Heavenly Touch/No Way Out (2009/Water Bearer DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Features: C+
Joel
Lamangan is trying to do Gay dramas with some kind of edge, but when I recently
screened two of his features back to back, they more so similar that I though I
would address the complications by showing how much he fell back on a formula
in both Heavenly Touch and No Way Out, both made in 2009.
Both are
about men who find themselves in places where gay male sexuality runs free, but
in confined areas; ones controlled by exploitive heterosexual males. Each has a rape scenes, a few sex scenes,
abuse scenes and fights. Some of the
leads are sexually oppressed and both situations lead to rough circumstances.
Touch has to do with Rodel, a gay
massage parlor employee who helps out old friend Jonard by trying to get him a
job at the same place that also happens to have prostitution as its
sideline. It is also never raided
because the gangster types running it have their bribe schemes worked out, but
things start to go bad when the men in power start to get a little crazy. Drugs are also involved and things are about
to get worse.
Way has oppressed fisherman Joaquin
unhappy with his marriage and a wife who wants a baby, so he lands up getting
together with friend Waldo and going to a all-male strip club. Waldo then disappears and a rotten bisexual
cop (you can’t make this stuff up) might know what is going on, they are all Crusing for trouble.
Maybe if
Lamangan combined both scripts and took more risks, this could have amounted to
something more interesting, but both only go so far and unless any of this
sounds intriguing, will not likely work for you much. Maybe he’ll come up with something more
complex and daring next time.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in both cases is shot on video and has
more softness and detail troubles than expected, while the Dolby Digital 2.0
Sound has some harshness, distortion, location audio issues and the combination
is more awkward than it should be. Video
Black and shadow detail is one problem, sound editing can be another. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
