Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank: Eugene Domingo’s Film All the Way

First and foremost, I have not read a single review for the movie “Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank”, so as not to influence my critique.

Secondly, being that this is a well-loved movie, allow me to put the blame upon all the made-up hype and propaganda claiming that this film is too good to be true; and I hold the people’s word-of-mouth liable for what may sound as a bad assessment coming from me.

“Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank” stars Eugene Domingo, JM De Guzman, and Kean Cipriano, and it is an inside look into the creation of Filipino indie (independent) movies through the misadventures of three (no, two!) young filmmakers. Eugene Domingo plays a fictional  version of herself (and perhaps realistic versions of well-known Filipina actresses) who is asked to be the star in the movie that will be shot and filmed by the producer played by JM De Guzman and idealistic director played by Kean Cipriano. Not to give away any important details, the movie is about the brainstorming of two filmmakers on how to go about creating THE movie masterpiece worthy of the annual foreign film festival circuit, and along way they encounter mishaps and strange circumstances. The premise of the film-within-the-film deals with Ms. Domingo as a mother who was forced to sell one of her children to a pedophile due to extreme poverty.

It seemed as though the entire movie is an acting piece made with her in mind; a well-written personal resumé to keep the juicy parts coming in.

Now the bitter herbs: story-wise, there’s not much to go on; just a day in the life of two individuals conversing about making a movie. The supposed “plot-twists” (two of them) are strategically placed in the final moments of the movie to add extra oomph to an otherwise-dreary storytelling; I’m not even going to say why the movie is called “Babae sa Septic Tank” because I just might ruin it for folks who have not seen it yet. One could swear that they took the plot from an old high school stage play trick wherein they act out a single scene in different styles (Violent, Melodramatic, Musical, Slow Motion, etc.). Creativity and effort towards direction and production design are unmistakable (given the probable lack of budget common to these kinds of movies), but it still lacks the grip to keep viewers interested until the very last moment.

The real gem of the movie is Eugene Domingo. It seemed as though the entire movie is an acting piece made with her in mind; a well-written personal resumé to keep the juicy parts coming in. Once again she proves her adaptability in different kinds of characters; even if it is just in one movie. She upstages every single actor and actress in all of the scenes she is in. She plays the prima donna, the poor mother, the broadway performer, and the cliché drama actress all quite masterfully. The movie should have been eponymously titled “The Eugene Domingo Movie”, but that would make one of her in-movie counterparts just too happy.

Altogether, “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank” is quite forgettable, but nevertheless deserves applause for the effort. There were a lot of things that could have been done to make it way better. for some people it may be enough, but take Eugene Domingo away from it and the entire picture would be crumble to dust.

We can thank them for teaching some basics on budget filmmaking, though.

Sex in the Philippine Cinema: Nude Ladies and Sex Scenes Galore! (Warning: possible explicit content)

How long has it been since we last saw a pito-pito movie?

By pito-pito movie, I mean those soft porn, for adults only movies that have absolutely no story value at all; movies that were made in seven days or less (hence the name) which translates to minimum output, maximum pay for sexual deviants masquerading as film producers in the mid to late 90’s? To be perfectly honest, the last one I saw was “Anakan Mo Ako” starring Klaudia Koronel, back when I was in college. These movies, as it may, are successors to the ST (Sex Trip) films, which are successors of the Bold Films, which were successors of the Pene (penetration, with close-ups of actual penises going into vaginas) films. Today we have indie films carrying the torch.

Forgive my innocent heart, but I thought these movies were works of art. Really. Seriously. Probably because they kept telling us that these were pieces of Rembrandts and Picassos way back when a major movie star was our president and Armida Siguion-Reyna was our MTRCB chair. I remember Armida laughing at the faces of conservatives when she allowed movies with titles such as “Malagkit”, “Kapag Ang Palay Naging Bigas May Bumayo”, “Sisirin”, “Anakan Mo Ako”, “Sex Education”, and many more, saying that they find these titles harmless and funny at worst, and they do convey important, current societal messages.

With Angela Velez’s android boobs, you can never go wrong.

When I first watched “Anakan mo ako”, it was about a dying indigenous tribe of women in which the existence of their culture depended upon the remaining two men, one of which is infertile, and the race to impregnate as many women as possible is the key to their survival. “Sex Education”, meanwhile is a coming of age story about college students who goes through trials. In the end they grow older and wiser and never look back. I found myself in the shoes of the chracters as I was going through the same things they were (pun unintended).


Back then, this was a time when my idealism was hungry and knowledge was the food of choice. Growing up in a church-going family meant that Jesus is always right and everything else is the devil (non-negotiable), and watching women perform simulated sex scenes in ridiculous movies pretending to be messages to society was a complete taboo. I was a good son, but this was my form of rebellion against the establishment, creepy and disturbing it may sound.

Idealism and rebellion withdrawn, “Anakan Mo Ako” was nothing more than a poorly-made porno. The acting, if they were acting, was horrible, and the best performance would be Klaudia Koronel’s moans and groans as she pretended to reach orgasm in all 4 of her sex scenes; and who would believe that a poor and hungry tribe of women were composed of attractive, scantily-clad, big-boobed sexpots? “Sex Education” was even more absurd and mindless; as I pretended to be watching a classic in the lines of Mark Gil’s “Batch ’81” and an edgier version of “Bagets”, I was actually watching softcore garbage with 30-something actresses pretending to be 16 or 17, having simulated sex. With Angela Velez’s android boobs, you can never go wrong.

We have Henry Sy to thank for killing the pito-pito industry when he banned showing them at SM Cinemas.


Which brings me to, believe it or not, the point of all this. As an actor on these movies, how do you grow old to live a normal life with children, knowing that there was a point in your life when you willingly allow yourself to be exposed for millions to see and allow yourselves to be masturbated upon repeatedly for generations to come? How do you get over the fact that, in the advent of the internet, your legacy to the world will be your fake boobs and your unshaved pubes for people to ogle and salivate on? And how do you live with the fact that when you type your name on Google, you will see a big picture of your hard, throbbing penis?

Just asking. Immortality’s a bitch.