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.
