Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Manay Po

Isn't it ironic that two of the arguably most ultra-conservative, staunchly Catholic countries in the world can be so seemingly tolerant of homosexuality in comparison to everyone else? Right now, shockingly it's legal to get hitched to that meltingly hot Spaniard in the streets of Barcelona with ushers and bridesmaids while aspiring studlets in Manila are busy locking lips on searing celluloid at the cinemas. Now, whoever said that the Catholic Church wasn't progressive? :)

Since I am having some difficulty getting a Spanish husband smuggled in through the suspicious folks at immigration, I've decided to try my luck with the Filipino hunks instead. Surely Manay Po! isn't going to win the prestigious Oscar but then, that isn't what it sets out to do. It's here to entertain ( with a passing moral advocacy about acceptance of homosexuality ) and it surely does that with the improbable tale of a doting mother Luz Catacutan with her three gay sons.

Count that! Three! Surely the statisticians out there are having a coronary since the likelihood of all three brothers turning out gay ( and unbelievably enviably, uniformly gorgeous dammit! ) is impossibly slim.

Simple enough plot with the eldest, Oscar, being a painfully closeted gay man hiding behind his beard while his erstwhile lover / best friend pines endlessly. Played by a marvellously husky, rugged Polo Ravales ( who strains against the tight tees he wears to perfection ) any presumably wooden acting can certainly be excused. Anyway, Oscar is supposed to be a conservative, macho tight-ass after all. Yum. Anyway I was too busy ogling his nips.

Polo Ravales!
See why I got distracted?

Orson is the out-and-proud, super-camp flamboyant middle child who swishes around the campus with his fabulous galpals while his seemingly straight best friend starts to grow uneasy with their friendship and finds an ultra-bitchy girlfriend to erase all nagging doubts about his own sexual orientation.

Won't even mention the youngest kid brother Orwell - who takes the role of the confused budding homo-adolescent who's just coming to terms with his sexuality - since that would make me a crazed pedophile but let me tell ya, I certainly wouldn't object to watching the three handsome brothers slick it up in a small glass-enclosed shower with some steam, soap and shampoo. Especially if their husky boy-toy of a stepfather Gerry ( played by a suitably fit, body-baring Christian Vazquez ) joins in the sweaty incestuous fun. Does that make me a lecherous perv - or an aspiring Bel Ami director to be?

Ending was unbelievably saccharine-sweet with pretty little pink bows tying up all the loose ends perfectly - and certainly a disappointment to all bitter cynics who expect gay Brokebacks to end up in tear-jerking tragedy. I, for one, am glad to wallow in a gay fairytale ending for once.

Somehow I have this sudden inexplicable urge to rush out and purchase a plane ticket to Manila. Not sure what they are feeding the boys there but .... hot damn.

16 comments:

nyonyapenang said...

if time does not permit you to fly there personally, perhaps you'd like to check them out thru' those 'bride-to-order' agencies. ;)

ZEYN, THE PERPETUAL STRANGER said...

paul, tell me NOW where to get the vcd!!!

Anonymous said...

nyonyapenang, it's "groom-to-order" agency la!

But, it does sound like one hell of a fabulous gay movie. Thanks for the recommendation!

Anonymous said...

I want that complexion...

Anonymous said...

u have got to STOP posting pic that distract reader's reading attention! now i didnt know wat u wrote! ;p

Jason said...

hah! I watched that movie too.. a very funny show indeed, but the drag queen dancing and singing.. hmmm...

Sue said...

Damn! Netflix does not have it. But I will try to write about the Filipino guy for my Friday Fantasy for you Paul.

Anonymous said...

I posted this in my blog some months ago:

From an altar boy to a teenstar to the country's newest sex symbol, 23-year-old Polo Ravales definitely had something on his sleeve when he went on a hiatus for some time. He surprised Manila with a daring comeback - starring in a play titled "Penis Talks", where he swapped kisses with another straight local actor, and topbilling the latest campaign and collection of local retailer Folded and Hung. When you have the word hung emblazoned on your close-to-naked giant billboards spread all over the metro - you know you've gone a long way.

That guy is really hot! And recently, I found a clip from the movie, Manay Po, where Polo kisses another guy... Enjoy!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HvwixReWuiQ

Anonymous said...

Now I can see where "I'm a TV addict" falls into. =P

NeiLDC said...

Queens is a spanish movie, and here fresh from Phil. Manay PO.
hmm an applause for you here Paul..,Check the pics of POLO RAVALES in OHLALA and u surely like it!...
FLY TO MANILA...!!!!

Anonymous said...

Ohhh... I can't concentrate my reading... the model in the pics is damn HOT! :P

joelmcvie said...

As a gay Filipino living in Manila, let me just say that while I agree Polo R is hot-hot-hot, there are others just as hot or even hotter than him!

RRP said...

enjoyed this movie also, paul.

and yes, polo is one hot papi!

grrrr.

Jay said...

I hope a lot of airbrushing went into that picture, because nobody has a right to have such amazing skin.

savante said...

Get me a number, nyonya :)

Downloaded it, shah. Start the googling.

Go watch it, ryan.

I wish I had that too, ian.

:) xavier... can't seem to stop myself.

It was hilarious though the drag queen part was kinda weird, jase.

Ooh, will wait for that, sue.

I know. I watched it and immediately recalled, mark.

Definitely an addict - and proud of it, sam.

Can't find Queens anyway, neil though I have heard of it.

Yummy, right, life cafez.

Hotter guys? See why I need to go there, mcvie?

He's definitely bitable, ryan!

Jay, I know! But I think there's a certain amount of airbrushing lah.

Dinno Erece said...

ei

thanks for the nice review

dinno erece
(scriptwriter, Manay Po/Zsazsa Zaturnnah)