Yap’s 9th feature film is stricken with plot problems and unnecessary elements, but it feels triumphant in delivering doses of dark humor that should produce laughs in audiences.
VIVA FILMS | Vincentiments
Actors: Janno Gibbs, Maui Taylor, Rose Van Ginkel
Genre: Sexy comedy
Premise: a lesbian couple seeks the help of their male friend to somehow cure their seven-year itch
Director: Darryl Yap
Watch it on: Vivamax
Why You Should See It:
In the opening credits of this new Vivamax-released film, the intention is to let people know that Darryl Yap is the pandemic’s most in-demand filmmaker, and is well-carried out in its declaration that 69+1 is his 9th full-length film.
A number of those films made it to headlines this year, with some able to set social media in chaos and heated debates. Known for his unconventional style of comedy and the mostly ‘taboo’ topics his films cover,
Yap seems unstoppable as he alone, directed at least 1/7 of the films so far released, since the beginning of the year. His most recent title is last month’s Revirginized, which starred Sharon Cuneta.
In ’69+1′, Yap is again delving into yet another ‘taboo’. Ivy and Patricia, the lesbian couple played by Maui Taylor and Rose Van Ginkel respectively, are about to celebrate their seventh anniversary. They are subscribed to the belief that gay couples naturally break apart or go through rocky circumstances during their seventh year. A man is thereby needed to come between them and engage in a sort of a three-way polyamorous relationship. That man would be Janno Gibbs’ character, Apol.
The film tries to shed light on such kind of relationship, and it does so through a variety of means. There’s a music video, a dance prod a la Bollywood (minus the visual grandeur, of course), and a number of hilarious scenes. There are problems with the execution of these scenes, however, as most of them actually just feel unnecessary and can be readily omitted from the entirety of the film. That said, 69+1’s script has chronic problems, that remain unresolved until the end of the film.
There are steamy scenes here that create glorious visual feasts. Masculine audiences would surely have their eyeballs fall off their sockets over that one gorgeously shot scene of Taylor and Van Ginkel. Gibbs, for the most part, works as an effective comic aid, but his insertion into these scenes makes him a useless presence.
Overall, 69+1 feels like a better movie without a number of unnecessarily inserted scenes. Like most of Yap’s features, the film could have been a potent avenue to debunk a few misconceptions on its subject matter. But here, the efforts are mainly futile. That said, some glitters of gold can still be found in this mess. I watched this with my sister and she sure laughed as the hill on some scenes of the film, proving that some viewers just really want to have a good laugh when watching this kind of stuff. Laughter. Ah, it’s something that Yap movies usually provide.
5 – Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
69+1 is now exclusively streaming on Vivamax. Watch the full trailer of the film, below:
