Produced by For the Love of Art Films, Lockdown gives its audiences the opportunity to know a modern-day hero who all of a sudden is thrust into the world of unemployment after being retrenched from his job in the Middle Eastern.
Meet Danny Asuncion (Paolo Gumabao), one of the many overseas Filipino workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and goes back to his native land.
When his bedridden father Gener (Jess Evardone) was rushed to the hospital, his family’s finances became tighter than tight, and sadly, despite his “international work experience and expertise, landing on a new job, given the pandemic situation, is next to impossible.
Adding another degree of difficulty to Danny’s emotional health, he broke off his engagement with his fiancée Luz (Max Eigenmann) as he wanted to prioritize his domestic dilemmas.
This desperation for cash scenario led the down and out OFW to seek the assistance of a friend Lito (Paul Jake Paule) who recommended him to Mama Rene (Jim Pebanco), a gay madam who manages a cybersex business for foreign customers. Though initially repulsed with the very idea of “showing off” his family jewels and sexual antics for a fee, Asuncion reluctantly gave in to the seduction of easy cash and be objectified by his clients to ease his family’s financial woes and worries.
Lockdown is not an easy watch since it is unapologetic and a slap to your face one-hour in a half cinematic experience.
Film master Lamangan and writer Troy Espiritu (who also wrote the screenplay for socially relevant motion pictures like Ma' Rosa and Alpha: Right to Kill) set the contemporary family drama during the early months of the pandemic when everything was touch and go, the majority feeling anxious and helpless, and the assistance arriving at turtle’s pace. All the precautionary measures — from quarantine centers, face masks and shields, social distancing, restrictions in people’s movement, gatherings, and the likes — are akin to hit-and-miss experiments with many becoming collateral damages and guinea pigs being slaughtered in scientific experiments.
In the movie, the havocs on businesses, employment, and personal relationships were presented as well. Indeed, this Lamangan opus is a fine example of cinema as a chronicler, documenter, and repository of the times when it was filmed.
True, the cybersex component of the movie will shock the prudes and the virgins. It did not scrimp in the showing of the male genitalia and the many sexual shenanigans that happen in the life of an adult sex performer.
Aside from its brutal narrative, the most commendable aspect of Lockdown are the acting prowess of its cast, lead role, or support, they were all splendid and slayed their respective roles.
Paulo Gumabao not only gave his body, but his heart and soul to Danny with his eyes expressing all the feelings of tenderness, sadness, revolt, and love.
Eigenmann was a wonder as Luz in her limited exposures. Jim Pebanco as the gay cybersex boss who had the strongest statement and sentiment blurted out to straight acting gay men and their clandestine affairs, Jeff Carpio as the scorned and vengeful assistant named Macky, Jess Evardone as Paulo's ailing and scene-stealing father, the ever competent and committed Ruby Ruiz as the long-suffering mother, the playful Paule who acted with a lot of conviction as Danny’s part-time lover and the other Paule, Alan as the perverted and repulsive high ranking man in uniform.
With its arresting story, truthful execution of its narrative, and acting from the cast that was played with a lot of emotional truth, Lockdown is indeed a fine sampling of a cautionary and controversial cinema.
The uncut version of Lockdown streams worldwide on July 23 through KTX.ph, Upstream.ph, RAD (iamrad.app), and WeTV.