MMFF Movie Review
Big Night!
Directed by Jun Robles Lana
WHEN an innocent person’s persistence is tested, the outcome may also go against them.
Jun Robles Lana’s dark comedy Big Night! tells the story of a gay beautician named Dharna (played by Christian Bables) whose name is mistakenly placed on the current drug war watchlist. Being in that dangerous situation, Dharna goes to great lengths to clear his name.
Also in the cast are Eugene Domingo, Gina Alajar, Janice de Belen, Ricky Davao, Soliman Cruz, and Gina Pareño.
Mr. Lana has previously directed films tackling social issues such as HIV in Kalel, 15 (2019), the everyday experiences and struggles of the LGBT community in the Philippines in Die Beautiful (2016), and gender inequality and corruption in Barber’s Tales (2013).
In Big Night!, Mr. Lana delves into the mandate to apprehend suspected drug users, a situation that, to this day can lead to the suspect’s death.
According to the latest data from the US-registered data collection and crisis mapping platform Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), “at least 7,742 Philippine civilians have been killed in anti-drug operations since 2016.”
The movie’s story happens through All Saint’s Day until midnight or the wee hours of All Souls’ Day. The film opens with a man paying his respects to his departed loved ones in a cemetery as a voice reciting the news about the drug war killings plays in the background. Then, it cuts to a shot from the point of view of a motorcycle rider who goes around a slum area, and suddenly fires a gun at a civilian at the market in broad daylight.
The audience is then introduced to Dharna, who is carrying a Sto. Niño statue as he walks home and passes by the area where the shooting just occurred. We learn that he owns a beauty salon and lives with his lover, Zeus.
The couples’ agenda for the day is for Dharna to help Zeus with his costume for the male beauty pageant that evening. Their plans are disrupted when Dharna visits a friend who reveals to him a drug war watchlist with his birth name — Panfilo Macaspac, Jr. — in it.
Desperately wanting his name taken off the list, Dharna goes to people in authority and does as he is told — working as a makeup artist for dead bodies, marching around a flagpole until sundown, taking a drug test, and pretending to act as a critically sick patient in an ambulance — anything they want — in order to clear his name.
Mr. Bables, who starred in Mr. Lana’s previous movies, portrays a funny yet vulnerable character. I loved his comedic performance, and rooted for him to survive every task he was ordered to do. I also noticed that Dharna’s character arc, until his final decision at end of the story, is represented through his three wardrobe changes.
Meanwhile, Zeus (played by Nico Antonio) is someone who, despite his awareness of the serious events around him, remains selfish and is only concerned with winning the pageant that evening.
The film’s serious tone breaks slightly when John Arcilla’s character — a movie actor turned politician — is introduced later in the film. His reenactment of an action sequence with Zeus is the most laugh out loud scene in the entire film.
Mr. Lana succeeds in using dark comedy to narrate a relevant and recurring issue in the country: the war on drugs and unjustified accusations and killings of innocent civilians. Dark comedy is often used to present social commentary on how we as citizens have grown inattentive to serious issues.
Dharna’s actions in the end of the film are open to interpretation. The film ends without leaving the audience tired from laughter; nor is it too heavy to digest. It does, however, remind us how our decisions reflect who we chose to become. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
MTRCB Rating: R-13
