Menor de Edad graded B

MANILA, Philippines - VIVA Films’ newest erotic drama, Menor de Edad, recently merited a “B” from the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) for its moving story of a girl’s coming of age and Joel Lamangan’s stirring direction.

Menor de Edad, which opened nationwide last Wednesday, launches to sexy stardom showbizlandia’s newest sex kitten, 19-year-old Meg Imperial, who was FHM’s December 2012 cover girl.

She pits acting talents with Ara Mina, Wendell Ramos, Jaycee Parker and others. She shows off a highly-charged performance as a troubled high school student who longs for her mother’s affection and peer acceptance.

In the movie, Meg plays 15-year-old Jen Guilarman, a third year high school student who leads a lonely, troubled existence in a tenement housing building. She is brought up by a dysfunctional mom (Ara) and her mom’s lesbian live-in partner (Jaycee). Jen experiences a hellish life from which she tries to escape. In school, she catches the attention of her Pilipino teacher, Ariel Basco (Wendell), who is himself undergoing a difficult marriage. His wife, Laida, has been in and out of the hospital, diagnosed with cancer of the uterus, and they are saddled with financial problems.

Himself a loner, Ariel is sympathetic to the equally lonely Jen and their counseling sessions lead to a friendship misconstrued by others as more than just platonic.

Jen, being the more vulnerable one, imagines herself in love with her teacher and fantasizes about him falling in love with her. So, to experience a sense of belonging, Jen becomes involved with a street, all-girl gang. She makes new friends and finds love and security in some kind of a family that accepts her for what she is. When Jen is initiated into the girl gang, she has to undergo a sexual rite. She chooses to seduce Ariel to devirginize her. When Ariel rejects her advances, Jen is humiliated and runs away from him. A few minutes later, she is kidnapped by three members of a rival street gang and gang-rapes her. Afraid of the threats made by the real rapists, she, thus, whips up a lie that will change the lives of people around her. Will her conscience bother her for sending someone innocent to prison or does justice find its way to setting them free?

Menor de Edad is Meg’s biggest break in her relatively young career although she has appeared in a number of TV5 shows like Bagets, Lokomoko U, Pidol’s Wonderland, Game ’n Go, Maynila and Just Got Lucky.

Luckily for the showbiz newbie, it looks like she is destined to go far in the industry. The Viva Artists Agency (VAA) talent is soon signing a contract with ABS-CBN.

For details, log on to www.viva.com.ph and www.facebook.com/Viva Films.