Verdict: Do Something Else
Pinoy Rebyu Score: 1.77 (13 ratings)
Genre: Drama
Director: Louie Ignacio
Writer: Socorro Villanueva
Cast: Aiko Melendez, Gabby Eigenmann, Miggs Cuaderno, Rochelle Pangilinan, Jake Vargas, Benjie Felipe, Madz Nicholas, Maita Ejercito, Jak Roberto
Synopsis: In the middle of the preparation for Taong Putik Festival, a young man penniless and in love, takes on a drug courier job that goes terribly wrong. To save him, his mother now makes the most difficult decision of her life.
MTRCB rating: R-13
Running time: 105 mins
Trailer:
Reviews:
3.0 Nood.ph
“Melendez, in her big-screen comeback, proves she still has acting chops to portray a widow that has the worst stroke of luck. Vargas’ performance is also commendable.” (Read full review)
3.0 John Tawasil (Present Confusion)
“Overall it’s a decent film that manages to deliver an interesting story, but is hampered by a slow start and an ending that strains the viewer’s suspension of disbelief.” (Read full review)
2.5 Patricia Denise Chiu (GMA News)
“Asintado succeeds in telling the story it wants to tell. But it ends there, missing the mark for a potentially larger narrative that could have explored distinctly Filipino familial relationships amid personal tragedies.” (Read full review)
2.0 Zig Marasigan (Rappler)
“The script relies too much on exposition and very little on action, with the story picking up too late to feel relevant. What should have been an exploration of redemption, sacrifice and moral ambiguity ends up as a wasted opportunity to share something genuinely insightful.” (Read full review)
2.0 Manuel Pangaruy (Tagailog Special Presents)
“Promising ang umpisa sa pagiging talky ng mga nakatira sa purok (mga tsismisan at iba pa) at bumabad ang camera sa mga ganitong eksena. Hindi masama. Nag-umpisa lang dumating ang delubyo nang nararamdaman mo nang nagaganap na ang premonition na nakita mo sa unang sampung minuto. At hindi nga nagkamali. Ang masama rito ay ubod ng sama. Ang mabuti, ubod ng buti.” (Read full review)
2.0 Jansen Musico (Philippine Star)
“The characters, as if plucked from a dreary Dramarama sa Hapon episode, lay the groundwork brick by banal brick before we, the audience, get rewarded with a brisk and arresting final act ushered in by consistently strong performances from Melendez and Cuaderno.” (Read full review)
1.5 Emil Hofilena (Cinemil Movie Reviews)
“For all the ambition Asintado had, the production is really a letdown. It’s as if it ran out of budget at a certain point. And this is one movie that died in the postproduction stage. The editing was so bad, I don’t know what happened.” (Watch full review)
1.5 Nicol Latayan (Tit for Tat)
“Asintado seems like a late entry from Ignacio to join the poverty porn bordering on social commentary bandwagon that has already gotten old many years ago. Much of it feels contrived and tries way too hard to be taken seriously whether it’s the darker complexion of the characters, their appear one time slash disappear another accents, the situations of the characters up to the pivotal resolution part.” (Read full review)
1.5 Dicot Alvarado (Letterboxd)
“The direction doesn’t know how to handle even its lightest moments in a convincing or interesting fashion, and much less so when it goes into darker territory. It doesn’t help that its main characters are incredibly dumb, and that its heftiest conflict arises from the contrivance of their idiocy.” (Read full review)
1.0 Philbert Dy (Click the City)
“There are all sorts of clumsy storytelling choices along the way, the film exhibiting little control over the tone of its scenes. There’s a soap opera quality to all of it, the scenes often lingering a little too long on a reaction, as if waiting to cut to a commercial break.” (Read full review)
1.0 Richard Bolisay (Lilok Pelikula)
“One can only scowl at how proud it is of its stale stereotypes and trite plot turns, but Louie Ignacio is disposed to make things worse, revealing one rotten cliché after another, until it reaches this laughable conclusion and embarrassing postscript.” (Read full review)
1.0 Carl Papa (Whatever Carl)
“A lot went wrong in this film. It had a weird, unintentionally funny and borderline silly but still trying to be serious story. Uber exposed and TV looking cinematography (but heck some TV shows look better than this). Wooden acting. And the list goes on.” (Read full review)
1.0 Armando dela Cruz (Film Police)
“Awash in earthen and dusty tones, Asintado essentially propels from one overlong reaction shot to the next, calling it a ‘narrative.’” (Read full review)
