The tragicomic absurdity of cultural morality is the target of filmmaker Joselito Altarejos' latest feature, Finding Daddy Blake (2076Kolektib, MC Productions, 2023), an unpredictable blast that invites us into its outrage. In the process of recounting the country’s most recent atrocities, Altarejos' funny juxtaposition bursts with the irony of a society too horny to care for its more serious matters. Finding Daddy Blake consolidates the impulses found across Altarejos' work. It’s the searing approach that provides the foundation, giving him justifiable ammo for deepening the surrounding narrative by rooting it in a larger argument. Altarejos' analytic format opposes contemporary media’s narrative failures — the decadent escapism of mainstream cinema that hasn’t gotten up to speed about the pandemic but still treats moviegoers like children who need relentless distraction with entertainment. In the meantime, we see hard sexual innuendos everywhere. It’s an unexpectedly funny way for Altarejos to explore social hypocrisy. What starts as a head-scratching ordeal slowly becomes a hilarious satire on politics and social standards. Paolo's (Jonathan Ivan Rivera) unlucky cosplay signifies a personal restlessness that gets lost into a heedless culture. But sex videos is not what Altarejos finds obscene. He’s riled by the hypocrisy that has become the new normal. It is the shocking immediacy of keeping up with the world and often getting ahead of it — or at least getting ahead of his peers and sometimes, his audience.
Signs of the COVID pandemic, the mask-wearing are overlays of absurdity in this expansive social satire. It has something about what is wrong with contemporary life, as long as they don't mind the occasional interjection. What Altarejos posits is that society is the real pandemic portrayed here in an interesting manner. In a captivating scene largely predicated on Dexter Doria's unmatched ability to make Elvira Lopez’s cruelty so charismatic, owning the room, the camera, bending the scene to her will, Altarejos opts for the thornier, more difficult to pinpoint approach of giving us a powerful woman who takes advantage of peoples’ affections, does favors here and there and makes promises in the most banal, quietly damaging way. Doria's way with the angularity of her face and the camera feels thought-through and even more impressively, it’s great, delicious fun. Rivera showcases the grip Paolo has on his life, the controlled sense of domination he exudes. Even as Paolo’s hold over his life becomes tenuous and he begins to lose control over his own narrative, Rivera’s nuanced portrayal captures his character’s cracking shell, the boiling temper and fear that sits beneath the surface. As Antonio, Oliver Aquino's performance complements Carlos Dala (Elijah) and Tommy Alejandrino's (Kokoy) calculated intensity in every scene. Finding Daddy Blake embraces the pessimism and cynicism in Altarejos' vision of individuals and society. The social structure is hopelessly broken-down and narrow-minded stupidity will always find itself reinforced by the bureaucratic rituals of everyday life. It’s somewhat facile to ascribe a bleak sense of humor to our past experiences even if there’s an element of truth in that stereotype.
Written and Directed By: Joselito Altarejos
Cinematographer: Manuel Garcellano
Editor: Jay Altarejos
Musical Scorer: Marco Bertillo Mata
Sound Designer: Andrew Millalos
