QCINEMA REVIEWS: ‘Moneyslapper’ and ‘Lost Sabungeros’

Love of money is the root of all evil. This theme is prominent in two Filipino films screening at the ongoing QCinema Film Festival: Moneyslapper and Lost Sabungeros.

‘MONEYSLAPPER’ (2024)

Bor Ocampo’s Moneyslapper, seven years in the making and packed with production struggles, finally found a home at this year’s QCinema. The result is a spaghetti western-neo-noir hybrid.

Daniel (John Lloyd Cruz) is a morally ambiguous anti-hero with a cowboy hat who, instead of riding a horse, cruises through the barren, desolate terrains of Porac, Pampanga, in a red car, to exact extreme revenge on those who wronged him. A western-inspired score pulses in the background as the lahar fields, dotted with hardy grasses and dry bushes, mimic a desert-like landscape.

With its bloated runtime, Moneyslapper could have benefited from trimming in several areas. It’s a bizarre experience, like watching a thousand different films at once. This is the most tonally uneven film I’ve seen in my life.

The inconsistencies are jarring: from Daniel’s shifting behavior and personality, to the script and cinematography, which veers from neon-lit scenes to what feels like student-film quality. The camerawork fluctuates from one long take with handheld motion to stable shots.

Though Bor Ocampo is the sole director, the film feels like a collective work of multiple creatives. Scenes appear shuffled, with little coherence, as if the editor randomly dragged clips from the media library onto the timeline without much order or care in splicing.

The film lingers on unnecessary scenes, like watching an unedited raw video file. Then, out of nowhere, lengthy sex scenes attempt to be bold and graphic but end up looking staged and unnatural. Actors like JLC, Jasmine Curtis-Smith (as Daniel’s girlfriend) and Mercedes Cabral obviously have limits when it comes to revealing certain body parts, but their gratuitous sex scenes are choreographed so awkwardly that they appear forced.

Originally written by Jason Paul Laxamana, with Wily Ocampo later contributing his own writing, the film ends up not just a revenge thriller with heavy Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood influences, but a crowded vehicle for anti-establishment sentiments, metaphors and symbols.

Everything is crammed in here: anti-America, anti-China (with a generalized, racist jab showing public defecation), Duterte footage, religious hypocrisy, OSAEC (online sexual abuse and exploitation of children), revisionism, parental abuse and more.

With so much dissonance and a lack of focus — both visually and narratively — it’s hard to empathize with Daniel or to feel that familiar emotional payoff of retribution. JLC is a highly committed actor, and one can sense his talent wasted on such a messy, messy film.

0 out of 5 stars

‘LOST SABUNGEROS’ (2024)

GMA Public Affairs and GMA Pictures’ investigative documentary follows the mysterious case of over 30 vanished sabungeros in the Philippines between 2021 and 2022. Two years later, if you’ve followed the news, the case remains unsolved, with little media coverage in recent outlets.

One might expect new information in the documentary that hasn’t already been seen or read in the news. Lost Sabungeros does just that, offering a fresh perspective through interviews with the families of selected victims — and whistleblowers.

The documentary is earnest, delivering balanced reporting that encourages the audience to think for themselves. Is Atong Ang really guilty? Are the whistleblowers reliable? When one whistleblower claims that there are over 100 vanished cases, with victims fed to crocodiles or sent to crematoriums, you question the consistency and sanity of the claims.

The families chosen to express their indignation over their lost husbands or sons give insight into these men’s backstories. One revelation (spoiler ahead) about these unsettling abductions is that some of these men were guilty of cheating, match-fixing cockfights, or cloning betting websites. Mafia-like criminal figures would punish them with extreme violence, rather than merely suing them. But the fact that these men literally gambled their lives in the dangerous e-sabong scene — and cheated — quickly diminishes empathy. A small-time thief is still a thief. No, these men do not deserve to be butchered, but what can you expect when you cross powerful, ruthless men?

Apart from the whistleblowers, whose credibility is objectively questionable despite their detailed accounts, the documentary attempts to balance the narrative by focusing on the family members’ suffering, with occasional out-of-place humor involving nude shots. It also includes CCTV footage, rushed dramatizations and appearances by Senator Bato dela Rosa and DOJ Secretary Boying Remulla.

The graphics feel amateurish, with animated blood splatters bordering the screen. Lacking sophisticated cinematic style or any emotional or intellectual stimulation, it feels more like a no-budget YouTube documentary available for free viewing rather than a powerful cinematic documentary. Without visual flair or polish, it drags. Still, it’s commendable for its clear and balanced news reporting.

2.5 out of 5 stars

QCinema runs until 17 November in select cinemas.