Bathhouse -- SPOILERS Story gets extra credit for including many categories and stories of various identifying people - gay, straight, bi, drag queens. Also for tackling a tough subject that is probably hard to write about - the bath house. But... the script needs a major re-write. Felt like it was written by a very young person,or maybe someone very new to the LGBT world. people saying things they would probably not say in real life. Very dis-jointed conversations and awkward sentence structure. It's possible that it was just VERY bad sub titles, but in that case, hire a better translator. And the star Rico (Ray An Dulay) claims to want a monogamous relationship (at a bath-house? and with someone he just met at a bath-house? and with the guy "Cris" who sleeps with everyone he meets?) And our star claims to be a top, then appears to have un-safe sex by getting penetrated someone else claiming to be a top. The writer/director Crisaldo Pablo probably should have let someone else direct. He also seems to appear as Cris' father in the film. Lots of butt shots. The manager "Genesis" forces everyone to play a strip game.. pretty weird. Would paying customers put up with that? I think not. Felt like a high school prank or something. This one is showing on FilmRise Channel. Interesting collection of production companies: Pro-Gay Philippines, Remedios AIDS Foundation, Microdata Systems and Management, Grupong Sinehan. Also, many of the shots appear to be filmed at a restaurant (?) If this was produced by the Remedios AIDS Foundation, I would have expected to see posters for safe sex, or at least a discussion of it, but maybe things are a little looser in the Philippines. I'm glad they are making LGBT films there, but this one needed jazzing up. Dulay's first acting gig.
4 Reviews
A love story in a Bathhouse
charambo16 February 2007
When a film wants to be real to life, and shows us what life is all about, they either succeed or don't. This film is in the latter. Although the acting is first rate, the story doesn't wash. You have a young man ( looking like a younger Jackie Chan ), who finds out is gay and joins the club , The Bathhouse. So far so good, he then falls in love with the local hunk, Chris. Chris like most men wants to share his body with as many ( in this case ) men as he can.
The director then cuts away from the story to show us how in real life these people meet, thru the internet, at the park, cell phones etc.
My question is, thru out the whole of the film, the hero ( if you like ) manages to leave his parents, not have a job, go to the Bathhouse, have sex with every man he meets, and he manages to do this without spending any money, or worse get a disease. Does this mean that all gays in the Philippines don't have to have money. You walk around Manila and say your gay and people feel sorry for you and give you money. Even better all gays are clean and without aids. The film is helped by the Aids counsel in the Philippines. Nothing like that is mentioned in the film.
If your going to make a real life film, DO IT, and don't go half way. The story is bad, just like the jeans of Chris, he never changes them.
The director then cuts away from the story to show us how in real life these people meet, thru the internet, at the park, cell phones etc.
My question is, thru out the whole of the film, the hero ( if you like ) manages to leave his parents, not have a job, go to the Bathhouse, have sex with every man he meets, and he manages to do this without spending any money, or worse get a disease. Does this mean that all gays in the Philippines don't have to have money. You walk around Manila and say your gay and people feel sorry for you and give you money. Even better all gays are clean and without aids. The film is helped by the Aids counsel in the Philippines. Nothing like that is mentioned in the film.
If your going to make a real life film, DO IT, and don't go half way. The story is bad, just like the jeans of Chris, he never changes them.
Video camera, really?.
phildeesnow14 May 2023
I think I will never understand how IMDB ratings work.
Sometimes you get a movie rated 6 (as an example), and then it doesn't have any reviews, or the reviews are very low.
This one has a 4 stars rating, i guess is a 2+2... And now they are going to add my 1, so this piece of crap is going to have a 5.
Sorry, i couldn't get over the first few minutes.
First the over the top, cliche, screaming sissies started to irritate me.
As a gay man, i take offense on this stereotype.
Then i was wondering if the cheap video camera was part of the first scene, so i forwarded and it wasn't.
I guess that you get what you pay for, and this is free on Tubi.
Sometimes you get a movie rated 6 (as an example), and then it doesn't have any reviews, or the reviews are very low.
This one has a 4 stars rating, i guess is a 2+2... And now they are going to add my 1, so this piece of crap is going to have a 5.
Sorry, i couldn't get over the first few minutes.
First the over the top, cliche, screaming sissies started to irritate me.
As a gay man, i take offense on this stereotype.
Then i was wondering if the cheap video camera was part of the first scene, so i forwarded and it wasn't.
I guess that you get what you pay for, and this is free on Tubi.
Introspection
akira-hideyo23 October 2023
The low reviews are akin to the shallow characters in this movie. Don't glimpse over the movie. Understand it. It may not be hollywood quality nor the sophistication of many low budget shows but if one watches till the end it should imbue the true essence of the reality of many gays evertwhere in the world; where they struggle to satisfy their primal urges yet unrealistically expect to find true love from such love ghettos. Gay bath houses has come a long way since the earlier days pre and post AIDS. Structurally many have had upgraded to better facilities, better access, younger hotter crowds... Etc, but sadly, there's way more abhorrent superficiality from these leisure lifestyles. Present times, free sex and free love are no longer that easily available over a cuppa coffee or a bathhouse of hungry crocodiles waiting for that prized Wildebeest to stumble over a needed drink. Welcome to the world of male escorts or moneyboys, where technology offers you a delectable menu of the unattainable wagu prime meat over a simple tap on an app, provided of course your bank account is abundantly liquid to accompany the main course.
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