KATAS Review – Sahara Bernales, Yda Manzano, Cariz Manzano, Mara Jalipa

Here’s my Katas review which is now streaming on Vivamax starring Sahara Bernales, Yda Manzano, Cariz Manzano, Mara Jalipa, Chester Grecia, Aria Bench, Ardy Raymundo and directed by Roe Pajemna!

Plot

Young and seductive Carmina (Sahara Bernales) enters a mansion to work as a maid but soon find out that the owners are not quite right. She also strikes up a friendship with the other maids including Sabel (Cariz Manzano) and Anna (Mara Jalipa).  As we unravel who they really are, Carmina and the other maids gets entangled in a world of abuse and sex.

Thoughts

You know, this reads like a Japanese hentai story with maids and all that typical erotic crap as well as those old-school R-rated VHS tapes only you watch it on your smartphone instead of sneaking around when nobody’s around. There are some good moments nonetheless for Katas such as the moments when the leads are playing coy or actually putting on their seduction game. But when it comes to the real drama, it’s hardly there, barely noticeable. Have to give credit though to Yda Manzano who plays the crazy Grace. She had solid moments acting all abusive to her maids.

And while Sahara Bernales is the lead in the film, we have to tip our hats to newcomer Mara Jalipa, who apparently calls herself Lato Lato Girl on social media, because she got the more interesting storyline in the film. Like her plot is that she’s down in her luck but she’s saving enough money to pay for a house and leave her work together with her boyfriend Berto. In the third act though, she’s forced to borrow money because her no-good addict brother got caught and being the responsible older sibling, it’s up to her to come up with the money to bail her brother out. And when she tries to take an advance, manyakis boss Alex, coerces her to get down and dirty with poor Berto watching in the sidelines, until he’s not.

What I am giving brownie points for the film though is how slowly they build up this twist for the central character and how she’s actually out for revenge. Revenge for what, I dare not spoil. But it’s a good layer to an otherwise ho-hum sex-drama from Viva. And we also have this sort of “good ending”.

I also need to give you guys a trigger warning for sexual abuse and violence here.

Score

3/10