Salo (Tagalog) [Share]

The love story has promise, but the film surrounding it feels amateurishly directed and executed. At roughly 75 minutes, it is easy enough to sit through; with tighter editing and fewer repetitions, though, it might have made a sharp short film.

Rene keeps the family business going to support his ill grandmother. His aunt cares for her and repeatedly tries to find him a woman to settle down with, unaware, as he believes, that he is gay. Rene is in love with his driver, but he is too shy and guarded to confess it.

A weekend by the sea gives him a chance to relax with the man he wants. After a night of heavy drinking, they sleep together, and Rene tells him how he feels. The problem is that the driver has a long-term partner he cannot leave. Eventually, Rene goes to the driver’s home intending to speak to his wife, only to find that the driver is gay too: his partner of many years is a boyfriend, not a wife. Rene is heartbroken.

When his grandmother dies, Rene is left on his own. His aunt then reveals that she has known he is gay all along and was waiting for him to tell her. She urges him to pursue the driver if he truly loves him, suggesting that the three men might be together so Rene need not be alone. That is how the film ends, with all three finally together.

Almost 15 years old now, the film may have been among the earlier ones to explore, or at least suggest, a throuple. Yet it often seems more interested in giving viewers something attractive to look at. Rene spends so much time driving, drinking coffee, reading and pining for his driver that the solitary routines quickly grow tiresome. Repeated shots of the driver showering in his white underwear make the filmmakers’ intentions, and their intended audience, fairly clear.

The two actors are good-looking and perform well enough, while the aunt supplies some enjoyable levity with her constant remarks about attractive young men. There is a nice love story beneath the excess, and the subject is a good one, but better filmmaking or editing could have made it much stronger and helped it age far better. (3.5/10)