In Signal Rock, Chito Roño takes us to the northernmost island of the entire Visayan archipelago — Biri Island, Northern Samar. Then he zooms us in on one of the island’s famous and massive rock formations, the otherworldly Magasang Rock, which is dotted with islanders making a phone call, or texting, on their mobile phones. Apparently, the rock is a signal hotspot.

INTOY (Christian Bables) takes on all the extra jobs he could find to help augment their family’s daily financial needs. Our hero is Intoy (an excellent Christian Bables), a young islander that acts as an errand boy for his entire community. The all-around Intoy, with an uncomplicated sense of duty, willingly multitasks—from doing menial jobs for the mayor, to emceeing every single social event in town, to climbing the rock to make calls to his sister in Finland, Vicky, in behalf of his entire family.

The 25-year-old Bables, who garnered several awards in 2016 for his first-rate performance as the gay best friend in Jun Robles Lana’s Die Beautiful, is spray-tanned to orange in this movie. But his orange color literally helps as the audience can pick him out among the youth in the island. In one scene, for instance, at a dance party, a brawl erupts, but you can easily follow the orange-skinned Bables in the chaos.

Bables once again disappears in his role, stripped down to a sweet provincial boy whose only concern is the dwindling number of females in the island and Vicky’s problematic situation. Bables is a wonder; he gives his Intoy a raw and subtle combination of youthful innocence, obedience and simple-mindedness. Watching him try to prevent a fight in the pasayaw (dance party) is an endearing display of authority and sense of responsibility.

AFTER his breakout performance in Die Beautiful, Bables leads the cast in Chito Roño’s comeback film. With an excellent script from Rody Vera, Signal Rock immerses us in small-town provincial life, creating a rich and humorous study of the social and cultural milieu in which a youth like Intoy lives. Intoy’s town has got one church, one grocery store, one prison cell (which bad weather can easily wipe out)—and one port, which is as symbolical as the signal rock. There in the port is where folks wave goodbye to women sailing out of the island for a better life, or to welcome their return in the arms of a foreigner.

Almost every familiar face in the Philippine independent scene appears in the film, from Menggie Cobarrubias as the mayor to Arnold Reyes as Intoy’s hilariously irascible older brother, to Elora Españo, as Intoy’s girlfriend, and Mon Confiado as the town drunk. Joel Saracho, Dido dela Paz, Ces Quesada and Sue Prado are also part of the indie all-star cast. But they are not merely names and faces as each character is distinct and a crucial thread in the fascinating tapestry of the island.

Vera and Roño skillfully capture the charms and nuances of a parochial life, as well as the pitfalls of living in a remote island far from civilization. The setting is the 1990s and the film successfully creates a strong sense of the decade, from the costume down to the mobile phones.

Apart from being a subtle sociopolitical commentary, the film also plunges us to several moral issues, such as marriage for convenience and hatred. One particularly interesting character is Damian (Confiado), who is consumed with hatred for his brother, Paeng (Starskey Dulalas). The man is miserable, bemoaning his brother’s flaws to anybody who’d listen, but mostly to the only priest in town (Lao Rodriguez). There, in the priest’s dining table, of all places, Damien spends his idle time drinking and raising his fists against the injustices perpetrated to him by Paeng and we see how this hatred unravels through the narrative.

The most uproarious comic element of the film is Intoy’s separated parents, his mother (Daria Ramirez) and father (Nanding Josef). The bizarre living arrangement and their relationship is the stuff of a brilliant sitcom, both tender and riotous. In fact, the entire dysfunctional family of Intoy is a pure delight to watch.

The main conflict and drama of the film is Vicky’s plight in Finland, with Intoy resorting to all necessary means to remotely pluck his sister out of her sticky situation, and involving the entire community in the process. Vicky never appears in the movie, with Roño cleverly building stress and tension only through phone conversations between Intoy and Vicky (voiced by Judy Ann Santos). This is somewhat reminiscent of the 2013 remarkable drama-suspense Locke (starring Tom Hardy), where mere phone conversations evoke emotions and vivid imagery.

THE picturesque Visayan island of Biri in Northern Samar serves as the setting of the movie. There are rare instances when you can sense some supporting actors’ split-second lapse in delivering their lines, but Signal Rock is overall an intelligent, well-acted film. Roño is gifted with a keen observation of human traits and cultural background, so that his characters are never caricatures, but authentic human beings. Smart and entertaining, it’s a must-see in this year’s Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino.

Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, with eight full-length feature films, six special features, and eight short films, runs from 15 to 21 August in cinemas nationwide.