This review may contain spoilers
this was depressing
reading the description u don't really get the magnitude of the plot - watching this, i straight off thought about the movie The Resident (2011) with Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. as there also Hilary's character is drudged and raped by her landlord - and it turns pretty fast into a psychological, horror movie.so kinda got what this was gonna be - considering Franco isn't a maintenance man - he was a rent-boy that was fixated on Brent, so much so he found out where he was living and started stalking him - that's not as mildly put or heck even romantically up in the description. and when luck had it - a maintenance man's position opened in Brent's building, so of course Franco jump's at the chance to be "close" to his idol.
add to the mix his best friend Tiger who also works as a rent-boy, but has now found a new way of making a living without "working his ass off" by drugging his client's and robbing them - and as things logical follow Franco isn't satisfied by just watching Brent from a far - not when he got this new handy drug at hand, and u can only image how things "go down" - to say this was surreal and scary - yup
there is also a lot of nudedity - as in U See Everything and there r erotic(?) bedroom scenes, so if that's bothers u might as well skip - if the description in my review hasn't turned u off XD LOL
this is a sad film on many counts, the fact that these boys have to sell their bodies - who knows from what age and how badly they r treated, let alone how this messes with their heads. cause i don't believe anyone normal - well leading a normal life, would get up to the things Franco did (even though saying this, i know that sometimes even from "normal" f*cked up sh*t can arise...) and yet his actions were a desperate need to be with the one he loved. i don't think it was just about the sex. even though he kinda turned his "crush" into a sex-doll.. long story short, this was all kind's of messed-up and there aint no happy ending for anyone in this movie -
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The main character of the film - Franco (JM Martinez) really has nothing to be ashamed of his body. He ended up being cast in about three more Filipino gay movies.
And now to the picture itself. The local acting "star" Brent doesn't look that attractive, he has other - acting strengths that put him in the limelight of "fame" in the local Philippine area. About two scenes in the film, to make it clear, are just Frank's "imaginations" of what he would do with Brent in bed, because Brent is a heterosexual and from the radio broadcast it appears that he is currently looking for some smart ladies.
I will not look for negatives, those who need to massage their bruised egos will laugh at that, and from the positives of the film, I highlight that the creators wanted to show the issue of fanaticism towards "stars", who are just as ordinary people as others, stalking, which can lead to criminal acts, you will also learn more about the homes of poorer Filipinos, not just the "tinsel" that we know from BL series and movies...
Pinoy erotický snímek pro zpestření sice nedosahuje vysokých kvalit, ale zájemci o takovýto druh filmů se jistě najdou a i já jsem se podíval, abych si oddechl od BL projektů.
Hlavní postava filmu - Franco (JM Martinez) se opravdu nemá za své tělo co stydět. Nakonec byl obsazen do asi tří dalších filipínských gay filmů.
A teď ke snímku samotnému. Místní herecká "hvězda" Brent zase až tak atraktivně nevypadá, má jiné - herecké přednosti, které ho dosadily na výsluní "slávy" v místní filipínské lokalitě. Asi dvě scény ve filmu, aby to nemátlo, jsou jen "představy" Franka, co by s Brentem v posteli dělal, neboť Brent je heterák a z rozhlasového vysílání vyplývá, že se zrovna pootáčí po nějaké šikovné dámské partii.
Zápory hledat nebudu, na tom si smlsnou ti, kteří si potřebují promasírovat své pošramocené ego tady a z kladů filmu vyzdvihuji, že tvůrci chtěli ukázat na problematiku fanatismu do "hvězd", které jsou stejně obyčejnými lidmi jako ostatní, stalkingu, které může vést až ke kriminálním činům, dozvíte se více i o příbytcích chudších Filipínců, ne spíše jen "pozlátko", které známe z BL seriálů a filmů ...
