Film review: Lauriana Love, lust and the suspicion of murder

MANILA, Philippines - Director Mel Chionglo’s Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival (All-Masters Edition) entry, Lauriana, takes a true-to-life story from the ’50s and brings it to life as a complex psycho-drama murder mystery.

Shot in Padre Burgos, Quezon, the film explores the darker side of relationships, of love and lust, and intensifies our film experience by layering it with a coming-of-age tale that reverberates in the life of a young barrio boy, even as he reaches adulthood. Measured and deliberately paced, the film tracks the birth of obsession and how it can blossom into something sinister and ugly.

The screenplay by Ricky Lee opens in the ’50s with young orphan Carding (the truly wonderful Adrian Cabido) being taken under the wing of Philippine Constabulary Capt. Samuel Corazon (Allen Dizon), who heads a detachment assigned to a remote Quezon barrio, to fight the Hukbalahap elements. It’s there that Samuel meets Lauriana (Bangs Garcia) at a local dance, where she works as a dancer for hire. The film makes mention of Samuel’s family history, how his mother cheated on his father, and how both had taken their lives. An affair between Samuel and Lauriana develops, with Carding ever present like some surrogate son. It doesn’t take long before the love of Samuel turns ugly, thanks to an extreme streak of jealousy and sadism. The discovery that Samuel has a wife and daughter in a nearby town only aggravates the tension and doomed nature of the relationship.

A second narrative strand develops in the last half of the film as we fast forward to the ’70s and see a grown Carding, now Ric (Victor Basa), still haunted by what transpired back in the province and going on a quest to find Samuel. The attention to detail in presenting both time frames is admirable. I especially liked how in the ’50s, the paper money, matchboxes, cigarettes and uniforms really captured the era. While in the ’70s, posters on the wall and wardrobe added to the ambiance.

As can be surmised, this is sensitive, mature material. And there are disturbing, visceral images — none more disturbing than the customized “chastity belt” Samuel creates for Lauriana. The back and forth of genuine tenderness, followed by uncontrollable rage and unwarranted cruelty may beg of a contemporary audience to fathom why Lauriana would stay by Samuel’s side. But in fact, this sort of irrational decision-making in the name of love is still quite common and evident to this day. An unflinching look into the perverse side of love, the film shows the tragedy inherent in these relationships and how each side is both perpetrator and victim.