In
retrospect, maybe it wasn’t such a bright idea for a major film festival in the
Philippines to allegedly put the fix in against a film co-starring a sitting Filipino
congressman. Nor was it such a hot idea to do Erik Matti dirty, as the
resulting congressional hearings made clear. Matti was already probably the
most important Filipino filmmaker whose films are widely attended by average,
everyday people (as opposed to the Slow Cinema of Lav Diaz, for instance). His
profile only increased with the controversial but legitimately gripping Honor Thy Father (trailer here), which screens
during the 2016 New York Asian Film Festival.
Edgar
is not exactly a Hallelujah kind of guy, but he endures the rather Evangelical
Catholic mega-church preferred by his wife Kaye. As a currently reformed crook,
he can also smell something is wrong with his father-in-law’s investment
scheme, but he holds his tongue on the condition Kaye does not invest their
savings. Of course, she does exactly that, right before the old man turns up
dead and the Ponzi scheme crashes. Rather inconveniently, Kaye is now the public
face of the scam, which leads to tense stand-offs with the angry mob. However,
things really get ugly when their daughter Angel is kidnapped by restitution
seekers.
With
the Church telling them God will provide, Edgar turns to his criminal family,
including his class warrior brother maybe not so ironically played by former
Rep. (now Santa Rosa City Mayor-elect) Dan Fernandez. To satisfy the
politically-connected kidnappers, Edgar needs six million dollars. That is a
lot of cash to find lying around, but he knows the high-handed Bishop Tony is
at the peak of his fund-raising push. Suddenly, things take a caperish turn as
Edgar and his brothers plot to tunnel and blast their way into Bishop Tony’s
coffers.
Matti
sort of returns to the noirish action territory of his international hit On the Job, but he is clearly looking to
score points against some big targets, including the Catholic Church and
Madoff-style financial flimflammery. Yet, to some extent, the business with the
Metro Manila Film Festival partially overshadowed its intended polemics. Still,
it is worth noting Matti never lets anyone off the hook. In general, the film
mostly supports the notion “you can’t cheat an honest man.” Both Edgar and Kaye
recognized there was something fishy about the old man’s pyramid scheme, but
she got greedy and fell for the lure of easy money.
Deliberately
and defiantly playing against type, rom-com heartthrob John Lloyd Cruz does
career best work as the intense, soul-haunted Edgar. He is a monster brooder
closely akin to Arnold Reyes in Graceland.
Sometimes you can actually see wisps of black smoke coming out of his ears. It
is also deeply unsettling to see how thoroughly and convincingly Meryll Soriano’s
Kaye falls to pieces. Young Krystal Brimner is rather heartrending herself as
Angel, perhaps the only “innocent” victim in the film. Conversely, Tirso Cruz
III slimes up the joint as Bishop Tony.