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When devotion becomes obsession
Franco risks his life and freedom with years in prison when he begins stalking Brent Barcelon, a local celebrity. The problem is that attraction gives way to devotion and this to obsession, and that complicates things, because the Filipino prostitute boy takes his desires to the limit, showing his sickest version. He may be handsome and have a statuesque body, but behind that another truth is developing.'Lodi', idol spelled backwards, is a low-budget, slow, soft-core Filipino porn film from 2017. The protagonist, named Franco, a young sex worker with a beautiful body, is criminally obsessed with a straight boy.
Finally Franco, who visibly does not regret his actions, takes the path of stalking, theft and violence, all with the goal of possessing the boy who sparks his obsession.
The protagonist, who realizes that he could never have a romantic relationship with Brent, pursues him, and discovers where he lives. In this way, he comes to occupy a position as a maintenance manager in his condominium, with the sole purpose of being close to the object of his obsession, without considering the ethical, criminal, legal consequences and harm to himself and other people.
As she commits her crimes, the director and cinematographer simply enjoy the view of her naked body for much of the film. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it too.
The film reflects the involution of a human being as he goes towards his wild instincts, the lowest, twisted and darkest. Franco does not like to deceive and manipulate his clients. Their friend Tiger (Carlo Mendoza), another prostitute, drugs them before robbing them. The protagonist of the story rejects this action.
However, carried away by his dangerous obsession, he also decides to commit the crime, and drugs and rape come into play.
As we can see in the images, 'Lodi' has an important erotic charge with scenes of paid sex and domination sex, but others are not real, as they are recreated in the imagination of the protagonist, who sees himself having consensual sex with Brent.
These explicit sexual scenes (completely removed from the universe of pornography) provide absolute meaning to the story of the protagonist and the plot of the film.
In every erotic drama there is an almost tacit rule: the irrationality of the acts must be recorded, stripping them of a moralistic perspective, but trying to unlock the reasons for the magnetism that leads its protagonists (again and again) to approach each other in the context of the forbidden and even crime. 'Lodi' starts from that guideline, and does it accordingly.
This homoerotic film is directed and written by Tim Muñoz, and stars JM Martinez as Franco and Ace Toledo as Brent.
It was made with a modest budget, which helps it succeed with its proposals.
JM Martinez shines in his role, reflecting an individual whose attraction for another boy grows in crescendo, giving way to an unhealthy obsession that leads him to commit unforgivable crimes. It only takes one sequence of the several that exist in the 79-minute duration, and which lasts just five minutes, to persuade the viewer of the monster that has been created.
JM Martinez's performance is overwhelming, considering that the best tool to reflect his character's obsession was to remain with an averted, inert gaze, with an imperturbable face despite everything he has been planning to carry out his evil plans.
The disruption generated by Brent's presence in the life of a young man who seems to have everything resolved in his life thanks to the sale of his body, is reminiscent of what occurs in other films by the director, such as 'Don Filipo', in the one in which a man becomes obsessed with dominating another to take away his heart and be able to achieve eternal youth.
For his part, the character played by Ace Toledo convincingly demonstrates that he is oblivious to what has been brewing around him such an abject being, whose actions border on the implausible, even within the codes of this story, where instinct takes precedence over any more thoughtful thought.
Both actors starred in 'Hombre', the first feature film by Tim Muñoz and after the short film 'Estranghero' (2016), an erotic film in which JM Martinez and Ace Toledo play LGBTQ+ characters with nude scenes and extreme sexual content.
The supporting cast also contributes with their realistic performances. It's filmed almost in a documentary style and that lends credibility to the whole storytelling aspect of the story.
In his third film, and with the erotic eye of Gregg Araki and Gus Van Sant, Tim Muñoz, whose scripts are in the Filipino vernacular, but always provide subtitles to reach an international audience, also portrays a reality in the world since Antiquity : a fan's devotion to his idol, but taken to unimaginable consequences.
We all, to a greater or lesser extent, feel admiration for an equal, for their peculiarities and characteristics. In many cases, this admiration can be identified with a type of behavior that in psychology is called "idolating", and refers to the assessment and recognition we make of another person, but exclusively focused on their positive qualities.
The ending is cruelty so harmonious with the general story.
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