‘ALAPAAP’, a film about students doing a film who get hooked on drugs, is streaming on Vivamax starting November 19.
It features a huge ensemble cast starring Josef Elizalde, Angela Morena, Katrina Dovey, Andrea Garcia, Chesca Paredes, Ali Asistio, Richard Solano, Ali Khatibi, and British actor Luke Selby. It is the directorial debut of Freidric Macapagal Cortez, a cinematographer.
Josef Elizalde plays the lead role as Erik Bengzon, a filmmaking student who is eager to finish his thesis and to graduate soon.
His parents, both doctors by profession, are not happy about his chosen field of study, thus resulting in their constant conflicts.
Katrina Dovey plays Antonette Mercado, an only child to a former congressman and a socialite.
At a young age, she witnessed her father’s suicide.
She hasn’t fully recovered from the trauma of seeing her dad killing himself.
You’d think that her mother would be there to help her through it, but Mrs. Mercado has detached herself from Antonette and everyone.
Ali Asistio plays Paul Plana, a spoiled brat son of a high-ranking police officer.
Paul helps Erik with his thesis, and supplies drugs to him and their peers. And he is a drug user himself.
Luke Selby plays Adolf Fuller, Paul’s cousin from America who is in town for a vacation.
He just goes with the flow, not even resisting the drugs handed to him.
He is a closet queen and is attracted to and infautated with Erik.
Andrea Garcia plays Cathy Delgado, Paul’s girlfriend who is a bisexual.
She is having a secret affair with Joyce. She comes from a broken family.
Chesca Paredes plays Joyce Amores, a lesbian.
Orphaned at a young age, she was raised by her grandmother who is a devout catholic.
She is quite content being Cathy’s secret lover.
Angela Morena plays a crucial role as the subject of Erik’s short film.
This comes right after her acclaimed portrayal as the unfaithful heroine in “Tubero”.
Follow these drug-dependent friends as they escape to a place where a local tribe and shamans exist.
Will these problematic young people ever be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality in “Alapaap”?
Friends that get high together could fall together.
It’s never a pretty sight, but see how the brilliant director Brillante Mendoza, now the film’s creative producer, has come up with movie about this sad reality in “Alapaap”.
The young people in the story experience hallucinations because of substance abuse while on a trip.
As they can no longer identify what is real and what is not, can they still get out of their predicament? Find our also what made them turn to drugs in the first place.
We ask Direk Fred Cortez, a protege of Direk Brillante now directing his first movie, how he handled such a big cast on the set?
“It’s really a big cast and we had to conduct a workshop for all of them,” he says.
“Since they’e film students in the story, I taught them about filmmaking and how to act using the various film equipment equipment given to them.
"While watching them, Direk Brillante and I made our decisions as to what roles each of them will play.
"Ang treatment namin dito is experimental from the cinematography to the editing and as usual, we have no final script and the narrative is organic as we shoot it.
"It’s good the actors were able to get the hang of it right away and it’s a collaborative work for all of us.”