‘EROTICA Manila’ is definitely one of the better mini-series shown in Vivamax. It has four different stories. We’ve already reviewed the first one, “Cinema Parausan”, a riveting tribute to Celso Ad. Castillo.

The other three episodes are “Girl 11”, “The MILF and the OJT”, and “Death by O” (O stands for Orgasm). “Parausan” is easily the best of the lot, followed by “The MILF” which is also about showbiz. The best thing in this episode is Mercedes Cabral as an aging sexy star who seduces the production’s young apprentice, Vince Rillon.

The story starts with Mercedes reading aloud a column item that makes fun of her, calling her a hasbeen star who’s overweight. Mercedes is an absolute delight as she reacts to the insults made by the writer against her, which, it cannot be denied, have a hilarious ring of truth in them.

Her seduction scene with Vince is so amusing, with her opening for him the door of her boudoir with one of her big breasts hanging out in her loose chemise. Vince, who is obviously the toyboy of the gay assistant director, is also good as the willing victim. This episode is written and executed with a knowing wink on some real shenanigans that happen during tapings or shooting.

The fourth episode, “Death by O”, benefits from its milieu. It’s set in a crowded slum area with Felix Roco playing a casual construction worker with a hand to mouth existence.

Without his knowing it, his wife, Alona Navarro, cavorts with their neighbor, Benz Sangalang, who’s a neat-looking hunk compared to the paunchy Felix whose body is full of off-putting tattoos.

When Felix suddenly returns home without warning, the illicit lovers are caught off guard. Benz hides under the bed while the randy Felix makes love to Alona. Their bed is creaking due their ferocious love making and part of it collapses, causing a sharp piece of broken wood to pierce the throat of Benz.

Imagine Felix’s consternation when he discovers that they killed someone unintentionally. How will they dispose of the body? The climax shows Felix cleverly resolving this dilemma by aping another husband who caught his wife cheating, in flagrante delicto. This is the most graphically sexy among the four episodes.

The weakest episode is “Girl 11”, with Josef Elizalde as a newspaper writer who lives a solitary life. A friend of his in their publishing office is urging him to bed their editor (Cheska Paredes) but all he does is fantasize having sex with her.

When he finally gets the courage to approach her, he sees her already having sex with his treacherous friend, so he goes to a massage parlor and gets Girl No. 11 (Cara Gonzales.) Cara gets topbilling here but she figures in only one sequence.

It’s Cheska who gets more exposure as the sexy editor, even if most of her sex scenes turn out to be mere figments of Joseph’s imagination. Josef had the chance to help Cara, who’s clearly a victim of human trafficking, but in the end, it was all for naught. Just like the episode itself.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Mario Bautista