DanDanSoy (2021)

This is so HARD to watch, Jesus Christ i finish and I’m crying, LITERALLY CRYING. If you are sensitive or you lost someone for Covid-19 DON’T watch this drama.

So touchingly.

The beginning It’s interesting, we want to know more all the time but the end hurt me in a way that I won’t heal soon. It’s a super hard series. The actors are AMAZING. They do the job so well! They really deserve a lot of awards! The simplicity of the whole drama make everything so close from reality that can hurt. The soundtrack is fantastic. But I won’t watch this again in my life. Please Filipinos STOP make dramas in the situation of covid, with stories that Covid are the main role. I really appreciate a good series who makes me forget about the pandemic. I know the reality, but I want to forget about a little bit.

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Love, Tragedy, and Queer Representations: The Path to LGBT+ Visibility in Filipino Series

Written and directed by Filipino educator and filmmaker Trent Joshua Asuncion, who has considerable experience directing LGBT+-themed films and series, including the short films 'Bakla', 'Third and Josh', and 'Distansya', and the dramas 'In This Kaleidoscope World', 'Saan, Sana Tayo sa Himig ng Musika', and 'Cut', all from 2021, he delivers a love story etched in pain in the drama series 'DanDanSoy'.
This is one of those series that you won't forget, one that remains forever etched in your mind and retina.
This isn't the typical romance that BL fans dream of, especially those who follow dramas produced by GMMTV and other Thai producers, where everything is illusory and the darker, more antisocial elements of queer theory are never addressed, those that don't challenge the status quo or explore queer desire as something alien to social expectations.
Filled with rawness, realism, sadness, and tragedy, this is a difficult series to watch, especially because it tells a story in which love is fleeting, grows on the edge of a precipice, and it seems as if everything is against its ability to flourish and exist in peace.
Set in the harshness of a rural area of a Philippine province, and set against the backdrop of the nation's enforced community quarantines to combat the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the series produced by Star Image Artist Management and Aqueous Entertainment is both passionate and deeply tragic.
The story follows Cardo and Nathaniel, two young people from different backgrounds, one poor and the other rich, one raised in a rural setting and the other in the city, one accepted by his family as gay and the other rejected for it. Despite the poverty surrounding them, they have been happily dating for six years. But the arrival of the pandemic disrupts their lives, and they will have to expose themselves to the dangers of the streets in order to obtain food and other necessities.
The miniseries is skillful at depicting a sad and cruel reality: the high poverty rate in the Philippines contributed to the worsening living conditions and even the rising death rate of many poor Filipinos due to the impossibility of obtaining the necessary confinement amid the pandemic if they wanted to survive on their subsistence income. It also explains how poverty is an impediment to accessing medical services and how family rejection of their homosexual children prevents the latter from obtaining not only understanding of their homosexuality, but also the necessary financial assistance in times of need.
On the other hand, "DanDanSoy" explores the relationship between religiosity and poverty in the Philippines, seen from its psychological perspective. In a poor country like the Philippines, people tend to cling to something mystical as a way to escape harsh realities, such as death and poverty, and to find hope through these beliefs. For this reason, we shouldn't be surprised at how they can praise their God and then reject him when reality is either kind or unfavorable.
On the other hand, "DanDanSoy" explores religiosity and poverty in the Philippines, seen from a psychological perspective. In a poor country like the Philippines, people tend to cling to something mystical as a way to escape harsh realities, such as death and poverty, and to find hope through these beliefs. For this reason, we should not be surprised at how people can deny their God when reality is adverse.
The striking images, captured through the beautiful photography of Jasper Ezekiel Aquino, that transcend the plot or narrative, contribute to highlighting the realism and harshness of life for the Filipino population, where an estimated 25% of its inhabitants are poor and the incidence of poverty is much higher in rural areas (36%) than in urban areas (13%).
The script, written by Trent Joshua Asuncion himself, thankfully eschews the laudatory and pitiful vision that predominates in Asian gay dramas, and allows us the miracle of visualizing, in its five 15-minute episodes, the reality of two young gay men facing the pandemic and the rigors of life in a country traditionally governed by a semi-feudal oligarchy that protects the interests of the landed elite and where fragile governance structures have contributed to the persistence of poverty.
Extra points for the soundtrack and the performances of new actors John Gil Co and Gino John Gomez, who play Cardo and Nathaniel, respectively.
The casting team must also be recognized for selecting two actors who achieve good on-screen chemistry, in addition to breaking the stereotypes initially associated in the film and television industry with gay characters as comic relief or tormentors.
I like how the actor connects directly with the audience, looking directly into the camera. The creators of 'DanDanSoy' are very skillful at humanizing the characters and imbuing their actions with feelings, emotions, and meaning, not only when they talk to each other about their current concerns or their past lives before and after meeting, or through their interactions in the beautiful sex scenes by the light of a campfire that helps break the darkness reigning in the rustic cabin where they live.
The humanization of the characters is also present when the actors subtly break the fourth wall to convey their life experiences to the viewer, sharing health advice and the use of medicinal plants useful for dealing with ailments associated with the pandemic, or talking about the preparation of typical dishes from rural Filipino cuisine, which depends on subsistence farming and fishing. I'm also struck by how the two protagonists call each other "My love," instead of by their first names.
While they do not escape the portrayal of the homosexual character as a victim of a tragic and dramatic role in Philippine drama, Cardo and Nathaniel are very masculine, seemingly heterosexual men capable of accepting their sexual orientation and seeking the path to freedom, helping to change the public's mindset with their homosexual portrayals, unafraid to hide their sexuality for fear of retribution and discrimination.
Fortunately, Trent Joshua Asuncion doesn't seek to create a queer drama in 'DanDanSoy' that reeks of a commercialized spectacle, focused on fulfilling requirements rather than genuinely pushing boundaries. Moreover, he also eschews the formula that masculinity remains the key to widespread "gay" appeal in the Philippines.
The LGBT characters in the series are young people who earn a living by working in agriculture, manual labor, and construction, contributing to the true representation of the LGBT+ community while facing rejection from a heteronormative and patriarchal society, like the Philippine one, which doesn't accept homosexual protagonists because they "don't identify with them".
And this is also a reason for praise for everyone involved in the production.
In short: This story about a gay couple facing the pandemic, poverty in rural Philippines, and an exclusionary society is a gut-punch: you'll be reaching for the tissues.

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