Behind Closed Doors
posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 in Movie Reviews
The title “Ang Beerhouse” will probably deter many a filmgoer from seeing this film, those two words already evoking the image of a certain kind of film only seen by a certain kind of audience. But don’t be so hasty to dismiss this film as exploitative detritus. There’s a lot more thought going on behind this title, a true cleverness that’s rarely seen among the independent films of today. It will be easy to notice the flaws of Ang Beerhouse, but it’s just as easy to fall in love with its strengths.
Noynoy (Ryan Eigenmann) has spent much of his life peeping through the window of the Red Light Beerhouse, catching glimpses of the fantasy world within. He is in love with a dancer named Jewel (Gwen Garci), and dreams of going in there and taking her away someday. It’s difficult to do that, though, since his only source of income is selling isaw across the street from the beerhouse. Along with best friend, though, he saves up the money to go in and have a night of dream fulfilling bliss. But instead of being able to move on, Noynoy becomes even more obsessed with the beerhouse, and gets involved in its deepest workings, his life being placed in danger as plots to escape with Jewel.
The first thing to make clear is that despite having some nudity, this isn’t a sex movie, nor is it a film that purports to reveal the shocking truth behind beerhouses. In its very first scene, the movie gives a postmodern wink at its audience as the two main characters describe every Filipino movie trope, as if to declare that the following story will move away from all that. It doesn’t completely accomplish that, but there are certainly moments that fully subvert these clichés. Despite its seedy settings, the movie is actually a romance, one that’s perfectly happy to let its characters live in fantasy worlds that defy the movie’s setting. It’s a world and love and perseverance doesn’t quite conquer all, but they sure do make it easier to be happy. What makes Ang Beerhouse so notable is unlike other movies that uses its setting, it actually allows its characters to have some hope and levity. Though the narrative is definitely a little loose, its characters are solid, many of the lines are actually funny, and it never takes itself too seriously. In this age of self-aggrandizing poverty films, a self-deprecating approach is kind of refreshing.
The production’s limitations are obvious. The beerhouse itself appears to be just a house located inside a subdivision. The apartment they found for the two main characters doesn’t really look appropriate for their supposed income. And the interior of the beerhouse itself just isn’t very convincing, missing many of the accoutrements related to those places. On the other hand, the camera work is solid, and though the music is a tad overbearing, the songs are actually really well chosen.
The performances are wonderfully reined in. Ryan Eigenmann has a great passive intensity that makes his delivery both relaxed and powerful. Eigenmann doesn’t look like an everyman, but his delivery sells it. Jeffrey Quizon can be quite the handful on screen, but here he tones it down enough to provide for a couple of tender moments. In previous roles, Gwen Garci has mostly yelled all her lines out. Now, with the help of acting coach Irma Adlawan, she appears to have learned to really build a character.
Ang Beerhouse is a really strange film, but strange in a mostly good way. It can certainly stand to be a little tighter, but a real cleverness and subversion to this picture that’s rarely seen in this era of completely obvious, visually driven diatribes about the evils of Philippine society and whatnot. The production isn’t the slickest either, but in a way, that only draws the eye towards the film’s smartest moments, where stray observations give depth to the sparse surroundings.
My Rating:
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