Darryl Yap’s 11th full-length feature largely fails in its attempt to shed light upon socially relevant themes such as ‘catfishing.’
VIVA FILMS
Actors: Kit Thompson, Lassy Marquez, Ariella Arida, Marion Aunor, Bob Jbeili, Tart Carlos, Dan Carl Gonzales
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Premise: A gay guy connives with a woman to lure men, but when they picked the wrong guy, things turn deadly. (Vivamax)
Running Time: 73 minutes
Director: Darryl Yap
Watch it on: VIVAMAX
Why You Should See It:
Like Darryl Yap’s past movies, Sarap Mong Patayin picks another socially relevant topic to shed light on. The film revolves around ‘catfishing’ which is too rampant in this time of social media and technological advancement.
It attempts to explain what is about and where it usually ends up. This mere ambition should easily attract interest, but those who decide to give it a try may likely end up being disappointed.
The whole design of Sarap Kang Patayin seems to be constructed out of earnest intent. There is this genuine intention to showcase themes that could potentially be relatable to audiences. After all, impostors on social media are common these days.
It’s two different experiences for those being victimized and for those doing it, and consequences are usually left undiscussed.
In the film, Yael (Thompson), a gym buff, agrees to meet someone he met through the intimate dating app, Course.
He believes he was chatting and about to meet the beautiful and alluring, Krista (Arida). But Krista isn’t the only one managing the profile Yael is fantasizing over.
There is also Noel (Marquez), a gay guy, who desperately wants a ‘taste’ of Yael.
With the help of Krista, he lures the guy into believing it was his girl’s best friend he was flirting with. They now have to play their cards right should they aspire to make their plan of luring Yael into their trap, work.
Yap brands this feature as ‘psychomedy’.
It’s an ambitious experiment to make various genres overlap and create something sensible and relatable. There are various delicate topics injected into the main theme of ‘catfishing, including drug addiction and multiple personality disorder, and at times they do come up with a tolerable result.
Thompson is a visual object in this film and there is an evident effort to capitalize on it by allotting a great deal of time for him to showcase his perfect built. That surely works for many audiences, but certainly is a huge disconnect that makes his presence purely decorative, in a film that could have served a better purpose.
Arida plays her steamy scenes with Thompson gamely, but her comic moments with Marquez are mostly lacking.
Deprived of structure–the script felt like mere foreplays to final moments that largely failed to produce a powerful resolution.
Sincerity is [terribly] lacking in its attempts to explore sensitive and socially relevant issues. It made its campaign purely a mess.
Despite those discouraging shortcomings, there is a single reason or two for interested viewers to see this. It’s still a visual spectacle, at most, and that may be enough reason to give it a try.
5 – Excellent
4 – Very Good
3 – Good
2 – Tolerable
1 – Terrible
Sarap Mong Patayin now streams on VIVAMAX app and web.vivamax.net.
