INTRACTABLE ATTRACTION

Posted by Jojo Devera ,


     McArthur C. Alejandre's Silip sa Apoy (Viva Films, 2022) knows how much we enjoy seeing a character work boldly outside the rules. We keep waiting for the movie to lose its nerve and it never does. Working with Viva Films, which also produced My Husband, My Lover the year before, Alejandre cast Angeli Khang, who scuttled around various projects most notably as Alexa in Lawrence Fajardo’s Mahjong Nights. In a marvelous opening punctuated by Khang's face, Emma is an obstinate seductress of classic noir displaced in an erotic thriller. She's adept at thinking on her feet, weaponizing sexuality and manipulating simple-minded men. However, throughout the story, the motive for this woman's life-changing evasion is traced back to her husband Ben's (Sid Lucero) violence. He hits her, she acts shocked and hurt, but the surprise quickly melts into performative quiet. Khang keeps us at a distance, letting us guess how much the domestic altercation's indignancy shook the character. In any case, her following actions are swift and oriented around a straightforward impulse. It's difficult to parse out what actions are organic and what behaviors are calculated measures. 

     Emma makes love for Ben's horny amusement. She's in a moment of intimate pause that's only for us, the camera and the audience. There's no similar instant for contemplation in the ensuing narrative, seeing as Emma is constantly on the alert, seducing and setting the pieces on her mental chessboard that will result in a most astonishing checkmate. For her part, Khang is brilliant at this kind of opaque character construction. That's what attracts men in the film to her Emma. She feels impenetrable, a challenging impossibility that harkens back to how audiences regarded bigger-than-life movie stars. She's out of this world, but instead of alienation, this personal quality produces intractable attraction. Consider the seduction of her lover, Alfred (Paolo Gumabao). Cocksure and touched by a hint of self-aggrandizing intoxication, he never quite catches on to the full depth of Emma's deception. The way she does it is effortless, she tosses off her commands, aloof but never completely uninvested. The femme fatale never hides her contempt for the lesser creatures at her feet, becoming all the more eager to get a sign of unachievable approval. All that, and there's the way she moves. Khang embodies a physical demeanor characterized by great confidence that it's difficult to regard her as a sexual object. Alejandre deserves plenty of plaudits too. Ricky Lee’s screenplay is taut and gripping revealing devastating surprises along the way.


Sound Engineer: Immanuel Veroba

Musical Director: Von de Guzman

Production Designer: Ericson Navarro

Editor: Benjo Ferrer

Director of Photography: Daniel "Toto" Uy

Screenplay: Ricky Lee

Directed By: MacArthur C. Alejandre