Film Review: Ang Babae sa Septic Tank* (Rivera, 2011)

It is a film bound to come at one point or another, and surely there will be more. It opens with a depressing view of the slums, of a young girl taking a shit, of a boy walking through tight poverty-stricken alleys with the camera following behind, reminding us of scenes from Jeturian’s Kubrador and Mendoza’s Tirador. This scene of the young boy walking, and of her mother feeding one pack of noodles to her children, we have seen all these before, and this is exactly the point of Marlon Rivera’s Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, winner of Best Film (New Breed) in the recently-concluded Cinemalaya Awards Night.

Poverty. Director Rainier (Kean Cipriano) and Producer Bingbong (JM De Guzman) are planning to make an indie film. About poverty, of all topics. And they claim that their script, entitled “Walang Wala,” would win awards overseas. It just so happens that Eugene Domingo herself has expressed interest in the script, and thus begins a series of verbal feuds as to how the movie-within-the-movie should be done.

The film is funny; too funny it can kill someone. The real core of its humor, however, lies in its mockery of indie films and of the actress herself, with those unfamiliar with the genres only laughing at the insubstantial parts. Eugene Domingo steps up her game by portraying Mila in different versions of Walang Wala, one done in a realistic silent manner, the other a musical, the third a melodrama complete with shameless product placements and the common slide-down-against-the-wall-while-crying scenes. She truly proves that she is indeed one of the most talented and versatile actresses in the industry that it is almost redundant for film reviews to praise her in whatever movie she stars on. Kean Cipriano and JM De Guzman, on the other hand, definitely know how to exchange dialogue, their timing being impeccable. Cai Cortez, who plays the production manager, has the hardest task of doing nothing at all. The film, possibly self-conscious of its weaknesses, is completely aware of this fact, and the ever-reliable writer Chris Martinez plays with Cai’s uselessness as a commentary to the countless bystander-type characters dominant in most films nowadays.

The variations of Walang Wala with Eugene doing a mockery of the indie genre provide the funniest moments. These scenes are indeed important to the entire movie, as without them one would find that there is absolutely nothing special with the main plot at all. Rainier and Bingbong’s moments, no matter how well-executed, only provide us with a lot of squabble between the two. This is redeemed later on by their first meeting with Eugene Domingo herself, a scene that displays promising conflicts among characters, but does not ultimately deliver in the end. Nevertheless, with the way it ridicules the movie industry and with the presence of its pessimistic ending that treats poor people as car-stealing folks, the film deserves controversy. It asks for it. It has a lot to say regarding the current state of Filipino independent films that it would be no wonder if incoming directors would learn something from it.

At the end of the day, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank is nothing more but an hour-and-a-half-long execution of style and ideas with concrete narrative sacrificed in the process. Depending on how one looks at it, this might not necessarily be a bad thing. It is still a tremendously funny Filipino film, and like Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, Babae seems to have thrown away any concerns of plot in order to accomplish an objective, in its case, to mock the very things that define its entirety. Not to worry, as Eugene Domingo’s would-be iconic septic tank scene is surely enough to get your money’s worth.

* In theaters on August 3, 2011.