his cabal of billionaire villains. Having been suspended by the Squad for insubordination, Frank, Ed, and Beth try to stop Cane before mayhem engulfs the city.
The story is a simple police procedural parody, but what sells is the perfect casting of Neeson and his deadpan delivery of inappropriate one-liners, word misuse, and gaffes. We know from his previous works (such as The A-Team, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Lego Movie, and Men in Black: International) that Neeson can do comedy for real, but this is his first outing as a comedy lead. Nobody could have done it better, and nobody of his calibre could have been cast in his stead (who else has that gravitas and demeanor and fits the action persona? Denzel? Keanu? The movie would definitely have been different.)
Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. and Pamela Anderson plays Beth Davenport in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. and Pamela Anderson plays Beth Davenport in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
Danny Huston plays Richard Cane in The Naked Gun from Paramount Pictures.
Kudos mainly to the scripting and direction by Akiva Schaffer that ensured mile-a-minute delivery of goofy gags, puns, and slapstick reminiscent of the original films that were the hallmark of Leslie Nielsen and director David Zucker.
But the original series starring Leslie Nielsen was a product of its time. Its humor was racist, inappropriate, bigoted, misogynistic, Islamophobic, and everything else politically incorrect. Even with parody and satire cards, these jokes won’t fly today as easily as they did before.
What’s amazing is how the new version had almost none of these red flag jokes but kept the gags, slapstick, and deadpan humor of the cult classic intact. New jokes in the same style. I suspect that the makers were unsure this would work 100% before the film premiered, but judging by its first weekend boxoffice that it did. I lol’d and I lol’d, it was almost therapeutic.
The biggest laugh that had the cinema roaring was a dream sequence involving a snowman. This was barely shown in the trailer. It’s probably a statement when a comedy doesn’t show its funniest parts in the trailer. Part of this effective joke is the (almost too-real?) on-screen chemistry between Neeson and Anderson. With rumors flying around that the romance has developed in real life, seeing their interactions onscreen only adds to the humor, or art imitating life. In one scene, Frank muses on how he has set aside romance after being hurt before, as if the real Neeson is speaking of his real-life experience losing his wife, Natasha Richardson in an accident.
There’s a slight catch for the Filipino audience, though. Admittedly, the high-speed play with words and gags may fly over the heads of regular Filipinos who don’t speak English as a second language. Fluency isn’t the issue, but familiarity with playing with words. This comedy is best appreciated by those accustomed to US American blunt jokes and sarcasm, often intended to be literal. It is like watching your dear grandpa embarrass themself in public nonstop – it’s cute, it’s uncomfortable, sometimes frustrating – and that’s the joke. It shouldn’t be happening, but it is, and (sadly) sometimes in the real world, too. That’s why it’s funny. It may not be for everyone, but for me, easily the most laughs I’ve had from a movie this year.
The Naked Gun can stand on its own as the funniest film of the year (references to the original NOT crucial.) Can we now ship PamLiam, please? We urgently need a sequel.
The Naked Gun is in Philippine cinemas August 13, 2025, from Paramount Pictures Ph.
Bring Her Back should come with a trigger warning. It’s actually quite the sad psychological tale about obsession, abuse, and trauma. And love. It is about love, both the kind and the cruel types. That just happened to be wrapped in skin upon skin of the supernatural and toe-curling body horror.
So even if I say that it’s more of a sad story than a horror one, it doesn’t mean that it’s safe to see this all by yourself at night, even with the lights on. You’ll be pulling that blanket over your head and calling out for your mama.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD, BE WARNED.
SPOILER WARNING AGAIN. Proceed with caution.
Within minutes after the opening credits, the film would have already established this special, tender bond between teen siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong). Seventeen-year-old Andy has been taking care of his younger, partially blind stepsister Piper ever since they found their father dead in an accident at the home. Andy would be applying for full guardianship of Piper in a few months when he turns eighteen. In the meantime, Social Services have sent the siblings to Laura (Sally Hawkins), a former counsellor who was already fostering a mute boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).
Andy is uneasy at Laura’s home, while Piper seems to adjust quite well, and we get to see why right away. As soon as the siblings set foot in her house, Laura has “red flags” written all over her deceitful face. Her fragile frame belies a cruel plan to turn the siblings against each other with the ultimate goal of keeping only Piper. Doesn’t care for Andy at all. But Laura is on a deadline.
Hold on. I forgot to mention that the film opens with bloody scenes of a creepy, occultish ritual that has been recorded on tape.
Behind closed doors, Laura would watch this tape repeatedly. By day, Laura goes through the motions of taking care of the siblings. Andy would be gaslit, and Piper would be doted upon. All the while, Oliver would be coming and going around them like a zombie with a lingering hunger that Laura wasn’t addressing upfront.
Sally Hawkins’ Laura is a creeping menace – a lying, manipulative, psychopathic monster hidden behind a friendly smile that makes your skin crawl and wish that you could shout to Andy that she has demonic plans to unalive them siblings. Hawkins – stuttering and all – is that good in this film.
Australian directing brothers Danny and Michael Phillipou made sure that the audience would care for the siblings (and to a degree, Oliver, too) for this movie to work. The film takes its time to establish the bond between the two. Barratt and Wong were so good as the siblings. It was stressful to watch them get manipulated by Laura, and heartbreaking as they eventually detached because of Laura. Barratt won an International Emmy for his performance in the 2019 drama Responsible Child at age 13, so he’s being consistent with his craft here. Wong, however, is a revelation as this is her first acting job.
But also, like their previous hit Talk To Me, the directors balance character journeys with building up the tension. We get to see who the siblings are, why Andy behaves that way, why Oliver behaves that way, and ultimately why Laura does what she does in the film. As I have mentioned, BHB is a story of love – the kind and the cruel types sometimes at the same time – that leads to deadly consequences. I don’t think the filmmakers were trying to make a blanket statement about how adults have made a cruel world for children. There are at least two adult characters who are shown to help the younger characters, making it clear that Laura exhibits the deviant behavior here, not the kids or the other adults. Just her and her twisted faith. It’s not that cynical of a movie. The story may not be groundbreaking nor unforgettably unique, but the performances are definitely remarkable.
In the end, we are left with an emotionally devastating tragedy of how sometimes (or is it often?) adults fail children. Plus one very shattering scene that is sure to get the screams out of you.
Bring Her Back is simply one of the best films I have enjoyed this year. Easily one of my favorites of the year so far. Granted, I haven’t seen that many. But still, I applaud much.
Bring Her Back is in cinemas now.
Trailer link and images courtesy of Columbia Pictures Philippines.
acid reflects 