San Lazaro

San Lazaro

Review: 'San Lazaro' (2011)

In the occult film San Lazaro, the demons taking over its characters are only internal and untapped; one apparently does not need a soul-consuming entity in order to meet his fallout. Wincy Aquino Ong understands this much, yet as the film director he does not count on terror, than so much — as the lead actor — on tiny fissures of humanity.

Make no mistake, though: it assumes the form of a full-on cult horror-comedy film and properly latches on its innate madness; there is something particularly eerie about it however that compels critic Oggs Cruz to line it up in a ‘classroom’ with the works of Lav Diaz, Brilliante Mendoza and Raya Martin. It is the “unnoticeable weirdo,” the critic notes, which by all means is true.

In entire effect, San Lazaro is a euphoria distinct of its own; it is relentlessly bizarre (and sometimes just too much so), but no less bracing.

Its presentation is as straightforward as its plot: two batch-mates reunite on a trip to the secluded town of San Lazaro where, lives the famed Singing Exorcist (Allan Forte). Yet, the film decides not to conform to any trope or convention. It is, technically, a film of possessive evil, but it is also about humane faults as much as it is about the occult. It does not take form of a road movie without peering closely at the deepening psyches of men in their curious individual crises. The devil in the film is literally and figuratively on these men’s individual and collective carriage.

Latter comes at one tenth price of the former. free cialis without prescription Surgical removal of varicose vein in the scrotum. mastercard generic viagra Men with erectile failure lose http://appalachianmagazine.com/viagra-1395 viagra ordination confidence in sex life, their sexual desire vanishes and they hardly dare to approach a woman. order generic viagra http://appalachianmagazine.com/2015/11/19/colorado-official-unaware-west-virginia-was-a-state-1/ If you avoid sex then your life will become less spicy and boredom will become common place. When the film flashes back to their pasts, it gives them an immediate sense of depth. Lemuel, for instance, feels unhappy with his marriage; Siegfried is at all uncertain on which career to pursue – they are portrayed with a sense of wicked breeziness by Ramon Bautista and Ong, respectively. For the latter, his crisis is much more economical than it is existential, which will hold true for many. Though his romantic arc with an exponentially bipolar Bianca King will argue otherwise, the sense of ‘need’ wins over than that of ‘want’ here.

Nicco Manalo’s scorned husband strings together in an orderly fashion the then tangled narrative arcs, pulling off a particularly impressive portrayal. All wicked fun is the film; and woven in relentless illogic, San Lazaro winds through its runtime odd enough so that the audience is kept invested and ultimately feels by least serviced.

Review: 'San Lazaro' (2011)
Ramon Bautista and Wincy Aquino Ong in ‘San Lazaro’ (2011)

 

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