JL, who’s a co-producer of the movie, plays Edgar, who comes from a family of miners. He’s married to Kaye (Meryll Soriano), who looks down on his relatives as her family comes from a higher social sphere. Kaye’s dad is a preacher at the Church of Yeshua and she is able to convince their friends to invest in her dad’s get rich pyramid scheme. When her dad turns up dead and the money vanishes, their friends are understandably angry and order them to pay back.
When they fail to do so, their daughter Angel (Krystal Brimmer) is kidnapped to force them to pay up. JL then asks the help of his criminally inclined brothers in the mines to help him get the money from the Church of Yeshua collection inside its plush headquarters.
Written by Michiko Yamamoto and directed by Erik Matti, the same team who earlier brought us the acclaimed movie on corruption among cops, “On the Job”, the movie takes pot shots on organized religion’s greed and hypocrisy, class distinctions and even family relationships. It’s the only serious drama among the eight mainstream filmfest entries and we won’t be surprised if it would garner a lot of trophies come the filmfest awards night on December 27, including the best actor award for JL.
The film might be an award-winner, but what does JL think of its chances at the box office? Will it be as successful as his current movie that is now showing on its 4th week, “A Second Chance”? “I really can’t say how it will do at the box office,” he replies. “Hindi dahil nag-hit ang ‘Second Chance’, magiging hit na rin ito. It’s not a kilig movie with hugot lines. Hindi rin ito komersyal. As you can see, I’m paired with Meryll Soriano na ngayon ko lang nakapareha. But I’m so glad we have a good movie to offer our viewers this MMFF, na ibang-iba sa other entries. I guarantee everyone na hindi sila magsisisi kung panonoorin nila ang ‘Honor They Father’ which is really different from all the movies I’ve made before at ibang-iba rin ang role ko sa lahat ng roles na nagawa ko na noon.”
Supporting JL and Meryll in the movie are Tirso Cruz III, Lander Vera Perez, William Martinez, Yayo Aguila, Boom Labrusca, Khalil Ramos and Cong. Dan Fernandez.
