If the French New Wave film director and critic Jean-Luc Godard started with a 10-minute short, director Rico Gutierrez might have been right to start a cinematic career with his 40-minute work entitled “Rm.180”, a definitive gender-bender story structure of two male lovers trapped figuratively in a motel room. One man (Andoy Ranay) suffers from guilt and trauma as he commits himself with heterosexual marriage but is in love deeply with his long time buddy (Earl Ignacio) who masochistically tortures his friend for sexual pleasure and self-comfort.
Originally written for the stage during the early 90’s with its title “Short Time” (Dean Alfar), this plot translates intensely for the screen by screenwriters Augie Rivera and Mike Rivera. This digitally-made film excites audiences as it captures present day dilemmas of bi-sexual and gay relationships into a “cine-theatrical” illusion (combination of film and theater elements).
Gutierrez’s vision works best when aspiring filmmakers choose to execute simple but engaging images. He understands the medium (film) well and tries to achieve minimalism in his cinematic elements. However, not all plots are similar as that of his work. This is when directors decide critically whether to create a grandeur work or a more practical but substantial artwork. Gutierrez chose what works the best for the material and he worked it out elegantly at most, it even reaches its quintessence, perhaps almost.
Production designer Jerry Santos worked effectively in establishing crucial atmosphere of a motel though a little bit pushy for color variations as opposed to a very neutral black-gray-white VIP motel room color combinations at present. There should have been more furniture pieces that would entail more exciting camera movements from foregrounding to background plus the natural dynamism of the actors on screen. There are some sex equipment available in some motels and intensive research and exposure would make the film more symbolical and intellectually-substantial. Whereas the flashback scene of the couple (Andoy Ranay and Frances Makil-Igancio) was too vertical in design. It needed more curves and slants as confrontational scenes of Ranay and Makil-Ignacio do not represent straights nor “at rest” stances. It could have been quite successful if the room was bigger and textured. The background of Makil-Ignacio was so flat and unmoving. Seeing the art direction functional more than decorative is the only way to capture sexuality and perversive acts in the film.
Cinematographers Armin Collado and Pao Orendain partially exhibited sharp images and natural lighting. One instance is when the audience sees that much glaring of the lights to the faces of the actors which one would not be aware of where the source of stronger lights is coming from. This is perennially the problem of a digitally-shot made film – its generation loss (amount of lights reduced but not seen in the actual filming). Camera movements, on the other hand, successfully attempted consistently “handheld” (holding of the camera not by steady tripod but with hands) concept though at times shaky and inaccurate. Sound (Vince Tabios) became one of the weaknesses of the film since it lacked balanced, natural incidentals plus the total loss of music. Music should still be put in some important transitions in the scenes especially when it dissolves to the past. The ambient sounds were not so evident which is why the concept of space was undeniably weak. This might be a work in progress for the director.
Ranay played the character melodramatically. The style he insinuates positively creates the amalgam of theater and film acting triumphantly on screen. He is perfect for the role and can easily communicate meritoriously to the camera. Earl Ignacio is a revelation too for his witty humorous lines and natural facial expressions. Ignacio’s being natural for comedy establishes sure-to-hit punchlines and crispy enunciation of lengthy lines. In the end and with a twist, he somehow fails the serious reconfiguration of clearer non-verbal thoughts to the camera. It was almost there but fails to capture the essence of his realization. Frances Makil-Ignacio’s portrayal induces theatricality above cinematic expressions. She was truly strong when seen on screen but true emotions were hardly captured because of its consistent framing (steady full-shot) of the intended shot.
Rm.180 was about to achieve catharsis when it stopped (ended).
“Rm.180”, as the title suggests, significantly aims to present both the fictional world (film script-setting) and the reel world (capturing the 180 degrees view of the set). This may be described perhaps as the half-moon voyeurism into the characters' sufferances.
Gutierrez made an almost quintessential atmosphere.
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