It’s devastating the way director Jerry Lopez Sineneng depicted how the domino-effect destruction of Rita (Vivamax, 2024) came within milliseconds of never happening. Rita (Christine Bermas) could pick up and perish the idea of sleeping with her husband Ariel's (Victor Relosa) best friend, Royce (Josh Ivan Morales). Sineneng has never been much for subtlety, but he understands that the psychology of erotic fantasy has as much potential to obliterate as to titillate. Rita never arouses, judges or mounts a morality play: It’s a dark, delusional piece of sultry fantasia that doesn’t condemn or condone Ariel or Rita’s choices. It simply presents people surprised by the ease with which they transgress and allow little white lies to fester into tumorous deceptions. Sineneng pulls out all the stops to display his lovers' erotic trysts. Playing down his handsomeness, Relosa invests Ariel with such palpable hurt. It’s such an emotionally naked performance, couched in understatement. Other strong performances are offered by Morales whose character is both repulsive and mysterious (that is part of his allure). Royce's charm is a convincing temptation and an interesting choice for Rita's dalliance. Perhaps the most balanced character is Rita's younger brother Marlon, played sensitively by Gold Aceron. As the confused and guilt-stricken Rita, Bermas is asked to run the full spectrum of emotions, from unexpected joy to emptiness to heartbreak and every step is a performance of blistering intensity.
Rita might be a richer take on female infidelity than usual, but like movie adulteresses before her, she faces repercussions. It’s success is due to the effectiveness of the performances and Ricky Lee's screenplay, delivering a storyline that escalates in a relatively plausible way. Rita has her reasons for straying outside a happy marriage. This is not necessarily a bad thing it is almost always more interesting to observe behavior than listening to reasons. Instead of pumping up the plot with recycled manufactured thrills, it's content to contemplate two reasonable adults who get themselves into an almost insoluble dilemma. Sineneng contemplates when he lingers on Relosa’s sex appeal but, in the end, the actor fights back with evocative blood-splatter. A skipping record is Sineneng’s transitional element between Rita’s comfort and fear, a haunting reminder of bringing and tearing lovers apart. Rita takes an unflinching and emotionally rattling look at the recklessness of infidelity and how it can destroy the lives of all parties involved, leaving no one satisfied. What follows in the movie’s Third Act is less satisfactory, but the ending redeems the picture and makes you appreciate just how odd it is for contemporary tastes: sex is not just a passing fancy, but profoundly disruptive, not life enhancing but life shattering.
Sound Designer: Norman Buena
Musical Scorer: Emerzon Texon
Editor: Froilan Francia
Production Designer: Kenneth Bernardino
Director of Photography: Rico Jacinto
Screenplay: Ricky Lee
Directed By: Jerry Lopez Sineneng
