New sex flick disturbs CBCP review body

The film "Sukdulan" is "abhorrent," just like any other film which delves on flesh and sex as its selling points, the Catholic Initiative for Enlightened Movie Appreciation (Cinema), the movie review board of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines reported yesterday.

Cinema cited the lengthy sex scenes involving former young star Katya Santos and her leading men Raymond Bagatsing and Carlo Maceda.

Sukdulan, according to Cinema, is a poor copy of the film Unfaithful: the lead actors failed to give depth to emotions they want to convey to the public.

The movie review board claimed the movie aims to affect the moviegoers’ libido, and recommended that those who watch the film should be 18 years old and above.

To conceal the real intent of the people behind the movie, it banked on the common plot involving the infidelity of a married woman to her husband, who has been rendered sexually incapacitated, Cinema said.

While Sukdulan’s writer and director wanted to make it appear that the film has a moral lesson, Cinema said the lesson remained unnoticed because of the various lovemaking scenes, especially between Santos and her paramour in the movie, played by Maceda.

The movie review board said the sex scenes were deliberately prolonged, adding that there were several "highly incredible" sex scenes.

"Although the scenes were merely fictitious, they are unbelievable because they are not in consonance with what logic dictates," Cinema said, adding that on the technical aspect, Sukdulan merits a below average rating.

The Leonardo di Caprio and Tom Hanks starrer "Catch Me If You Can," on the other hand, is "a good film with a good story, easy to watch and entertaining," according to Cinema.

The performances of the actors who are adept in both drama and comedy, the movie review board said, gives justice to the roles they portray in the film.

Cinema added that Christian values, such as a son’s love and respect for his father, are conveyed through the film. It gave the movie a moral rating of "acceptable."

However, Catch Me If You Can merits only an "average technical rating" from the movie review board.

"Some of the scenes, though funny, would sometimes border on the unnatural. For most of the film, the pace is quick until the final few minutes when it becomes prolonged and its importance questionable," Cinema said.

The movie review board gave the movie "Below," starring Matthew Davis and Bruce Greenwood, a moral rating of "disturbing" and a technical assessment of "average."

The movie is set in the confines of a war submarine during World War II in the Atlantic.

The crew and its captain, played by Greenwood, is trying to cope with what is happening, and wondering about the reality of the events: whether these events are brought about by the crowded space of the submarine, the lack of air and the soundlessness of the deep.

Below focuses on the peril-ridden atmosphere, heightened with fear, on board the submarine, with the crew eventually confronting the cause of their situation.

The movie review board said that when under psychological pressure, one tends to form quick impressions — one is prone to committing mistakes when one bases the judgment of what to do on these impressions.

Two points raised by Cinema is that the film shows that one’s worst enemy is usually his own ghosts, and people’s worst fears about each other also surface when in trying situations.

"All these in the end shows that, no matter how much effort is made to hide wrongdoing, sooner or later it is sure to surface because of guilt and certain inevitable occurrences. Recognition and acceptance must be given to it, and the appropriate action taken," Cinema said.