Loading ...Cannes Film Festival Best Director Brillante Mendoza directs Pantasya, a straight-to-video film of five loosely connected vignettes about ordinary men fulfilling gay fantasies—from a taxi driver encountering a lonely guy to basketball players spending some time together inside the shower room. Award winning director Mendoza is well known for his gritty take on the Philippines’ underground society (such as in Serbis and Kintatay), but Pantasya delves more into the themes of his first film, Masahista.
Starring Justin de Leon, Harold Montano, Trend Allan, Kyro Baldemor, Kervin Castillo, Jon Eric, Brent Lorezo, Kiko Montenegro, Rhyme Rodriquez, and Kyle Zenorio, among others, Pantasya is more than just the exposition of fantasies. It also shows a deep exploration in the emotional and sexual psyche of men.
In the first vignette, “Biyahe” (“Journey”), a taxi driver finds a troubled and lonely college guy as a passenger. Crying for a good part of the trip, the driver asks the guy to talk about what was troubling him. The taxi driver was troubled himself—and, as their journey of their perceived destination continues, they find out that misery indeed loves company. The two jilted men soon find out that their journeys, both the literal and figurative journey, will take a sudden detour.
In “Linya” (“Line”), a lonely gay homeowner who has pretty much become a hermit inside his own home calls the phone company due to his defective landline. Two service representatives show up to fix the said landline. Easy going and friendly, the service men realize that the homeowner is lonely—and that they can fix more than just the defective landline of the jilted homeowner.
The third short, “Laro” (“Game”), shows a shy gay basketball fan sneaking and peeping into the locker room after a basketball game. There, he sees four basketball players cleaning themselves up and preparing to go home—or so he thought. Inside the locker room, he sees that the basketball players are playing a different game. And it is a game that the shy fan wants to take part of.
“Bilis!” (“Faster!”), is about a bored employee. Working overtime due to the mounting work, he orders pizza to be delivered to his office. The delivery guy rushes as not to delay the pizza delivery. But when he arrives at the office, he finds out that he will be delivering more than just pizza to the yuppie. He is also delivering some fun into the employee’s bored and dull life.
In the last vignette, “Bantay” (“Guard”), a security guard offers a heartbroken half of a gay couple a shoulder to cry on. But since he is horny, he offers more than just that.
Subtitled as “gay fantasies for straight men,” Pantasya is more than just showing of skin. It is also an in-depth look into the lives of lonely and troubled men who would do anything and everything to alleviate the sensation of isolation they are feeling, a theme that resonates with the other films of Mendoza. But however it appears, Pantasya nonetheless examines the emotional and sexual psyche of these men.
Information
Director: Brillante Mendoza
Screenwriter: Boots Agbyani Pastor
Casts: Arthur Estrella, Rov Roxas, Mark Dionisio, Kiko Montenegro, Nicco Taverna, Dexter Castro, Brent Lee, Adam Torralba, Kyle Zenoria, Justin de Leon, Kyro Baldemor, Rhyme Rodriguez and Jon Eric
Language: Tagalog
Country: Philippines
