DIRECTOR LINNET ZURBANO has come up with a message movie in “BJJ (Brazilian JuJietsu”: Woman on Top” that has very strong feminist sentiments.
Angela Morena plays Elise, a young woman who is drugged and sexually assaulted while in a party.
She’s able to ward off her attacker but the experience left her traumatized as she keeps on having nightmares about it.
She’s then encouraged to train in Brazilian JuJietsu or BJJ with Ace (Yuki Sakamoto) as her sympathetic coach.
BJJ teaches even a frail woman on how to take an even bigger opponent to the ground by taking a dominant position to force her adversary into submission.
Eventually, Elise is able to learn how to stand up for herself and even defend herself against an aggressive suitor, Marco (Jiad Arroyo), and his vengeful and violent girlfriend, Riza (Alexa Ocampo), who cannot accept that Marco’s true love is Elise, not her.
Elise falls for Ace and sleeps with him, but she slowly realizes that he cannot get over the memory of his dead girlfriend (Jela Cuenca).
In the end, Elise gets to feel empowered enough on her own and not to let her happiness depend on any one man.
Angela Morena is splendid in the lead role, handling both her fight scenes and dramatic scenes with equal competence.
She’s one Vivamax bombshell who really knows how to act persuasively.
This is former Bidaman Yuki Sakamoto’s first lead role and he gamely disrobes for all the bed scenes.
No doubt he has good screen presence and his height is his advantage over the other vertically challenged Vivamax studs, but somehow, this huge unsightly tattoo on his entire back is really very distracting.
It will surely limit the roles that he can portray convincingly.
We’re glad that Viva continues to give breaks to women directors, like Direk Linnet Zurbano who makes sure her films are not just all soft core sex scenes but also imbued with a valid message.
“Woman on top in this film does not just refer to a sexual position,” she explains. “Women can be on top of the world in anything and everything, as long as she believes in herself and she is in control of her own story.
"The opening scene of the movie shows a man and a woman in various positions na akala mo, they’re making love, but actually, they’re sparring in a Brazilian juejitsu match.
"The sport is really helpful, specially for women, because learning the discipline it instills can really help us in coping with the adversities that we face in life.”
“BJJ: Woman on Top” is now streaming on Vivamax.
