KIMMY DORA AND THE TEMPLE OF KIYEME (Joyce Bernal, 2012)

-

KIMMY DORA AND THE TEMPLE OF KIYEME promises a lot but delivers less. Its predecessor is such a surprise hit both commercially and critically because of the wittiness of Chris Martinez's script and Eugene Domingo's comic timing. Having twins who are extreme opposites of one another as your main characters provides endless ideas for humor, and that's just what the first movie did. Martinez and director Joyce Bernal played around with mistaken identities, sadomasochism, and even reduced the male leads (Dingdong Dantes, Zanjoe Marudo) as objects of desire solely for comedy. The formula was successful. The jokes were fresh. Just don't mention the song number. 

The sequel disappoints in a number of ways. First and most obvious reason is the injection of horror element. Sure, ghosts and screaming female leads can be guilty pleasure, but not in this instance. I hated the fact that what the filmmakers and Eugene Domingo achieved in the first film were reduced to a mimic of Asian horror. Good thing Alodia Gosiengfiao is such a beauty, even as a vengeful spirit. 

Second, the back story involving the history of the Go Dong Hae family feels terribly forced. Why the urgent trip to Korea? What's with the temple? Do we really care as audience what happens to the characters? A lot of questions were left unanswered, and I should remind myself here I am not watching PROMETHEUS. I could have swallowed if Kimmy and Dora spent the whole two hours annoying each other endlessly about petty issues. But not this.

Third, spoon-feeding flashback narrative is so Star Cinema. Yes, it is readily an adjective.

Fourth, sexual innuendos among students (and especially against a Catholic school backdrop!) display lack of sensitivity in storytelling. How old is Kiray (who plays the younger version of Kimmy and Dora's mom)? Nevertheless, she looks like a child pitted alongside Ryan Bang (who plays the younger Luisito, Kimmy and Dora's dad). Go figure. Someone dial DSWD, or MTRCB.

And what's up with the doctors speaking in insulting incarnation of the English language? Are they supposed to be Koreans? 

Not to disappoint you so much, the film also has its fun moments. Eugene Domingo IS Eugene Domingo, no matter how cluttered and misdirected the material is.  Aside from the repackaged jokes from the first movie, it's nice to see Eugene as Kimmy in those elaborate outfits yet again, and I must say that one particular scene where she looked like Ana Julaton lusting to punch "something, or someone" is hilarious. In that same scene also, where Dora is eating rice, rice cake, bread, waffle, and one other thing that I forgot, Kimmy utters, "My god, Dora! That's carbs on carbs on carbs on carbs on carbs!" Now there's some Chris Martinez wit. 

KIMMY DORA 2 is a good enough film if you're passing the time or just willing to get some laughter. Most of the humor are sight gags, with the witty dialogue at minimum. However, I demand more seeing as how Martinez and company can achieve comic without sacrificing coherence. 

RATING: 2/5





  


Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 19, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    mayroon kabang gamit na gusto mong ibenta? post mona dito siguradong mabibili yan sa Anunsyo.ph

    baka may hinahanap ka na gusto mong bilin? nandito din yan sa Anunsyo.ph

    o baka gusto mo maaliw sa mga prank/funny/entertainment video at funny picture LIKE mo kami sa FB Social Video

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TUHOG (Jeffrey Jeturian)

-
Image
Film within a film-structured movies are always interesting watch. Not only do they provide a much-needed deconstruction of form and content of cinema itself, but also that much-needed emotional punch a cinephile would surely love.  Like in BAD EDUCATION (Almodovar, 2004), we witness the characters tell the back story via montage, as if we are part of the cast of characters watching an actual movie. The form was successful in evoking pain and regret, and also of empathy. In TUHOG, Jeffrey Jeturian and screenwriter Bing Lao tackles sensational media in the Philippines, especially in cinema. The film opens as a film producer hears a pitch for a possible movie- a story of a grandfather who rapes his own granddaughter.  The director of the film soon after visits the victim of the crime, Floring (Ina Raymundo). Coercing both she and her mother, Perla (Irma Adlawan) to sell them the movie rights to their story, we witness as exploitation cinema unfolds. To think of it, capitalizing on ta
Read more

ANINO SA LIKOD NG BUWAN (Jun Lana, 2015)

-
Image
* English title "Shadow behind the Moon" The best term to describe Jun Lana's latest film would be a cinematic charade- a game of identities, of motives, of suppressed passions, and of uncertainty. Or the film equivalent of a Russian doll, if you will. "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" only has three characters- husband and wife Nando (Anthony Falcon) and Emma (LJ Reyes) and military man Joel (Luis Alandy). What started as a seemingly routine banter among friends gradually and intensely escalated into an examination of society, where the definition of immorality is blurred during a time of insurgency.  And in fact, the film does discuss the subject of immorality from various paradigms. When does adultery become acceptable, and to whom? Is sexual liberation more heinous than murder? Why is immorality always a double standard? The film plays out the ideas in endless games. Or are they really games at all? Lana could have stopped there, but he didn'
Read more

A study of spaces in Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's 'Happy Old Year'

-
Image
Space is both an overarching theme and visual signifier in Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's Happy Old Year . Its protagonist, Jean (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) comes home from a lengthy stay abroad, determined to declutter her life, and along with it, old things that belong to a past she is desperately running away from. As we watch Jean plan the redesign of their family house into a more spacious and minimalist residential office, we also witness the transformation of the persons that inhabit the house, as well as their connection to other people, most of them absent from the frame. Jean the destroyer Millennials have often been criticized for being rash with their actions, and for having their way, no matter what. The filmmaker, a millennial himself, understands this stigma, and subliminally argues that millennials are the way they are because of a multitude of factors: rising cost of living, the evolution of discourse as a result of technology (such as film streaming se
Read more