Movie Review: Taklub (Trap)

Another masterpiece from one of the multi-awarded Director Brillante Mendoza, "Taklub" has been receiving international praise and commendation. Our website, MovieNews.Me got invited in a special screening of the film last Monday with other bloggers and media. We also had a chance to participate in a Q and A with the film's director afterwards.

The style of the film reflects his past works (Serbis, Thy Womb, Masahista) that feels as if the images and scenes you are seeing are part of a documentary and that you are viewing things first hand. The masterful weaving of human interactions and emotions are kept high even in moments where the actors/actresses are just plainly staring in an almost blank environment.

One of the best thing about "Taklub" is that it offers a genuine reflective mood. The film tends to invite the audience deeper and deeper into the chaos and grip of the suppressed emotions of the three major characters - Bebeth (Nora Aunor), Larry (Julio Diaz) and Erwin (Aaron Rivera), whose lives intertwine after super typhoon Haiyan left the city of Tacloban in a horrendous state.  They search for the dead while trying desperately to keep their sanity intact, and to protect what little faith may have. The film has this veil of depression surrounding it but it doesn't impose people to hate any government units or religious factions. It is like a skillful arrangement of broken glasses that may cause pain and yet in a distance feels awesomely whole. 

  

Ms. Nora Aunor is perfect for the role of Bebeth as she maintained to be calm and yet project all the emotions of grief and sadness, of loss and despair. There is this one big scene where Bebeth just burst out all her contained emotions all of a sudden, due to the very slow processing of DNA testing for her children that died in the tragedy.

Just seeing the places and aftermath of the storm (Yolanda) in the film will shock you. It has been a year and yet very little improvement can be seen in Tacloban. The film "Taklub" encourages the viewers to ask questions, inquire, research on why is everything taking so long. As if grieving from the loss of their loved ones is not enough, a series of events,both man-made and natural, continue to test the endurance of the characters along with the rest of the people, waiting for a time to wipe those slow repugnant tears.

Brillante Ma. Mendoza's Masterpiece "Taklub" to Open in More Philippine Cinemas!

"There’s a time for everything. A time to tear down … and a time to build." The film centers more on the life of the people after the storm unlike some Hollywood disaster films that focus mainly on the special effects and recreating the disaster itself. In a way it effectively presented the situation with  highly emotional aftermath imagery and masterful script that would surely suck you into the lives of the characters.

"Taklub" is about how people struggle and hold on to something and how long it takes to let go of something they hold dear. It is a film about one of the biggest tragedy in Tacloban and how the people fought to bring their lives back together.

Taklub (2015)
Our ratings: ★★★★★★★★★☆

PG-13  |  97 min  |  Drama  |  16 September 2015 (Philippines)

Director: Brillante Ma. Mendoza
Writer: Honeylyn Joy Alipio
Creative Consultant: Armando Lao
Stars:
Nora Aunor(Thy Womb, Hustisya, Naglalayag, Himala, Bulaklaksa City Jail)
Julio Diaz (Bambanti, Sakay, Bayani, Serbis)
Aaron Rivera (Kinatay, Serbis, Tirador, Masahista)
Lou Veloso (Colorum, Da Dog Show, Kid Kulafu, Bonifacio: AngUnangPangulo)