Twilight Dancers (2006/Philippines/Gay/Water Bearer)
Picture:
C- Sound: C Extras: C Feature: C+
Mel
Chionglo Ogpi’s Twilight Dancer
(2006) wants to show a dark side of the world of male erotic/exotic stripping
in the Philippines and the young men who participate, but instead of the same
dark tale where the dancers become rape and murder victims, there is an
ambitious attempt at first to tell a real story. Of course, the clichés come through towards
the end, done badly and those expecting much dancing will see it minimized
(though those interested will find more in the supplements).
Not that
the narrative is helped much by it, but the imagined Manila here has its
moments and this works best when it does not try so hard. Unfortunately, it is restrained when it
should let loose and vice versa. There
is a story to tell here and the moments where you can tell there are no actors
are highlights, but overall, there is not much here despite some ambition, which
we’ll give it points for.
The 1.33
X 1 image is a digital video shoot in low definition and has much softness
throughout, with blurriness too often, fleshtones and definition way off, all
of which is counterproductive to those looking for nudity and whatever. The daylight shots work better than the dark,
and the Video Black is often faded out.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo, often has echo and is the
kind of location audio that you’d find on many a home movie. A trailer, nearly half-hour of dance
auditions and over 40 minutes of actual erotic/exotic dancing (both unrated)
are the only extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
