DIRECTOR Bobby Bonifacio is asked after the screening of his latest film, “Haliparot”, as to what is his most favorite work in Vivamax. He says “Haliparot” is number 2. His number one is “Bula” with Ayanna Misola and number 3 is “Salamat Daks” starring Alma Moreno, and with Ayanna again.

It’s just too bad Ayanna is no longer available as her boyfriend allegedly prohibited her from doing more sexy flicks where she bares to the max. If it’s any consolation, Direk Bobby has found a new sex siren in Aiko Garcia who plays the lead role in “Haliparot”, another movie like “Ang Ina Mo” where mother and daughter become rivals for the attention of a hunky guy.

In the story, Aiko plays Abigail or Ging, a 17-year old high school senior who’s the love child of Libay (Maui Taylor), a pottery maker. Ging meets a stranger by chance twice, Jeric (Matthew Francisco), and she gets so infatuated with him that she wants to meet him again.

Imagine her surprise when she goes home one day and her mom introduces Jeric to her. Her mom says she just met Jeric the previous week and now he is her boyfriend who will live with them.

The film’s title then should have been “Mag-inang Haliparot”.

As maybe expected, this becomes a love triangle. Ging secretly listens to her mom and her lover as they make love in the next room, then she pleasures herself while naked in bed. And while Jeric is taking a bath, Ging takes a peep on him and he sees her ogling at his naked body. Jeric knows she is attracted to him and it was so easy for him to seduce her.

It’s also easy to conclude that this kind of volatile situation will eventually end in tragedy. And it does. The movie is a slow burn but Vivamax subscribers expecting the usual soft core porn scenes won’t be disappointed.

Aiko Garcia has several sizzling love scenes not only with Matthew but also Aerol Carmelo as Gabo, the tricycle driver who takes her to school and is so in love with her. Matthew has scorching bed scenes not only with Aiko but also with Maui Taylor. And all the graphic love scenes are over extended to the max and will surely delight voyeurs.

The movie is quite well acted. Maui manages to get our sympathy as the clueless mother who does not even suspect that her lover is also bedding her own daughter. This is Aiko Garcia’s first big role and she acquits herself as the naive young girl who just doesn’t know how to resist the call of the flesh and the temptation of sin.

The two guys are also good. Aerol Carmelo excels in that scene in the market where he tearfully and finally reveals to Maui the truth about the relationship of her lover and her daughter. This is Matthew’s first big role and it’s a difficult one as he pretends to be a missionary preacher often quoting the Bible, but it turns out he is a duplicitous lecher who has impregnated a lot of gullible women.

We ask Direk Bobby how he cast the movie. “It’s my first time to work with the four of them. This is really meant to be a launching movie for Aiko, so given na siya sa cast. As for the others, someone suggested Maui and I said why not? I really like to work with her and she turned out to be so sweet on the set, never nag-complain.

“Si Aerol, I’ve met him before sa events ng Viva and he’s okay. As for Matthew, someone showed me his picture. I asked for a meeting and he turned out to be also okay. We had a workshop before the shoot and I’m lucky, kasi lahat sila, matatalinong aktor, lalo na si Aiko na very intuitive in playing her role as a teenage student. Kuhang kuha niya lahat ng facial expressions and nuances the role calls for.”

How come the movie ends with the main antagonist running away scot free? “E, ganun naman talaga kahit sa totoong buhay, di ba? Hindi lahat ng gumagawa ng masama, napaparusahan. So open ended ang conclusion, puede pa siyang gumawa ng mas maraming kasamaan.”

“Haliparot” starts streaming on October 22 on Vivamax.