WE think one of the biggest achievements of 2022 is the way Viva Entertainment changed the film viewing habits of moviegoers with the enormous success of their streaming company, Vivamax.

It is such a hit as it now has no less than 5 million subscribers worldwide.

And because of this, Viva is launching yet another streaming platform meant for shows that are for general since Vivamax caters mainly to the adult crowd who want to unexpurgated movie and TV series. Their first offering will be the Wattpad novel, “The Rain in Espana”, starring Heaven Peralejo and Marco Gallo.

Vivamax was very productive this 2022, showing a new movie every week. Many of them are potboilers meant to titillate their subscribers, but some of them manage to surpass the limitations of the genre with the resourcefulness of new and inventive directors.

There are many good movies shown this year in various platforms, but for Vivamax, here are our choices as the better ones. We would like to thank Viva for giving these directors the opportunity to helm new movies. Not all are that superlative, but as they say, practice makes perfect and these directors really showed a lot of promise in their Vivamax obras.

Crisanto Aquino made what we believe is the best Vivamax film this year, “Relyebo”. He first made waves in 2019 when his “Write to Love” unexpectedly won several awards in the Metro Filmfest that year.

“Relyebo” is a well crafted story of infidelity and forgiveness. He succeeds in making sexy stars Christine Bermas and Sean de Guzman really act persuasively.

Sean is a security guard who is tempted to have a one-night stand with a sexy lady tenant in the building where he works, not knowing his wife has found out about it. The final scene involving their reconciliation is very well conceived and acted.

Joy Aquino makes her directorial debut in “Kitty K-7”, based on the well written script of Pam Miras. This is the story of an ordinary girl, Hana, a graphic artist who is cheated by her boyfriend, Miggy Jimenez.

She breaks up with him and finds a new calling as a webcamgirl, reinventing herself as Kitty K-7, an uninhibited sexy woman willing to do everything to please her clients. Rose Van Ginkel is so convincing in the title role and “Kitty K-7” is an unapologetic feminist film that has no qualms about empowering its lead character.

Ivan Andrew Payawal comes up with the most brazen and most touching Boys Love film this year, “Two and One”. Two straight acting gays, Miggy Jimenez and Paolo Pangilinan, discover that both of them only want to be on top so they get a third guy, Cedrick Juan, to bottom for them.

The film delves into complicated, messy relationships where one partner carries a lot of emotional baggage. It’s a very well acted drama by the entire cast, specially by Miggy Jimenez as the central character.

Bobby Bonifacio has been directing since 2006 with “Numbalik Diwa” and “Hospicio” but it’s in Vivamax that he got to be more playful and inventive with “Bula”, a dark comedy which you have to take with a grain of salt.

Ayanna Misola gives a weirdly satisfying performance as a laundrywoman who uses the clothes left by her customers to achieve her sexual fantasies. She’s living in with an invalid husband but then she meets a hunky cop who makes her more deadly in the kinky things she does.