Let the hysteria explode inside you

Film review: Segunda Mano

When the evil inherent in man meets the paranormal evil on the big screen, expect a film that will drive you to the edge of your seat. Segunda Mano is more than just your regular run-off-the-mill horror movie. It’s a thinking film that will excite your senses, play with your wit and tug at your heart while the twists and turns are seamlessly presented before you.

The film posits on the lives of Mabel Domingo (Kris Aquino), an owner of a classy yet eerie antique shop that is also ROI-challenged; and Ivan Galvez (Dingdong Dantes), a handsome, rich and successful architect who runs his own firm.

Despite that Mabel’s business is not making much money, she maintains her antique shop because it is her only way of supporting her aging mother (Helen Gamboa), who, after many years, has not yet moved on from the death of her other daughter. Mabel carries the weight and guilt of the passing of her younger sister, who tragically drowned while she was playing with her on the beach.

Ivan — after his ex-wife Mariel (Angelica Panganiban) left him for another man — is hinged on finding the perfect mother for his daughter Angel. On a night when the city is drenched in rain, Ivan meets Mabel. Love soon blossoms between the two. And no sooner than they have expected that strange ghostly circumstances are taking place after Mabel and Ivan become fully committed to each other.

Segunda Mano, a psycho-thriller, is Joyce Bernal’s first foray into the horror genre, after directing a string of light yet notable romantic comedy movies. Bernal proves, with her tight grip on the material (skillfully penned by Joel Mercado, who also co-wrote Dalaw, an entry in the Metro Manila Film Festival in 2010), that she has reinvented herself.

Perhaps because Bernal is not a hardcore harbinger of harrowing tales, she injects some bubble-gummy stances in some scenes that involve supporting cast like Bangs Garcia and Jong Hilario. It is a welcome respite — particularly that Garcia, who plays best friend of Aquino in the movie, can be very funny without trying to be — except that too much of tibia-tingling lines or actions can somehow dilute the homogeneity of the film as a psycho-thriller. Then again, Garcia is good and Bernal tempers her at some point. The reel continues to unleash real tension and fright — the kind that is not seen by the naked eye but felt by the mind and heart.

The unpredictability of the script is commendable. The use of two contradicting evil forces — that of man and spirit — to exact vengeance may not be novel but the earnestness of Segunda Mano lies in the ingenious treatment of the writer and the clever interpretation of the director. Add to this the fact that the film editing is crisp and the production design is faithful to the genre the movie projects.

Unlike other horror flicks that resort to “gulpi de gulat” scoring, Segunda Mano is deliberately underscored — a treatment that is appreciated to make buoyant the other strength of the film: The acting department.

Performance gravitas should be bestowed upon Dantes and Aquino who both essayed their respective roles with conviction and without reservation.

Dantes is diabolically good in Segunda Mano, perhaps his finest in all the movies he has done in the past. The script warrants a multi-dimensional characterization of his role and Dantes gives his best shot to laminate into his being the intricacies of his character. In Dantes’ acting veneers can be found a loving father, a spurned husband and an unrepentant sinner. His capacity to turn his handsome face into a menacing character is so real that Dantes deserves to be commended for his role in this psycho-thriller.

Aquino, on the other hand, is silent in many scenes yet her ability to deliver the message to the viewer sans dialog creates that impenetrable hysteria that explodes inside you. The mannerisms of the real Aquino are hardly evident in the reel. She was good in Dalaw last year. She is better in Segunda Mano. Aquino now knows how to disturb the psyche of the viewers albeit in her silence. She takes her role as Mabel with sincerity that you feel her jealousy — one of her best unguarded moments in the film — when she sees a woman flirting with Ivan; her fright when a ghost tries to pursue her; her resolute will when she finds the truth about love, lies and loyalty.

To say that Aquino has reinvented herself in this movie is highlighting the obvious. Her acting follows a symmetry that refreshes the audience and a cadence that frightens them. She has matured as an actor. She knows pain and knows how to separate it from fright. She’s able to telegraph those emotions sans the use of dialog, sans the aid of sound. Bernal’s handiwork in making the more serious actor in Aquino surface is apparent — in that case, it is a synergy that they should celebrate.

Panganiban’s rendition of her character merits a nod, too, but she should have studied her part more eloquently to articulate better the nuances of her role — either to avenge or to defend, either as a friend or a fiend. 

Gamboa proves she is a veteran in the acting department. Without hysterics, her scenes with Aquino are some of the heartwarming parts of the movie.

Segunda Mano gives the viewer a brand-new dimension to what making a horror film is all about. There hardly is screaming in the frames, neither among the audience in cineplexes. But you will scream albeit silently for the fear and fright detonates inside you.

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