An unlikely combination that works

Keka. The title doesn’t exactly give you a clue as to what the film is all about. Is it comedy? Is it sex (what with Katya Santos there)? Is it horror? Or is it the biggest horror of them all, a remake of Seiko Films’ Kokak?

Keka is actually romance, comedy and violence – an unlikely combination that strangely works beautifully on the big screen.

The plot is really not all that fabulous and original. It is about a young call center operator named Keka (short for Francesca and played by Katya). Some five years back, her boyfriend – Jordan Herrera – is killed by members of the rival fraternity gang led by Ryan Eigenmann, who has since become a matinee idol on TV and in the movies. Unable to get over the loss of her boyfriend, Keka decides to take up combat training under Jordan’s best friend, Vhong Navarro, and proceeds to kill one by the one the rest of the frat members: Bobby Andrews, Luis Alandy, TJ Trinidad (the guy in the Swatch commercial) and Tristan Enriquez – until only Eigenmann is left. Coincidentally, while she is on a killing spree, she meets and begins dating Wendell Ramos, a cop assigned to investigate the series of murders she has so cleverly committed.

The story seems plain and simple on paper. But as presented on screen, there is so much creativity and inventiveness in the movie. (The movie got a B rating from the Cinema Evaluation Board.)

Written and directed by Quark Henares, who was behind last year’s critically and commercially successful Gamitan, Keka is not your typical run-of-the-mill Tagalog movie. It is intelligent – with carefully-staged scenes and meticulously-written dialogues strung together. Henares clearly has so much respect for Filipino moviegoers that he carefully polishes every scene before including it in his film. The intention is really there to elevate the standard of filmmaking in local movies.

But the wonderful thing about it is that while the film tries to develop the taste of the viewers, it isn’t at all preachy. Keka simply gives movigoers a wonderful time – especially in the scenes involving Vhong Navarro, undeniably one of the best young comedians in the entertainment scene today. (He scored an Urian Best Actor nomination for Jologs last year.)

Ryan Eigenmann is also brilliant in that part where he shoots an overly dramatic moment for a soap opera and in the subsequent scenes after that.

But the one who really comes out the best is this ABS-CBN talent (I’ve seen her in Klasmeyts) named Tuesday Vargas, who plays Katya Santos’ chip-munching nosey neighbor. This girl is really brimming with talent and shines in that brief sequence in the movie.

Of course, it helps a lot that the cast members are chewing on finely-crafted material courtesy of their writer-director. Given the screenplay and the proper guidance of Henares, there’s really no other way but for them to excel.

Along with the fun performances, the movie is also fun viewing (the musical tribute to ’80s films is hilarious). This movie will not only entertain you. It will also help develop even more your taste and appreciation for films.

Despite the ambiguity of its title, Keka – the very well made film that it is – actually raises the hope of elevating even further the quality of Tagalog pictures.