"Ataul for Rent" opens in theaters starting November 7
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 01:41 PM
Photography: Courtesy of Neal Tan
Joel Torre (left) plays Guido, the
embalmer and owner of the funeral parlor that rents out coffins to destitute
people.
Joel Torre stars as the eccentric embalmer in Neal "Buboy" Tan's Ataul for Rent. In this indie movie, the plot revolves around a couple who own a funeral parlor that rents out coffins of four different sizes: small, medium and large and extra-small. The movie is set in a congested alleyway where the residents are so poor, they cannot not afford caskets for their departed loved ones.
The greedy owner, Guido (Joel Torre), doubles as the embalmer, while his partner Pining (Jaclyn Jose) does the make-up, using on her dead clients the same tools she uses on the ones who are still lucky enough to be breathing, earning herself some extra income on the side by acting as the neighborhood's official jueteng collector.
Other people weave in and out of the narrative: Tale, the mother of a drunkard son; Moises, a professional thief married to a nagging wife; Susan, a mother of three; Andoy (Denver Olivares), a drug addict whose brother Danny (Coco Martin) is a callboy and snatcher and whose gambling laundrywoman mother, Aling Carmen (Irma Adlawan), loses her tenuous hold on sanity after Andoy is killed by a drug pusher and rival gang leader.
These characters who inhabit the dark world of Kalyehong Walang Lagusan are played by some of the finest thespians on stage and in film and television, including Jaclyn Jose and Joel Torre who star as Guido and Pining. Other cast members are Irma Adlawan, Nonie Buencamino, Pen Medina, Ramon Zamora, Tita Swarding, and The Studs member Coco Martin.
Even the newcomers Aleera Montalla and Irish Contreras (who play prostitutes) and Denver Olivares, who stars as Irma's druggie son, turn in noteworthy performances.
Ataul for Rent is due to hit local screens starting November 7. The movie is directed by Neal "Buboy" Tan who co-wrote the script with Anthony Gedang, also the film's executive producer. It was graded "A" by the Cinema Evaluation Board, and was one of three Filipino entries to the 31st Montreal World Film Festival last August 23 to September 3. The two other entries were Brillante Mendoza's Foster Child and Redd Ochoa's Baliw.
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