Monday, May 3, 2010

Marino (Call of the Sea)


Rico Barrera, Raymond Cabral

Oh, to have a shipful of hunks and have them do… nothing. In this quasi-tribute to Filipino seamen, the biggest conflict happens between one worker (Allen Dizon) and the chef (Victor Basa) – regarding the quality of the food! How exciting! Meanwhile, the manual labor that happens on the tanker is a blur. The gay subplot tickles the imagination with an exchange of erotic glances (between Rico Barrera and Raymond Cabral), before their story evaporates from view. Emilio Garcia is sick, so we know where that is going.

Too much time is devoted to the situation back at the hometown, with a dead father-in-law, a housewife who may or may not succumb to an affair with a tricycle driver (Marco Alcaraz), and a brother failing his exams in maritime college (Mike Tan). It sounds like a busy film, but everything is so mild, nothing moves. Writer-Director Paul Sta. Ana fumbles with themes of fidelity and distance, but forgets that in order to dignify the seamen, they should be interesting first.

GRADE: C-

Related Links:
Men of Marino Photos
Marino Poster, Synopsis, Trailer
Music Video on YouTube
Negative Review by Make Me Blush

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too bad. I wanted to see this film. I loved the setting.