Gone catfishing
First, there’s the title. Or rather, the alteration of director Quark Henares’ 2023 Cinemalaya entry Marupok AF (Where Is the Lie?) to Marupok A+. That’s what it says on the movie posters now. A simple slash of part of an “F” to somehow gain a more commercial MTRCB rating than R-18. But we know what “AF” means. (The film had a less-stringent rating at general screenings during Cinemalaya.)
Henares’ Philippine LGBTQIA comedy-thriller revolves around scheming, catfishing art director Beanie Landridos (played memorably by Maris Racal) who reveals a darker side as the movie plays out.
“She’s kinda evil,” remarks one character of direk Beanie in one of Marupok AF’s many on-camera TV interviews. Beanie’s assisted by Dina (Gabby Padilla), a vaping videographer who helps her hatch a plot to trick transgender woman Janzen Torres (EJ Jallorina), a hopeless romantic who keeps getting dumped by unaccepting men. Beans and Dina hire himbo wannabe actor Dennis (Royce Cabrera) to pose as Theo on social site Sinder, and the catfishing begins.
As Henares held a press screening in My Cinema, Greenbelt 3, surrounded by cast members, I told him afterwards that this looked like a fun set, despite all the drama onscreen. Indeed, Racal plays Beanie with a complicated mixture of hatefulness and glee—she’s never as happy as when she’s tricked another queer or trans victim in a series of message threads, even happier than while she’s directing glitzy ads. Her pal Dina bails after the scam against Janzen goes on too long (she nails her BF/fellow schemer role). Cabrera also nails the Dennis character, even when he’s pushed into going through with the scam all the way, in part as an “FU” to Beanie.
Then there’s Janzen: EJ plays her with stars in her eyes, but there’s also tons of fierceness there when she’s tricked. And that is the movie’s ultimate message: Careful who you mess with.
Henares came up with the script with John Paul Bedia after reading through the Twitter threads of Cebu-based transgender woman Jzan Vern Tero and catfishing multimedia artist Sam Morales, who went under the alias Bill Iver Reyes to dupe his victims. Even as it’s loaded with Quark’s trademark quirks and savage humor, it’s indeed one of the most sympathetic portrayals of a transgender character I’ve seen onscreen so far. That’s because Janzen is written—and played—as a three-dimensional person, and we can’t help feeling her plight, and respecting her revenge.
The real-life setting—it was filmed around the COVID lockdown, and there’s the specter of Duterte on TV pardoning US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton midway through his sentence for strangling transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude—helps place this catfishing tale in context.
And maybe the psychology of Beanie sheds a little light on the evil lurking under the surface of all directors (hehe): how far they’re willing to go to get their way, twist the truth, bend the rules, push the boundaries. Towards that, Henares does a great job getting under the skin of his direk character.
It also extends Henares’ fascination with the media, something Filipinos can all relate to, whether it’s “Sinder” scandals or mock celeb interviews with the day’s scandal-makers. Quark’s always managed to cast a light on the Greek chorus of media, always tossing in its two pesos of opinion on the sidelines. Here, it’s woven in with sympathetic, pithy effectiveness. It makes this, at 80 minutes, one of Henares’ most direct, timely, and effective films yet.
Catch Marupok A+ (Where Is the Lie?) showing at Ayala Mall cinemas starting July 10.