Leonor Will Never Die (2022)

"Leonor" (Sheila Francisco) is a legendary Filipino writer and film maker who is now rather obliviously living on the breadline. Faced with disconnection from the electricity supply, her son "Rudy" (Bong Cabrera) is at his wit's end. When the lights do go out, she decides that maybe she can resurrect one of her old scripts and enter it into a competition that could solve all their problems. Snag - well her neighbours are having a row about what to watch on television and their solution is to throw it out of the window - and onto her inspecting head! Hospital obviously beckons and the doctor advises "Rudy" that she is in a coma from which she may (or may not) emerge. The rest of this quickly paced comedy drama merges her comatose dream sequences in which she is trying to re-write her Guy Ritchie style action drama, with the real life predicament faced by her worried son. What transpires through the flashbacks is that there was another son - the beloved "Ronwaldo" (Anthony Falcon) and we gradually discover just what happened to him - which goes some way to explain the role he is now given as the ninja-esque heart-throb character in her new movie involving just about every small-time local crook in the book. The story doesn't hang around and requires a degree of concentration to follow just what's going on. As her dreams are set in the world of movie making, we frequently stop, restart, rewind, jump ship, change plots - and that's quirkily engaging for a while, too. Some of the combat scenes are reminiscent of a 1970s Bruce Lee film which I think is deliberate and quite effective in an entertainingly "thwack" and "pow" sort of fashion. Sadly, though, the very nature of it's spoof style exposes it to the flaws of the genre upon which it is based and after about half an hour I was just a bit bored with it all. The story is solid, but the execution relies on some pretty third rate acting - especially from her hero (Rocky Salumbides) and his constantly in need of rescue "Isabella" (Rea Molina) and though occasionally quite witty, the dialogue is also a bit pedestrian too. I am glad I saw this at the cinema - had I started on television I suspect I would have given up. It's an interesting watch, but not a memorable one.