by Heinrich Domingo

A mother and daughter offer a view on how two polarized characters attempt to coincide in a compact dwelling. Their differences lead them to a confrontation where one tries to outweigh the other.

When the popular wants to generate the feeling of balance, order, and peace, Mater deviates through offering contrast and opposition. It interweaves items such as religion and faith with drugs and addiction to display the beauty of disorder.

This film courageously uses items that are deemed taboo. In a Filipino cinema setting, it is seldom to see a Sto. Nino being bathed or a daughter who smokes in the presence of a mom.

Through this, the director wishes the audience to appreciate how paradoxes continue to be part of  normal lives. It is, in a way, a subtle reminder that lives of people today greatly dwell on coexistence and acceptance.

Yet, as the film admits to be built on the foundation of metaphors, the viewers cannot grope with anything but subjectivity and vagueness. There is no concrete message from the director. With this, Mater’s advocacy is indistinguishable. In the intangibility of the film’s subject matter, the story’s backbone instantly dissolves.

 

Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

 

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