Though ADAN is a lesbian-themed film, it is not the typical goody-two-shoes and coming-of-age love story but dark, bloody, and sexy.
At first glance, there is this Celso Ad Castillo-feel via the 1984 Virgin People, but it isn’t.
Yam Laranas, the writer and Roman Santillan Perez Jr., the director paints the dynamics of lesbian life and relationship via an erotic-thriller piece.
The two female leads may not possess the celebrity statuses, but their portrayals as two lesbians are effective and affective at the same time. Rhen Escaño is Ellen. Cindy Miranda is Marian. The two female stars play as friends who eventually fall for each other.
Between the two, Escaño stood out in terms of acting. Her subtleness as a confused and jealous lesbian is just perfect. She didn’t overdo it. Miranda managed to shine when she revealed herself naked.
When Ellen got into trouble, Marian rescued her friend. Together they ran away from the secret they both forged. Amid a forest, both chose to live a normal couple life.
But one day, their solitude was rocked by a piece of bad news. A secret haunts them. Despite Marian’s best efforts in cleaning up the mess, tEllen is too self-centered, and jealousy got the better of her.
That’s when the conflict began.
Adan has a simple plot, but its complexity lies in the two lesbians as captured by the lens of Perez. To some audience, the two characters may have been hyper-sexualized, but still done tastefully. The use of mussels (tahong) in a scene is a symbol of it as an aphrodisiac. Very witty and not intrusive. The fight scenes are equally engaging as the sex scenes.
It defied some lesbian-themed films in the past, the likes of T-Bird at Ako, Rome and Juliet, Baka Bukas, and Billie and Emma Still showing in cinemas, catch it!
