Try Not To Blink! - Mulat (Awaken)

Well, we are back here in Dateline Movies, with a new local feature just for you! The only difference this time around, however, is that this is most definitely not for kids. So without further ado, Dateline Movies presents to you, Mulat (Awaken), which has been Rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board. 

Mulat (2016)

Rated R-13: For Sensitive Themes

Running Time: 70 minutes (1 hour and 10 minutes)

Genre/s: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Released on November 2, 2016 (PH Release Date; Limited Release Only)

Presented by DVent Productions and Solar Pictures

Writer and Director: Maria Diane Ventura

Starring:

• Loren Burgos as Sam
• Jake Cuenca as Jake
• Ryan Eigenmann as Vince
• Candy Pangilinan as Cathy
• Logan Goodchild as Logan
• Madeleine Nicolas as Sam's Mother

Loren Burgos, Jake Cuenca, Ryan Eigenmann

What is the movie about?

When she discovers that her relationship with the initial love of here life, Vince, played by Eigenmann (José Rizal), is heading towards nowhere else but endless pain and misery, Sam, played by Burgos in her debut role, decides to go on a "rebound", as called by everyone else, and her mother, played by Nicolas (The Bourne Legacy). She now has a relationship with the ill-tempered Jake, played by Cuenca (In The Name of Love).

However, her entire world begins to turn upside-down, when she begins to see various terrifying visions! Questioning her sanity, can she be able to Awaken from this nightmare, or will she be trapped in that hellish dreamscape forever?

Also featured in this movie are the on-screen couple Cathy, played by Candy Pangilinan (Distrito De Molo), and Logan, played by, well, Logan Goodchild.

Source

I guess that is all for this post. But wait, that was too tame for you? Hold on, ladies and gentlemen. We are not finished yet, apparently. Accompanying Mulat (Awaken) in the theaters is another film, but this one is only fifteen minutes in run time. Not only is it written by the same screenwriter and director of Mulat (Awaken), but it is also the reason why the flick received an R-16 rating, which means those who are thirteen years old and below cannot see Mulat (Awaken). In fact, it is so controversially mature, we cannot even put the trailer here. But if you are old enough, click here to see the red band trailer. Anyway, this is TheRapist.

TheRapist (2016)

Rated R-16: For Extremely Sensitive Themes

Running Time: 15 minutes

Genre/s: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Released on November 2, 2016 (PH Release Date; Limited Release Only)

Presented by DVent Productions and Solar Pictures

Writer and Director: Maria Diane Ventura

Starring:

• Cherie Gil as The Therapist
• Marco Morales as The Rapist

What is the movie about?

Included in the commercial screening of MULAT (Rated A by the CEB) is the award-winning short film by Maria Diane Ventura entitled TheRapist (which has a rating of R16). The film is about the story of a young man, played by Morales (Paano Kita Ibigin?) who is accused of rape and is then sent to a therapist for a psychiatric evaluation. As he recalls and narrates the details of what has happened on the night of the alleged assault, his therapist, played by Gil (Ekstra) investigates and analyzes through psychoanalysis the truth of his story.

Well this is where we really end our post, but before you leave, you can take a look at the press release for writer and director Maria Diane Ventura's  two new flicks. Be sure to check-out the latest updates from Solar Pictures, and catch Mulat (Awaken) in theaters near you! Stay tuned for more Dateline Movies!

Of all the triumphs going for Diane Ventura’s first feature-length film, Mulat (Awaken), its genre-bending narrative style and the ace performances of its actors perhaps take the cake. Chief in this long list are its two lead actors—Jake Cuenca (who plays the morose Jake) and Ryan Eigenmann (who is dynamite as Vince)—both of whom effectively quash any preconceived notions viewers may have of their abilities due to their notoriety in more mass-leaning vehicles. Newcomer Loren Burgos is also not to be shrugged off, and it is her impassioned turn as Sam, in equal doses forceful and vulnerable, which serves as the movie’s anchor. Supporting cast members such as the sparring couple of Logan Goodchild (Logan) and Candy Pangilinan (Cathy), as well as theater mainstay Madeleine Nicolas (Sam’s mom), also deserve kudos.

But let’s not kid ourselves here: Ventura’s material is topnotch, and it is our good fortune that she is adamant in presenting things, well, differently. What in lesser hands will be a straightforward three-way love story gets a shot in the arm with the young director at the helm. What we have instead in Mulat is a psychological thriller, a time-hopping mystery, and a perspective-rich romance rolled into one, where linearity is challenged and logic is refashioned. Some may view it as difficult, but any worthwhile experiment is worth some work. And the critics agree: Mulat is worth laboring over. Since its global debut a while back, Ventura has bagged Best Director for Global Feature, while Jake Cuenca took home Best Actor at the International Film Festival Manhattan 2015. The film also won Best Narrative Feature at the World Cinema Festival in Brazil, where Cuenca once again snagged Best Actor honors. Mulat was also given the “A” rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board.

In retrospect, Diane Ventura’s previous output, the Cherie Gil starrer TheRapist, was a portent of fine things to come. Another psychological vehicle, the short film is yet another triumph in less-is-more craftsmanship, and it approached weighty issues (rape, abuse, sexuality, psychoanalysis) with deft hands. A new trailer for said film, which got a G rating from the MTRCB after initially being deemed unfit for public viewing, will also be shown in local screenings of Mulat.

Official MULAT website: http://www.mulatfilm.com/
Official MULAT Facebook: http://bit.ly/MulatAwakenFB

Solar Pictures is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @solarpicturesPH