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The language of the gutter opens the film, spoken by Rolly (Paolo Rivero ), narrating his life
as a genuine "sonofabitch" who, from his childhood years, has witnessed his mother (Daria Ramirez) bedding different men. Now with a cancer-stricken mother to support, the
adult Rolly earns his living with but his body as capital, performing as a sex show actor in a sleazy joint. His sister, Lisa, who was pimped out at age 13 by their mother,
curses her, flees the household and is hardly heard from. Exposed to their mother's depravity and not having known any other lifestyle outside of the slums, Rolly accepts
their lot as fate, but fiercely protects their teenage brother, Jake (Oliver Hartmann), against contamination by the family's filth.
Live Show does
not succeed in telling its story, because it's a bunch of little stories that the director/writer is desperately trying to string together in an attempt to present a socially
relevant film. It fails as a story because its parts are greater than the whole. What would have been the plot is submerged beneath a cluster of heavy subplots that serve very
little purpose outside of being vehicles for more vulgarity. (The vilest cussword in the Filipino language "putang-ina" is overused, thus it loses its venom). A plus
for the movie is the acting (notably of Klaudia Koronel as Gigi, one of Rolly's barkada of live sex act performers) which, although not of award-winning caliber, seems
nonetheless sincere. The worst thing about it is its attempts in less than 100 minutes to call the viewer's attention to more social ills than anyone can handle in a lifetime:
prostitution, white slavery, pornography, pedophilia, child labor, drug abuse, police brutality, sexual perversion, etc.
"Live Show" means a sex show with live performers which, being illegal in our country, is held only for private audiences.
Live Show is another of the recent crop of movies with titles that in the Filipino culture are suggestive of sex, like Talong, Warat, Tuhog, Kangkong,
etc. but which may have little or nothing at all to do with the movie's story. Live Show is one example: while it does contain considerably long footages of actual live
shows, it is not about live shows. It is about depravity, as reflected in Rolly's words of cynicism and despair which director Reyes attempts to elevate into a "putang-ina philosophy" that in effect says: Blame your bitch of a mother who led you into this kind of life; you can't escape it, you were born there, you'll die there. Used as a devise to inject some substance into the movie, Rolly's lines weigh heavily upon the heart that wants to believe in God and Divine Providence, in hope, in man's goodness, and in his innate strength to rise from unfortunate circumstances and carve his own destiny. If this defeatist outlook is actually the director's, but only mouthed by the actor, CINEMA wonders how much damage such depressing movies could cause in the viewer through time. Although
Live Show
attempts to show a glimmer of hope in its presentation of reality in Philippine society, it is a reality distorted by exaggeration and a dubious attempt to sound relevant.
Live Show reportedly "merited critical acclaim" in the 50th Berlin Film Festival late last year. Have you ever wondered what picture of the Philippines as a people is
painted by movies like Live Show?
(Date reviewed: March 9, 2001)
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