"Otso" is about Lex (Vince Tanada), a poor young writer struggling to write his first screenplay for Direk Jim (Jun Urbano) using his beat-up old laptop. He uses for inspiration the men and women he meets in his seedy apartment building in Sampaloc, Manila. His main obsession is Sabina (Monique Azerreda, a sexy sensuous lady, who is reportedly a mistress of their local congressman (hence a car with the titular "8" license plate picks her up).
He is friends with the Laong Laan family, with security guard Hans (Jordan Ladra), his sick wife Joy (Cyndi Liper), and their precocious son Brent (the very naturally talented Gabby Bautista). Lex believes that Hans and Sabina are having a torrid love affair behind Joy's back.
There is this mother (Adelle Ibarrientos) with wanton ways, always abandoning her young son (Mark Joseph Garde) to have a good time with her boyfriends. The development of these two seemingly unimportant side characters turns out to be a major theme of the whole film.
There is also his loud-mouth building administrator Annabelle Abdon (Vangie Labalan), who runs the place for the real owner of the building Ms. Alice Lake, who is no other than the esteemed Ms. Anita Linda playing herself!
The story of the film seems simple enough at first glance, later turning up to be more complicated than initially thought. In the end, certain ingeniously revealed details will challenge your conceptions about relationships between the characters. Being a tale of illicit affairs and unrequited love, there is a strong sexual undercurrent, though some of these scenes could be considered gratuitous. Since one of the characters was involved with a congressman, some political commentary was included.
The technical aspects of the film may be more remarkable than the script, some words of which can sometimes be so unnatural to hear, too theatrical to be realistic. The use of striking black-and-white cinematography for the film, as well as those innovative camera angles (as you can see in the trailer), were both remarkable and memorable, as they enhance the dark mood of the piece. I also noted that the English subtitles were written by Ms. Jessica Zafra no less.
The main actors were new to the film medium, coming mainly from an active and progressive theater group called the Philippine Stagers, founded and headed by Atty. Vince Tanada. In such way, the acting of the leads and ensemble, mostly members of the PhilStagers, were noticeably very big for the big screen. Subtlety is not really seen here. Many scenes felt artificial, filled with exaggerated facial expressions and sweeping gestures were acted out like they were for the stage instead of film.
Some scenes were very awkwardly staged, especially those towards the end, as if they were already being rushed to finish. One such scene was the scene where Lex was trying to submit his manuscript to the secretary of Direk Jim. There seems to be no reason why the acting of this secretary should be this annoying and unnecessarily over-the-top. Unfortunately too, the final confrontation scene of Lex and Sabina at the rooftop was not too well executed with shrill, instead of sensitive acting and dialogue.
"Otso" is clearly a film with vision. The time constraint and the limited budget may have affected its overall quality, but I think it is a worthy directorial comeback project for Mr. Elwood Perez.
