Segunda Mano

The Metro Manila Film Festival kicked off last December 25 and sadly, I was in Aklan and I was not able to give out first hand reviews of the movies shown in the Festival. All I have is twitter to update me on how good the movies were and by the likes of it, Segunda Mano has been trending my timeline with retweets from Ms. Kris Aquino herself with the praises from the moviegoers who have seen the movie. This was enough to build up a hype that the movie is good and yes, it was a great strategy - it hurled me into the cinema where Segunda Mano was shown.

This is my first acquaintance with Joyce Bernal doing a horror movie and I am very prepared to scrunitize her way of directing a movie by a director known to make good romance-comedies in the past decade. One thing crossed in my mind while watching it: I could not help to compare the film with The Road and they do not measure up with the same level - Segunda Mano fell short in various aspects.

One of my complaints with the film is that it was poorly written. The whole 2 hours was spent in misconstrued numbers of scenes that does not even add up to the plot. I hate how horror movies nowadays are made with startling scenes from a cat, a hand, from someone who just walked through the frame and occasional appearance in the window panes. This gimmick has got to stop. Learn from The Road when good cinematography, acting and direction meets halfway to tell a good story.

The story and the plot also has flaws. While the screenwriters are busy finding ways to startle the crowd, they missed to leave points for their twist at the end. Twists are good but that does not make the entirety of the movie to be great. I can still recall "The Sixth Sense" on how effective it was able to leave obvious hints during the movie however leaves the audience still amazed on how they dismissed those hints which actually plays a vital role in the whole plot. In Segunda Mano, the twist is hurriedly written and that it does not have a good foundation. It seems that the idea for the twist was just at the spur of the moment while they were making the movie.

I commend Dingdong Dantes' performance as the psychotic (ooops! Spoiler) boyfriend of Kris. He reminds me of Richard Guttierez's performance in a Maricel Soriano movie back in the 90's where Richard plays the psychotic killer. Bangs Garcia provides a comic relief and has been well received by the audience. Angelica Panganiban may have very little screen time but she made it sure that she shi Kris Aquino, on the other hand, remains her usual acting performance ever since she was nominated for Mano Po for Best Supporting Actress - tired and weary. It is utterly unconvincing to see Kris play a role as the introvert type. However, I give credit to Kris for the effort of controlling her usual tactless persona - that may be acting but it is painful to watch.

Cinematography-wise, Bb. Joyce Bernal tried various attempts for good cinematography and she succeeded somehow on the mirror approach, however, there might be more than that and I know she can deliver more.

Segunda Mano may have hyped everyone. Dingdong Dantes may have bagged the award for Best Actor this MMFF but Kris Aquino, as @krisaquinoSTD may put it into her tweets bagged the Best in Retweet awards for the most number of retweets that may caused me and some of the other people to join in the hype.


GRADE: C+

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