That Thing Called Tanga Na! is one of the most confusing films I have ever watched. It isn’t confusing in the sense that the story is complicated. It is that it so loosely conceived that it is hard to imagine what it was that the filmmakers were thinking. It is a movie that is ostensibly trying to convey the message that gay couples exist, and that their struggles are just as valid as anyone else’s. This is a noble conceit, but the film carries that out by making it all look as ridiculous as possible.
The narrator of the film is Shirley (Angeline Quinto), a straight woman that is friends with the four gay main characters. Ron (Eric Quizon) is a wealthy gay man whose young boyfriend seems to be taking advantage of him. Fashion designer CC (Kean Cipriano) wants to marry his model boyfriend, but his boyfriend doesn’t seem to feel the same way. Georgette (Mart Escudero) wants to adopt a child with his boyfriend. And Baldo (Billy Crawford) is forced to confront some uncomfortable situations when his boyfriend suddenly dies.
Every now and then, the film takes a break from its story for interviews with real life same sex couples, like Liza Diño and Aiza Seguerra, or Perci Intalan and Jun Lana. These interviews are pretty sincere, which makes them an odd fit in this film. The movie seems averse to any sort of sincerity, to any emotion that isn’t couched in some sort of irony. All of Ron’s dramatic scenes, for example, are basically references to other dramatic films. They play as parodies, even though there is nothing inherently satirical about just referencing a movie.
A death scene later in the film is marred by the presence of a character that thinks that a flatline is a good thing for some reason. Baldo’s story had the most potential for genuine sentiment, but the film keeps sabotaging it at every turn. The film just doesn’t serve its advocacy very well. It actually verges on being offensive for how ridiculous it makes gay people look. These characters don’t feel like real human beings. They actually feel like a homophobe’s twisted idea of what all gay people are like.
The direction is bipolar. The production values are pretty terrible. All the acting is shrill to the point of being unwatchable. Eric Quizon, Kean Cipriano and Mart Escudero all turn it up to 11, leaving little room for any actual nuance. Billy Crawford gets to show off some emotion, but is again sabotaged at every dramatic moment. Angeline Quinto just isn’t very good in this, though to be fair her character doesn’t really make any sense whatsoever. Her character arc practically takes place off screen, the film more intent on making her look ridiculous than anything else.
That Thing Called Tanga Na! is honestly one of the baffling films I have ever seen. I think the idea to address real issues that the local gay community while still being an outrageous mainstream comedy. I think the film might be trying to be subversive. Except it goes too far in the other way, going so broad and ridiculous that the issues are drowned out. Subversion requires some measure of sophistication, and this film just doesn’t have any. It’s just loud and confused and loosely put together. It is barely a movie, its stories resolving without any real effort from the characters. Even the title doesn’t make sense in context of what the film is actually about. It is a big, confusing mess that really could have used a lot more thinking behind it.
My Rating:
