I had relatively high expectations for this film, especially since I had thoroughly enjoyed Lualhati Bautitasta's novel of the same title, and had noted that she was also the script writer.
The many sub-plots in the movie never seemed to work well together, especially during the times that various 'social commentary' were awkwardly introduced. A confrontation scene between the lead character and her daughter's principal had a bizarre twist when the two suddenly started talking about human rights violations simply because the latter discovered that the former was a social worker.
Vilma Santos' acting was decent but did not get me to empathize with her, perhaps due to the bizarre plot that she had to act through. Albert Martinez was disappointing as her one-dimensional violent partner, disappointing because he's acted better so much better in other movies (e.g. Pusong Mamon). Serena Dalrymple's character as the kid who couldn't keep her mouth shut was refreshing though, in that finally, here was a more realistic portrayal of how Filipino children really are, as opposed to other movies where they tend to be typecast as meek and fragile.
The many sub-plots in the movie never seemed to work well together, especially during the times that various 'social commentary' were awkwardly introduced. A confrontation scene between the lead character and her daughter's principal had a bizarre twist when the two suddenly started talking about human rights violations simply because the latter discovered that the former was a social worker.
Vilma Santos' acting was decent but did not get me to empathize with her, perhaps due to the bizarre plot that she had to act through. Albert Martinez was disappointing as her one-dimensional violent partner, disappointing because he's acted better so much better in other movies (e.g. Pusong Mamon). Serena Dalrymple's character as the kid who couldn't keep her mouth shut was refreshing though, in that finally, here was a more realistic portrayal of how Filipino children really are, as opposed to other movies where they tend to be typecast as meek and fragile.