Entertainment Earth

69+1 Review – Maui Taylor, Janno Gibbs and Rose Van Ginkel

Here’s my 69+1 review which stars Maui Taylor, Rose Van Ginkel and Janno Gibbs and directed by Darryl Yap and now streaming on Vivamax.

Director Darryl Yap returns for another new movie that explores sexuality, relationships and the complications of being a “throuple”.

Here’s the basic of the film. Couple Ivy and Patricia are entering their seventh year together and they start questioning things after doing a threesome with the male stripper in their friend’s bridal shower. The pair decide to deal with the dreaded “7 Year Itch” by looping in a familiar face from their past, Apol (Janno Gibbs) who has showed affection for the two of them at different points in time. Things escalate when they have their own encounters, keeping it a secret from each other.

I like the daring take and concept that Darryl Yap used for 69+1. It’s marketed as the first polyamory movie. And I have to learn more towards a yes. I’m not privy into what the director’s goals are but from the surface level, he did achieve his goal of making a movie with such a controversial almost taboo topic.

The casting here was nice. It’s always fun to see Cai Cortez onscreen and her role here as Wanda continues the trend. No bad roles when it comes to this actress.

I’m also impressed with Rose Van Ginkel here. They really did give her more to work with and the result is just glorious. She’s the sassier and younger of the two and she got good direction for her scenes.

While she was pretty much just plot fodder in Paglaki ko, gusto kong maging pornstar, here she’s showing that she’s also as promising and equally talented as Viva’s current muse, AJ Raval. And no we are not making comparisons. Bottom-line, projects like this with minimal cast can help push actresses further in developing their acting skills.

Maui Taylor also gets better stuff here. More material to work with means she can go all out. The acting’s ok here too so that’s a big thumbs up. Also those scenes where she was in “college” has some serious “Gamitan” vibes.

And then tito Janno Gibbs here as Apol is still the same Janno we all know. Good comedic timing, a generally favorable chemistry with his co-stars and a lot of dirty jokes and crass language. Some jokes may not fly with the PC crowd but if you’re not easily offended then the role and the characters (all of them) are just ok.

There were a few notable stuff from the film that I want to put down for this review. There was this confrontation scene that just feels fresh with Dexter Doria’s character breaking the fourth wall and talking to the viewers; her subject, how to cook “Bicol Express”. The funny thing is that it blends perfectly with what’s going on between Apol, Ivy and Patricia.

Yap uses the ingredients for the popular spicy dish to cook things between the three. I laughed hard at the part about “baboy” or pork and Maui Taylor’s character just trailing off on with the word chastising Janno and Rose’s characters.

There are a number of things that kind of makes 69+1 weaker compared to other Yap films already available for streaming on Vivamax. For one, there were a number of dragging scenes. The one where Apol is looking for a USB err Flashdrive from his past as well as the scene in the Prom where we get a push towards the film’s second act. Could have been shorter but here we are.

The character arcs were OK but it could have been better. Like they literally cooked an explosive Bicol Express for 5 minutes and then dropped it like a hot potato. Everything’s more “said” than “shown” in the third act which is why it felt like it could have been done better.

If you’re wondering (and without spoiling), they do have a happy ending. Makes you think if people involved in this sort of relationships do get happy endings especially in a conservative and very judgmental country like the Philippines.

69+1 review – Verdict

7/10

The film is now streaming on Vivamax. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more movie news and updates!

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